Hey Readers :) So here's the next chapter. I'd like to thank you all again for the reading, reviewing, favoring, following and everything else. I loved writing this chapter. I hope you love this chapter and hopefully don't hate me by the end of it. :)
Chapter 7:
Maxon quickly grabs my hand and leads me out of the room. We start running down the hall to the closest safe room, knowing we are too far to reach the royal safe room. Maxon pushes his hand against the hall and a hidden door opens. He pulls me into the room and locks the door behind us. I look around the room. There isn't much here except a small toilet, one chair, a bench and a shelf with blankets and water bottles on it. I walk over and sit on the bench allowing myself to let out the breath I was holding. Maxon pulls over the chair and sits in front of me. We sit in silence listening to the muffled noise of the attack as Maxon plays with my fingers. "What was the meeting about?" I finally ask, not wanting to talk about the attack. "We were talking about considering on not removing the caste till the New Year. That way we could get the country back on track before changing the way it works. Of course, we didn't come to a conclusion because I needed to go on the report but we were supposed to decide right afterwards." He says looking deeply into my eyes. I'm kind of mad that I wasn't included in the meeting but I know that it won't help arguing over it right now. "I want to join the meeting once it starts again." I whisper. Maxon nods and kisses my forehead. He pulls me onto his lap and holds me there as I start crying. "What's wrong my darling?" Maxon asks looking down at my tear stained face. I look into his chocolate brown eyes and cry harder. "I don't want my baby to worry about rebel attacks while it's trying to nap." Maxon looks down at me confused. "Darling, where did that come from?" "I don't know but I'm scared to bring this baby into a world full of rebel attacks." I cry into his chest. "America, I know you're scared but this is the world we live in. The baby will get use to this like I did. Remember I was born into this. I promise you our family will be fine." Maxon soothes. We sit there for a while waiting to be let out. "Darling, we've been here for an hour, I think you should lie down and get some rest." He says moving me off his lap and onto the bench. "Alright but wake me up, when we are let out." I say not wanting to miss the meeting later.
I'm woken up by the sound of the door opening. "I found the King and Queen." A guard calls out. I see Maxon sleeping in the chair next to me. I look down at his watch, its 11 pm. We've been in here for five hours. "Maxon wake up. The attack is over." I say as I shake his shoulder. Maxon starts to stir and opens his eyes. "Your Majesties, there was a lot of damage to the palace and there's no way to get you to the third floor without seeing a lot of it." Explains the guard. "That's okay officer David. I need to go talk to the Captain, but could you escort the Queen to her suite and make sure Mary brings up a snack for her and stays in her suite tonight. No objections." Maxon commands and looks at me for the last part. I decide against fighting him on it, we've both had a long night. Maxon gets up and leaves the room quickly. I follow the guard out of the safe room but I regret leaving the safety of the room. All I see is blood covering the walls and floors. I look to the ground to see an outline of a body. I shudder at the sight and quicken my pace. "Is every hallway like this?" I ask wondering how much damage there truly is. "Sadly yes, luckily most of the staff got to safe rooms before they got to the lower floors." The guard explains.
We finally reach my suite and the guard takes off again in search of Mary. I enter my suite to find my room torn apart. The bed sheets are ripped and on the floor, my dresses are thrown all over the place, the glass on my balcony doors is smashed and to top it off there was a message waiting for me on the wall. "The heir will be ours!" I scream and fall to the ground crying. I feel like my soul has escaped my body as guards and maids come rushing into my room to see why I scream. I feel arms wrap around me and carry me away from my suite. I end up in my study sitting at my desk. I realize that it was Aspen who carried me away and is now sitting in front of me. "Mer, snap out of it. You're fine." Aspen keeps repeating this as I slowly come back. "They want my baby." I whisper as tears fall from my eyes. Aspen pulls me into his arms. "Mer, we are going to get to the bottom of this as quick as we can. They are cleaning your room as we speak and Carter ran off to find Maxon and tell him." Suddenly the door opens and Mary and Marlee come in with a tray of food and coffee. "Oh America, you're okay." Marlee exclaims and I notice that little Kile is in her arms with tear stains on his face. I know that these attacks are not easy for him especially if Marlee or Carter isn't around when the alarm goes off. "I'm not really okay considering someone wants to take my baby away." I cry as Aspen excuses himself from the room. "Oh, I heard about that. I'm so sorry." Marlee hugged me tight. I take Kile from her arms and cuddle him as Mary pours us coffee. "You should have some too Mary. It's going to be a long night." I say as I sip my coffee and bounce Kile on my knee. "Where were you when the alarm went off?" I ask Mary and Marlee hoping they were nowhere near the attack. "We were both in the kitchens watching the report on the small TV. Thankfully Kile was with me and not in our apartment alone with a nanny." Marlee answers. We sit and gossip for several minutes until Carter comes in. "America, you are needed in a meeting right now." Carter explains as he takes Kile from my arms. As I leave the room I hear Carter whisper "You both should go help clean the royal suites. Even more damage was done than America saw in there and they aren't even half done cleaning."
