AN: I would like you all to know that I've officially decided my pairings for this story but I can't tell you what they are :). But there are some things that you all will enjoy coming in chapter 18, so if I can get like 15-20 reviews for this chapter and for chapter 17, then it'll get chapter 18 up by next Wednesday or Thursday. :) And thanks so much to the 101 of you following this story and to all of you who have favorited it and have reviewed or even just read this far. This is one of the most favorite things that I have ever written and I'm glad that you all are enjoying it as much as I have been enjoying writing it!


Maxon's POV

I walked back down the hallways to my meetings, my head hanging a little bit lower than usual. I knew that they were going to use the murder of the Archbishop as a reason why we couldn't use the removal of the Caste System plans I had drawn up. I knew that they would all argue my point to death and I wasn't looking forward to that either. These things needed to happen, this change needed to happen. I lifted my head up higher carrying in the folder that held all the information about my plans. If I wanted this to happen, then I needed to try and force some confidence into it rather than sending it to the back burner to rot. I walked through the doors and the room fell silent, followed by some glares from some of the Advisors and hushed whispers between them. If silence was golden, then this must be the richest room in the entire kingdom. I walked towards the seat at the front of the room and sat down. One of the maids rushed over and began taking drink orders from there and the silence remained. I opened up the folder after she left and began to slide out different papers, handing out copies to every Advisor in the room.

"King Maxon, before we begin," DeLisle interrupted with a smug look on his face and he dropped a few inches of water on the sheet that he had be given, "I would like to take a moment to mention that perhaps our efforts should be refocused on eliminated the Southern Rebel threat before we worry about anything else. After all, you could have been killed at your own coronation if the bullet hadn't missed you for the Archbishop."

"That bullet was aimed directly for the Archbishop but I know that you're correct in saying that one could have just as easily made its way towards me. And while I appreciate your concern, progress cannot be halted due to threats on my life. If I am to die, then I will die. But I will have laid down some ground work for change in my time and that's all that matters," I replied sternly. I wasn't going to back down from these plans without a fight. "Now onto other matters of business. I have sent a draft of a basic peace agreement to New Asia. They have agreed to look over it, make some adjustments of their own, and send it back to me before we talk about any delegations taking a trip in either direction—though I would imagine that we would be taking our delegation there so begin to budget for that trip gentlemen."

"Yes and while we agree that the war in New Asia should be ended and a possible alliance formed there, it still might not be in our best interest to end the Caste System," DeLisle shot back once again. There were a few more nods this time, meaning that our original vote had gone down to six to seven votes, almost enough to push the tides in their favor if we were to vote again. Had the incident with the Archbishop really make them this blind? It should have had the opposite effects because the Southern Rebels were clearly tired of all the privilege and would be relaxed if there were to be change. There needed to be change for the bettering of everyone in the country.

"We aren't going to be afraid to try and press forward," I replied. "Then we will start by dissolving the Eights into Fives, Sixes, and Sevens, that way they can develop themselves into society once again. They haven't been brought into our world and they don't have many basic skills needed to work or provide for themselves. There will be a program brought about to make that change and they will be happy there for a while—or at least in a position where they can

There were a few glares and murmurs amongst those at the table but I tried to ignore it and keep my ground. If I backed down now, these things were never going to happen. I stood a little taller at these thoughts that I kept reminding myself of. I looked around to see a few heads that were nodding, including Saxton's. If I could keep him on my side I knew that I had a better chance of things going the way that I wanted them to. I turned to him, nodding as if to give him the floor to speak.

"Perhaps we could compromise gentlemen. Instead of dissolving the Eights into a Caste as high as the Fives, we keep them as Sixes or mostly Sevens. That way we don't feel like they are getting too much privilege too quickly but they are still allowed to work and be a part of society. It's a bit more of a win-win situation."

"That's agreeable," Emmert stated, some of the others nodding alongside him. It wasn't quite what I wanted to do but I felt that if I had to compromise at least it was starting the process and we would be able to make some adjustments as time went on. I nodded and looked around the table to some of the faces who seemed to be agreeing on this new suggestion. DeLisle and a few others still seemed to oppose the idea altogether. "Well, shall we have a vote on this, King Maxon?"

I nodded. "Yes, let's put Saxton's amendment to my plan to a vote." I leaned back slightly in my hair. "All in favor?" Eight hands were raised which meant that we already had the majority on our side. "All against?" Only five hands were left to vote but they already knew that they had lost the vote. I smiled as I sat upright in my seat once more. "It's decided then. We will have a draft of this plan written out and it will be announced on the Report in," I started looking over at Saxton and Emmert to come up with a date.

"Three weeks, sir," Saxton replied as he began to pencil it in on his calendar. "I will have someone inform Gavril and his crew so they can start preparing for such an announcement. We will also have some guards shifted towards the colonies of Eights so they are prepared for the announcement and have some information already mapped out for them since this will be a large change."

"Very well," DeLisle stated, nearly spitting the words as if they were venom. "But I don't think that any good will come out of this, mark my words!" He muttered, almost inaudible to the rest of us. As a matter of fact, it seemed that I was the only one who had heard what he had said.

"Meeting adjourned," I finished as I stood up from my seat. I picked up the documents as everyone headed out of the room besides DeLisle. I didn't pay much attention to him until I tried to leave the room and found him blocking my way. "If you don't mind, DeLisle, I have work to get done."

"Your father would have been extremely displeased with you, King Maxon. I was his most trusted Advisor. Don't you think for one second that I don't know that he would have rather kept pulling the strings and using you as no more than a puppet? You have a lack of knowledge and experience, you're just good with your words and making a stupid plan seem like a grand gesture."

