Thanks for the reviews everyone! Here is the next chapter. I've thrown in some new POV's so let me know what you think about that or whether or not I should just stick to Maxon/America. :)


Kriss's POV

Maxon had left my side as quickly as he had proposed to me. I took a deep breath, leaning into my mother as she combed through my hair as she would when I was a child. Tears threatened to pool in my eyes from the amount of frustration I found myself filled with. I had been taught not to have a temper—something I had always thought America should learn—because when I would become a teacher, I would have to be patient with the children so that I could help them learn better. I was calm and collected on the inside but there was a fire pushing its way out from the inside. The castle had been deemed unsafe to leave. That meant all of my fellow Elite were still here. She was still here. Even in the darkness of the safe room, I had been able to tell that Maxon's eyes were wondering from me in his arms to her at the opposite side. But they were over, he had told me so before we had entered the Great Room together. He told me to trust that he could love me as much as he loved her but that he would need to give him time to get over that betrayal. I trusted him. But I didn't trust her. The very idea that she was still in the palace, within reach of my Maxon, well it boiled inside of me.

"I should go back to my own room, Princess," my mother whispered as she kissed my hair. I smiled to myself as she left the Princess Suite to me. This was my room now. Maxon's princess was my title. That comforted me a little bit. I brushed my finger across my Northern Star necklace and decided that he didn't need to know about this. The Northern Rebels had, clearly, finally earned the trust of the royal family—or at least the King (now my handsome Maxon, God rest King Clarkson's soul)—which meant that I wouldn't be considered a traitor if I was found at anyway. And as Princess, there wasn't anything they wouldn't be telling me that Maxon wouldn't be hearing straight from them.

I let the anger start to slide out of me as I took a deep breath. I had earned this. I wasn't manipulative and cruel like Celeste, I wasn't in it for honor like Elise, and I hadn't lied and cheated like she had. I smiled to myself and let out a small laugh of pure joy as I looked at my engagement ring. In a few weeks—or months, I wasn't really sure as there had been no time to talk about wedding details in light of the attacks—I would be Maxon's wife. I wasn't quite sure how things were going to work considering that Queen Amberly was still alive and the country hadn't had a female ruler before. Surely, Maxon would be coordinated shortly and I would become his queen.

I felt truly sorry for their loss though and didn't know how to help my Maxon with the pain he had to be suffering through. He hadn't shed a tear in front of me but I figured that he was just trying to hold it together for his mother. What bravery. What courage. Tomorrow, I would find him and get him to have breakfast just the two of us. Maybe then he would talk to me about what he was feeling. I nodded as I laid back into my bed. I started to drift off into dreams of what our children would like.

America's POV

Celeste had joined me on my bed and hadn't stopped plotting away since she allowed me to crawl back up onto it. She looked at the redness and puffiness of my eyes from crying for the last few hours. Keep it together, America she kept telling me over and over again. All I could do was listen to what she had to tell me, doubting that it was possible at all. Surely, I told myself, Maxon would want me gone as soon as the ban had been lifted on the palace. I would be the first one to be kicked out and probably wouldn't even be escorted out by guards or the prince himself. How could Celeste honestly think that I could steal Maxon away from Kriss! After all, he had announced that she was The One in front of the entire kingdom! But, then I reasoned with myself, maybe she just thought I was doubting myself because the King hadn't approved of me or something. She didn't know the real reason. She didn't know about Aspen.

"What if you're wrong Celeste," I whispered back to her, looking at her straight in the eyes for the first time during our conversation. "What if Maxon really wants to marry Kriss and you were just mistaken with how he was looking at me," I finished, tears starting to pool in the back of my eyes again. "You don't know what I did, you don't understand why he wouldn't want me over her."

"I know about you and Officer Leger," she said, flicking her hair as she moved around on my bed to make herself more comfortable. She grunted in frustration and finally set herself in one spot making me wondering what angel soft material her bed was made out of that made her hate mine so much. The tone of her voice hit me like a ton of bricks as her words settled into my head. How long had she known? What had she seen? Why hadn't she told Maxon herself if she hadn't been my friend except in these few final months?

"What," I whispered.

"I was waiting for the right time to tell on you, America, I really was. I saw how much he adored you and I was waiting for the moment I thought he would actually trust what I had to say. But after that night Natalie was sent home, I never saw him leaving your bedroom again. My opportunity was up. I thought I could still find a way to tell him but then you confronted me and reminded me I don't need some silly man to hold up my self-worth. But don't worry, nobody else knows."

"You might not have told anyone but Maxon saw me and so did Kriss," I bit my tongue back wanting to repress that awful memory. She raised her eyebrow at me and nodded for me to continue. "We were going to get married. He told me so. But then we got carried away and I didn't have time to tell him. He was telling Kriss goodbye this morning and he saw me trying to tell Asp—Office Leger that I hadn't slept with Maxon."

I got another raise of the eyebrow, her eyes full of wonder as to the full details of why someone would think that we had been sleeping together. But I shook my head back at her. I wasn't going to give into what she wanted. I didn't want to remember the last time we had been blissfully happy. She shrugged her shoulder, tapping her chin as if she was trying to think of what to tell me. "That all but proves my point, America. Instead of moping about, we really have to find out how we can get you back with Maxon. It doesn't matter if he's proposed to Kriss in front of the kingdom. Like I said, he doesn't love her. We just have to get him to forgive you."

