I don't own The Selection Trio by Kiera Cass
Five more months have passed. Camping without the parents was a blast, although it was a lot of work we got through it. Marlee's stomach has grown huge and her and Carter got married about a month ago. Of course, I was the maid of honor. That wedding was small but beautiful. Owen and I's relationship thrived. I barely talked to anyone from Illea except for my family who came to visit when they could. Nic and I did that competition and I got first and she tied for second. We entered another and the same scores. I haven't ridden in a while because I've been busy with the camps and programs which have been up and running perfectly for about a week. And about three weeks ago, Owen proposed. We did almost the same exact thing as our first date in the secret garden, except the part where we were laying on the blanket and he pulled out a ring and held it in front of me. One of the best nights of my life. We started wedding planning and all just last week.
"Marlee, how do you like being pregnant?" I asked her as we were sitting in the women's lounge.
"Painful but amazing. I can't thank you enough. I would not be here if it wasn't for you." she gushed.
"Stop it. You have thanked me almost every day." I told her.
"Well I was going to die." she shrugged.
"Now your aren't so stop thinking about it." I demanded. She loved me for saving her.
"America, huge problem." Reagan announced walking through the door. "Marlee, hey." she added and turned towards me.
"What's wrong this time Reagan?" I asked her.
"Aaron told me he loved me." she said.
"What's wrong with that?" I questioned.
"I, sorta, kinda, maybe said, 'yeah you too.'" she told me.
"Oh, Reagan." Marlee sighed. Reagan walked over to the couch across from us and flopped down.
"Mother is no help and I tried asking Owen to talk to Aaron but he said no." she said.
"Well do you love him?" I asked her.
"I don't know. I never know any of my emotions." she sighed. "And I can never express them because I don't know how. What did you do?"
"Our date when Marlee was arriving, that's when he first said I love you. We were only together for two months. But loved each other and we couldn't help it. We showed it and we knew more about each other than I ever knew about Maxon or Aspen." I told her.
"So your saying that, I have to make sure I really know him." she said.
"Sort of." I replied.
"Carter and I said our first I love you's after we were caned." Marlee informed.
"Oh god." Reagan said, the visual going into her head.
"Marlee." I whispered.
"What? It's true." she whispered back.
"She doesn't need to know the caning details." I told her.
"So what's the whole point of this?" Reagan asked.
"The point is, we knew. We always thought about him, when he wasn't around. We spent time together and we loved our time together." I explained.
"I like him a lot. I love spending time with him. We have the best times together and we've been dating for almost 6 months and we've had sex." she told me.
"Are you using a…" I begun.
"Yes!" Reagan interrupted and blushed. Marlee and I laughed.
"So do you love him?" Marlee asked. Reagan was silent for a second.
"Yeah, I guess so." she said.
"Then go make it up to him." I demanded, she stood up and hugged me and then Marlee.
"You two are life savers." she said and walked out of the room.
"We give great advice." Marlee bragged, and I laughed. Lauren walked through the door, she was the 13 year old, twin sister to Lewis. Lauren always seemed on the phone talking to random people are going random places. Lauren was talking on the phone.
"Okay, I'll ask her now." Lauren said. "Ames, what was that girl's name who was eliminated because she said some bad things about you?" she questioned.
"Janelle Stanton." I replied.
"You heard that?" she asked the person on the other side of the phone, I looked at Marlee who shrugged. "Okay, bye." she said and hung up the phone.
"What was that about?" Marlee asked.
"Nothing." she answered. "Alright, I'm here for my weekly gossip. So spill." she said and sat down at the same spot Reagan was.
"It's only Friday, Lauren. We don't have everything." I explained.
"They need an update now." she responded.
"Who is they?" Marlee asked.
"My people. Now please." she said. I sighed.
"Okay, May is coming to the palace with her new boyfriend." I began.
"I'm having a boy." Marlee added.
"That's amazing. Have you thought of names?" Lauren exclaimed. Marlee shook her head.
"I will." she replied and pushed hair out of her eyes.
"Okay, I have gossip from Illea." I began, Lauren's eyes lit up. "Kriss and Maxon are on the verge of divorcing. According to Celeste and the maids, they have argued almost every day. They rarely sleep together anymore and they are always super distant." I told her.
"I need to get inside that castle." Lauren whispered to herself.
"There isn't much this week." Marlee informed.
"Unless you heard about your sister's whole love debacle then this is all we got." I shrugged.
"Yeah I heard. She tried to come to me for help, but I'm thirteen and I just had my first real kiss." she said. I laughed at her.
"With who?" Marlee asked.
"Prince Jarmarki from Russia." Lauren blushed and lowered her head.
"It wasn't just a kiss. They were making out. I interrupted them." I told her. Marlee started laughing.
"Oh, god." Lauren breathed out.
"I'm sorry, L. It's just I can imagine what America said when she found you guys." Marlee smiled.
