"So what do I have to do for tickets to Brice's swearing in?" Ahren asked sarcastically as we talked on the phone one night in early March.

I was trying to multitask by talking to him while also scanning the minutes from a missed budget meeting the day prior. Budget meetings were normally among those that I insisted on attending but Georgean insisted that it was absolutely necessary for me to be pictured at the set up for the Prime Minister's induction ceremony. I didn't know what was so great about any pictures of me anyway. At twenty-seven weeks pregnant, I felt anything but regal or beautiful. Eikko swore that I was more beautiful than ever but I had trouble seeing the same thing as him when I looked in the mirror.

"You'd have to agree to come over here," I told Ahren, giving up on the minutes of the meeting and closing the folder with a huff. Neena scurried forward to take the folder from me but I waved for her to leave it with me.

Ahren sighed, sounding stressed. "I don't like being trapped over here, Eady. I knew that distance was part of my marrying Camille but I never anticipated being stuck in France so suddenly. This war…" His voice trailed off and I could tell that he was struggling to remain composed.

"You'll figure it out, Ahren."

"I hope so."

"Me too, because I can't handle you being stressed anymore."

"What does my stress have to do with you?"

I huffed, not wanting to have to explain our twin link to him for the hundredth time in our lives. "Ahren, remember when Mom pulled out my last tooth in the middle of the night and you woke up from a nightmare that the dentist had ripped out all of your teeth?"

"Yeah," he said slowly, not seeing where I was going with this.

"That's called twin telepathy. That's why you can't be stressed because when you're stressed, I'm stressed and I'm pregnant so I really can't handle any more stress."

"Fine. I just wish there was some way to get all of Europe in a room together so that we can settle our disagreements. We're fighting against the wrong people. New Asia and North Africa aren't the problem; it's the rebels. If we can unite, then we can defeat the rebels. Part of me is scared that the rebels planned this war so that they'd have a façade to hide behind for a while," he admitted.

"It's possible," I agreed. "Why don't you do it then?"

I could hear the frown in his voice as he asked, "Do what?"

"Get everyone together. Call for a summit."

"I can't do that."

I rolled my eyes. "You're the king of France Ahren. You can absolutely call for a summit."

"No, I mean that I can't call for a peace summit while my country is involved with the war. It

would have to be on neutral ground and since basically all of Europe and New Asia and North Africa is involved, it would have to be in—"

"Illea," I finished for him. "The summit would have to be here." Neena's eyebrows rose as she sat across from me, appearing to dread whatever I was planning.

"Eadlyn, I'm not going to ask you to plan a global peace summit. Not when you're expecting a baby so soon."

"I'm not due for another ten weeks, at least," I assured him. "That's plenty of time for us to plan a global summit. Let's just plan this right now hypothetically, okay? Protocol states that I need to wait a month for a grand event so after Brice's ceremony tomorrow, we're in the first week of April. Of course, then we'll have our birthday so that moves it to the first week of May."

Ahren clicked his tongue as he checked his calendar. "Can't do it. My anniversary party with Camille is being planned for the third weekend in May. We can't leave in the middle of that."

"Okay, so then where are we?"

"First week of June, then. Summits start on Tuesdays, right? That first Tuesday is…oh. June sixth."

I paused, considering the date. It was the soonest we could plan this event and we couldn't delay it. It had to be that week. But… "June sixth, my due date." I gulped. "We can manage that."

"What?" Ahren exclaimed. "Eadlyn, you're crazy. We cannot schedule a global peace summit to begin on your due date. That's insane. What if you have the baby before that? Or what if you don't? The last thing you'll want to do is have foreign enemies residing in your palace."

"At that point, I'll be on maternity leave. You're right about that. But, I'll be able to plan most of the summit before I go on maternity leave. Eikko and Brice can manage from there. And it would only be an issue really if I do have the baby before that but Mom said that she went past her due date with all of us so it's probably unlikely for me to go early."

"Unlikely, not impossible." He sighed again. "I can't do this to you, Eady. Not in good conscience."

"Look, Ahren, what will I have to do at this summit? We're neutral in all of this, or at least trying to be. All I will be doing is hosting. That's very low-stress and low-maintenance. I think even with a newborn, I can pull this off. I'm the pregnant one, let me be the one to make this decision."

