I was surprised to see tears in her eyes; she had saved all of us and still she looked broken. Like something inside her had been ripped off from her, it also made me want to cry. When she fell to the floor I ran to hug her tight, to let her know that I was there.
"I didn't want to… he got too close. I'm not a murderer!" She cried in my arms, I also noticed tears falling down my cheeks, because of happiness, sadness and fear.
"I know… you saved our lives, Kriss" with that she managed to look me in the eyes, I smiled joyful.
"Oh, right… because of the baby" she wiped her tears, so typical of her: never showing weakness in front of others, like I would care! She was my savior, my friend.
"Because of the two babies" I confessed, she stopped shivering for a while and gave me one of her tender smiles.
"That eases the pain a bit, but I'm afraid that I might've dug a bigger hole with this…" I helped her up as Maxon ran to meet us.
"I guess it's true what they say… you never know a person completely… you're a hero, Kriss" my husband held me as his hand ran to my growing stomach; we were lucky, very lucky.
"I appreciate that you take it like that, highness" that made me release a silly chuckle; Kriss took several deep breaths until she could finally calm down.
"I'm worried about what will the empress think of this… maybe another war will happen and all that we've done would have been useless…" she said worried, I looked up to my husband who also seemed to be concerned.
"Don't worry much about that…" said a familiar voice behind her. In all the time that I had known him, I had never seen Aspen with such an expression of relieve.
"My God, I thought I had lost you" I had to give him a hug, he was my best friend! If I had lost him it would've destroyed me completely, and not to mention how Lucy would've reacted.
"You'll never lose me, Mer. It almost impossible for you to get rid of me" he winked at me and I laughed.
"What do you mean with that, Aspen?" asked Kriss, I was surprised that everyone suddenly seemed to be so comfortable with each other, but look who's talking! I had hated Kriss for the entire first month of my pregnancy.
"Empress Ming Xia didn't have any intention of supporting her husband, actually… New Asia was planning to do an overthrow as soon as Emperor Cho returned there, I guess you just finished their work" I knew that he was trying to make things easier for Kriss, but that didn't sound so good to me.
"Well, what counts now is that the nightmare is over…" said Maxon, as handsome, nice and positive as always.
"And the dream is beginning" I sad in low voice but smiling.
We were taken to the palace as quickly as Kriss's people could take us there, we didn't lose many people but still we lost many things, the only thing that remained always was our hope, and I was glad that I have given my country such braveness, they weren't scared, they fought and they survived, I guess that was what all of us did. In all the time I had been threatened I wasn't really scared, I was angry that everyone tried to take my life away from me once again, I had left all I thought I had for Maxon, I had struggled to have him by my side and I wouldn't let anyone take him away from me, not so easily. It's good when you have time to think those things through; when all you had inside your head was confusion and frustration, when all is settles is when you finally see the light, and God I needed my time to think. As always, Marlee was the first one to meet us as soon as we got to the palace that had some minor damages, nothing that couldn't be fixed.
"When are you going to stop making me want to die?" she said in tears while her warms wrapped me softly but desperately.
"When I'm dead" I said playful.
"The baby? Tell me that they didn't provoke you an abortion because I'll kill what's left of them!" she said troubled, I took her shaking hands with mine and smiled.
"Not at all, actually… they helped me discover that I'm having twins" her face turned into pale white and for the first time in my life I saw that her eyes showed no feeling at all, I was afraid that she might have lost her balance.
"T-twins?" it was fun to hear her hesitating words.
"As you heard, Miss Woodwork" she let out an excited yell and hugged me tighter.
"I'm so happy for you both! Well, for the four of you… I don't know what the heck I'm saying! I just know that I'm going to have two nephews!" and sure she was much happier than I had been when I found out, well, I couldn't really enjoy the news being trapped so don't judge me.
"It's good to have you back, highnesses. But I have to admit that I never lost faith in you both, you're far too brave and smart to give up against an old man with mind problems" said Carter holding Marlee's hand, I felt a warm sensation inside de my heart; Seeing them so calm, so relieved, so together, it could've made anyone smile crazily.
"Thanks for that, Carter. For everything… You both were a great help, you always are" Maxon assured him. Marlee giggled and kissed her husband on the cheek.
"Ames?" I didn't notice when did May come out of the palace but when I saw her teary eyes I couldn't help of feeling that my heart broke in two, I looked at Maxon like asking for permission, I had kind of "escape" from him for many times that day.
