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Maxon's POV

I slammed my fist down on the desk. I knew that the coronation had to continue but I didn't like it. I wanted to show that I would be a better king than my father but now I knew that there were Southern Rebels living within the walls of the palace. Who could I trust? Who was there to trust? I could count on one hand the five people who were working alongside me that could probably be trusted. Scott. Daniele. America. Kriss. And Aspen Leger. I ran my fingers through my hair pushing the paperwork on my desk away. The flutter of words flew up towards the ceiling and then fell down towards the floor. How did this happen? Was this happening before my parents were killed, too? Is that how clever they were? I growled with anger.

Not only was I facing the members of the Council who were still stuck in the ways of the caste, now I had to worry if we were going to be attacked at freewill. I had shown Kriss to her room before coming up to my study and I couldn't be more grateful. But now I wanted her to leave the palace even less. How could I let her walk away when that meant one less person I knew without a doubt that I could trust? I knew Celeste was still here with Daniele but that didn't mean I could trust her here. I didn't know if the Newsomes would be siding with the other higher members of the Council who didn't agree with the news that the Caste System would be done away with and I didn't need them forcing themselves in here to riot if it came down to that. Just a few short weeks ago, my life had so few worries. The biggest thing in my life had been helping America please my father and allow for her to become my queen. Now I was trying to plan my wedding with Kriss, push my plans to end the Caste System, and decide how I was going to weed out the remaining Southern Rebels if that was even possible. Not to mention I was going to have to take a trip to New Asia to end the war and I didn't know what kind of chaos that would bring.

I fell back to my chair, exhausted. Perhaps it would be better if we only had one coronation and waited for Kriss to be crowned at the wedding. After all, she was going to be leaving and wouldn't be performing any of her princess duties for a while. Then Sylvia wouldn't have to panic about the lessons she was missing and my mother could continue her job uninterrupted. Yet, if I didn't act in line with tradition that had the princess crowned shortly after the engagement, which would be seen by the higher Castes as an unforgivable act. I would already piss so many of them off in the years to follow that I wasn't sure if I needed to add to their list of grievances. Especially since Kriss was a Three. I shook my head. Why get married at all if it was going to be this difficult? At least there was a vantage point in marrying her and that was that I could show them that I was bringing someone who had been privileged already to even more privilege in life. I could show them that I wasn't just favoring the lower castes and I needed that. I rubbed my temples. I was a terrible person, trying to find something I could use in marrying Kriss to help push all of my plans forward. But, I reasoned with myself, I did love her and the way that she was so understanding of my short comings and my responsibilities.

I stood up and straightened my tie, stopping by the kitchens and picking up to pieces of strawberry cake. I walked straight to Kriss' room and knocked at the door. Responsibility could wait, at least for now. She came slowly to the door and smiled at me handing her a plate of her own cake. She opened the door more for me and sat down on the sofa with me when I gestured for her to join me. "I'm sorry I had to rush away from our date, my dear. But I have to make sure that everyone here is safe and I didn't know what else to do."

"It's alright Prince Maxon. But do you really think they are still here? I thought the guards had spent the last few weeks sorting through everyone's records and they had all checked out?"

"So did I, Kriss, so did I. Nobody inside these walls would have wrote that message if they hadn't been a Rebel though. I have no choice but to believe that they are still here."

She lightly shuddered. I pulled her closer to me feeding her a bite of her cake. I didn't blame her for being afraid. Several bullets had flown through the air as we made our way to the safe room. Some had almost hit her, almost hit me, and had almost hit several of the other Elite. Even though none of us had been shot, there were people falling down left and right, cries of pain as the bullet registered and finally shouts to void as people died all around us filled the air. There was nothing about the situation that hadn't been traumatizing. I lightly stroked her hair as she tucked her body against mine. What were we going to do? I realized then that I hadn't even told my mother and my heart beat with a skip of panic for the only living parent I had left. Not only did I have to protect all the people who lived here and my fiancée, I had to make sure that nothing happened to my mother. I didn't want to be alone.

"I will make sure everyone is safe again, Kriss. But I am glad that you are going home, I don't want you here when it's so dangerous. I just don't know who I'm going to send home with you, I don't want you getting hurt while you're away from the palace for being engaged to me. Oh God, Kriss. What if they try to hurt you because you are engaged to me! How could you want to be a part of this life? How could your family want this life for you?" The words poured out of me before I could stop them. I didn't pull away from her but I looked up at the ceiling ashamed of what I was subjecting her to—really what I would have been subjecting any of the girls to.

"Maxon, I told you once that I would want you without all of this. I just meant the glamour. Every marriage has their struggles and I'm not going to back down out of fear from ours. Yes, they are a bit more extreme than what other couples go through but I'm here until the end. I gave you my word." She replied softly, pulling my chin down with her fingers to make me look at her. There was promise behind her eyes and certainty that no matter what did happen, at least I wouldn't have to worry about her walking out on me and add pressure to find a new wife. I didn't deserve her in the slightest.

We finished our cake in silence and I closed the distance between us with a small kiss before I left. I walked down the hallways wanting to speak to my mother about this new threat and to tell her to be careful. Unfortunately I knew there was no way around seeing that warning and most of the cleaning staff had already gone to bed for the evening by the time that I had given the call for it to be cleaned up. However, the last thing I expected when I turned the corner to see the words that I had been planning to dart past was America wiping down the words with a large yellow sponge with one of her maids—Mary I think her name was if I was remembering correctly.

