Blood Curse - Red Queen Fan Fiction

Chapter 25

Mare POV

The sun burns in my eyes when I wake. I've hardly rested enough, with the aftereffects of the battle and the alcohol taking their dues on my body. I yawn and wipe my eyes only to be hit with a headache. I have to force myself to get up and stretch, then let the sunlight warm me for a little longer.

A knock on the door; it's him. Tiberias – Cal. "I have breakfast for us," he says, shyly, unsure to look at me once I turn to him. Not that I'm less uncertain. Should I ask where he spent the night? But I refrain. I take a seat at the table he's preparing and pick up some snacks he already laid put until he sits down, too.

"Serve yourself," he proposes, and I smile. It's a nice gesture from him, although I doubt he made all this himself. I take some bites and sips but my hangover lessens my appetite. I eat because I hope food will improve my state while nothing tastes really good. If it's the same for him, he doesn't show it. He eats like a noble with perfect manners, pick-pick-picking at his plate. It's peaceful moment for our standards, although – or because – we don't talk.

After a while, he sets down his mug of coffee. "I hope you like it," he says.

"I guess it does its purpose," I reply with a sneer. "But thanks."

He nods. "Well, good." I blink. He clears his throat. "You aren't the first one."

"Excuse me?"

"Not the first one I bring breakfast," he clarifies, weirdly serious.

I cackle. What is this supposed to mean? "You don't need to tell me about your other 'sleepover guests'," I say. Really, I don't want to hear him confessing he dated someone in between.

He shakes his head, a deep sigh escaping his throat. "No, Mare, it's not like that," he groans.

"So it's like what?" He makes me impatient. It was nice to have breakfast in the bright and golden, sunlit room, but I still feel a little ill, more so as the palace remains an uncomfortable place for me.

He extends his hand until his fingers almost touch mine. I don't move. He continues to stare at me, with too much compassion, then he pulls his hand away again.

"Maven," he says.

"What?"

"It's Maven," he repeats, "whom I bring breakfast every morning. I ..." he stops.

He waits for me to reply. But I cannot speak.

"He is with me, here in the Ocean Hill palace," he adds. I would've figured, if only I could think at all. But I'm too shocked. Now Tiberias shifts in his chair, uncertain about how to proceed, like he always is. "I ... left Archeon with him, Mare. That's why I have 'vanished' for a time. I needed to find a safe place for him."

"What have you done," I hiss tonelessly.

"You've heard of the battle in Whitefire, haven't you?" he asks. As I'm too frozen, not showing a reaction, he starts anew. "Mare – "

"Don't say my name."

"I – back then, I went into the palace, to look for him. I found him as a sentinel was about to kill him and I ... stopped her. Then Iris Cygnet appeared, fought me, and knocked me out." He swallows. "When I woke, Cygnet and the sentinel were gone. Only Maven remained with me, you see. Maven had every chance to murder me, without any problem. He didn't. He did not, and then, then ... " His gaze intensifies, as if he expects me to understand.

I stand up. "Is that all?"

He gapes, then quickly shuts his mouth. He rises, too, and waits.

I let him linger. The stasis I felt begins to shifts into a current, a storm that builds in me. Today, it's not him who fumes, but me whose skin gives off sparks. Tiberias is only the guilty child expecting his verdict.