All rights to Kiera Cass. This book is designed to make story edits that largely follow the original plot. So even in the edited parts it is often largely Cass's writing.

…. …. ….. …...

Comment response: Since a few people have asked I will clarify that I am not rewriting the heir or the crown. So sadly this is the last mainstream book. (There is 37 chapters + epilogue in this book so we still have more!)

However, I be doing will do short stories in this universe and accepting prompts. So if you have any questions or things you want to see more of drop a comment and I'll consider writing it!

I will potentially also do a what if America was kicked out at the end of book 2, and/or a how Georgia and August met/fell in love story. Though those would be in the far future (months at minimum). If either story sounds interesting to you, hype me up in the comments and it is far more likely I will write them!

.

I AM GOING OFF THE RAILS! I had so much fun with this let's go!

Author's note: We are now getting into a sequence that is the densest five days in the book. Chapters 10-18 or about 25% of the book by word count is just these 5 days. A lot of it is completely different from the original. Hope you like it!

***ACTUALLY READ THIS TO AVOID CONFUSION***

Since the five day sequence starts on Saturday, which happens to be the day I am posting it, I thought it would be fun to post the chapters in a distribution that is similar to the way America experiences it. That means you will get 9 chapters in 5 days. The schedule is below. Note I am in USA EST time zone.

SATURDAY

Morning: chap 10

SUNDAY

Morning: chap 11

Late Afternoon/ Evening: chap 12

Night (aiming for 10ish): chap 13, 14

* 13 and 14 both don't have as many edits as the others

MONDAY

Morning: chap 15

TUESDAY

Morning: chap 16

Late afternoon/Evening: chap 17

WEDNESDAY

Morning: chap 18

THURSDAY

*No chapters because that was a lot of chapters*

FRIDAY

* starts back with one chapter a day posted in the morning. (Also a special chapter because it is one with a song)

***This schedule is an approximation of when you can expect chapters though they may be a bit earlier or later

…. …. …...…. ….

(edit)

CHAPTER 10

THE ADVISING MEETING the next morning was more heated then most. The king had called into question my choice to tell people to fight and I was defending it. We were both standing. And yelling.

"What did you want me to say? I know our fleet numbers, I have seen where the rebels are positioned, and I am very aware they are deadly. So 'make sure your wills are up to date'?!"

"Telling people to fight will only get them hurt." The king shot back.

"You said it yourself. We cannot protect them all. The soldiers are already spread thinner than we would like. The people are smart, but they need encouragement. If they can protect themselves and each other at minimum we just made the rebels jobs a whole lot harder." I looked into his eyes, no longer yelling. "We can't back down, we can't protect them, and we can't leave them to die. So they'll fight. They'll fight because they have to."

"I agree with Lady America." The General spoke up. "It's far from ideal but it's what we got."

"Even if we could predict these attacks to any degree of accuracy, which we can't, we couldn't stop them all." Junespring added.

"They'll fight." Maxon said. "They'll fight because whether we like it or not we are at war."

The king got quiet, seeming to concede. And me being me decided to push my luck. "I want my documents to stop being filtered. I need to know what I am up against, exactly what I'm fighting, to have a prayer of actually fighting it."

"Absolutely not." The king bellowed in finality.

I didn't push it more and moved on. "So far I see clear evidence of fifteen attacks planned on twos. However I suspect I've barely scratched the surface. I suggest you evacuate the families, at least three of the attacks are likely bombs." I handed them the list I had compiled.

"You've had this document for thirty minutes and half of that you were arguing." Lieutenant Carris commented.

I shrugged. "I told them to fight and I'll be damned if I don't fight for them."

"You're a force to be reckoned with." Private Aimes shook his head.

"Add The Showstoppers in Belcourt to that list." I commented having gone back to the report.

The meeting continued and for the rest I didn't have much opinion. It was mostly on the best way to go about the families we see likely imminent threats on, it would have to constantly be changed and it was a bit out of my expertises. By the end of the meeting I had found four more families.