I glared down at him. He was only a few inches shorter than me but the fact that my father had seemed to prepare for his death—or at least if something were to cause an early death there would be someone to oppose me as he would have—fueled me with more anger than almost anything else that my father had ever done to me. This was my kingdom and I was going to rule with the wisdom and better judgment that I knew I had. I wasn't going to be a grand failure like they thought was all that I could amount to. I looked him straight in the reply, giving my strongest, most sound remark that I could muster out. "I assure you that I am the king now. I will not be bullied away from what I think is best for my country. I want the same opporitunities to make my own decisions and if he wouldn't have been able to take that away from me, I assure you that you will not either, DeLisle. Now, unless you would like to be tried for high treason against your King, I suggest that you get out of my way and never speak to me like that again. It might have been alright for you to do so when I was just the prince but I can promise you that I will not tolerate such behavior. Ever." I said as I turned and walked out of the room.

At the far end of the hallway stood America, who seemed to be chewing on her lip nervously. I hurried to her side and put my hand on her shoulder drawing her attention. "What's going on?" I whispered. There was fear in her eyes as she grabbed my hand without a word escaping her lips. My heart did a little flutter at the touch of her soft skin as she began to drag me down the hallway. I stopped when I realized where she was taking me. My father's study? But why what could she possibly want to see in there or want to bring me back in there for? Didn't she know that was where he used to whip me and mistreat me? I didn't ever want to go back into that room.

"America I demand you tell me what's going on right now." I ordered her stopping short of the door. She shook her head as she slid a key—that I didn't know how she could have possibly gotten her hands on—into the key hole and opened the door enough to simply slip through the crack but not really show anything to anyone outside the room. I sighed and took a deep breath sliding in behind her. I was shocked at the state of the room. There were papers thrown around the room and several things had been destroyed. But how did she know that this had happened?

America's POV

I had waited for Maxon to come out of his meeting so I could show him what had happened in his father's study. I didn't give him any time to question my motives or do anything but follow me down the hallway. Once there, I knew that it was going to be hard for him to go back in the room where he had spent his time forming nothing but miserable memories. I knew that there was nowhere else that I could tell him what had happened or what I had heard though. I just felt bad that I didn't have an image to go off of. Luckily, he followed me in and looked absolutely shell shocked at the scene in front of him.

"Maxon, Scott gave me a key to try and help me figure out why the Archbishop had been killed. But then I found myself here and some men came in and were talking about you and why he had been killed. Maxon, he was supposed to kill you during the coronation but he didn't. That's why the Southern Rebels killed him." I looked at him and saw that his heart had probably just about stopped. He had been completely right in saying that there was no way to know who he could actually trust. I explained the rest of what I had heard and he just stood quietly, nodding his head as he began to pace the room. I apologized for not getting a better view of the men but he just waved it off with the gesture of his hand.

"America, do you know what they were looking for? Did they say anything that you heard about it?" He looked around the room as if he were searching for something that he could notice was missing. But at the angered look in his eyes, I could tell that he wasn't seeing anything that was completely missing or out of place besides the papers thrown amongst the floor.

"I'm sorry Maxon but they didn't. They seemed to know exactly what they were looking for and didn't need to mention it to each other. I've told you everything that I heard or know already. I'm sorry I can't be any more help than that," I whispered hanging my head a little lower. I just wanted to help his transition be a little easier, especially since I knew the reason he was eliminating the Caste System was because of the suffering he had heard about me going through. Even if he wasn't in love with me anymore, I knew that he was going to keep doing as much as he could for me as my best friend.

"It's not your fault, America. If they knew what they were looking for, of course they wouldn't have said anything about it out loud. I'm just angry that all the cameras have been turned off in the things and places that used to belong to my father. No one's really allowed to use these rooms until all the things have been cleared out and burned." He ran his hands through his hair in his frustration. It was only then that I realized that he had undone the cuffs on his wrists and his tie had been thrown on the floor, the first three buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. He was still as beautiful as any sculpture that I had ever seen. I wondered how Scott's guard would compare to Maxon's and if there would be a clear winner either way.

"At least we know to keep our eyes out for something," I offered, trying to turn the conversation to something that was a least a little positive. He nodded pinching the bridge of his nose.

"There are too many people here try and have you listen to a bunch of voices to identify the two that you heard. And I'm not so sure it's the best idea to let the Southern Rebels know that we are on to them." I nodded looking back down at the floor. Apparently my attempt to be a little positive wasn't going to do us any good at all. "However, you're right. At least we can look for little signs of things that might have been the works or the plans of my father. And for now you need to be extremely careful. If they catch onto me, it won't be the end of the world but I don't want to drag you down on any attempt on my life that they might make."

"Maxon, I'll stand by your side if it kills me. That's what friends are for," I said with a soft smile. "But I'll try and just focus on Daniele's lessons and Lucy's wedding on Friday for now then." He nodded with a soft grateful smile. "I know that it'll be hard for you with Kriss gone but you're more than welcome to join me, Daniele, and Celeste whenever we all have a free moment or few hours." I offered with a soft smile. But he didn't seem to be listening.

"Give me that key, America." He stuck his hand out as if the words that I said earlier had finally caught up with him in the shock state of his father's study. I quickly handed it to him trying to figure out what was going through his head. He lifted it up and examined it, as if he was trying to study it for a specific sign or symbol. "And you said Scott gave this to you?"

"Yes, he did." I replied quietly. I didn't know why it would matter that he had that key if he was a member of the guards and the son of the Major General. "Maxon, what's going on?"

"He shouldn't have a master key, America. Very few people do and I don't understand why he would have one. I have to go, I have to have him brought back to the palace and send someone else to guard my fiancée. Just stay away from him when he comes back." And with that, Maxon turned and walked out of his father's study without another word to me.