I enter the meeting room to see many advisors sitting at the table. "What's going on?" I ask half scared of the answer. The advisors remain quiet and look down at the table. I can tell it's really bad news when they don't speak up. "America, it wasn't rebels who attacked. There was way too many of them to even consider them to be rebels. They were masked and managed to get to the kitchens and servant quarters. Thankfully the rooms weren't damaged down there. I already talked to August and Georgina and they are looking into it for us and are sending some of their troops to be trained at guards to replace the ones we lost tonight." Maxon explains as he leads me over to a seat. "How many people did we lose tonight?" "About 40 guards and 3 maids died tonight and many others are injured." Maxon explains. We spend the next hour discussing plans to help our falling nation. My head is spinning from all the issues we have to deal with now. We are interrupted by Carter coming into the room. "Your majesties, I'm sorry to interrupt but someone is on the phone and demands to talk to you both right now." We look at each other and leave the room as quick as we can.
We enter Maxon's study and sit at his desk. I look at the phone and see the hold button flashing. "America, I want you to stay quiet if they say something. I don't want you saying anything you don't mean and put everyone's lives in even more danger." Maxon says as he looks in my eyes. I nod and grab his hand, terrified of who is on the other line. Maxon hits the hold button and answers. "Good day, its King Maxon and Queen America here. May I ask who you are?" We sit in silence until a man's voice breaks through. "Well, I thought you would have figured out who was attacking you by now since you've killed so many of my troops. But since you young leaders are so stupid and blind, I guess I could tell you." Sneered the voice. At that moment I wanted to go through the phone and strangle him but I remembered my promise to Maxon. "So who are you?" Maxon asks, getting tired of all this uncertainty. "What, no ragging comments from the red haired Queen? I thought I could get something from you and your ugly red hair. But since you are both being stubborn I might as well tell you who I am. I am the Emperor of New Asia." The Emperor says as both of our jaws drop. I squeeze Maxon's hand and look into his worried chocolate brown eyes. "What can we do for you Emperor in order to stop this war and get your troops off my land for good?" Maxon demands getting straight to the point. "Well as you know, my wife has recently given birth to our second child, our daughter Nissa. Our three year old son is excited as ever for a little sister." "What are you getting at?" Maxon interrupts getting inpatient. "Well our daughter and son both need to get married once they are of age. I believe that this is the perfect way to join our country in peace." The emperor says. "So you want an arranged marriage between our daughter and your son. If we have a daughter." I say completely in shock. Maxon looks at me in fear. We never thought we would have to arrange our daughter's wedding before she was even born. "Well that's the thing; you may not have a daughter. So whatever the gender, our children can still marry. I now have a daughter your son can marry." "So your daughter would come over here to marry our son?" Maxon asked. "Oh no, he would come over here and take the throne from my son. We do need a King and we need to take this child. Mostly because of the bad genes you have in your family. This maybe the only child we could negotiate over, if it lives." The emperor replies happy with himself. Maxon looks at me as I shake my head no. There is no way I'm giving up my only child. He gives me the "there's no other way look" but I'm not buying. "What would happen if we don't agree to this term?" I ask. "Well, then we will keep attacking your country until there is nothing left. I don't think you want that." I look at Maxon and start tearing up. I now know there is no other way. "Let us discuss this over the next few days and we will let you know our decision." Maxon says. "Take all the time you need, but for now will withdraw our troops to give them time to rest. Good day." And with that he was gone. By now I'm full on crying and can't stop.
Right after the phone call we walk to one of the extra suites on the third floor. As we walk by our suites my tears fall faster as I see my beautiful room now empty and being repainted. Maxon pulls me closer in is arms and walks quicker. As we reach the room I collapse on the bed and cry. I lay there as Maxon removes my shoes along with his and joins me in bed. "I'm so sorry Darling, I never thought they would try to take our child." He soothes as he kisses my cheek. I don't say anything I just cry harder into Maxon's chest. We both fall asleep like that. That night my nightmares haunt me with the loss of my child.
So that happened. I hope you liked this chapter :) Hopefully I won't take too long writing the next one. Thanks for reading and until next time.
-SelectionGirl0723
