AN: Kbobcora approached me with the idea of what would have happened if Maxon had been able to propose to Kriss before the Southern Rebels attacked. Would he still find a way to be with America? Or would he learn to love Kriss more? How would America even be able to win over an engaged man? This is that story.

And the first part of this chapter belongs to Kiera Cass. :)

The Great Room was packed. For once, instead of the king and queen being the focal point of the room, it was Maxon. On a slightly raised platform, Maxon, Kriss, and I sat at an ornate table. I felt as if our positioning was deceitful. I was on Maxon's right. I always thought being on someone's right was a good thing, an honored position. But so far he'd spent the entire time speaking to Kriss. As if I didn't already know what was coming.

I tried to seem happy as I looked around the room. It was packed. Gavril, of course, was in a corner, speaking into a camera, narrating the events as they happened.

Ashley smiled and waved, and beside her Anna winked at me. I gave them a nod, still too nervous to speak. Toward the back of the room, in deceptively clean clothes, August, Georgia, and some of the other

Northern rebels sat at a table by themselves. Of course Maxon would want them here to meet his new wife. Little did he know she was one of their own.

They surveyed the room tensely, as if they feared any second a guard would recognize them and attack.

The guards didn't seem to be paying attention though. In fact, this was the first time I'd ever seen them look so poorly focused, eyes meandering around the room, several of them on edge. I'd even noticed that one or two hadn't shaved and looked a little rough. It was a big event though. Maybe they were just rushed.

My eyes flitted over to Queen Amberly, speaking with her sister Adele and her gaggle of children. She looked radiant. She'd been waiting for this day for so long. She would love Kriss like her own. For a moment, I was so jealous of that fact.

I turned and scanned the faces of the Selected again, and this time my eyes landed on Celeste. I could see the clear question in her eyes: 'What are you so worried about? I gave her a minuscule shake of my head, letting her know that I'd lost. She sent me a thin smile and mouthed the words It'll be okay. I nodded, and I tried to believe her. She turned away, laughing at something someone said; and I final1y looked to my light, taking in the face of the guard stationed closest to our table.

Aspen was distracted though. He was looking around the room like so many of the other men in uniform, but he seemed to be trying to think of something. It was as if he was doing a puzzle in his head. I wished he would look my way, maybe try to explain wordlessly what he was worried about, but he didn't.

"Trying to arrange a time to meet later?" Maxon asked, and I whipped my head back.

"No, of course not."

"It's not like it matters. Kriss's family wil1 be here this afternoon for a small celebration, and yours wil1 be here to take you home. They don't like for the last loser to be alone. She tends to get dramatic."

He was so cold, so distant. It was as if it wasn't even Maxon at all. "You can keep that house if you want. It's been paid for. I'd like my letters back though."

"I read them," I whispered. "I loved them."

He huffed as if it was a joke. "Don't know what I was thinking."

"Please don't do this. Please. I love you." My face was crumpling.

"Don't. You. Dare," Maxon ordered through gritted teeth. "You put on a smile, and you wear it to the last second."

I blinked away the tears and gave a weak smile.

"That'll do. Don't let that slip until you leave the room, do you understand?" I nodded. He looked into my eyes. "I'll be glad when you're gone." After he spat out those last words, his smile returned and he faced Kriss again. I stared into my lap a minute slowing my breathing and putting on a brave face.

Maxon's POV

I was glad that America couldn't see how much I wanted to break. How much I still wanted to pull her into my arms and propose to her. But my anger had overcome me that I could hardly stand to see if she would only break my heart again. I had heard Celeste tell me she loved me. It was forced, fueled with giggles and fake smiles as she would say it. I could tell that America meant it. But I couldn't go through this pain again. At every chance I had given her, she had found a way to shatter my heart and break me again. I forced smiles and laughs with Kriss. It took everything I had to continue with this new decision.

The cameras started to roll and focus in on us. You love Kriss, too, the voice inside of my head told me. But it was forced and I knew it wasn't quite true. I looked at the guard—Aspen—who was really what America wanted, I told myself. This was like Carter and Marlee all over again. No wonder they had been so close! Were they laughing together behind my back? This idea only fueled more anger inside of me. I was supposed to say good things about the loser. Good things! I didn't want to say anything good about America, I knew where it would lead. The engagement ring inside of my hand was specifically made for her finger and now it would sit on Kriss'. I had to be able to accept that. I had to be able to ignore the woman I truly wanted to be with for someone who actually wanted to be with me.

