Where It Went Wrong, A Red Queen Fanfiction: Completed

Chapter 30

Without the King patrolling the corridors, the Silvers are restless. Nobody to follow, nobody to grovel on knees towards so that they may be noticed. They thought that they wouldn't need him when they had him. Yet they're all lost without him now that's gone.

And so am I.

Maybe his presence was a silent one, but it was never obnoxious. He knew when to back off at times when I was not being the best person to be around. Maybe I doubted him, and maybe I still doubt him too much. It's been over a year since everything happened. Maybe it's time I moved away from prejudice and turned to observations.

Without their Silver King, the Silvers have pounced onto their Silver Prince. And wherever he goes, he wants me to come with him. I obey his wishes, but all I want to do is ask him about why he sent that letter.

Finally, the time comes.

Cal has been attending all of the meetings and completed all of the duties that the King usually preforms. Although it seems to me like a lot to deal with, he does well. He was trained for this to happen, after all. No wonder he seems to be born to do this.

So it is only when he retires for the evening one night when I can ask. Cal looks drained, yet infinitely thoughtful as he takes a seat on the ground. Small tendencies like these remind me of what he went through when he was kept in the prison. Yet it doesn't excuse the hateful letter that he sent. "When did you send that letter, Cal?"

It takes a second for the question to process in his mind. When it does, he scrunches up his nose, causing a furrow to form between his brows. "It.... it was something that I never wanted to do, Mare. Just let me get that out first. Never would I want to leave you after everything, so out of the blue and without warning. I would make sure to tell you before anything happened."

See, Mare: he would never had wanted to do something like that. Cal would never abandon you. Maven said it too. Neither of them will leave you without a valid reason. You just have to work to make sure that reason will never happen.

"After I came - I was forced to go - to the prison, it took no longer than an hour for the King to discover my weakness. One prod of the mind, and the first thing that he discovered was our relationship. Angry as he was about Queen Lilith, he could not help but try and ruin someone else's love life. He told me..."

Cal shakes his head. "I'll be honest. He ordered me to write a letter. I full out disobeyed, and he forced me to. No matter how hard I tried to stop myself from forming those letters on paper, they formed themselves all the while. It killed me, writing that letter. I hated myself for the rest of the time in the prison, only until I saw you and the Scarlet Guard. It only made me hate myself more."

"For a period of time, I hated you too. The letters jumped off of the paper and came at me, attacking me when I was so unsure about everything. Then I saw you in that prison, and the feeling vanished. No matter what happens, I will love you. I don't think I have it in myself to hate you," I admit softly.

Before I know it, Cal has me in his arms. He's been eating better, since we arrived back. "You know that it's the same for me, Mare. I love you too much to ever feel the opposite way."

We just stand for a moment, wrapped in each other's embrace.

*()*

Nobody asks about Maven. Everything seems dull and without spark when he's not around. I glance around the table, half expecting to see that familiar face sneaking a grin back at me. One that would share emotions and unspoken words. Yet that face is now lax and unsure. The face whose mind is damaged.

I linger on what Callista told me before I attended this meeting, as well as the pending question that has been hanging over my head. She told Cal about the new orders that he wanted to set, but I wasn't as interesting in the politics as he was. He wanted a drink, Callista had said. He said that he wanted me to get it from the store they used before. I didn't understand until he told me that he wanted a wine glass, too.