Apparently, I need to be careful what I wish for because you guys blew up the last chapter with reviews within a few hours. Thanks it does mean a lot thought :). SJWrites2014, I hope this was what you were looking for between Celeste and America! I had fun writing it if it wasn't though :P. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and I made it longer since the last chapter was a little on the shorter side!


America's POV

Celeste had spent the night in my room, chatting away with me to keep my mind off Maxon for a few hours. When she had finally fallen asleep I had rolled onto my back and looked at the ceiling of my bedroom. I'd give anything to change things between Maxon and I. But I also wanted him to be happy. I knew that things between Aspen and I were over. I couldn't go running back to him just because Maxon didn't chose me. My feelings just weren't there anymore. And the way he looked at me was full of…disappointment. Surely, he would never believe that I hadn't slept with Maxon that night anyway. I glanced over at Celeste. I wished, in that moment, that I would be able to move on from the Selection the way she would. I wished that I had her attitude about being an eligible bachelorette now that Maxon had chosen his wife. Maxon wanted me gone so being able to possess that kind of attitude would help me put him in the past and find love again. But can a person even have three loves in one lifetime? I doubted that. I could still have a bright future on my own, I guess. But I'd never truly be happy, not without Maxon. I decided that I'd gather all of my things and be able to leave the moment that the ban was lifted off the palace. At least that way, I would be able to work on putting all of this behind me.

I could give the house to Marlee and Carter now that they surely to be pardoned. Or at least they would be allowed to move up in their caste. Maxon had forgiven them for what they had done. He didn't hold any hard feelings towards them, probably never had. At least at the time, he had only loved me. If he had proposed to me they could have been forgiven for their actions almost immediately. They could have children and raise their family in that beautiful house he had given me. I didn't want to give him back his letters those. I wanted to be able to keep a piece of our love alive, somewhere. Somewhere near the early hours of the mornings, all of these thoughts slowly began to put me to sleep.

I was woke up way too early for the hour I had fallen asleep, though. There was a guard I had never seen before at my door, chatting away with Celeste. I watched them through half closed eyes for a few minutes as she flirted away, tossing her hair over her shoulders. Part of me still hated her. How could she look that good having just rolled out of bed! My own hair was in a tangled mess from tossing and turning. Hers looked like the maids had spent hours preparing her for a session on the Report. She looked over at me for a minute before saying something to the guard and getting him to shut the door on his way out.

"America!" She shouted, throwing one of my pillows at me as I tried to fall back asleep. "Get out of bed. Prince Maxon has requested your presence."

My heart dropped. Maxon wanted to see me? My heart began to race while my mind was fueled with nothing but panic. Would he want to yell more insults at me like he did before he had proposed to Kriss? Would he tell me that he had sent Aspen to New Asia to die after all? There was no way that this could be a good thing, as much as my heart wanted it to be him calling me to say that Kriss had changed her mind about being princess or he had changed his about her. All of this seemed way too good to be true. I began to shake my head as I looked to Celeste in confusion and fear.

"There must be some kind of mistake," I finally forced out.

"Don't be so pathetic," she hissed back. "You look terrible and this seemed urgent."

"Not everyone can roll out of bed looking like a goddess."

She flashed me one of her biggest smiles, one that I had seen as her picture flashed on the first Report that announced all of the girls. It was obvious that she had a plan to make me presentable and make the meeting with Maxon memorable. Sometimes, it was really for the best that we had become friends. I probably would have run the other way had the guard told me himself that Maxon wanted to meet with me. But with Celeste here, I knew that I wouldn't have a choice in whether or not I went. That was something that I was going to need to fall back on today. She began to run a brush through my hair after she pulled one of my dresses out of the closet. For having people wait on her hand and foot her entire life, she seemed to have a pretty good idea of how to brush through other people's knotted hair.

"You're going to walk in their confident and act like you aren't freaking out," she told me as she continued to get the knots out of my hair. "People can sense insecurities and fear. Don't let Maxon see that you're afraid. Especially if you still want to win him back." Another brush. This was the first that tugged my hair a little too hard and I winced. She let out a small giggle before she placed the brush down. "All done, now put on the dress and I'll go with you and the guard to where he requested you."

Quickly, she hobbled out of the room and shut the door behind her. Her last look at me before she shut the door told me to be hasty and not to keep Maxon waiting any longer than we already had. As I put on the dress that she had picked out for me, I glanced over at my bracelet he had gotten me while he was in New Asia. I reached out for it and lightly stroked the beads for a moment. Surely, I thought to myself, it couldn't hurt to wear it to this meeting. Hopefully it would help him see that I did love him—even if that wasn't something that really mattered anymore. At least he might be able to see that I wouldn't be running back to Aspen the minute I walked out of the palace for good. I put on my silver heels and proceeded down the hallway with Celeste and the guard.