"Why are you even trying to help me?"

"I don't like to be in people's debts," she replied rolling onto her back. "I can see why you two didn't sleep together, this bed is as hard as rock," she whined. I gave her a teasing shake of my head rolling my eyes. This was the softest bed I had ever slept in but I guess as a 2, she would have been able to try out as many mattresses as she had wanted to until she found the perfect fit.

"Spoiled brat," I whispered at her, giving my first real smile since the early hours of the day.

She laughed and rolled her eyes at me. "Pathetic Five."

Aspen's POV

Walking through the many floors of the wounded, I tried harder and harder with each passing moment to find her. I had seen Mary and she couldn't give me any word as they had apparently gotten separated as they ran for their lives. Anne had disappeared in the chaos and I wouldn't be able to ask her for any information either. One nurse recalled putting someone who fit that description in the third floor of the spread out hospital wing, at the back corner but she couldn't remember if they were alive or had already passed. I prayed that wasn't the case.

The minute I walked into the door I saw her. My beautiful darling, her shining eyes closed and blood covering her lower abdomen. My eyes pooled with tears as I sprinted over and around people who were laying everywhere on that floor and nurses and doctors trying to tend to their every need. I found a seat next to her and stroked her soft hand with my own. She looked as if she had been stitched up already but there was hardly any life to her. I looked up and pushed back all of my tears, grateful that she hadn't been killed in the attack.

"Lucy, I'm here. Aspen's here," I said, leaning down and kissing her ear and forehead gently. Maybe, just maybe, even in this comatose state she could still hear me whispering sweet things to her. Hopefully it would help her wake up, full of life, and happy to see me. I gave her one soft kiss on her lips before I leaned back and held her hand softly in mine.

In these quiet moments all on my own, I couldn't help but to think of Mer and how awful I felt for her. Maxon had proposed to someone else and it was all my fault. I shouldn't have been so surprised or hung around to find out why she had slept with him. That was her business and I just wanted her to be happy. I had it all planned out. I was going to tell her the truth, I was going to tell her about how things had happened between Lucy and I. How I wasn't in love with her anymore and how I couldn't have been happier that she was the one that the Prince had chosen. And in an instant, I had ruined it. While Lucy was, I refused to believe she would leave me, wake up and we would have a happy ending, Mer wouldn't. I don't know why I didn't tell that line to the Prince instead of the fact that Mer had told me to leave her alone and I had still went after her. While that part was only somewhat true, there might have been time to show Maxon that I wasn't trying to steal from him. That she was really all his for the taking. If only he would have let me stay long enough to gather my thoughts and explain the situation! I could have had Lucy brought into the conversation and I could have her backing up my words. Maxon wasn't stupid. He wouldn't believe that no one else knew about Lucy and I. It would just look like a lie to make him seem the fool in not keeping Mer.

I shook my head in regret. If only I hadn't stumbled in. If only I would have known they were together in her room instead of wanting to walk in and tell her the truth about Lucy and I. Somehow, this had to turn out okay for her. I didn't know if she would be able to get Maxon back or not but I still hoped there was someone out there who would love her the way she deserved. I felt a twist in my stomach, some remaining guilt from our previous relationship. If only I had recognized Lucy's affections much further in our past. Perhaps then America would still be with her Prince and I would have been able to let her go a long time ago.

I stroked a few stray hairs out of Lucy's face. Maybe he would still listen to me but I doubted it. Perhaps he owed me that for rescuing his mother's life. I could try and use that to get him to listen to my story. But I knew he wouldn't believe it. "Wake up, Lucy," I whispered, tears finally creeping out of my eyes. "I want to marry you. I want to have a life with you my love. I need you to help me fix the mess I've made."

Maxon's POV

I was finally able to escort my mother back to her own room for the night. She had put up quite the fight but finally agreed that she couldn't stay by my father's corpse forever. I saw her up to my aunt's guest room knowing that she shouldn't be alone. I walked down the halls, my mind filling with memories of the last few months of the Selection. I passed down where I told America that I no longer trusted her and she promised she would earn it back. I punched the wall. If only she had told me about Officer Aspen Leger in that moment! I was already needing her to prove herself it would have just been one other aspect to prove to me! I would have forgiven her with time, the same time it would have taken for her to earn back my trust. But she hadn't done that. Was she still in love with him at that point? Had I shown her my deepest, darkest secret and she was still whispering I love you's to another man? The idea threatened to break me, so I continued down the hallway trying not to think much about it.

I walked past a small area I had once met Kriss to go on a lunch picnic. I was engaged to her now. But the same thoughts kept running through my head that had been all day. I should be engaged to my Five. I kept trying to shake these feelings. Kriss had been nothing but honest with me throughout this entire thing and I had to be grateful for that. She was beautiful, smart, kind, and loving. She would make a wonderful wife and give me a life worth living. I had to focus on that. But I knew it would be hard with America still in the palace. It will get easier, I told myself. Once she was out of here, I wouldn't have to ever see her again. I could burn the photos of her that I had taken physically and eventually memories with Kriss would replace the ones I had made with her. It would take time and I didn't think rushing into Kriss would be the best idea but it was possible to get over America. And I would. I would fall completely in love with Kriss, with time. With time, America would be the horror story I would tell mine and Kriss's children.


Thoughts? :)