"America? What are you doing?" I asked walking up to her. She turned away from what she was doing at looked at me for a moment before going back to scrubbing the wall. "America, what are you doing?" I repeated, still shocked to see her cleaning the wall. It wasn't her responsibility. She didn't have to be doing this and neither did her maid, especially after hours.

"One of the guards found Mary in my room and asked if she wouldn't mind cleaning. She told them she was already off for the evening but I told her that I would help her if she wanted to do it. It's not that big of a deal, Prince Maxon."

I shuttered once again at the use of my title slipping off her tongue. Even when we were just friends, before that night when I kissed her, she was always calling me Maxon. "America, really why are you doing this? You don't have to."

"I know you've been under a lot of pressure lately and that you are going forward with dissolving the Castes. I just wanted to show you that I still knew how to be grateful."

I let out a short chuckle. I couldn't believe the humble words I was hearing from her fiery tongue. This wasn't the typical Lady America Singer that I had known for so long. I picked up another sponge from the bucket and started to help her and Mary scrub the words off the wall. A diplomat and the future king, scrubbing walls together. This was the world that I wanted, one where your position of power of lack thereof didn't dictate that you were better than someone else. Where everyone could be more equal than they were under this absurd system that had existed for so long. She looked over at me as I scrubbed the walls.

"I've missed you, America. I miss your humor and all of your amazing kindness. And I want you to know that things are better between Kriss and me. I'm trying to be a better man," I told her. I didn't expect her to be jealous of me telling her that anymore but I did hope that it would be enough to get her to agree that we could be friends again. "We were such great friends, once. Can't we have that back?" I said, my voice dropping down to a low whisper with every syllable.

"I don't know if that's such a good idea."

"Please," I whispered begging and fighting the tears that threatened to fall from the stress I was under. "Can't you see I don't know who to trust anymore? I need all the friends that I can get."

She looked up at the writing and the sponge in her hand. Her teeth lightly nibbled her lip as if she was considering what I had just said. Then her eyes met mine once again and I knew that she had found her answer. "Yes, Maxon, we can be friends again."

America's POV

Maxon had escorted me back to my room and I went straight to bed. It was good to have his friendship back once more and not feel as if I was a threat to him or that he hated me. However, I was still afraid how Kriss was going to react to us being friendly to each other once more. I couldn't help but hope that her seeing me being kissed by Scott the night before had helped and that her and Maxon's relationship had become rock solid. Maxon had been right. In these darker times, we didn't know who we could really trust and we needed as many people on our side as we could get. I wondered if she knew about his plans to end the Castes.

I rolled out of bed and put on the green dress that Mary had prepared for me. Today was the day of Maxon's coronation and I had been given a seat at the Royal Table alongside my fellow diplomats and Daniele—who had managed to get Celeste a seat as well. He was starting to introduce her to the basics of laws and I knew that he wanted to convince Maxon to let her be my apprentice so that there were two diplomats to the Illéan government. I was sure that most of the people would be more approving of her than me because she was already a Two and wouldn't need so much education.

We walked down to the Chapel were the ceremony was going to be taking place. Maxon would walk down to the end of the aisle to meet the Archbishop and then the ceremony would begin. The first few rows were filled by the Queen, Kriss, and the diplomats, followed by some of the other allies who had been invited to the ceremony, and a few cameramen stood at the back. Everyone in the room had to have been absolutely trusted by Queen Amberly at least because I knew that Maxon must have been on his tiptoes about the whole situation.

Everyone stood as the music started to play softly and the scripture (Psalm 122, 1-3, 6, 7) was read. The guards at the back opened the doors as Maxon started to walk down the aisle in his father's robes. I wondered if that felt weird for him with the broken relationship that they had had but whatever he was feeling, he hid it well.

I was glad when they said unto me:

We will go into the house of the Lord.

Our feet shall stand in thy gates:

O Jerusalem.

Jerusalem is built as a city:

that is at unity in itself.

O pray for the peace of Jerusalem:

they shall prosper that love thee.

Peace be within thy walls:

and plenteousness within thy palaces.

Maxon reached the end and everyone was gestured down to their seats. It was custom that only the highest people of power would remain standing at the front of the room—Maxon and the Archbishop Winchester.

"Sirs, I here present unto you King MAXON, your undoubted King: Wherefore all you who are come this day to do your homage and service, are you willing to do the same?"

"Long Live King Maxon!" Everyone shouted in response.

The Archbishop administered the rest of the ceremony as Maxon replied with 'this I will' or other basic terms of agreement that followed in line with tradition as he sat kneeled in front of the other man. The scepter and was relieved of his cloak. He was then gestured to his father's seat as the crown was placed on his head. There was a new sense of maturity around him. I couldn't help but to be proud of him and the king that I knew that he was going to be. I flashed him a small smile and out of an old habit, I tugged my ear. His eyes almost looked as they were fighting not to widen as his whole body became tenser. So he had seen my little signal. Hopefully no one else saw the change in his body language or at least they would only see it as a few last minute gestures. I blinked and in that moment he returned to normal as if he hadn't ever seen me. Perhaps I had imagined the whole thing.

His father's crown was placed on his head before he followed the Archbishop to the front step and everyone in the audience stood once again. "King Maxon," the bishop concluded with a few words in Latin that I didn't quite understand.

And in that moment, the sound of a single gunshot filled the air.