"Go, I'm also dying to hold her" he confessed, I gave him a quick kiss and ran to my sister who received me with opened arms.
"By the Lord, I was so scared that you'd be hurt" I stroked her red curls as the tears fell from my eyes, my little May, never keeping her eyes off me, I had had so much in risk. When Gerad saw us he also came to meet me quickly and I raised my little brother in my arms, kissing him on the forehead. They both looked like they had been crying far too much.
"He hasn't slept in weeks" said May trying to smile "Well, none of us has…" she confessed.
"Neither have I … I missed you two so much" Gerad hid his sad face in the crook of my neck.
"Mama would've wanted to see you" he said in tears, I felt like fainting with that comment.
"What happened to mama, May?" I asked my sister that played uncomfortable with her dress.
"She … suffered a heart attack when they told her you were kidnapped, the people of the palace have been taking care of us and her since then" May had to hold my hand so I wouldn't fall to the ground.
"But is she alright? Is she healed? Is there something wrong with her heart?" those were far too many questions for my 15 year old terrified sister, what could she know?
"I'm not sure, you should talk with doctor Stevens" she replied, I took her hand and the three of us entered the palace with the rest following us from behind.
"Darling, I'm so sorry about your mother" said Maxon grabbing me by my waist as we walked to my mother's room.
"Go with May, I'll be there in a second" I left Gerad in the floor and kissed his cheek, he quickly ran to May.
"I still can't believe that all of this has ended, even when it's done… the misery is still there" I complained, he stroked my cheek.
"Dear, give it time… at least we don't have to worry about the Emperor now, we just have to keep calm and let things slide, ok? If you recall what happened over and over again… you'll never be over it" he and his hateful and yet adorable advices.
"Have I told you how much I love when you try to calm me?" I said smiling, he did too.
"We don't have that much time to talk…" he kissed my forehead.
"So… you think we'll be alright after this?" I somehow knew that this wouldn't be the end of our problems, but the end of our biggest problem indeed.
"If we stay together, there's nothing that we can't do… Like you've always said… I have the brain you have the courage" I giggled.
"What a perfect match" I sighed and looked for his lips with my own, I felt as my nerves relaxed for the first time in almost a month, this was true peace, there in my husband's arms, feeling protected and love, I would never be alright if I wasn't with him.
"America, come quickly! Mother is up!" said May excited; this time I took Maxon's hand and we both went inside the room.
"My baby…" said mama opening her arms to hug me.
"Mom, I'm so sorry…" I tried to hide my tears but it was unavoidable. My mother had been the one who made me realize the root of my problems, my mother who had always told me how brave, smart and pretty I was, if it hadn't been for her… maybe all of us would've been dead.
"Don't worry, honey. What counts now is that you're healthy and alive…" she stroked my cheek.
"Can you say the same of yourself?" I asked trying to smile.
"Almost. When you came in I felt completely healed" she said.
"I missed you so much…" I took her hand strongly, joyful.
But still… about you being sterile, honey, I'm so sorry… I didn't have time to say it before, and I feel so heartbroken to remind you this when this horrible situation has just ended" of course, none of them didn't know yet, Maxon smiled.
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Mrs. Singer" he winked at me.
"What's all this, about?" My mother asked trying to sit on the bed, I helped her.
"I have news, mama" I announced when someone knocked the door and little Astra showed her head behind it.
"Grandma?" she asked, but her eyes became bigger when she saw me. "Auntie Ames!" she came to me begging for me to carry her, I did.
"You've also been crying, haven't you, little brat?" I said making cuddles to my niece.
"Mommy said you were in danger, I was scared" she confessed ashamed kissing me on my cheek.
"Don't worry, baby. I'm fine now" I assured her.
"We're all glad because of that" said Kenna joyful next to James.
"I guess that you were all frighten to death but… I still have something to announce" I left Astra next to Gerad, they still looked a bit worried, everyone did except for my husband.
"I guess that you all thought, as I did, that I was sterile but… Thanks to Miss Kriss Ambers's explanations, I must tell you dear family that it was all fake…" I said, all of them were left in blank, this time including Maxon "Kriss created this whole plan to protect me from the Emperor's intentions. The idea was to make us all think that I couldn't have children so Kriss came into the palace and act as the substitute mother while she kept an eye on us, and if that awful situation continued she was willing to give the Emperor her own child so we wouldn't have to give him ours…" I smiled while they expected me to finish "As I'm pregnant… with twins…" I knew that their jaws had fallen to the floor.
