"Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway." – Mary Kay Ash

"C'mon Abel, please calm down so Mommy can get some sleep." I whispered to Abel as he cried. His face was wrinkled up to a pink mess and his lusty cries echoed through the top floor of the palace, greeting his father as he walked in the nursery. "Maybe Daddy can placate you since he seems to be the only one with that ability these days." I passed him off to Maxon, who laughed.

He smiled at me. "Well we know who his favorite is, at least."

I rolled my eyes and put away some of the clothes that I had received as presents from my family. "He looks so much like you already. It only makes sense. Maybe we could have another baby soon and I could be their favorite."

He snapped his head around to look at me, leaning against the armoire. "Another baby? Really? It's so soon."

I laughed and shrugged. "Well, I didn't mean right now. Maybe we could start trying soon and then eventually…" I bit my lip nervously. "If you're not ready, I don't want to push you at all I just…I don't know. We're finally on stable ground with Abel."

Abel had just stopped crying and his eyes were drooping. Maxon put him in his crib and came to me, resting his hands on my shoulders. "How about this? We wait another couple years," he put a finger over my mouth to stop my protest, "just until Abel is more independent. Then we can talk about having another baby."

"Okay." I sighed, allowing him to kiss my forehead. "Do you mind if I come to the meeting today?"

He checked his watch. "Yeah. It starts in an hour, in the conference room across my our studies." He told me, leaving the room.

"Sir, there simply aren't enough troops. Men are dying by the hundreds every week. No one is volunteering to go into that. We haven't seen anything like this since the American Vietnam War." General Artois said grimly. "We saw a small upsurge when you joined the forces several years ago but since then those soldiers contracts have expired. We're going to have to pull back in Italy."

I looked over at my husband, standing at the window. He looked out over the gardens as he swooshed his drink around in his glass. I knew he was struggling to find a way to win a losing situation but I wasn't use to him drinking during the day when we didn't have guests visiting. I guessed dealing with the war and Abel at the same time was putting enough weight on his shoulders for him to feel the need for a drink. He sighed and turned to face all of us. "Issue a draft," he told them in a steely voice.

"A draft?" General Miller repeated.

"Sir, the more men we send, the more men die," Carter said.

Maxon looked at me and spoke because he knew he needed to convince me too. "We're outnumbered. When I was in New Asia, we would lose men simply because there wasn't enough men there to deliver artillery to those of us on the front line." I only half-agreed with him. I knew that more men would equal more Aspens. "Issue a draft for able-bodied men of the age of twenty-two. I want twenty percent brought here to be palace guards. The rest I want on the ground in Italy in no greater, no less than six weeks. Pull out one hundred troops from the rebel platoons and send them to Italy in the next week. They'll make do until the draftees get there."

The advisers looked around the table at each other with uneasy expressions. I folded my hands and chewed on the inside of my lip. "Men that are twenty-two to twenty-four." I spoke up, making every head in the room swivel in my direction. "I don't want any more people to die either but in order to stop that we need to send as many men possible to help the ones there already."

Maxon looked at me and then nodded. "Queen America is right," he said to the advisers looking uncomfortable. "A draft is our only option. Able-bodied men between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-four."

"Would you like to start in a specific caste, sir?" General Miller asked.

Before he had finished the question, Maxon was shaking his head. "Absolutely not. All castes are equal. I don't want to pull more men from one than another."

"The people are not going to like this," General Artois pointed out. "They've been unhappy enough as it is."

"Well you should leave that to me and Queen America to handle," Maxon snapped.

Carter sighed. "Have we received any news relating to Officer Leger's status?"

My eyes rose to meet Maxon's, who turned to Carter and shook his head sadly. "But we're not giving up on him."

"Sir, allow me to speak frankly for everyone in this room. Officer Leger was a superior guard here at the palace and I have no doubt that he was anything less as a soldier overseas but with that said, I don't think there is a lot he would not do to save his country. If they tried torturing him for information, there was very little preventing him from simply laying down his life." General Artois spoke with a grave expression on his face.

I got cold. Aspen couldn't be dead. I simply wouldn't allow it to happen. "We'll keep searching," I told him. "Whether we find a body or not, we will keep searching until the last of our resources are exhausted."

"And if the Italians decide to attack Illéa, or more importantly, Angeles? Is there a plan in place?" Carter asked.

"The same one that has always been in place. However, we will have to rework some things due to the proximity of Italy to our other allies in Europe." Maxon turned to me and I nodded to him, giving him the signal that everything had been addressed. "This meeting is dismissed. We'll meet again next week to discuss our next move."

Later, when we were asleep in our bedroom, we were woken by a loud knock. Maxon bolted from the bed and instructed for me to put my robe on and get Abel. When I ran back in I was met with Maxon. "The rebels, they're back…and they're here."

So what's going to happen? I should have told you guys before about this but unfortunately, this will likely be the last time I update in a week or so because I'm leaving tomorrow to go to the beach for a week. I'll try my best to get some writing done when I'm away so I can update as soon as I get home. Thanks y'all! Please review!

P.S. Since I'm getting so many comments and questions about their ages, America is now 24 and Maxon is 26. It's my fault because I confused America's age in the beginning. Here's a timeline: America was seventeen when she married Maxon, eighteen when she had Libby, twenty-one when Maxon went to war in New Asia, twenty-three when Libby was sick, and is now twenty-four. And Maxon is pretty much two years older than her. Don't worry, I'll post a chapter with celebrating one of their birthdays soon!