"Lady America." the king ordered. "Given the situation I am going to need more help from you than usual. We will be getting new information every three hours. If you finish going through the information before the next batch comes in then you may take a break in between batches. I need you to be sharp on this, this is a time sensitive issue." I nodded. "You can work in the advising office. The next batch is due in at noon." He pointed at an ajering door I had never been in.

It was dreary inside with only one window. But I got down to work. I found seven more families then flagged some information to review once I had more entail. It took me less than an hour to go through the rest of it, so I still had about an hour until the next batch.

I exited, handing the King the list of names on the way. I noticed Maxon wasn't there so I knocked on his door. He opened it and relaxed his Prince demeanor when he saw me.

"Hey." He said gently lacing his fingers in mine.

"I was wondering if you had some time. I have about an hour before I need to get back."

He pulled me inside the room and kissed me. "Luckily I do have some time." I gave him a little look that told him I wanted to talk not kiss and he continued, "I'd ask what you want to do today, but our options are pretty limited. No archery, no hunting, no riding, no anything outside."

I sighed. "Not even if we took a slew of guards?"

"If I recall correctly, keeping everyone inside was your idea..." He gave me a fake confused look.

"Oh don't remind me that I'm good at my job." I chuckled. "Contrary to the fact that I suggested it, I absolutely hate it."

He gave me a sad smile. "What about a movie? We can watch something with spectacular scenery."

"We don't have enough time,'' I pulled on his arm. "Come on. Let's go make the best of the time we have."

"That's the spirit," Something about that actually made me feel better, like we were in this together. It had been a while since it really felt that way.

We went into the hallway allowing ourselves to fall into easy conversation when I heard the musical clinks on the window. Up in the advising office I tuned out all the sounds around me and completely missed it

(Cass)

I turned my head to the sound and gasped in wonder. "It's raining."

I let go of Maxon's arm and pressed my hand against the glass. In the months I'd been at the palace, it had yet to rain, and I'd wondered if it ever would. Now that I could see it, I realized I missed it. I missed the ebb and flow of seasons, the way things changed.

"It's so beautiful," I whispered.

Maxon stood behind me, wrapping an arm around my waist. "Leave it to you to find beauty in something others would say ruins a day."

"I wish I could touch it."

He sighed. "I know you do, but it's just not—"

I turned to Maxon, trying to see why he cut himself off. He looked up and down the hall, and I did the same. Besides a couple of guards, we were alone.

"Come on," he said, grabbing my hand. "Let's hope we're not seen."

I smiled, ready for whatever adventure he had in mind. I loved when Maxon was like this. We wound our way up the stairs, heading for the fourth floor. For a moment, I got nervous, worried he'd show me something similar to the hidden library. That hadn't turned out so well.

We walked down to the middle of the floor, passing one guard on his rounds but no one else. Maxon pulled me into a large parlor and steered me to the wall next to a wide, dormant fireplace. He reached inside the lip of the fireplace and, sure enough, found a hidden latch. He pushed open a panel in the wall, and it led to yet another secret stairwell.

"Hold my hand," he said, stretching his out to me. I did so, following him up the dimly lit steps until we came to a door. Maxon undid the simple lock, pulled open the door . . . and there was a wall of rain.

"The roof?" I asked over the sound.

He nodded. There were walls surrounding the entrance, leaving an open space about as large as my bedroom to walk on. It didn't matter that all I could see were walls and sky. At least I was outside.

Positively beside myself, I stepped forward, reaching into the water. The drops were fat and warm as they collected on my arm and ran down to my dress. I heard Maxon laugh once before shoving me out into the downpour.

I gasped, soaked in seconds. Turning around, I grabbed his arm, and he smiled as he pretended to fight. His hair fell in strands around his eyes as we were both quickly drenched, and he was still grinning as he pulled me over to the edge of the wall.