"Congratulations, sis!" Kenna was the first one to talk and give me a tender hug.
"I'm so happy for you both, my dear" said my mother as cute as always. Then everyone came to congratulate me and hug me.
"Wait a bit!" except for May, of course "You mean that this whole parade of: I can't have any babies and I'm a disaster wife and crown princess was just a cruel joke? And you're having twins?" She pointed at Maxon and me, I nodded speechless. "I'm going to be an aunt for the second time!" she said joyful, I finally could breathe again, she had looked so mad.
"I guess that she believes that she's going to be an aunt more than I believe I'm going to be a father" said Maxon taking me in his arms again, we were at a corner of the room while my family talked to no end.
"Guess you'll have to get ready for the jam spots in your desk" I reminded him that little conversation the night he told me I was his one, my arms rested on his shoulders.
"Hey that's right, I told you I wanted everything, didn't I? So I was never really unprepared for this. You're my dream come true, my sweet princess… and all that concerns you it makes me insanely happy" he said with his lovable voice.
"You make me insanely happy, highness!" I kissed him, hoping that he would know how much I adored him.
"About that little nickname of ours, we'll be changing it soon…" he said suspiciously.
"What do you know that I don't?" I asked him, he chuckled refusing to tell me. I didn't really care, whatever that would happen to us from that day on, was fine for me, for better or for worse… nothing would ever get us apart again.
-Three Weeks later-
"Is it too tight, majesty?" asked Mary asking sure that the dress wouldn't hurt my children. Good luck that I just had two months of pregnancy, I wouldn't have wanted to not be able to appear in our coronation ceremony because I was terribly tired because of the twins.
"Yes, it's fine, thank you very much" I turned to see myself in the mirror. As always, my hair perfectly curled and my makeup not so scandalous but not so unnoticeable, my beautiful cream colored dress with its wonderful waves on the skirt covered my belly well, I was just worried that I would fall with the terribly large cape.
"You already look like a Queen, my lady" said Mary excited.
"Well I have the looks but I won't be the Queen until I have the crown on my head" I reminded her.
"You don't know how pleased I am that the parliament is finally letting Prince Maxon be the King, you both deserve it from the beginning" she said, I giggled a bit.
"They were just looking after us, they wanted us to be the best kings that Illéa has ever had, and they were right to let us take our time" I answered.
"You have much responsibilities coming up, don't you?" said Mary making me sit in front of the mirror so we could chose the jewelry.
"Yes, I do. And those officially start with the coronation" I sad nervously, just a bit, then I felt my babies moving "That, if these little heirs let their mom do what she has to" I say gently rubbing my stomach.
"You'll be such great parents, majesty!" I liked that she trusted so much in me, I didn't really know if I had mother skills but I would have to get them one way or another, the babies were coming and they wouldn't wait until I was ready for them. It was just like Maxon had said, I promised to share my life and everything that happened in it with him, since the moment we fell in love we knew that we would have to face a lot of things together, so in the inside I knew that I was ready for everything that would come, as long as I had my husband with me of course.
"I hope you're right" Mary chuckled a bit with my comment; I swear that I haven't feel so complete in a very long time; we were all feeling so blissful that day. I heard someone knocking n the door and I asked Mary to open it for me.
"Could I see my pretty princess just for one last time?" asked Maxon with a huge smile, with his white suit on, all his medals and shiny crown; he already looked like a king, the most handsome one.
"As if I wouldn't spend the rest of my days with you" they both laughed and he quickly came in to hold me in his arms. Mary made a bow and left, I'll always thank her for her prudence.
"Nervous?" he asked with his lips next to my ear.
"Surprisingly, not at all, my darling" I answered happily, he seemed suspicious about it.
"Really? No worries about becoming the Queen of your nation, I repeat: Queen! Because that's alright, dear, I understand… I don't want you to hide anything from me" he was so cute while trying to make me shiver and also so cute when he tried to comfort me.
