So @daffodilsinspring requested someone write a "canon characters read King's Cage" fic but again, think that tiptoes the line to plagiarism so I'm using my Maven POV series instead. Enjoy!
Original here.
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There are no quiet places left in the world. We destroyed them long ago, and I helped. A choice I’ve long since come to regret. Even now, as I shed my clothes to bathe, my head hums with factors I haven’t accounted for, gentle nudges from a mother who knows better than to let me rest.
Perhaps I should’ve built a silent stone bathtub.
Mare drew back, heart racing. “I–” Swallow. “I know this scene.”
Scene. As if this were a play. As if she could pack this away when she was done, this useless circus of blood and pain. Farley laid a hand on hers. “What is it?” Her voice was gentle, balm on a wound. “If you don’t mind.”
I do, she almost snarled. “Evangeline dragged me out the day before the wedding. Knocked on his door, and threatened the sentinels until they let me in.” She exhaled. “He was bathing. Rather annoyed, too.”
Davidson cocked his head. “Huh.” He looked away, lips pursing in distaste. “Did he try to . . . flirt?”
She grit her teeth. “There was milk in the water, thank you very much. Didn’t have to see much of anything.”
Farley wrinkled her nose. “Who bathes in milk?”
Cal cleared his throat. “It’s supposed to soothe the skin. I think. I don’t know, I’m not a healer.”
She shook her head. “Silvers.”
Mare sighed, and flipped the page.
Son.
She almost dropped the book then and there. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t be, and yet–
Davidson frowned. “Who’s speaking? If this is after Elara’s death.”
She snapped the book shut, growling. “I don’t know.”
“Maybe–” Cal’s breath hitched. “Maybe she’s still in there. Maybe she wanted backup, in case she ever died.”
“I don’t know.” Her lip almost tore in her teeth, heart pounding beneath it. “And I don’t care.”
The tub fills the air with steam and white noise, rippling as I dip my toes. The water chills, on the verge of solidifying before I draw back. I’ve forgotten how cold I’ve let my body become.
Mare looked at the next sentence and shuddered. It would be hard to tell the voices apart just from listening. She wavered. And then, in her best Elara impression–
Cold numbs. Cold kills. Cold–
Beside her, Cal stiffened. She forced her way forward.
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This is just a light, low-effort thing I probably won't be returning to but idk, it's kinda interesting to write