"Look," he said into my ear.

I turned, noticing our view for the first time. I stared in awe as the city spread out in front of me. The web of streets, the geometry of buildings, the array of colors—even dimmed in the gray hue of rain, it was breathtaking.

I found myself feeling attached to it all, as if it belonged to me somehow.

(edit)

"I don't want the rebels to take it, America," he said over the rain, as if he was reading my mind. "I don't know how bad the death toll is, but I can tell that my father is keeping it a secret from me. He's afraid I'll call off the Selection."

"He's keeping it from me too. But peeling through the information, it can't be good. I know I found so little of the attacks….Is there a way to find out the truth?"

(cass)

He debated. "I feel like, if I could get in touch with August, he'd know. I could get a letter to him, but I'm afraid of putting too much in writing. And I don't know if I could get him into the palace."

I considered that. "What if we could get to him?"

Maxon laughed. "How do you suggest we do that?"

I shrugged playfully. "I'll work on it."

He stared at me, quiet for a minute. "It's nice to say things out loud. I'm always watching what I say. I feel like no one can hear me up here, I guess. Just you."

"Then go ahead and say anything."

He smirked. "Only if you will."

"Fine," I answered, happy to play along.

"Well, what do you want to know?"

I wiped the wet hair from my forehead, starting with something important but impersonal. "Did you really not know about the diaries?"

"No. But I'm up to speed now. Father made me read them all. If August had come two weeks ago, I would have thought he was lying about everything, but not anymore. It's shocking, America. You only scratched the surface with what you read. I want to tell you about it, but I can't yet."

"I understand."

He stared me down, determined. "How did the girls find out about you taking off my shirt?"

I looked at the ground, hesitating. "We were watching the guards work out. I said you looked as good as any of them without your shirt on. It slipped out."

Maxon threw back his head and laughed. "I can't be mad about that."

I smiled. "Have you ever brought anyone else up here?"

He looked sad. "Olivia. One time, and that's it."

I actually remembered that, come to think of it. He'd kissed her up here, and she'd told us all about it.

"I kissed Kriss," he blurted out, not looking at me. "Recently. For the first time. It seems only right that you should know."

(Edit)

He peeked down, and I gave him a small nod but averted my eyes. All of this was my doing, yet if I hadn't seen them kiss myself, if this had been how I found out, I still might have ran away. And even though I already knew, it hurt to hear him say it. I didn't have any words that would do anything but make this worse or redundant.

But Maxon continued before I had to come up with anything, "And you should also know that I don't want to again." I looked back at him. Rain tricking into my slightly open mouth. "I kissed her and I wanted to feel something, but…the whole time I just wished it was you. I don't want to kiss anyone else, and I don't want to pretend I do."

"And I only want to kiss you." I confirmed. And reaffirmed by rising onto my toes and brushing my lips against his. As I lowered we locked eyes. Butterflies. But finally I could let them fly free. My eyes darted down and I quickly became distracted by Maxon's shirt sticking to his chest. His beautiful sculpted chest.

Maxon seemed to notice but didn't directly comment, just a little smirk. He glanced down at my wrist -a habit he had picked up when I was still with Aspen. Probably to remind himself that I was with someone else- but when no such reminder was there his smirk morphed into a full blown smile. He looked up at me, "Do you want to dance?"

(cass)

"But I'm awful."

"We'll go slow."

Maxon pulled me close, placing a hand on my waist. I put one hand in his and used the other to pick up my soaking dress. We swayed, barely moving. I settled my cheek on Maxon's chest, he rested his chin on my head, and we spun to the music of the rain.

As he made his grip on me a little bit tighter, Maxon and I were stripped to the core of our relationship. We were friends who realized they didn't want to be without each other. We were the other's opposite in many ways but also so very similar. I couldn't call our relationship fate, but it did seem bigger than anything I'd known before.