"No, Hun. Let me explain" I turned to face him and I took his hands in mine "I've been scared and terrified to my bones at the thought of becoming a leader because… yes, it's true… I never planned to see Aspen falling in love with someone else, or marrying a prince and becoming a princess, or having a best friend that I would give my life for or hating someone that was trying to protect me all along,, or becoming a mother at twenty!… I never really wanted any of these things and I cannot be sure that I have been prepared correctly, but my life would have no meaning and would be completely empty if nothing of that would have happened. You're the love of my life, Maxon Schreave, and I don't want to live the rest of my days wondering if I'll ever be ready to do all that I must do, if that's the price for having you by my side at every second… I'm glad to do it… I don't want to think twice if I know that it will lead me to you. So, becoming a queen, princess, duchess or whatever… it doesn't make great difference when you're the greatest thing that has ever happened to me" he hugged me tightly, I was actually glad I left him speechless.
"And everyone still wonders why I chose you…" he said to my ear.
"Include me in that group" I joked. He looked right into my eyes with his hand on my cheek.
"You're right, my love. You don't need to be asking yourself everything all the time… you're ready for this" he assured me.
"What about you?" I asked playful, he laughed again.
"You know that a synonym of crown prince is king- to- be! If I'm not ready for this then no one will be!" I have to admit that I had never seen him so cheerful and confident about his own self.
"And what about being a father?" I had never really had time to ask him that, it seemed to be a good moment.
"I'm still trying to convince myself of that" he confessed shyly.
"We'll be fine…" I tried to calm his nerves taking his face on my hands and kissing his forehead. "You know? They haven't stopped moving since I woke up…" I stroked softly my pregnant stomach.
"May I?" asked Maxon with his adorable expression, the one that forces you to say yes.
"They're your kids after all" I reminded him, I took his hand and placed it were mine had been.
"By the Lord, these kids have much energy to be just babies" I giggled at that "I can't wait to feel them kicking, or holding them… or… whoa, I'm excited!" he recognized.
"I'm glad" I said happily.
"I'm still the luckiest man in the entire world, America. I wonder when will my luck be over… because this might be just a beautiful dream" he made my heart race with that, how could he think so? I gently approached to his face and gave him a kiss, that was supposed to be sweet but he made in longer and longer and passionate, I had to cut it off before it ended like something else.
"Did that seem real to you?" I asked.
"Far too real, my dear" I rolled my eyes at my nickname, but still kissed him on the cheek.
"Majesties, everything is ready, they're just waiting for you" announced Silvia.
"Let the show begin" whispered Maxon, I tried not to laugh when we went together to meet Silvia and all of the guards that would enter the salon behind us.
"May I have a word with my Queen?" asked Aspen at my back.
"A quick one, please" said Maxon smiling. I went to meet him and gave him a hug.
"Good luck, Mer. Leave them speechless!" he said.
"I will" I assured him. "But about you and Lucy…" I reminded him, he was a bit surprised about it.
"What about her?" he asked nervously.
"It's time…" I said to his heard and ended with a wink, I kissed his cheek and went back to my husband.
"Did you tell him that he's going to die or something?" he asked.
"No" I laughed "Why?"
"Because he's not breathing…" I got scared and turned again to see Aspen, but it was too late to take him out of the shock, our entrance music started. Mary appeared from who knows where and placed my tiara on my head.
"Beautiful as always" she whispered and then Maxon took my hand to lead me to the salon. At that moment I couldn't really feel myself walking, everything was surreal; I was alive, I had two children in the way, my husband still loved me more than his own life, I was free from the Asian devil and I was finally becoming Queen of Illéa. I remembered what Maxon had said earlier; did I really deserve all that joy and luck? No freaking idea! But that was my life, the one I had chosen and the one I would fight and protect always. I got out of my head when I saw we were almost getting to where Kriss waited to crown us as kings; oh, forgot to mention! After all her hard work on protecting and taking care of the royal family we decided to make her head of the parliament, wasn't it a great idea? I heard someone calling my name softly; I turned to see May dying of excitement and waving at me so fast that I thought her hand would fall. All my family was there: my mom, my two sisters, my little brother, my brother in law, my niece, my best friends, my husband, my two babies and of course my entire nation! Everything that was dear to me was there. When we got to out places, Kriss winked at us and started.
"Dear people of Illéa, we've gathered here today to finally proclaim a new era of our beloved country. It has been three years since we unfortunately lost King Clarkson and Queen Amberly, three years of waiting and having hopes and those three years have led us to this happening today. Our crown princes recently faced a terrible situation, a death threat that became a war, they were deceived and menaced… but through all that, they never lost their hope or courage and they risked everything to keep us all alive, to keep Illéa as a free country, and they would have given their own lives to end with anyone who would dare to try and take away what is ours. For their braveness and love for their people they're here today, and let me say that they deserve these crowns more than any other ones in the past, I think that I speak for everyone in here when I say that we all trust you and we're pleased that it's you both who are becoming the rightful kings, because we've seen what you're capable of doing when it comes to protect Illéa, we've witnessed how fair and good you are." she smiled, by God, she was good with speeches.
