A/N: Hi everyone. Sorry for the double upload earlier but here is what you have been waiting for. Thank you for the reviews and letting me know about the problem. I apologize for not being able to send the teaser to guest reviewers but I hope anyone I could send it to, enjoyed it. For anyone who wanted to know a little bit more about Kris, she appears in this chapter.

Chapter 50

America's POV

At breakfast, we sat around the dining room table like we had so many times. I now sat beside Maxon on one side of the table, and Elsie sat across from me. Kris sat across from Maxon. The King, as usual sat at the head of the table beside his Son. I had the good fortune to be sitting beside Queen Amberly.

The tension was thick. Kris was angry. She had been since last night when she confronted me about all the time I had been spending with Maxon. I hadn't been able to confirm for her the true nature of Maxon and my relationship. Apparently she found Maxon's distance and evasiveness to be upsetting. I didn't like putting Kris in this position. I knew how I felt when I thought I was losing Maxon to Kris: it hurt. I had warned Maxon that Kris would get hurt, but he insisted on continuing the Selection until we were able to sort out the information his mother had given us. Kris glared at me, while stabbing her sausages. I tried to act like it didn't bother me, like everything was normal. Maxon looked back and forth between us, clearly nervous, but not understanding fully what was happening.

Meanwhile, the Queen and Elsie spoke about the weather, the food, a walk they had had in the garden, fashion, and several other safe, non-invasive topics. King Clarkson ignored everyone which was really the only normal element this morning.

Maxon turned to ask me a question when all of a sudden, Kris threw her tea cup down; shards of fine china flew everywhere. Elsie screamed and ducked; the Queen held her face and turned away. Kris let out a scream that could only be described as inhuman and threw something at Maxon. I glimpsed a flash of silver in Kris's hand, just as her hand flexed above her head and released. I yelled, "Stop," but it was too late. Almost instantaneously Maxon let out a yelp and toppled over onto the floor.

It had all happened so fast, that I hesitated for a moment before my brain processed what had occurred and sent the order to my limbs to move. I dropped to the floor and crawled over to Maxon. Maxon's hand was on his forehead just above his right eye, but I didn't see any blood. I said his name.

Meanwhile King Clarkson had subdued Kris and handed her over to the guards. She could be heard screaming, as she was taken away, that she was sorry and she didn't mean to do it.

Maxon upon hearing me say his name, snapped out of his dazed state. When he removed his hand, there was no blood, but instead a round, red mark. He was alive and not injured. At that moment I spied the offending object. What I had thought was a knife, had in fact been a spoon. I was horrified at how fast the attack had happened. I suspected that Kris hadn't given any actual thought to what she had picked up. She had picked up the first utensil that her hand had come upon. It just happened to be a spoon.

Maxon quickly came to his senses and appeared highly embarrassed at having me fuss over him. As he focussed on me he discovered that the side of my face was covered with a number of tiny cuts that had obviously occurred when the tea cup exploded. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that my face was stinging. It felt like I had a bad sun burn.

Maxon quickly assessed Elsie and noted that she too had been injured. He assured everyone that he was fine and then he led us out and over to one of the salons. Queen Amberly followed with the assistance of King Clarkson. A guard confirmed that the Doctor had been sent for.

Once we were all settled, King Clarkson left presumably to deal with Kris's outburst. I shuddered at the thought of what was to become of her. I knew enough to realize that Kris was probably not going to survive this. Maxon was trying to put on a brave face, but he had been close to Kris. For all the jealousy and confusion I had felt concerning their relationship, at this moment, all I could feel was pain for Maxon and fear for Kris's future.


I bet none of you saw that coming!

I have enjoyed writing this story so much I have actually started another one which I will start posting when this one is done. The second story was born out of a Halloween/ghost type story I had kicking around in my head for a few weeks. When I started to write it, it turned into a full blown, multiple chapter fic. I just figured that the Palace is old and a lot has happened there. There must be some ghosts rambling around. Right?

Take care everyone,

L.M.