Shadow's Throne

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Mare

"Good morning," I hear someone say, drawing me from my sleep.

I look up to find Maven standing by my bedroom door with a tray of food.

"I brought breakfast!"

I sit up and try to fix my hair and rub the sleep out of my eyes as Maven walks over with the tray. He sits down on the end of my bed and sets the tray in my lap. I look down at the delicious food and then back up at his smiling face and hesitantly take a bite of waffles. They don't seem like they're gonna kill me so I take another bite.

"So, I was thinking that we could go to dinner tonight," Maven says.

I glance up at him and finish chewing before saying, "Dinner?"

"Unless, of course, you don't want to," Maven says, the smile slipping off his face.

I look at him carefully, remembering what I told Evangeline yesterday and remembering what he said when he first woke up. It is just dinner. Why not.

"Sure," I say, turning back to my waffles.

His smile returns as he says, "Great! Be ready by 6!"

He leaves my room and I finish eating my waffles before getting into my training clothes. I head down to Davidson's office where I find Farley and Cal.

"Mare, good thing you're here," Davidson says, glancing up from a letter at his desk.

I walk over to the desk and ask, "Is everything all right?"

"Guess you could say that," Farley replies, gesturing to the letter.

I pick it up and quickly skim over it. 

"Volo wants to end the alliance?" I ask looking at the other three.

"Because Maven is back to normal, he apparently sees no need to keep an alliance with Cal when he can just join up with Maven again," Davidson tells me.

I look over to Cal who's staring at the letter like he has no idea what to think about this.

"Does that mean the wedding is off?" I ask them.

"Yes," Davidson replies.

"But that means that Maven will be betrothed to that metal wielding brat if Volo gets what he wants," Farley says with a shake of her head.

I sit down and try to make sense of this.

"Does Maven know?" I ask.

"We haven't mentioned it yet," Davidson replies.

"He needs to be told before Volo has the chance to do anything," I tell them and Cal grunts in approval.

Davidson sighs and sits down in his chair. 

"I know. We just need to come up with a plan because Maven being normal again changes everything," he says.

We all nod in agreement and I stand up.

"I'll go get Maven because he needs to be included in this."

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"So, if Volo proposes an alliance with me or asks to be let back into my court, I say no because I can't marry Evangeline and we want the Samo's to be cut off?" Maven asks.

"Basically," Davidson answers.

We've been having this discussion for the past three hours and it seems like we're finally getting somewhere.

"So, Maven's still in charge of Norta then?" Cal asks.

"Well, you have the Lakelands and Norta still believes that you killed your father so Maven is just the obvious choice at this point," Farley answers.

Maven and Cal exchange a glance.

"What if you two joined your nations?" Davidson says, pacing the room. "You could join the two lands as one Norta, just broken into two separate parts for two separate rulers. Almost like you each have a province to rule."

We all silently think about Davidson's proposition. I watch the two brothers look at each other and have a silent conversation with their eyes. 

"Seems fair," Cal replies. "We'll both be wearing Norta's colors then?"

"Of course," Davidson replies. 

"Seems like you'll need to redecorate again Cal," Farley says, earning a glare from Cal.

"But, in order to regain respect from other nations and your people, it may help if you both had a queen," Davison says hesitantly, glancing at me.

I look over at the two boys who have turned to look at me, and I swallow the lump in my throat.

"Can we maybe worry about that some other time?" I ask, fear in my voice.

"Yes, of course," Davidson replies. "We have the basics figured out for now and that should be enough."

We all nod in agreement and I glance at the clock on the wall.

"I should get going. I've got things to get to," I say heading towards the door.

As I leave, I can feel both of the Calore's stares watching my every move.

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When I enter my room, I immediately roll my eyes at the box waiting for me on my bed.

Just like Maven to leave me a dress.

I head over to it and read the handwritten note sitting on top.

I think you'll look gorgeous in this. Wear it for tonight? 

I roll my eyes again and toss the note aside before lifting the lid of the box. I pull out a beautiful purple gown with gorgeous little purple jewels adorning the top that slowly fade away as you near the bottom of the purple tulle skirt.

He really outdid himself this time.

I quickly throw on the dress and do my hair into a simple braid that shows off my still purple ends.

There's a knock on my door, and I throw on some shoes as I head to answer it.

Maven's standing on the other side in a simple suit. He breaks into a huge smile when he sees me and I roll my eyes again.

"Mare, you look stunning," he says quietly, staring at me.

"Let's just eat," I say, stepping out into the hallway and closing the door behind me as a blush creeps up my cheeks.

"Of course," Maven says with a smile, hooking my arm through his.

He leads me out of the palace into a waiting transport. I take a deep breath and climb inside.

Let's see how this goes.

So, I haven't updated in over a month, but I'm back! Hopefully anyway. This is the only chapter I was able to get done tonight and I abandoned my homework to do it, so I have to go do that, but I'll hopefully have some time to write this weekend. I'll hopefully have another update for you then!