Shattered Heart (Red Queen)

Chapter Seven

•Mare POV•
     Maven hasn't been back since I told him I loved him. I was hoping this would happen. I cannot face him right now. I'm just using him to buy myself time. He could have killed me when I betrayed him and telling him I loved him was the only way out.
The Silent Stone still weighs down on me. The pressure of it is making me sick. I haven't used my powers in a while and it is a strangle feeling. I don't feel the constant buzz of electricity flowing through me. It's very quiet and I don't like it.
I hear the door to the prison open with a creak and sit up. Evangeline walks in and right up to my cell. She smiles one of her wicked smiles and I stare through her. She doesn't scare me at all.
"Comfortable?" she asks.
"It would be better if you were behind these bars instead of me," I reply.
"Well, I didn't betray my country or my fiancé, did I?" she asks and crosses her arms.
"You're just a snake. All you want is the crown and if I could, I would nail the damn thing on your head," I sneer.
She laughs and warns, "Careful. Watch what you say or I'll tell Maven."
"Oh, I'm terrified," I say with fake fear.
"You should be," she replies. "The things he could do to you are endless and painful."
I stand up and walk up to the bars. "Maybe you should worry about yourself instead of me, metal head. Maven will toss you aside once he gets what he want. Trust me, I know," I tell her.
"He will not. I will be his queen and he will love me. I will rule, just you wait," she says confidently.
"I thought the same thing, but you see where I am. You'll be here too, just you wait," I say, repeating her words.
"Listen to me, little lightning girl. You are nothing. You have no power and you are locked away. You are a slave to the Silent Stone and you cannot hurt me or anyone else. Maven doesn't care about you and he never will. Enjoy the rest of your short life," she says and starts to walk away.
"I hope you rot in here," I call after her. "I hope you endure the same torture and pain I have. I hope Maven betrays you too and you fall from your throne. You, Evangeline Samos, will be nothing."
"How dare you say those things to me?" she asks and grabs my face through the bars.
Her claws are digging into my face and the guards are not stopping her.
"I will destroy you Mare Barrow," she threatens.
"EVANGELINE!" Maven roars behind her.
She drops me immediately and turns to see her fiancé. I didn't even notice him come in here. Evangeline flushes white and she hides her trembling hands behind her back.
"Mavey, what are you doing down here?" she asks sweetly.
"The better question is what are you doing down here? I specifically told you not to go near her. You were not to touch her or even look at her. You defied me," he says darkly.
"No I didn't mean-" she starts but is cut off by Maven jerking her away.
He hands her to one of the guards and says, "Get her out of my sight."
She is lead away and Maven turns to me.
"I'm getting rid of her. I can't stand her and she is nothing to me," he tells me.
I tried to tell her. Maven doesn't care about her or anyone.
"Are you going to kill her?" I ask.
"No," he replies, "I'm sending her back to House Samos."
"Then who will you marry," I question.
He gives me a kind smile and says, "You."
My mouth falls open and I stare at him. "Me? But why would you-"
"Mare, I love you. I don't care what the Silver Elite think. You are more powerful than any other person in Norta. You will be my queen," he tells me.
     My heart is pounding and my brain is telling me not to do this. My heart is split between the two Calore brothers and it hurts more than anything else I've ever been through. Maven or Cal? Who do I choose?