"That may be exactly why you can't have the final say. Someone needs to look out for you."

"Which you can do when you get here on June fifth."

There was a long pause and I knew Ahren was about to cave in, he just needed to grapple with it for another few moments to make him feel like he did enough to try to stop me. "Fine," he mumbled, barely audible.

"We can pull this off. Maybe I'll call in Silvia. She and Mom could do all of the planning for this like old times."

"Great. Then I can worry about you stressing yourself into early labor and Mom stressing herself into another heart attack."

I rolled my eyes again and wrote a note for myself to remind me to call Silvia later and also speak to Mom about any suggestions she had for how to conduct a successful peace summit. There had to be pictures in the archives from her first few negotiation events. Dad was always good about taking pictures for her events when she asked and I knew for a fact that he save every single roll of film and every memory card stored in the archives. "I should probably let you go. Dinner will be soon."

He chuckled softly, the same quiet rumbling in his chest that Dad had. "I've been so busy lately that customary mealtimes are nonexistent. I eat when I can."

"Well, eat now. And that's a command from your ally, Queen Eadlyn."

"Okay, I will."

"Thanks Ahren. I love you. Tell Camille I say hi."

"Sure, Eadlyn. Love you, too." The line went out but I kept the phone pressed to my ear, as if that would keep him close to me for just a bit longer.

There were some days where I really missed my twin brother. Not even Eikko could fill that hole in my life. He had the other half of my heart but Ahren actually was my other half. A brother wasn't something that a husband could replace. I had expected this first year to be hard since he got married. When he first told me that he was in love with Camille, I started preparing myself for the fact that he would eventually move away and he would miss things like Christmas and birthdays and the arrivals of babies. There was still a very obvious empty seat in the dining room though. And I couldn't easily forget that this would be the first of my birthday spent without the one with whom I share it.

I was chewing on my lip over this as I trekked down to the Women's Room where Mom, Lennie, Miss Marlee, and Miss Lucy were working on the project I'd given Mom back in September. "How're things going in here?" I asked the women. They were all hunching over a table, binders open in front of them. From the door, I could see that one of the binders was full of fabric swatches.

"Oh, Eadlyn, we need another opinion!" Miss Marlee squealed.

Mom waved me in and pointed at the binder of fabrics. "Which one do you think is best for tablecloths for a tea party?" she asked me, pointing to the creamy selections on the page.

"This one," I said, pointing to the one in the corner that had the most dainty floral embroidery on it. "A tea party, huh? For who?"

"Just some of the girls from the local orphanage," Mom answered. "Now that I'm retired, I have more time to properly focus on philanthropy."

"I'm not sure that's what retirement is for, Mom."

"Well it's what retirement looks like when your eldest forces you to retire at the old age of thirty-eight," she said primly.

Lennie turned to me and took my hand in mine. Mom and Dad had always been extra affectionate to us kids but I was still getting used to how touchy-feely Eikko's family was. Blasted Europeans. "Eadlyn, while you're here, I want to ask you how you feel about a baby shower."

"For who?"

"For you, of course!"

My mouth fell open. I had never considered that option before. I looked to Mom, who was smiling at me encouragingly. Running my hand over my growing belly where the baby was exhibiting her talent in somersaults, I shrugged. "Sure. I never really thought of that but I'm sure that there are things we'll need."

"Absolutely!" Mom agreed. "Don't think that just because you're queen and you're pregnant, there will automatically be a stockpile of diapers in the palace when your baby arrives."

"How do you know this?" Lennie asked, eyebrows raised.

"Let's just say that within three days of them being born, there was a nightmarish night where we realized that we were completely out of diapers. Luckily, one of the maids was on night duty and had just had a baby six months prior so she was able to lend us an extra she happened to have in her bag. It was humiliating, nonetheless."

"I remember, you cried about it with me the next morning," Marlee said thoughtfully.

"Hey, my hormones were all over the place," Mom defended.

I put my hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. "I'll make sure to start ordering diapers now. Will I have to plan this baby shower?" I asked Lennie.

"Absolutely not! I will plan everything with your mother. We will simply give you a date and time and you'll need to show up."

