Stay in the Light
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Mare nods. She doesn’t pull away, her eyes boring into mine. They’re ravenous still, aching for something I cannot give. Doesn’t mean I can’t pretend.
“Rise,” I whisper. As I will. As she cannot, however much it pains me, the fool who decided to burn herself on Cal’s flame. Dawn will rise as it always has.
If only the captain knew just how red it would drip.
_
Maven watches the Marecal tapes
Series
- Part 1 of Stay in the Light
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A Happy Princess by beforeIlearnedcivility for drewtanakagf
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
07 Aug 2025
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House Iral greets us next, Ara brushing past me with the briefest of curtsies. Sonya stands beside her, arm in arm with Reynald Iral. He recently raised taxes on the Merandus estate. A small crime, but a crime nonetheless.
It takes all I have to sneer as Ellyn Maccathnos approaches, Mare’s grip tightening on my arm. No one challenges Mother in public, not if they want to stay intact. She brought this on herself.
She reaches not for me, but Mare, grinning as she takes her hand. “Every happiness to you, Lady Mareena. I can tell this one suits you.” She gestures to me, and my heart skips a beat. Her grin turns mischievous. “Not like fancy Samos. She’ll make a sad queen and you a happy princess, mark my words.”
_Maven POV of the scene right before the Sun Shooting
Series
- Part 2 of Stay in the Light
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Call It Rain by beforeIlearnedcivility for imjuliaandilikecats
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
22 Jan 2023
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Suddenly I’m fifteen again, watching a body crumble beneath my fingers as I screamed for it to stop. I was so cold, so bruised, so silent as my eyes refused to cry. I cannot stop my hand from curling through the bars, and resting on her wrist. “I can save you.”
I don’t know what my aim is. What I want from her, after all this time. She is nothing, nothing but a promise in the wind, a warm whisper fluttering against my ear. My hand trembles.
Take it.
Take it, and I’ll never let go. Take it, and I’ll remember it forever. Take it, and I’ll cancel my plans, grant you any concession, fight Mother to the last just so you’ll see me without his shadow. I can’t let go. I don’t know how.
_Maven's POV of the scene in the dungeon before the Bowl of Bones.
Series
- Part 3 of Stay in the Light
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What It's Like in the Dark by beforeIlearnedcivility
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
19 Dec 2022
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Time is slipping from me. It’s been hours (days) since Mare chose no one, not even Cal, over a future with me. A bloodstained future, but one where her head would never be on the table. Not one where Evangeline planned to claim it.
She is nothing. Mother soothes my forehead, nestling the crown into place. Soon she will be less.
“A corpse.” My lip curls. “Laid side by side with my brother’s.”
“We can bury them separately.”
“Don’t bury her.” The words fall too fast, water flowing through a drain. My nails dig into my palm as the crown slips. “Burn her body, and give me the ashes.”
_Glass Sword from Maven's perspective
Series
- Part 4 of Stay in the Light
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Summary
The collar was overkill.
Rugged steel, the spikes of a bulldog, thorns that dug against her throat every time she moved. They wanted a show. They wanted her head on a pike, paraded through the streets as crows pecked at her remains. I couldn’t give them that. This was the next best thing.
Still, I hadn’t considered how it would be to hold her leash. To watch her gasp for air, wrists bleeding, weakened from silence and my own excessive vengeance.
Weakness, Mother whispers, and I almost flinch. Embrace the pain. It makes you strong.
_Chapter One of King's Cage from Maven's Perspective
Series
- Part 5 of Stay in the Light
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November Seventeenth by beforeIlearnedcivility
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
17 Nov 2023
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Summary
Does she know the date? Does she laugh at me from within her chambers? Unlikely. Red birthdays could never have much fanfare, even when they weren't prisoners of war. They didn't have the resources to celebrate.
But I do.
Gift her a swift death. Mother curls her claws. It’s the most she deserves.
_Mare's birthday passes in King's Cage, and Maven drinks his guilt away
Series
- Part 6 of Stay in the Light
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A Dead Heart Still Beats by beforeIlearnedcivility
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
01 Apr 2023
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Summary
Samson turns his heel and marches off, yet his presence sticks to me, a fog of residue passing through me and beyond. Mother tugs at the edge of my mind, warning me of the danger of ignoring her cousins. The head of the snake has been cut off. It still hisses for more.