I raised my face to Maxon's, placing a hand on his cheek, pulling him down for a kiss. His lips, wet, met mine with a brush of heat. I felt both his hands wrap around my back, holding me to him as if he'd fall apart otherwise. While the rain pummeled the roof, the whole world went silent. It felt like there wasn't enough of him, not enough skin or space or time.

After all these months of trying to reconcile what I wanted and hoped for, I realized then—in this moment Maxon created just for us—that it would never make sense. All I could do was move forward and hope that whenever we drifted, we would somehow find a way back to each other.

And we had to. Because . . . because . . .

For as long as it took to get to this moment, when it came it was fast.

(edit)

I love Maxon. Even as hard as I tried to keep myself a little bit distance. Brace myself for when I lose him. It simply came. It was a force too strong to be pushed down.

I love him.

(cass)

I couldn't pinpoint what made me so certain, but I knew it then, as surely as I knew my name or the color of the sky or any fact written in a book.

Could he feel it, too?

Maxon broke the kiss and looked at me. "You're so pretty when you're a mess."

I laughed nervously. "Thank you. For that, for the rain, and for not giving up."

He ran his fingers along my cheek and nose and chin. "You're worth it. I don't think you get that. You're worth it to me."

(Edit)

I felt as if my heart was on the edge of bursting. It made me feel so scared, and vulnerable, especially when there was no guarantee Maxon could choose me.

Maxon kissed the tip of my nose. "Let's go get dry, we have to be getting back."

"Sad, but true." I kissed him gently on the lips.

I carefully tucked my love for Maxon away in my heart. Likely, one day, it would have to be shared, but for now it was my secret.

I tried to wring out my dress in the little canopy where the door was, but it was hopeless. I was going to leave a little trail of water back to my room. As Maxon pushed on the panel that led us back into the parlor, he was met with cold eyes. King Clarkson was standing there, looking as irritated as ever.

(cass)

"I'm assuming this was your idea," he said to Maxon.

"Yes."

"Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself in?" he demanded.

"Father, there are no rebels waiting on the roof," Maxon countered, trying to sound rational but looking a bit ridiculous in his dripping clothes.

(edit)

"One well-aimed bullet is all it would take, Maxon." He let the words hang in the air. "You both know we're stretched tight, sending guards to watch the girls' homes. And dozens of those who've been sent have gone AWOL. We're vulnerable." He glared past his son at me. "And I would expect better from a Junior Advisor." I had been yelled at by King Clarkson many times as a king, commander and chief, and a man. But this one was different. It was almost as though he reprimanded me as a father, in his completely awful twisted parenting way. I had no doubt in my mind he was still rooting against me, but something small had shifted.

"Get cleaned up," the king ordered. "Girl you have work to do, and Maxon you're expected at lunch."

The king left, leaving us to do nothing but implement his orders. We kissed goodbye and went our separate ways. I changed into dry clothes and got to the advising office just in time to cross paths with the king. He excused me from lunch, which was a kinder way of ordering me to work through it. A couple hours later Maxon brought me some food. As the batches went on I had less and less time in between. I kept having to reference earlier documents to tie things together. Finally, a little after midnight, I emerged.

"Sir. I have the next batch of names. Is there a midnight batch?"

"No. We won't get more information until nine am."

I nodded. "Will I do the same thing tomorrow?"

"We'll have to see. Come in after breakfast." I nodded and the king hesitated before adding. "You did good today, on the intelligence. You interpret raw data better than anyone else in the country."

I froze. The king had never complimented me before. Doesn't compliment me. Only recognises my existence to the minimal necessary amount. "Your Highness. How bad is it."

"You don't get numbers. You have done enough for tonight. Go to sleep." It was bad.

"Can I call my father?" I hadn't talked to him after the report, and I really needed to.

He handed me a cell phone and pointed back to the office. I dialed and hoped he would pick up even though it was late.

"Hello?" it's my Dad.