"Sounds good to me." Mom tapped my hip with her finger and then pointed at a small note she had just written while Miss Lucy and Miss Marlee were absorbed into the discussion of fabrics once again. It only said PANAMA on it but I understood what she was saying. "Thank you," I told her sincerely. She waved me off and crumpled the note up before anyone else could see it.

The next day, we started getting ready for the ceremony officially instating Brice as Prime Minister as soon as we were finished breakfast. Though her responsibilities started in January after the New Year, it was established in the plans for the new parliamentary system that elections would occur on the first of every five years with the Prime Minister being sworn in ceremonially in the first week of March. It wouldn't be on the same scale as my coronation or wedding but it was still a major ceremony held in one of the smaller cathedrals in the Central Angeles.

We were gathered in the foyer, awaiting Raelynn's go-ahead for us to get in our respective cars when General Leger groaned loudly. "Wells, we may need to reroute and keep the queen here," he said to my guard.

Dad frowned, sporting an even darker tan after the brief trip he had taken with Mom to Honduragua for her birthday. "What's happening?" he asked in a grave voice.

"My men reported there are crowds surrounding the cathedral. Angry crowds. They're protesting the constitutional monarchy," General Leger informed us.

"We can't just cancel this whole thing," I argued. "We must go on."

Everyone looked at each other nervously. Brice's eyes were wide as saucers as she stood in her burgundy silk gown, train gathered over her arm. The gown was stunning on its own but it would be especially sophisticated underneath the midnight blue and gold cloak she would wear over it during her vows.

It was Eikko who finally spoke, placing his hands on my shoulders lightly. "Eadlyn, love, it will be dangerous to go."

"But this is important."

"We can say that you're under the weather because of the baby. No one would argue with that."

I snorted. "Okay, that's it. No one here is allowed to baby me anymore because I'm pregnant. Not until I'm actually ready to pop, got it? I can be queen while I grow a baby. It's nothing that hasn't been done before. Heck, Mom was pregnant with twins and did it. A little protest won't hurt me."

"I had small pockets of rebels to contend with, not a significant portion of the population. We're just looking out for you," Mom interjected.

"And I appreciate that," I said, holding my hands up. "But it would look worse for me to not be there, at the ceremony embodying the very thing I am trying to institute. The people will mellow out once they have time to understand these changes that are happening." No one moved, not even Brice as Raelynn tried to get her into her car. "I'm going."

I held my chin up high as I walked out of the front doors and climbed into my car. Eikko, Kaden, and Osten rode with us. Mom and Dad were riding with Brice in their own separate car. The crowds lined the streets the entire way to the cathedral. It seemed like all of Angeles had come out for this. As we slowed down just enough for me to start reading the signs, I realized that almost all of them were protesting the monarchy; signs screaming that this wasn't a solution to anything or reminding me that people were still starving in Panama. Worse yet, there were signs urging us to defend our allies across the seas. So many citizens of Illéa had family in Europe that were probably in danger, just like Eikko's had been. No wonder they hated me. I rescued his family and no one else's.

The roar of the crowd was unbearable as we arrived in front of the cathedral, some of them chanting things as terrible as "Off with their heads". I tried to remain poised and composed as Wells rushed me from the car to the narthex of the cathedral but we were moving so quickly that the cameras probably didn't even have time to take a good picture of me anyway.

Once safely inside, Wells checked me over, eyes sweeping me from top to bottom several times. "Someone could shoot you in that crowd and we would never even hear the shot," he said, half to himself. "It's terrifying," he admitted.

"I'm just fine, Officer Wells. Don't worry."

"With all due respect, ma'am, it's my job to worry about you."

Eikko and I walked with my brothers to the seats just below the raised platform where Brice would go through the vows. Even the thick stone walls of the cathedral couldn't drown out the din of the crowd outside. I watched advisers shift nervously in their seats as some chants came through the walls clearly. Wives and husbands looked around the cathedral as if they were trying to plot their escape if we were attacked. I had read about mutinies and rebellious citizens. My father had fought against some of the toughest rebels to live in history but I didn't know it was like this. I had never really lived through it, knowing that I was the one who had to clean up this mess.