So does Evangeline. Mare is a threat to her stability, an opportunity for bastards and delayed engagement. What she thinks I might do with her, I don’t know. My mind is a mystery even to myself.
Sometimes I wonder if even Mother knows.
_
Maven sentences Mare to interrogation.Series
- Part 7 of Stay in the Light
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Summary
Mother protests, complaining of rats, of foolish, smitten boys and their downfall at their own hand. But I am a burner. I have no problem playing with fire.
For once, I get her to look away. “You’re a monster.”
I almost soften. “Never tell me what I cannot do. And never underestimate what I will do–for my kingdom.”
For myself. For Mother. For our shared dreams, precarious and fragile, one wrong step from sliding across the edge of a knife.
_Mare wakes up from interrogation, and Maven has thoughts
Series
- Part 8 of Stay in the Light
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Bare to Your Blood by beforeIlearnedcivility
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
24 Feb 2024
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Summary
Her room is not as punishing as Mother would like, but remains a cage, metal bars of satin and silk. I catch her gown balled in a corner, frowning. She’ll put it on eventually. Until then, I’ll coax her, threaten her, do everything I can to ensure her place and mine. My lips part.
She ignores me, panting, struggling through what can only be described as a toddler’s attempt at sit-ups. I take a step closer, and her fist clenches. Lightning has no mercy.
And neither does silent stone.
_Maven POV of the scene where he explains his plans to Mare
Series
- Part 9 of Stay in the Light
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Summary
“Of course, Your Majesty.” The sentinel draws back, bowing once more. I don’t move until he leaves, eyes steady on the reports in front of me. Her name flickers in my periphery, an ever-constant ache, a blade I cannot bear to draw out of my chest. Nonsense. I will make use of her soon enough.
Of course you will. Mother walks a strange line now, disapproving, yet unable to guide me off my path. The crown was made for you, son. Now wear it.
I sigh, soft and steady. They’ll never know what Mother knows, what I clench in my fist so tightly. Her voice is mine and mine alone.
I might as well make it proud of me.
_Maven POV of the scene where he tells Mare how Elara made him walk
Series
- Part 10 of Stay in the Light
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The Cure That Didn't Work by beforeIlearnedcivility for admirame
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
31 Oct 2025
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She marches past me, scowling, but I know enough to glimpse the hurt beneath, one that cuts through me against all reason. No matter. I have my throne, my jewels, Mother’s voice guiding me through every step. What is a girl, in the face of that? What is a girl, in the face of ultimate power?
My mind grows uncomfortably tight, a voice echoing through it. Nothing. Nothing at all.
Mother is right. Mother is right. Mother is–
I grab the nearest glass, about to smash it before I catch myself. I’m not going to break things over her.
No matter how deeply I want to.
_Maven POV of the him swearing in the first newbloods and Nanny dying
Series
- Part 11 of Stay in the Light
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Summary
A bitter laugh escapes as I force my skin to a boil, bubbles drowning out any lecture I might’ve endured. Tomorrow, I will be married.
Tomorrow, I will have a wife.
But today is not tomorrow. Today I can pretend tomorrow will never come, that I may kiss a bridesmaid instead of the bride, soak myself in sorrow until the dread threatens to drag me under.
_
Maven POV of the bathtub scene. Enjoy!
Series
- Part 12 of Stay in the Light
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Pledge Myself To You by beforeIlearnedcivility
Fandoms: Red Queen Series - Victoria Aveyard
31 Dec 2024
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Summary
I tap the glass with a sigh. To look powerful is to be powerful, and I look anything but. Not when the aisle creeps nearer and nearer, a contract signed in blood and empty, broken dreams.
Not this again. Mother grunts, and I feel it in my bones. Stop being dramatic.
The crown still sits on its cushion, slightly askew and far too heavy. Nonsense. I was born to bear its weight, to hold myself high as the king I am. Still, I can’t help but grimace as it slides on my head. This is who I am. This is who I was made for.
You are. Mother curls her claws. Stop whining about it.
_Maven's POV of his wedding to Iris
Series
- Part 13 of Stay in the Light