**All rights to Kiera Cass**
KMlovesfanfics- I adore writing Amberly and I'm so excited to have some more fun with her soon!
DBZfanLou- GIRL! Your review is SO sweet! Thank you so so much
Bluebelles112- We love giving Maxon sunshine :)
Rowena Kiera- I hope you enjoy!
Gummybear1178- aww yay! thank you!
Virtue01- I think the fact that I have written over 26k words in this fic shows just how much I love miss america singer
Sotroz- i'm so happy you're enjoying it!
K12- Amberly is my love-so happy you love her too
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Guest- the time has come, my love
HIIIII y'all! You guys are the absolute sweetest! It actually makes my day everytime I open my email and someone has left a review on this story. I am so happy you guys are enjoying BC and want me to keep going. This is a shorter chapter, but some more will be up soon! These last couple chapters have been kinda motionless plot-wise to really dig into America's injury and the repercussions of that, but i'm going to be picking it up some more starting next chapter. If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism, please let me know! I love hearing and applying your feedback. I'm super excited to read Kiera's next book, The Betrothed, which comes out tomorrow! Leave a comment if you're planning on reading it/what you think!
Another small note: i am in the USA, but wherever you are dealing with the current pandemic and quarantining, i hope you are doing well. I have actually been doing pretty well (thank you to those that asked). If you're not doing well though and need to talk to someone, my PMs are always open to chat :) happy mental health may y'all. We're gonna get through this.
Without further ado… Chapter 15- Open Eyes
I woke to a room surrounded by machines and tubes. Dad and Maxon were laughing and I thought I heard Queen Amberly's voice. I savored the flow of Maxon's voice. God, I loved his voice. Dad spoke again before I heard my own voice ring in my ears. They stopped talking. I didn't open my eyes. It was so peaceful here: their voices and warm blankets and the comforting embrace of sleep creeping closer again. I would let it. They would be here again later.
I didn't notice the pressure on my hand until it disappeared suddenly. My head fluttered back awake. Maxon was leaving. Why was he leaving?
"No, Max. Stay." My voice cracked.
"Kitten?" That was Dad's voice.
I forced my eyes open. "Dad."
My eyes flicked towards my feet. Queen Amberly stood, smiling serenely. She murmured something and left. I nodded faintly. My father followed her out and returned with a glass of water. Maxon moved in my periphery. I locked eyes with him before taking in the rest of the room.
It had an impersonal sterility to it. The walls were white and bare. The floor was tiled with immaculately clean white. Everything felt devoid of life. I shivered, looking for Maxon again.
His disheveled appearance was in striking juxtaposition to the rest of the room. His eyes were bloodshot. Tears rolled down his face. Maxon wiped them away quickly with his free hand. His shirt was wrinkled and rolled at the elbows. I smiled a little at that. He almost never rolled his shirt sleeves around us. The only time I could remember that he had was when I told him about being hungry. That was the day when I knew I could love him.
I reached for the glass of water in my father's hand. Pain exploded up my left arm and my chest. Black dots blurred my vision. I winced, recoiling. Maxon was at my side in a second. He clutched my right hand like it was his anchor. It felt almost like he was my anchor too. Dad leaned over and helped my sip some water.
"What happened?" My throat still burned and my head was fuzzy, but I had to know. Maxon was crying and Dad was here: in Angeles. I shook my head, trying to dislodge the cobwebs in my mind. Someone I didn't recognize hover at the door with an armful of instruments that looked more akin to torture than the practice of medicine.
"You were shot, Kitten." Dad's voice was soft and steady.
Maxon made a face. "No. She wasn't shot. My father shot. You took the bullet for him."
I blinked.
They took turns explaining what happened and what had happened since. Each word brought flashes of memory back. I was dancing with the King. Someone screamed. There were gunshots and men I didn't know. The King pushed me towards a safe room. His back was turned to the man. The man was pointing a gun at him. He didn't see it. I saw it. And then came the blinding pain and the darkness.
I had lost a month to oblivion. That oblivion was quiet and peaceful and I had let a month slide away without even realizing it. It was November-the end of November.
Someone was talking just out of my view, but long hair swayed and my heart seized. The Selection. I had forgotten about the Selection. I had been gone for a month. I couldn't have asked Maxon to wait for me. I could have died. And I would have wanted him to be happy.
But I wasn't dead. What if he had moved on? He was here, but was he here as my fiancee? Or my friend. I bit my lip. Dad squeezed my head. I forced a small smile. It was okay. Even if he didn't love me anymore, I would be okay. Part of me knew that it was hopeless to try to convince myself of that now. Maxon was part of me. Losing him would feel like amputating my arm: the phantom pains would never subside. I tried to push thoughts of the other girls with Maxon out of my head.
Another voice echoed outside my room. My mind was foggy but I could never forget that voice. She pushed past the doctor and burst into the room. May smiled so wide that I thought she might crack in two, but tears sparkled in her eyes. Maxon stepped back and she threw her arms around me. I winced, pain shooting through my left side. She froze.
"No it's okay," I whispered, squeezing her tighter. "That's good pain. It means I'm alive, and you're real. You're here."
She choked back a laugh, but her voice was thick with tears. "Of course I'm here. I couldn't let you die before I had the chance to kill you for telling the whole world you loved the prince before you told me."
I smiled, glancing over her head to meet Maxon's eyes. The brown eyes I loved so much were filled with as many tears as May's. He stood talking quietly to Mom and Gerad, but his eyes didn't leave mine. It was that gaze that told me I was crazy for ever thinking he wouldn't wait for me. He looked at me like I was his sun and his moon and all of his stars. I hoped he knew that he was mine too.