Sitting through the ceremony, Dad had one eye on Brice and one hand crossed over Mom's lap, almost like a seat belt. It was a clear display of protection. Eikko sat angled slightly away from me but as close to me as possible, shielding me as much as he could without actually sitting in front of me. Kaden looked like he was about to jump out of his seat at the slightest sound. I had never seen the guards stand up taller than the ones surrounding the perimeter of the sanctuary where we were sitting.

As we rode back to the palace, my mind wandered to what Wells had told me. It was his job to protect me. He was paid by me, from the treasury I commanded, to get me through each day without so much as a scratch. He had a family though. If he were to die simply from trying to keep me alive, how would his family feel? What of my citizens who were loyal to the crown? Were they being persecuted by those against it? I couldn't just keep doing things the way I had been. I had to go back to Marid's idea. My people were upset. Rather than trying to crush their protests, I had to listen to them in a controlled environment.

I found Raelynn in her office in the bowels of the palace that next Monday. "We need to have another town hall. Two representatives from each province, each mayor choosing who their reps will be. It needs to be Friday, understand? We will pay for every plane ticket and hotel room. They can stay in the mayor's houses in the city if they must. Just get them here."

"Your Majesty-"

"Don't tell me that it can't be done, Raelynn. Just do it."

General Leger found me that afternoon, a deep line set between his eyebrows as he entered my office with Raelynn, Neena, and Brice on his heels. "You don't really think that I'll let you sit in the front of a room with seventy angry citizens, do you?"

"You will let me do it," I said in a serious voice. I had been waiting for him to come and find me. He had a list of one hundred reasons why I couldn't do this and I was prepared to counter every single one of them with the same explanation. "Things will only get worse if I don't do this. I need to take the time to listen to my people. It will be here in the palace where you can control the environment."

"Just like last time? I would hardly call that controlled," General Leger said, anger simmering beneath his calm voice.

"The mayors aren't going to pick terrorists as their representatives," I argued.

Brice huffed. "I wouldn't put it past the mayor of Panama to do that." General Leger started pacing on the far side of the room, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose as he was deep in thought.

"What else can I do? The people are five minutes away from setting up a guillotine in the middle of Angeles and pulling advisers from their homes to put their heads under the blade. This can at least buy us a little time." Everyone still looked doubtful that it was a good idea. "Look, we won't promote it or anything. No one will know it's happening except for the people involved. That way we won't give the public a chance to plant someone in the group."

"So you're suppressing public opinion under the guise of trying to help things? That's what dictators do," Brice said. "That's something Gregory Illéa would have done, my fa...King Clarkson would have done that."

"Sometimes a queen needs to be forceful in order to get things done. Rule with a firm hand, your borders will remain secure on both sides. That's my philosophy and I'm sticking to it."

General Leger stopped pacing and faced me. "I'll give you the townhall on the condition that you are not the one who presides over it."

I raised my eyebrows. "Then who will?"

"Eikko. The people don't love him, but they like him more than you. They see him as one of their own since he wasn't raised here in the palace. They see him as the more sympathetic one of the two of you."

"Well, he is."

"Exactly. They'll really talk to him. We put you in the front of the room and they'll only see a pretty statue with whom they have no personal connection. Put him in front of them and they see an immigrant's son, a working-class citizen, and a soon-to-be father," General Leger reasoned. As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point.

Raelynn was nodding. "He's right. The One's approval ratings have always been higher than the king's. Your mother and grandmother were loved by the people while they were reigning, for the same reason General Leger just gave you. Eikko is the only one who can do this."

"Than he's doing it," I conceded.

"And we're keeping you under lock and key while this is happening, no arguments," General Leger said, pointing to me. "We're still expecting an attack from New Asia and I can't have regular citizens wandering around the palace with you sitting quietly in your study."

"I can't hide in my own home."

"You will or you won't have a townhall."

I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling less like General Leger's queen and more like his child. "Fine."

Neena sighed, her eyes heavy with concern as she looked between me and General Leger. "Well, that's it then. We have a lot to plan in the next few days so let's get to work."