"Lady America, thank you for being here with us and for allowing me to get to know you," I said through gritted teeth as the camera finally focused in on me. Tears threatened to break through my eyes and it only worsened when I saw the look of confusion on my mother's face and the look of pride on my father's. Of course he would be pleased with this decision. I immediately turned to Kriss and got down on my knee. "Will you marry me?" I tried to say with the upmost happiness. But I could see that she knew it wasn't there.

And the moment the words escaped my mouth, I wished I could pull them back, wanting to rush into America's arms. Wishing the yes was coming from her, not from Kriss. But it was too late for that. I had been taught my entire life of obligations and trust. I had made an obligation to Kriss now and I wasn't sure that I trusted or could ever trust America.

America's POV

I felt dizzy and shattered the moment I heard Kriss say yes. She gave me a mocking smile, as if she was finally happy that she was The One instead of me. I looked down at her ring. It was my birthstone! How stupid had I been, not forcing the truth out of my mouth last night as Maxon and I spoke of our future together. If I had shown any restraint at all we wouldn't be in this position right now. Surely, he would have understood that things were long over between Aspen and I. They had been since the day I was almost sent home. I looked over at Celeste, tears pooling in my eyes as the cameras focused on the two of them. Her family clapped and I could tell mine only looked shocked and confused. He was going to have his happy life with someone who wasn't me and now there was nothing I could do to win him back. King Clarkson would certainly make sure of that.

But, in a flash the happy day before Kriss and Maxon turned into something much darker. I saw guards pulling red ties from out of their coat pockets as one slowly slipped behind King Clarkson and another made his way towards Queen Amberly. "Long live the king!" He shouted, and a single shot was fired directly into the back of Clarkson's head.

I watched as people began to scream and run in a daze. A guard had his arm on the queen's shoulder, ready to make her kneel and fire in the back of her head. But something knocked him down first. "RUN!" Aspen shouted, getting up from where he had just fired. I watched as some of the Northern Rebels began to direct people out of the Great Room and towards different places of safety alongside the palace guards. The other rebels pushed themselves out of the room, looking as if they were headed out of the palace. I didn't understand why but my mind quickly shifted to the look of fear on Kriss's face as she clung onto her fiancé. Soon, I felt guards tugging on my arms as they pulled the three of us to safety. Luckily, somehow, we were put in the same room as several others: Celeste, Elise, and several others I couldn't identify. I could tell that Kriss was sobbing into Maxon's arms about how their engagement day had been ruined and how sorry she was for the loss of his father. Of course she would say that, she didn't know about the marks on his back. All of the suffering that Maxon had endured at the hands of his father for the sake of becoming a tougher ruler. For the sake of teaching his son to stop disappointing him.

Somehow, I just fell against Celeste crying silent tears of my own. I don't know how long I cried or how long we were in there. I just appreciated the friendship that had grown between us in the last few months and how grateful I was that she would let me cry into her. She must have been able to see that I truly loved Maxon.

When we were finally let out, I walked back to my room. No one was allowed to leave the palace. Nothing was allowed to continue. We were almost frozen as the remaining Elite, except for the fact that Kriss now had Maxon's ring glued to her finger. My ring. That's all I could think to myself. Did she know that was my birthstone? Had she made that connection yet? I decided it didn't matter as she probably wouldn't care. It was still her that was engaged to Maxon. I tried to ignore the knock on my door but found that I couldn't.

Celeste barged in with a spare key in her hands. She must have been able to bribe one of the guards to give it to her. "Crying won't get you anywhere, America," she scolded me. I wasn't in the mood for her lecture and decided to roll onto the other side of my bed to ignore whatever she had come in here to tell me. Probably something about how being one of the final two would make me so desirable to the rest of the eligible bachelors that I would find myself swarmed with. "He doesn't love her, you could see it." She continued pushing me off the bed from behind. "I can tell when people are lying and he doesn't want to be engaged to her."

"It doesn't matter, he didn't want me," I decided to omit the reason why. At least for now, Celeste didn't need to know. I didn't see what difference it would make anyway.

"You are being pathetic," she chastised me. "This isn't the same fighter five I've known since the beginning. If you were to pull your act together, you could still get him back."

Maxon's POV

As soon as we were released from the safe room, I took Kriss to go see her family before going off on my own to see and grieve with my mother. She looked completely heartbroken and it reminded me just how much she had always loved my father. He was laid out, most of his body covered by a sheet. But she still held onto his hand, whispering sweet things and for him to come back to her. I placed my hand on her shoulder, wanting to comfort her. Kriss had tried to comfort me but it didn't help with my mixed emotions. I loved my father but at least now there would never be a day where I had to confront him, fight him off from hurting me, hurting my wife, hurting my children. I closed my eyes and in that moment I knew.

I should've proposed to America.

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