"I said, 'Lauren, if your going to make out with Jarmy next time make sure it's more private.' Those two just blushed so hard." I laughed.
"Stop it!" Lauren exclaimed.
"Okay, okay." I said and crossed my legs. Lauren stood up.
"If you two are done harassing me, then I will be leaving." she said and walked out of the room.
"How come you never told me about that?" Marlee asked.
"I promised her that I wouldn't tell anyone." I responded. I looked over to the piano, and stood up walking over. Marlee followed me and sat down in the chair.
"Okay, remember that song that we came up with?" I said, and I started playing the beginning. Marlee smiled.
"Head under water, and you tell me, to breath easy for a while. The breathing gets harder, even I know that." Marlee began.
"Made room for me, it's too soon to see, if I'm happy in your hands. I'm unusually hard to hold onto." I continued.
"Blank stares at blank pages no easy way to say this. You mean well, but you make this hard on me." Marlee
"I'm not gonna write you a love song 'cause you asked for it, 'cause you need one, you see. I'm not gonna write you a love song, 'cause you tell me it's make or breaking this. If you're on your way I'm not gonna write you to stay. If all you have is leavin', I'ma need a better reason to write you a love song today, today, yeah" Together we sang that in perfect harmony.
"I learned the hard way that they all say, things you want to hear." Marlee started off the second verse.
"My heavy heart sinks deep down under, you and your twisted words. Your help just hurts, you are not what I thought you were. Hello to high and dry. Convince me to please you, make me think that I need this too. I'm trying to let you hear me as I am." I finished off the second verse.
"I'm not gonna write you a love song. 'cause you asked for it, 'cause you need one, you see. I'm not gonna write you a love song, 'cause you tell me it's make or breaking this. If you're on your way I'm not gonna write you to stay. If all you have is leavin', I'ma need a better reason to write you a love song today." We sang together.
"Promise me you'll leave the light on To help me see With daylight, my guide, gone 'Cause I believe there's a way You can love me because I say I'm not gonna write you a love song 'Cause you asked for it 'Cause you need one, You see." Marlee sang, her voice was a rare one, like mine.
"I'm not gonna write you a love song 'Cause you tell me it's Make or breaking this Is that why you wanted a love song? 'Cause you asked for it 'Cause you need one, you see I'm not gonna write you a love song 'Cause you tell me it's Make or breaking this Or you're on your way I'm not gonna write you to stay." We sang.
"If your heart is nowhere in it I don't want it for a minute Babe, I'll walk the seven seas when I believe that There's a reason to write you a love song Today, today." I finished off the song with the last note and looked at Marlee. There was clapping from behind us. I turned around. Carter was standing there.
"Dinner time." Carter said. Marlee stood up and walked over to Carter, while I walked and my phone and slipped it into my pocket. I walked up to them and walked behind them. I looked at Marlee a lot. How she's having a baby. I've always wanted one, maybe more than one because I love children. But for some reason, I wanted to wait. We walked into the dining room and saw only half the family there. Caroline and Brandon weren't there.
"Where's Owen, Caroline and Brandon?" I asked. Trevor shrugged as we sat down.
"That's odd." I whispered. The maids started bringing food out and we ate our food. After we finished, a bell started ringing. Four rings. We were under attack.
"Attack, Your Highnesses, Lady America, Marlee and Carter we need to go know." Another guard said. We all stood up and were rushed to the secret room.
"Where are they?" Lewis asked.
"I don't know Your Highness." a guard said.
"Find them!" Emily yelled and started shaking. I walked over to her and sat down next to her. She clung onto me, and I rubbed her back. I find it best to stay calm in these situations. Everyone sees me as a calm person but inside I'm all rattled up. There were only a few guards, with us while the rest were looking for them and fighting off whoever was attacking us. I looked to my corner to see Cadence rocking in the corner, she was only ten.
"I'll be back, Em." I told her and walked over to Cadence. I bent my knees and looked at her on the floor.
"How are you so calm?" she asked with a shaky voice.
"Trust me, inside my stomach is turning. I know your worried but listen they'll be fine." I told her.
"Last time we had an attack, we lost our grandparents." she told me, I sighed.
"You have to have hope no matter what the past or the facts say. Okay?" I whispered.
"Okay." she nodded. I stood up and walked back over to Emily, where Lewis was holding her. I smiled and then continued to a guard.
"Where are they?" I asked him.
"I have guards out there now." he told me.
"What is taking so long? There are roughly 200 guards in this castle. It should not be so hard to find them and shoot anyone who does not belong in the castle." I told him.
"We are trying." he answered.
"Try harder!" I exclaimed and turned around. I put a hand to my forehead and sat down in a chair. We were all silent hoping everything was okay. About half an hour later, another two guards walked in. I stood up.
"Lady America, the attackers are gone." he told me.
"But something's wrong?" I asked him.
"Can we talk in private?" he asked me. I nodded and we walked out of the room.
"What's going on officer?" I questioned.
I left you all hanging. Sorry!