On Thursday night, the night before the townhall, I awoke to find the other side of the bed empty. I quickly went to use the bathroom and then crept down the hall in search of my husband. Both of our studies were empty, as was the family room. Finally, when I was about to give up and go back to bed, an older guard waved to get my attention. "Prince Eikko is down in the kitchens, ma'am," he informed me.

"For how long?" I asked, rubbing my belly. I could feel the baby start to kick again, meaning she was probably waking up. I definitely couldn't go back to sleep now.

"Only about twenty minutes. He didn't tell us to pass his location on to you but I assumed you would like to know."

I smiled at the guard. "Rather than walk around the palace aimlessly all night? I think you're correct in that regard, Sir. Have a pleasant evening."

In the kitchens, Eikko was sitting at the wooden prep counter with a bowl of fruit salad from breakfast that morning in front of him. He lifted his head to the door when heard me shuffle inside. I claimed the stool next to him. "I didn't mean to abandon you. I just had to clear my head a bit," he whispered.

"It's fine. Not like I'm sleeping much right now anyway."

"You know, we could get a softer mattress if you need it. Or new pillows. And we should probably ask Eloise to remove our winter comforter because we don't need it this time of year and-"

"Eikko?" I put my hand over his as he spun his fork in his fingers anxiously. "The bed is fine. It's only temporary. Once the baby is born, neither of us will be sleeping." My joke was poorly-timed because it only managed to make the corners of his eyes tighten even more. "Tell me what you're thinking about."

"The baby," he whispered.

I nodded, removing the fork so that I could thread my fingers through his and squeeze his hand. "What about the baby?" I gently asked.

"I don't...Eadlyn, don't get angry with me but I don't want our baby to become queen. I think about the future and I try to imagine our daughter doing what we are and I don't want that life for her. Sometimes I wish - I wish that our lives could be normal. That I go to work everyday on a farm somewhere and you stay home with the kids and open up your own fashion line from our kitchen and we talk about boring adult things like bills or school districts." He turned in his seat to face me better. "Don't think me ungrateful for this life, Eadlyn. I just didn't ever imagine becoming a prince consort, not until the moment you asked me to marry you. I feel like I've barely had time to adjust and now in two months, we're going to have a baby to raise in a world that still feels foreign to me."

"How can I help you then?" I asked, sitting up taller. One thing I had learned with Eikko's anxiety was that I couldn't step in and do what I thought would work for him. I had to let him decide what was best for himself.

"Give me something to do. Something more than decorating and being an ambassador to the people on behalf of the royal family. I'll gladly go to war for you Eadlyn but I want to do it as more than a guy in a nice suit and a crown."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, unconsciously moving his hand to my belly so that he could feel the baby kick. As he gazed down at me in awe, I made a decision. "You really want to go to war for me?"

"Really."

"The North African rebels are attacking Europe and have been for a few years now. Why?"

Eikko frowned and shook his head. "I don't know."

"I don't either." Eikko looked even more puzzled than before. "Don't you see? It's just like what is happening with the people right now. We aren't listening to what they really want so their only choice is to lash out. From the beginning, the North African rebels have been attacking Europe - or so everyone believes. Has anyone actually sat down with them to ask them why they're doing this?"

"You're saying that they've resorted to violence because it's the only way to get their message out there?"

"Or the only way to get enough attention to put a message out there. I don't know if they've done it yet but we can only beat them or make peace with them by knowing what's on the line for them. The only way to do that is to draw them in."

His eyes grew larger as he caught on to what I was saying. "Draw them in. Let them in." He looked down at his fruit salad, thinking deeply for a few moments. Then he peered at me curiously. "Tomorrow isn't going to go well at all, is it?"

"I need you to trust me. Trust that I would never put your life in danger."

He blew out a long breath. "Who's attacking me?"

"Kaden's guard, Ivan. He'll be in there, he'll have a gun. General Leger doesn't know what's happening. Ivan is just going to draw his weapon, fire it and get dragged from the room. The guards won't even know it's him until he's out of the room and removes his disguise."

"Who else knows this plan?"

"Ivan. You."

"If this goes wrong…"

"It won't." I touched my hand to his cheek. "You do this for me, you get to command the military. Because I'm not good at it at all and I have enough to worry about with making sure we don't have any food shortages from our trading with European allies."

He extended his right hand to me. "You've got a deal."