"Hi Dad it's America." I knew he could hear the slight difference in my voice signifying I'm upset.

"Kitten, everyone knows to be careful. After what you said on the Report, I think people will be braver than you'd guess."

(cass)

"I hope so." I looked down at my shoes and had a funny flashback. Right now my feet were covered with jeweled heels. Five months ago they were wearing dingy flats.

"You made me proud, America. Sometimes I'm surprised at the things you say, but I don't know why. You were always stronger than you knew."

Something about his voice then was so genuine that I was humbled. No one's opinion of me mattered as much as his.

"Thanks, Dad."

"I'm serious, now. Not every princess would say something like that."

I rolled my eyes. "Uh, Dad, I'm not a princess."

"Matter of time," he shot back playfully. "Speaking of which, how is Maxon?"

"Good," I said, fidgeting with my dress. The silence grew. "I really like him, Dad."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Why exactly?"

I thought for a minute. "I'm not really sure. But part of it is that he makes me feel like me, I think."

"Did you ever feel like not you?" Dad joked.

"No, it's like . . . I've always been aware of my number. Even when I came to the palace, I obsessed about it for a while. Was I a Five or a Three? Did I want to be a One? But now I'm not conscious of it at all. And I think it's because of him.

"He screws up a lot, don't get me wrong." Dad chuckled. "But when I'm with him I feel like I'm America. I'm not a caste or a project. I don't even think of him as elevated, really. He's just him, and I'm just me."

Dad was quiet for a moment. "That sounds really nice, kitten."

Boy talk with my dad was a little awkward, but he was the only one back home who I thought saw Maxon more like a person than a celebrity; no one else would get it like he would.

(edit)

"Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" He asked.

"No, I- I uh just really needed to hear your voice. Love you, Dad."

"Love you."

There was a click on the other end and he was gone. But I felt better. I came out and handed the king back the phone. I was about to leave when he asked something I never would have even imagined, "You talk to your father when you're upset?"

I turned around slowly. "He's my Dad. He always knows what to say to make it better."

The king hesitated. "Maxon doesn't come to me when he's upset. He used to when he was really little, but….but then I turned into my father. I always hated my father. I don't know why I thought it would turn out any differently." He looked at the floor. "Am I a terrible father?"

My first instinct was to scream 'yes' at him, but that seemed rather insensitive so I dodged. "Oh, that's really a question for Maxon."

"But I'm asking you. You're the only one who will be honest and stand up to me." I'm sure the shock on my face would have been obvious to a rebel spying on us through binoculars. "Oh don't get me wrong, I hate it, and in general it has little place. But I know Maxon talks to you and in this moment...never mind."

"He still cares what you think." I answered anyway. The king looked up. "Honestly I'm not even sure Maxon knows you love him, but whether he's willing to admit it or not, he cares about your approval. You belital him constantly and unnecessarily." The king looked as though he was about to object, "You wanted me to be honest and that's the truth. He has good ideas, he cares, and no he's never going to rule like you. But that is because he isn't you. I think Maxon will bring great peace and stability to this country. He's willing to fix things others are just willing to patch or hide. But you shoot him down for that; you talk over his ideas; and sometimes even give his words less weight than mine. And that gets to him. As a father he needs you to be someone who loves and supports him for being him. So if you want to be a good father: accept him, tell him you love him, tell him he'll make a great king."

The king was speechless and I excused myself. "I'll see you at nine am. And as always, just between us."

... ... ... ...

What do you think of the King's question? Do you think America handled this well?

(Are you wondering why I changed the king from a writer's stand point?: In the original book the King is very one dimensional. But since he's a larger character in my version he's a far more complicated character. As he becomes more comfortable around America and as we see more of him, he begins to look like more than just an evil human being. I am not arguing that, or trying to make, the King redeemable. Just not one dimensional.)

Thanks for reading. As always please comment! I love to hear your thoughts!

You ready for the chapter explosion tomorrow?