"Now, the royal oath" she announced as the maids gave brought our new crowns, the ones that King Clarkson and Queen Amberly had worn not so long ago, I felt so pleased to wear my late mother in law's crown. "America and Maxon Schreave. Do you swear to protect and give your lives for the sake of the great nation of Illéa, take care of your people, respect our laws, defend our land from anyone who tries to outrage it, and honor the power that has been given to you both by birth and marriage?"
"We do" we answered in choir.
"As you've sworn in the eyes of heaven and your people, so shall you both do" we leaned forward so the crowns would be changed, first went Maxon as he was the crown prince. Then I felt as Kriss took off my sweet little tiara and replaced it with Queen Amberly's crown, it was a bit heavy but I didn't even care with such a warm and joyful sensation inside my heart. We turned to see everyone standing and waiting for the proclamation.
"It's my honor and pleasure to present you all to Queen America and King Maxon Schreave" they all bowed at us, and when the claps started I could see my mother's beautiful eyes covered with excitement tears, I sent her a blown kiss.
"Hey, save some love for your King" said Maxon at my ear.
"I assure you, majesty, that I have lots of love reserved only for you" he smiled and kissed me tenderly, the cheering and claps got louder and louder, but all that I saw, heard and felt was him, only him: My love, my husband, my crown prince, the father of my children, and my king Maxon Calix Schreave, my entire life: him. Then his arms surrounded me placing kisses all over my cheek. Then I remembered something important, I turned to see Kriss and gave her the signal.
"Oh, right. Silence please!" she said. "Our beloved new Queen would like to devote a few words" she said, I took a deep breath and went to the platform.
"Good luck" said my husband next to me.
"Good morning everyone. First of all I would like to express our apologies to those families that lost loved ones during the war with New Asia, those lost souls were the perfect example of patriotism and braveness and I thank all of you for becoming fighters when your country most needed you; it was hard and awful for all of us, I assure you. But this all happened for a reason, I got to learn what does it mean to have a nation in my hands, I understood what it means to love my country, I knew what it takes to become a Queen and I would do it over and over again if that meant that I would get to save everything I've always had. Even though I had never pictured myself as a Queen, I want to thank you all for listening and supporting me, because while wearing this crown and standing in front of you it means that I'm still part of you all as I was once before, that as you do every day I will protect and love Illéa always, this my home and the home of all the people I love; and I still have to learn much things more to really get to call myself a Queen, but what I learned from all of this is that hope, trust and love should be the most important facts in our lives; Hope will keeps us calm in the worst situations, trust will help us remember who we are and help us get out of our misery and what's most important: Love, will keep us alive and fighting. So, as Miss Ambers said, today we begin a new era, today we have a new chance to make this country ours; as fair, united and beautiful as we want it to be, but it's up to us to take the power that has been given, so today we all become Kings and Queens because it'll be us who speak for those that follow us. And it shall continue being like that when our children take our place, from now on and for the rest of the time that the Schreave family rules Illéa, it will be for the best of all of us" I finished looking down at where my babies grow not really listening to all the claps but it was wonderful to get to my people's hearts, now I had another little hope.
To be continued…
Dreamer.
Hello, dear fans! Okay, first of all and apology for not updating earlier! You know with all the holidays I didn't have time for anything really! Sorry, sorry, sorry! But happy new year to you all! I wish you the best, haha! And thank you for being so supportive, I really hope you liked this chapter it was one of my favorites to write! And I have a little question for you… I'm totally head over heels to read The Heir but I can't help of feeling a little sad that we won't know much about Maxon and America how do you feel about it? Haha! But now its Eadlyn's turn and I respect that but God! I still want to know everything about her parent's life! Well, what's written is written, never mind! So, I have to tell you another thing… the next chapter will be actually the last chapter, I know it's sad but I guess I already explained my point with this story: I've made you cry and suffer and hate Kriss crazily but this was my crazy idea and I loved it and I wanted to share it with other fans and I really hope you liked it! So, tell me what you thought of this chapter and we'll read each other next time, bye!