Maxon's POV

"That is an absurd request!" I nearly shouted back at Nicoletta. She shrugged her shoulders and leaned back as if my anger didn't bother her at all. If I had been anyone but a prin—king I would have grabbed her shoulders and shook her with all of the rage that was boiling up inside of me. Keeping America at the palace or even bringing her around to do work wouldn't help me to get over her at all! I had always admired her spark and passion behind the ideas that she had. Working alongside her would bring up all of the painful feelings I was trying to let go of. And to top it off, I had no idea how Kriss would react to me working with America. I wanted her to trust that I was prepared to become her husband, not keeping America around because I had made the wrong choice. "Did she put you up to this?!" I screamed, demanding to know if she was using her relationship with Italy to continue to cause me more pain.

"No, she doesn't even know that I am requesting she become a diplomat." Her voice was calm and collected once again proving that my anger wasn't even phasing her. Apparently, Italy had made up their minds and they weren't going to change because I was throwing a temper tantrum. For once, I realized, I was reacting to something as king the same way that my father would have. He would have been proud that I chose Kriss and was sticking to that arrangement.

"Why!"

"We like her vision for your country," she started looking me dead in the eye. I could tell she was serious and there wasn't going to be any other agreement we could reach to get the alliance. "We would have preferred that she had become your queen but that is not something we can force on you. However, we can urge you to make her your diplomat if you wish to have us as your ally. And since your attacks here at the palace have gotten much worse, as yesterday shows, you are going to need all the help you can get. With your father's passing, we knew that we could ask you to do that without causing turmoil between our two countries."

"Can't you see you're putting me in turmoil, Nicoletta? I still love America Singer!" I shouted, glad that Kriss was nowhere near to be able to hear this confession. "I don't want her here, I need her to be away from me, away from the palace, away from my decision making processes. Surely, there must be another way."

"I don't know what fell apart between the two of you," she started slowly. I could tell that part of her was completely taken back by the confession I had just made to her. But I was also grateful that she chose not to pry for more information as to why I was so against America being here if I still loved her as I had just said. "I am sorry but this is the only way that Italy will agree to help you. We can have all our weapons taken away from the Northern Rebels and end their training. Or you can agree to our terms and we will be your ally. I am sure that you have a better vision for your country than your father and we would be more than willing to help that vision become a reality."

I bit back my pride. She was right. And I was going to need all of the help I could get. My head still pounded with all of the angry I was holding back and I swallowed a large breath of air before I was able to respond. Through gritted teeth, I finally managed to speak. "If Lady America is willing to accept the position then I will give it to her. Thank you for agreeing to ally with us."

She nodded smiling soft as she headed out of the room. I fell back against the chair at the desk in the small room. My head fell forward into my hands. I knew that I would have to make a lot of sacrifices as king, but I didn't want my happiness with Kriss to be one of those things. Yet, through this conversation, all of the positive things I had felt towards her had melted away. Part of me that wasn't completely pissed off wanted to see what America would be like as a diplomat. I shook this as far out of my conscious thinking as I could as I decided to have one of the guards bring her here to meet with me. I rubbed my temples, trying to get back all of the happy things I had felt when I was kissing Kriss. All of the hope that had been brought out inside of me as we had spent the morning together—one of many that we would spend together as husband and wife. But it just wasn't coming out anymore. And it just wasn't fair. None of this would ever be fair. I didn't know if she would accept the job, but I needed her to. I needed her so we could finally be comrades with Italy. I needed her. That feeling hurt.

The minutes seemed to drag on for hours before there was finally a knock at the door. I got up to open it and saw the guard had finally brought me America. I was distracted for a moment that Celeste was here with her. After all the pleading to send her home, the two looked like they were getting along like old friends. I knew she had been crying to Celeste in the safe room while I held Kriss. It irritated me that this was something else she had been making up inside of my head—their rivalry. Surely a friendship between the two of them couldn't have spanned so late in the game. They were both the same person. Toying with my heart and mind in order to pull other things closer to their hearts. It was ridiculous. The only person I could really trust throughout this whole thing was Kriss. My father must have been right about me. I was young and naïve.

"Lady America, if you will please join me for a few minutes," I stated. I didn't want Celeste to be overstaying her welcome at the palace as well. She nodded and stepped inside, the guard closing the door after she had made her way in. As soon as the door was shut, I started to glare at her through gritted teeth. "It's nice to see you," I spat. "And nice to see that you lied to me about another thing. Wouldn't have guessed Celeste would be your best pal but it makes sense."

