A/N: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! One more chapter to go. Let me know what has been your favorite part of the story so far and what you are hoping to see out of the last chapter!
ASPEN'S POV
"Officer Leger!" Someone was frantically shaking me. I sat up, alert, as my training had taught me. The shadows on the wall told me I had been unconscious for several hours.
"Officer Leger, King Maxon is awake. He is raving about Lady America and demanded we find you…"
"She's fine," I interrupted, relaxing back onto my pillow. "Go tell him she is fine."
The doctor hesitated, continuing. "I'm quite certain he will want to talk to you directly."
I let out a sigh and rubbed my forehead. I doubted I was the person Maxon would want to see right now and I was too exhausted to be yelled at. "Of course. Take me to him."
As a nurse wheeled me to the end of the hall, I could hear the commotion coming from inside the room ahead.
"Where is she?" Maxon's yell was strained with pain. "I need to see her right now."
I heard a doctor's voice trying to calm him. "Your Majesty, please. You are going to injure yourself."
He was sitting up in his bed, advisors and medical staff swarmed around him. He froze as I was wheeled around the corner. "Leger, where is she? Was she injured? Please, I need…"
"Your Majesty, she is fine." I kept my voice steady, trying to calm him. The crazed look in his eye didn't suit the now-king, but I knew too well how he felt. "She was screaming at me for locking her in a safe room the last time I saw her, completely unharmed."
His entire body relaxed and he leaned back on his bed, pressing his hands to his face. "That woman is going to be the death of me. I was so…" It seemed he suddenly realized he was surrounded by people. "And Kriss?"
"Also safely tucked away in a safe room."
He looked around, his eyes finally settling on a guard at the door. "Leger, tell this officer where she is, I need to see her for myself." I instructed the guard on the location of the safe room and he turned to run down the hall. Maxon continued, "Everyone else, please leave Officer Leger and I."
A knot grew in my stomach as one by one, everyone left the room. Maxon's eyes were trained on mine, deep in thought.
After a long pause, he sighed, leaning further into his bed. "Thank you, Leger. You have no idea how worried…" he glanced over to me, seeming to realize perhaps I did understand. "You saved her life, which is a debt I can never repay. And then you turned around and risked your life to save mine. I am deeply grateful."
"I was happy to do my duty," I replied. "And America needed you alive."
He studied me carefully. "Before. In the hallway…"
"A big misunderstanding, sir."
His face was unreadable. "Do you mind explaining?"
I thought carefully about my words, "I confess, when America arrived, I pursued her. We had several… unauthorized interactions." If looks could kill, I would be a dead man. The heat from his glare caused me to stumble over my words. "After the… incident on the report, when she was going home, I told her I would marry her when my service was done." My voice cracked and I took a deep breath before continuing. "She asked me not to contact her. After she was allowed to stay… she ended it. Sir."
I was surprised at the anger I saw in his eyes as he stared at me, judging the truth in my words. "And the hallway?"
"Was my fault, sir. I was surprised… upset, after…" Embarrassingly thinking back to seeing the two of them in bed. "I was worried about her safety. She assured me… she had not broken any laws. Which is when you saw us."
He ran his hand through his hair. "I almost lost everything," he mumbled to himself before looking up. "Thank you, Leger. Again." He reached out to shake my hand.
MAXON POV
I shook the hand of America's first love. The tug of jealousy pulled at me, but I realized I would have to forgive him eventually. He had given himself to her and she had rejected him, I now knew how that felt. In addition, he had kept her safe when I was unable to. I would forever be in his gratitude.
A bustle of activity caught both our attention. A guard was walking in the hospital wing, red hair spilling from the bundle in his arms, a nurse trailing behind. "America," I choked, sitting up and pulling wires from my arm.
Officer Leger was obviously taken aback, "She was fine," he whispered to himself.
The nurse who had followed America into the room rushed over to me before I could stand up. "Your majesty, she is going to be fine." She pushed me forcefully back onto the bed. "She had minor cuts on her arm, it looks as though she had been trying to escape the safe room. She seems to be in some kind of shock. A little rest and she will be absolutely fine."
Escaping the safe room? I laughed briefly before moaning at the pain in my shoulder. "Of course she was," I mumbled. Did she ever think for a single moment about her own safety?
Officer Leger let out a chuckle and began wheeling himself back to his bed. "Good luck, your majesty."
The officer had carried America into an adjoining room, I could see her face, pale as death and covered in tears, as he walked by. I waited anxiously until the doctor came out from examining her.
"Your majesty," he bowed and took the seat beside me. "Lady America is resting peacefully. We have given her something to help her sleep."
I nodded, "Thank you."
He hesitated before continuing. "Sir, there is something else. I'm afraid you were so distressed after surgery we didn't want to risk telling you…"
I looked up at him, "What is it?" A part of me sank. My mother. I had been so consumed with my worry for America, I hadn't noticed my mother wasn't here. She would have been here.
"It is the King and Queen, sir. I'm very sorry. We tried to save them but it was too late by the time they were discovered."
My world was spinning. My mother, the one good constant I had in my life. "Take me to her, please."
The doctor hesitated and fetched a wheelchair. They were resting in an adjoined room, their bodies so close together they were almost touching. My mother seemed so peaceful, so lovely. "What happened?" I asked softly. The doctor told me the story, that my mother had tried to save my father. I sighed, knowing she would be happy to die for him. Hadn't I tried to do the same for America? My mother would be proud of me.
I looked over to my father half expecting him to scold me from the grave. He could be harsh and cruel, but he was my father. Looking at his face, I expected to feel as though a weight was lifted from my shoulders. I would no longer have to live in fear and I could make my own choices. Instead, I felt as though the weight of the whole country had been placed on my back. I was alone, without my mother's comfort or my father's advice. I needed to figure out a way to run this country and not become him.
Suddenly exhausted, I motioned for the nurse to wheel me out of the room, saying goodbye forever.
An advisor met me outside of the door, bowing. "Your Majesty, it would be best if we took you to your room. The doctor is satisfied with your recovery so far and will check on you each hour. The beds are filling up and it is not appropriate for the king to be down here."
"I can't leave America," I protested. "I want to be here when she wakes up."
"Of course Your Majesty, but there is work to attend to, and some unresolved matters to clear up." He cleared his throat, "Lady Kriss is in a room down the hall getting checked out.
I ran a hand through my hair, feeling drained. It was one thing to be forced to leave America, another to have this conversation with Kriss. "Fine. Send someone to me the moment America wakes up. Please give me a few minutes and then send up Lady Kriss."
"I think you missed a turn," I said to the nurse as we glided past my room.
She slowed slightly, "King Maxon, I have been asked to take you to your new quarters."
King Maxon… that was going to take some getting used to. "Of course. Um, do you mind if we stop by my… old bedroom first? There are some things I need."
"Of course, your majesty," she said as she turned me around.
