"I'm so enraged!" I yelled at the TV that had Marid's face on it

"I want to . . . to" I could tell in my dad's voice what he wanted to do to Marid. He wanted to kill him.

"calm down Maxon" my mom was just as mad but she knew if dad got too mad the world would most likely end.

"Breaking news Marid Illea announced that Eadlyn Schreave was going to marry him before the Selection"

"ahhggg shut up TV!" the expression on Eikko's face was filled with shock and anger but he didn't say a word throughout all the yelling.

"mom can you please turn off the TV" my mom reached for the remote and quickly turned it off then my dad spoke

"we need to do something about this"

"maybe we could have a reporter interview us or we can invite Marid to the palace or maybe . . ." my mom paused and looked at me and then dad.

"may Maxon and I have a conversation alone" Brice, Eikko and I walked into the hall quietly.

"do you know what they're discussing?" Eikko asked. Brice and I shook our heads in response

"we can only imagine" I said looking at the door. We stood there in silence trying to see if we could hear any of their conversation. After about ten minutes the door opened, getting our attention. It was my dad.

"you may come back in now" Brice walked in first and I waited for Eikko to get near me so I could hold his hand. When I got hold of his hand I squeezed it scared of what the solution was that my parents had come up with.

"Eadlyn your father and I've been talking and we think that the best way to resolve this is to come to an agreement with him" I rolled my eyes tired of trying to agree with unreasonable people

"and how will we do that?" I asked

"we are going to invite him over to the palace for a formal meeting" my eyes widened at my dad's solution

"are you kidding me!" I yelled too stressed with this whole situation

"Eadlyn calm down we need to discuss this with him calmly without threatening people" my face got so red with anger. I could not believe that, that rodent would come back into the palace since the last time that we spoke. I calmed down with breathing exercises.

"okay . . . when is he coming over?"

"in a week"

The preparations for the formal meeting with Marid were exhausting. Who should be at the meeting? What table center piece should there be? What was the meeting going to talk about other than the lies that Marid spreads about me? The days went by in a flash with all the work that had to be done and the anxiety of the meeting.

"welcome, Marid" the butler said as Brice, dad, mom, Eikko and I were at the palace stairs smiling. Kaden and Osten were not there because this topic was "too stressful" for them apparently. When Marid got closer to the steps I got even more mad but had to keep smiling for the public's sake.

"Hello Prime Minister Brice" Brice nodded her head in acknowledgement

"hello Mr. Schreave" he held out his hand for a handshake and my dad took it to be polite but I could see he didn't want to.

"Miss. Schreave" once again he held out his hand for a hand shake and once again my mom took it even though she didn't want to. When he got to Eikko Marid's smile faded into a frim line and didn't even say hello to him but still held out his hand for a shake.

"Hello Miss. Eadlyn" this time when I saw he went in for a hug I held out my hand for a shake and he gladly took it. I was discussed with myself to even touch the human (more like monster). When we all got into the palace, I noticed Marid was walking extremely close to me so I moved closer to Eikko clinging on to his arm. When Eikko looked over at Marid I could sense the tension in the hall. I looked over to my parents and they seemed just as uncomfortable as me.

When we got to the conference room Brice took a seat at the head of the table and my parents were by her side on the sides of the table. I sat next to my mom and Eikko sat next to my dad while Marid was at the foot of the table.

"so, Marid I'm pretty sure you can already guess why you're here"

"is it because I told the world that Eadlyn and I were going to get married before the selection?"