She shuddered and half opened her mouth as if she was going to defend her friend. I raised my hand not wanting to hear any of it. I just wanted to get this out of the way and get the rest of my business out of the way for the day. "Italy has made us a proposition. Since Kriss is to be my queen and you were their choice, they have made an offer that my country cannot refuse. If you would agree to be diplomat for relations between our country and theirs, then they would more than willingly like to be our allies. You can see in the aftermath of yesterday why I have to agree to their terms."

She looked stunned. She also looked upset that this was what I wanted to talk to her about. But surely, she must have been smart enough to know that I wouldn't have wanted to pull her in here to try and make up or change my engagement. Yet from the look in those beautiful green eyes, that was exactly what she had thought. Or at least hoped deep inside of her.

"Of course, I would hate to pull you away from anyone else's plans for your future," I shot at her, fighting all attempts to pull her into my arms once again. I looked at her lips quivering not sure what to say. Those perfect, pale pink, amazing to kiss lips.

"I would be honored, you're Majesty," she said, with a bow. I nodded my head.

"Thank you, Lady America. You can be on your way now but don't mention to anyone what we have discussed. If you can manage to hold your tongue for a change." She stood up. It was only then that I realized she was wearing my bracelet. That made my heart skip a small beat, especially when I saw that the button was also no longer there. Against all reason, that had to mean something, I hoped.

America's POV

I took off in a full sprint away from my conversation with Maxon. I knew it had been a long shot that he would want to talk about anything between the two of us that would end with us getting together again. I had known that leaving my room and walking into that meeting. But it also took away the small pieces of hope I still had left. I wanted to tell him that things had changed between Celeste and me, as well as why. I wanted to tell him that I didn't have to meet with Aspen to make sure that I could take this job. It was my decision because I didn't have any ties to anyone else anymore. I wanted to grab his face and kiss him one last time, hear him say that he loved me one more time. But I knew that all of this wasn't going to do me any good and that some of it just wouldn't happen or wouldn't matter.

And now? Now I had taken a job at the palace. One that would put me in regular contact with Maxon on probably a daily—or at least weekly—basis. I would be working directly under him. What was Nicoletta thinking? Why would the Italian kingdom insist that I had to stay? I was just part of the Selection. I had no training for politics, no idea of what I was going to have to do or say. This was something that should fall to those who are trained or the Queen and King themselves. I wasn't cut out for this job. But I owed Maxon this much. I had so much to set right between the two of us to be okay with myself again. And this was as good a start as any. If I was the only way that the Italians would agree to help then I would stay and do that job.

I rounded a corner and saw Kriss go around a different one, her back to me. How would she feel with me still here? She wasn't going to like it. There was no way that she would want me to stay in the palace as a constant reminder that Maxon had loved me greater than he loved her for the rest of our lives. I felt bad for what I had to do. I felt bad for what I wanted from Maxon. I wiped the tears that finally fell out of my eyes from the amount of stress I was feeling. None of this was fair for her. All of the Selection girls should have been a thing of the past. We might have stayed in contact when she needed support or been Bridesmaids at the wedding like Queen Amberly had said when she had spoken to all of us. But not like this. Especially not with me. Had they asked for Elise or Celeste, she would have been just fine. They weren't a threat to her and Maxon. Or at least they hadn't ever been. I highly doubted I was still a threat. He still spoke with anger and hurt towards me after all.

Somehow, I found myself walking past the hospital wing. I hadn't seen any of my maids since I left my room that morning. I hadn't even thought to ask about them. I decided that I might as well check for them while I was there. I saw one of the list that had all of those they had identified as killed in the attack. On top of the list was King Clarkson, followed by some of the generals and other important figures. Several pages through, I found Anne's name. More tears poured out of me. If I was going to be stuck in the palace, I had hoped that I would be able to keep them around with me. They had been such an amazing support system and losing just one of them was a terrible fate. I was relieved slightly that neither Mary nor Lucy's names were on the list beside hers. I don't know what I would done if I had lost two or all three of them. I continued to walk around, wanting to know if they had been injured but not killed.

Somewhere in my search, I found something that completely shocked me. While I had known about Anne's crush, I didn't know that Mary or Lucy had their eyes on someone. But there in front of my eyes was undeniable proof that they had their own love lives to worry about. Aspen sat by Lucy's side, who appeared to be in a coma but not dead. His lips were pressed against her hand and he looked as if he had been crying and deprived of hours of sleep. Aspen had moved on too. Aspen and Lucy were together.


Reviews are always appreciated :) And I'll be taking input on whether you'd like to see Maxon telling Kriss that America will be staying as a diplomat in his point of view or in hers.