Chapter Three:
i'm sorry

♚

                SCARLETT was taken away before she could say or ask anything else. She was separated from Mare, and placed in a room. The guard that brought her there retreated and closed the door, but she knew he was still standing just on the other side.

The room was circular, with wide impenetrable glass windows on the ceiling, and rows and rows of books lined the wall. It looked like it was used as an office space, or an intimate library, before the couch was replaced with a bed.

She felt uncomfortable and extremely out of place. She's never been somewhere as fancy as this, but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy any of it. Her stomach was in knots and her brain was a jumbled mess of unanswered questions.

Like, what did the king mean when he said she was a weapon? Why couldn't he just put an end to The Scarlet Guard by himself? He had the power and resources to do it, why did he need her?

She didn't know whether to laugh at the unrealness of the situation or cry. Trailing her fingers over the spines of the books, she picked up one and flipped through the pages, looking but not reading, far off inside her own head.

The door to the room opened, and to her utter shock, it was the future king. He carried in his arms a box and upon further inspection, she realized it was a box of her things from home.

Scarlett fumbled around with the things inside until her hands felt the familiar texture of an obliterated war uniform. She felt her eyes sting and her heart ache as she held it close to her body.

The mother of the owner gave her his uniform, finding it too unbearable to keep. Scarlett hated the constant reminder of how he was dead, but couldn't bring herself to bury it or throw it away.

"You went through my things?" Scarlett snapped.

"Your old life had to be entirely removed," he said calmly. "This is just the start. It's important that you tell us everything about the life you lived. People who know you, people who will start asking questions when they don't see you around."

"Or what?" Scarlett asked. "You'll lock me away? Oh wait, you've already done that, little king."

"You can call me Cal," he said, completely ignoring the insulting nickname. "And you can tell me now or have Elara do to you what she did to you before, only deeper. It's your choice."

"That's not much of a choice," she mumbled, but her eyes drifted downward. "There's no one. I earned money by selling old items, which I'm sure you know by the lack of things I had at home. For all I know my parents are dead and this uniform is all I have left of my only friend in the world."

Cal's eyes shifted to the uniform. "I'm sorry for your loss." Scarlett was about to say something snide but the look on Cal's face made her stop. He looked sympathetic, like he was genuinely sorry.

Scarlett set the uniform off to the side and stared blankly into the box of her things. She knew her future was decided, and nothing she could do to change it. "Burn everything else."

Cal's head shot up, staring at her, but she wasn't paying any attention to him.

The box was filled with items attached to memories too important for her to sell, but now they were just reminders of her old life. A life that was taken from her. She knew if she was going to survive in their world, she was going to have to part with everything from hers.

*

Days went by, people came and went. It was mostly Red maids who showed. They cleaned her up and left. Cal sometimes came to see her, mostly just to sit on one of the chairs in the corner and attempt to get her to talk.

By his questions, she could tell he didn't have to be there because they weren't always important subjects. He would ask her things like what she liked to eat and if the room temperature was warm enough. She never answered and he would leave.

Scarlett didn't feel the need to talk when none of her own questions would be answered. Nobody told her anything.

She ate the food they brought her, knowing the sickness in her stomach would never go away and didn't want to add hunger to the mix. But most of the time she would lay on the bed and stare up at the windows, daydreaming of breathing fresh open air again someday soon.

She also thought about Mare, and wondered how she was handling her end of the circumstances. She wondered if she would even see her again. The odds were looking slim.

*

Two more days past before she got a different visitor. Not Cal or the usual Red maids, but Maven Calore, the younger prince. He stood in the doorway, not knowing what to do and looked unsure of why he even came at all.

Scarlett was curled up on the bed, her arms wrapped around her legs. She stared back at him blankly. The first time she saw him was behind the kitchens, and the last time she saw him was just before she taken to hiding. She thought she knew him, but right now she couldn't find anything familiar about him.

Her whole idea of him changed when she found out who he really was.

Maven crossed the room and stood at the foot of her bed. She never would've guessed that his first words would be, "I'm sorry."

Normally, she would look away and not utter a single word, but she was intrigued. "For what?" She asked, her voice soft and curious. She was tired of the constant rage and anger at everything. She didn't have any more fight left.

"This," Maven gestured to the room, her type of cage. "Everything. This shouldn't be your life."

"It's not my life," Scarlett said in half a whisper. "It's a life that was forced upon me."

Cal looked sympathetic, but Maven looked genuinely distraught and saddened by what was happening to her. Even though she had every reason to hate him, she didn't. As odd as it was, she felt like she had a connection to her old life through him. She met him when she was still her. When she didn't have any of the worries she had now.

"I'm so sorry," he repeated quietly.

Scarlett rested her cheek on her knees and felt the first tear shed from her eye since she was put in the room. "Yeah, me too."

AN:

This is just a filler chapter, I know, I hate them too but sometimes they need to be done. More exciting things to come!

Btw, Maven will give her answers.