"yes" I looked at Brice when she said that. It was so blunt but I was glad she was up front with him

"as you probably already know Eadlyn is pregnant and saying these kinds of things right now is not good for your public image when they find out you were lying to them all along"

"excuse me I was not lying to them"

"Marid you were I was never going to marry you then and never will now or in the future" his face got red with anger at the conversation. Eikko and I glanced at each other before I spoke again

"the lies you're telling the media can either stop now with an apology to the country with a misunderstanding or we can send you to court" his face got redder with my statement and Brice took over

"which one is it Marid, court or apology" Marid shook his head in frustration

"neither because what I said was true"

"no, it wasn't Marid. Any relationship we've ever had was a business one" he put his hand on mine and I pulled away as fast as I could

"do not touch my daughter" dad exclaimed with anger. I looked at Eikko and he was furious about what Marid was doing and saying. My mom tapped me on the shoulder and whispered,

"I think we need to switch seats there's a draft" she winked at me and I understood what she was trying to do. I got up with her and we switched spots as quickly as we could.

"now we can either do this the easy way or the hard way"

"I'm not going down without a fight"

"and we won't either" my dad said standing.

"I guess this is now war" Marid said standing taller than my dad

"I guess it is"

We all left the room angrily. Eikko and I went to our room while mom and dad went to see Marid out.

"is all of that true?"

"heavens no why would you think that?!" even the thought of Marid and I being more than friends was enough to make me want to vomit.

"I'm sorry for all of this"

"no, I'm sorry I didn't tell the people about him before and now he's making ludicrous accusations" I kicked at the carpet angry enough to murder Marid myself. Eikko held me and kissed me on the forehead

"it's going to be all right" he whispered. I dug my face into his chest trying to get away from all the drama I've could have prevented. It was a couple of minutes until I spoke again

"I can't believe that our child is going to be born into this drama"

"neither can I" I looked up at him and we both were close to tears. sad that our son or Daughter will have to be born into this.

There was a firm knock on the door and I walked over to the door while blinking back tears. When I opened the door, and I was surprised to see Kaden standing there.

"Hi Eaddy, are you alone?"

"no Eikko is in here with me"

"can we talk in private?"

"yes"

"I'll leave"

"no Eikko you don't have to leave"
"no I actually have to do something" as Eikko left I wondered what he had to do but focused on the problem at hand.

"what's the matter Kaden?"

"can you keep a secret?"

"yes . . ." he paused a minute and I thought the worst

"did you break the law"

"no! I would never . . . but" he seemed embarrassed to talk to me

"I have a crush"

"on who?"

"I'm not saying!"

"oh, come on you have to tell me"

"never . . . not until I know she likes me back or not"

"ahhhgggg just tell me already"

"NO! I will never"

"well I have to get going and if you're not going to tell me what are you still doing here! Go ask her out!"

"I'm leaving"

"okay good bye. remember to ask her out!" the door slammed and I was left in the room to my own thoughts. Who was this girl that Kaden liked? There are no real girls at the palace only women. Who could he have liked? Someone from a different country maybe? Someone via social media? But why wouldn't he tell me. There was a sudden knock on the door.

"who is it?" I asked

"I have a letter from your father"

"come in" I walked over to the door and was surprised to see General Leger standing with an envelope.

"hello General Leger"

"Hello Miss. Schreave" he handed the letter to me and he left

"oh, good bye General" he nodded as he walked down the hall and I opened the envelope. It read, please come see me in the office in fifteen minutes

-Dad

I started to go to the office but remembered it said in fifteen minutes so I went to see where Eikko was but I couldn't find him anywhere and by the time fifteen minutes had passed I was still looking for Eikko. I quickly went up to the office and saw my dad there with mom.

"hi mom and dad why did you want to see me?"

"well not seeing off Marid was probably the best decision for you but the media might not take it that well they might suspect that something bad happened between you two"

"something bad did happen between us. Wait when did you two start getting more involved in media now?" they both looked at each other for a second and then my mom talked

"well this was something that happened while you were the queen and you don't want you name to be a bad one when you're older or when you die" I was shocked to hear my mom say that

"mom I'm only eighteen"

"you never know what can happen" when my dad said that a shiver went down my spine. They both seemed to remember something and it was probably the massacre.

"look whatever is in the newspapers I'll handle it" I started walking away and my mom grabbed me by the hand.

"we need to talk in the women's room tomorrow"