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Smashleigh!

Chapter 12:

"Send her home?!" I exclaim. "This is my decision not yours!"

My Father looks down at me. His gaze is cold and hard but doesn't waver for a second. "Maxon listen to me." he began. "If we send her home she can be safe and you can be safe."

"Maxon please." America pleaded weakly. "Don't let him send me home."

I turned to look at her. She gained some of her color back and her eyes burned with something I'd never seen in them before. Love? Hope? Passion? I wasn't sure.

"What safer place could there be but here?" I asked my father. "Where she can be safely kept from the rebels."

"Don't think about the damn girl for one second and think of yourself!" my Father exclaimed. "You need to be safe seeing as you're the only heir to the throne! If this girl keeps the rebels away then you need to make the sacrifice!"

"Sacrifice?" America yelled. "Is that all I really am to you Maxon? Please tell me you don't see me that way!"

I glanced between her and my Father. My Father, who has raised me and taught me everything I know, was on one hand, and America, my darling, beautiful, passionate America, was on the other. Love over family? Family or love?

"Excuse me." I mumbled and rushed from the room.

"Excuse me." Maxon mumbled.

He released my hand and rushed out of the room. I watched his retreating figure and was alone with his Father. Who, quite frankly at this point, frightened me.

"Now listen here, missy." he began once Maxon was out of earshot. "You will go home and you will move on. Maxon will marry Marlee or Elise, whichever I choose, and be happy with it. But he will not marry you!"

Tears brimmed in my eyes but I wasn't about to let one fall. Instead I pulled myself out of bed and to my full height. "I assure you Your Majesty," I said, "If I wanted to leave I could not. Maxon means too much to me to just leave over his Father's wishes."

"You dare to speak to me this way?" he roared. "Your anointed king? Your sovereign?"

"I do indeed." I say proudly. "You will have to find a way to accept that I love your son and he loves me back!"

For a moment I fear that he'd strike me or something. His eyes blazed with such intensity it was overwhelming. But all he does is bow and leave the room, leaving me in a fit of rage and a boiling temper.

I'm pacing back and forth along the far wall of my room. Could I actually defy my Father this way and marry America? Or would I be forever shamed by the row broken over my head if I do? For all I know my Father could proclaim me a bastard! Find some lost child and pretend he's been my hidden brother! But why? What have I ever done to upset him? I know I'm not the 'perfect' son but I've tried! He must give me some credit right?

A knock sounded on my door and I faintly heard it. "Come in." I said enough for whoever it was to hear.

I did not expect America to open my door and come in. She was huddled together in her robe and her eyes were downcast. Quickly I strode over to her and wrapped her in my arms. She clung to me as if I were her last lifeline and wouldn't let go.

"Please tell me you won't send me home." she cried softly into my chest.

I tilted her head up to look at me. She rested her chin on my chest and looked up at me with her sad blue eyes. She was frantically looking for the answer in my eyes but to be honest I still didn't know what it was.

"Maxon please!" she insisted.

She stood on her tiptoes and kissed my lips hard. I had to steady myself for a moment because of her sudden force. But I found myself toppling onto the floor. She lay on top of me still kissing my unresponsive lips. A tear rolled down her cheek and landed on my chin. Finally she gave up and pulled back to look into my eyes.

"So this is it then?" she asked me sadly. "I'm to be sent home? Never to see you again?"

All these months of crying women and yet America's tears moved me. It hurt me to see her upset. Something inside me made me almost physically cringe in pain. Maxon Schreave, I thought in my head, you actually have a heart!

"Damn the rules." I whispered softly and turned over so she was under me.

I pinned her to the ground and kissed her lips hard. She responded immediately and ran her fingers through my hair. I caressed her head in my hand and placed the other one on her waist. I don't think I've ever felt so much passion inside me before.

Unconsciously I wrapped a leg around his waist. He lifted me off the ground and lay me on the bed softly. His kisses grew deeper, almost hungrier than before. Though I was still a little weak I was energized by this sudden passion. Losing Maxon at first made me so sad and upset that I felt hurt. My heart broke all over again but each of his kisses seemed to mend the broken pieces together.

His lips trailed to my neck and trailed to the bare spot where my collarbone showed. He let out a moan of desire and I felt his body push harder on mine. If I didn't stop him soon he'd do something he'd bitterly regret.

"Maxon…" I whispered softly. He silenced me with kisses. "Ma- (kiss)-xon…" I tried again.

But he wasn't listening. He was too absorbed in his desires to even realize what he was doing. At least until I pushed him away slightly. He stopped and looked down at me with all his heart in his eyes.

"God I really do love you." he said. "It would be well worth breaking the law to have you. If even only once."

I felt a blush spread my cheeks and my pulse quicken. To be honest I felt the same way but I couldn't do that to him. It would put him in an awful situation. And an awkward on for me.

"Maxon I love you too." I told him. "But the only way I can stay here," I said motioning to the room, "is if you convince your Father to let me stay."

He sighed and brought his lips down on mine softly. "In a little bit, okay?" he teased.

I giggled under his kiss. "Fine." I told him. "But soon."

True to my word I led her out of my room and towards my parent's room. Before we reached the door I could hear my Father's thunderous rage. "Amberly don't you understand?" he screeched. "He cannot marry some Five if we are to keep the people's opinions! They'll think we threw away a good chance with peace in New Asia with Elise. They'll think Marlee would've made a great queen with her looks and charm. But a FIVE!"

"Clarkson you listen here!" my Mother exclaimed, trying to hold back her anger. I don't think I've ever seen or heard her lose her temper before. "Maxon loves that girl! It's not difficult to tell and it certainly isn't an awful choice! I was a Four, remember? Did you not choose me for love when I was nothing but a factory worker?"

There was silence. Beside me I felt America tremble. But we had to get this over with. The only way to keep her and my Father was to make them understand what was best for me. America knew that, I didn't need to ask her. But my Father will be someone worth persuading.

Calmly and confidently I knocked on the door. "Enter." my Father's voice called.