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Chapter 2: Far Away From Here

Damon's POV

I literally chocked at Cadence's words. What did she mean Caleb was going to propose? To who? The last thing I knew, he was pinning after Rio and he was angry about our affair. I didn't blame him but who was he going to propose to so soon?

"Are you okay?" Cadence asked; patting me on the back like mom used to do as I continued to cough. "Did you choke on your own spit?"

She giggled lightly as I nodded and tried to catch my breath. "That's gross!"

"It happens sometimes," I gasped. I took a moment to compose myself, praying that I misunderstood her. "Cady, I need you to repeat what you just said."

"Did you choke on spit?" Cadence giggled again, knowing that was not what I meant. I gave her a knowing look and she smiled back at me sheepishly. "Okay, okay...Caleb is getting ready to propose!"

"What do you mean?" I asked, gaping at her again. I was simply dumbfounded.

"You know...ask a girl to get married? Duh! You're my older brother; you're supposed to be smarter than me!"

Cadence threw her head back and laughed again. It was always so refreshing to see they joy in her eyes. She was the light of the family, just like mom. Cadence was definitely a perfect mix of my mother and father with her light strawberry blond hair and blue eyes. I couldn't ask for a better sister.

"I know that," I chucked, wincing as the doctor examined my bullet wound. The conversation was totally distracting me from being in the hospital wing and having a bullet wound examined by the doctor. I was still in shock about being shot, but something told me it might not be the last time in my life. "But to who? Isn't it a little soon? I mean he still has five Selection candidates!"

"Don't ask me! I just saw him practicing kneeling down and asking, 'will you marry me?' He was in front of the mirror and dressed in a fancy suit. It was kinda funny! You wouldn't believe half of the things I've seen spying on people!"

I opened my mouth to retort to her last statement but shook my head. There were more pressing matters at the moment.

"So he didn't actually tell anyone that he was going to be proposing?" I asked as I tried to process the situation. So Caleb wasn't actually wasn't going to propose to someone yet. For whatever reason, I felt both relieved and concerned. I couldn't place why I felt that way, but I knew that Caleb deserved happiness too. I had to admit, even I had practiced proposing in front of the mirror before, it was something people did. The last thing any guy wanted was to feel like an idiot in the process.

"Are you going to propose too?"

I whipped my head around to look at Cadence, surprised by her question. If it weren't for the doctors prying fingers in my wound, I probably would have stared at her with an open mouth. Where did she come up with this stuff?

"What do you mean?" I gasped. I tried to avoid the fingers deep inside my skin looking for the bullet. The feeling was making me feel dizzy and nauseous.

"You know, since you ran away with Rio? Are you going to propose to her? You had to have liked her in order to run away with her. It's what happens in all my princess movies!" Cadence looked up at me with a smile, her blue eyes twinkling in the light. "And where is Nada? I haven't seen her angry face lately and between you and me, she wasn't very nice."

I felt the room start to spin around me from the pain in my arm but I tried to focus on my sister. "I don't know," I said through clenched teeth, willing myself not to vomit. "And Nada went back to Germany…it didn't work out…you're right she wasn't very nice…"I said between gasps for air.

"Damon?"

The room was definitely spinning now and very blurry. My ears started to ring and I slowly leaned forward. It was then that everything went black.

Maxon's POV

"He's okay, Your Majesty. He just passed out from the procedure. We were trying to gauge how deep the bullet was and if it was against any bone," Doctor Sullivan explained as I paced the room. Two members of my family lay unconscious in beds before me and I was furious. This shouldn't be happening and it was my duty to keep them safe. First America and now Damon; I was failing as a father and husband.

"Why didn't you give him an anesthetic?" I asked, stopping and facing Dr. Sullivan with crossed arms.

"He refused and a physical examination is the best method of determining the location of the bullet. We could x-ray but then that runs the risk of radiation and with the heart disease that runs in the Queen bloodline, we want to avoid that."

"Fine," I sighed. "But is he cleared once he wakes up?"

"Yes, once he passed out, we were able to quickly remove the bullet. However, Princess Cadence had to be escorted out of the room. She wanted to help but I didn't think that you would appreciate that," he laughed and I couldn't help but join him. She was a horse of a different color, that girl.

"Thank you for that, Dr. Sullivan, she is too brave sometimes," I chuckled. "But please inform me immediately when either of them aw—"

Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a groggy groan behind me. I smiled lightly at my timing. Just from the tone of voice I knew that it was Damon. Hopefully the love of my life would be awake soon. I hated being away from her and longed for her companionship and touch every day. I loved her more than words could say.

"Where am I?" Damon slowly opened his eyes and ran his fingers through this hair. "Shit," he hissed, obviously feeling the aftermath of being shot. I knew that it hurt like hell to be shot, but it would make him stronger. I just wished that the police had thought before they shot.

"Damon, please watch your language. You are prince," I scolded though I couldn't help but smile. It was nice to see his face and I had missed him terribly while he was missing. "And you are in the hospital ward because you passed out while getting the bullet in your shoulder extracted."

"I thought that was a dream," I groaned, crashing his head into the pillow. "Did they find Rio yet? Is she alive? She is innocent, father, you have to believe me."

"I know." I smiled lightly as I sat on the edge of his bed. "Caleb found proof in the security footage. I should have listened to you from the get go. You were right in trying to protect her but in the future, please don't ever run away from home again. Do you understand me?" I was half joking half-sarcastic as I ruffled his mop of curls.

"Yes, Father," Damon said with a smile. "But did you find her?"

"We haven't found her yet, but Aspen is doing an investigation. We will find her," I promised. However, I still had that nagging feeling on the inside. I needed to know what was going on between him and Rio so that I could try my best to protect them. The Illean law had very specific laws and guidelines to uphold during the selection and I wanted to make sure the parliament wouldn't prosecute my son. "Damon, I need to tell me right now, are you and Rio having an affair?"

Damon gapped at me and I placed my hand on his, nonverbally telling him that it was safe. "I need you to be honest with me so that I can protect you."

"Yes, we were kind of seeing each other during the Selection, but we didn't break any laws. I really like her, but I don't know where she stands. Rio had feelings for both Caleb and I."

I took in a slow deep breath as I tried to process this information. My son had broke the selection law with one of the selected. According to the law, he was to be canned in a public setting and stripped of his title but I couldn't do that. I would do everything in my power to protect both of my sons and whomever they fell in love with.

"Damon," I said, my voice stern. "I will do my best to protect you and Rio both, but I need you to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. You and Caleb are both pinning over the same girl, and one of you is going to need to take a step back."

"So you want me to just let her go and forget about my feelings for her?" Damon snapped in return. Even though he was still groggy, he had some fight in him. He always was like that. "You cant just expect me to give up on love because I'm not in the selection, that's not fair!"

"Relax, Damon," I said with a small smile, seeing his mother's fiery temper in him. "I'm just staying that you both need to let her decide. Do not pressure her; do not give her and ultimatum. I want you and your brother to both find love like your mother and I did, but you need to stop this rivalry between you. The country needs to see you strong and united. Let her go if you have to, but you need to let her decided. If she chooses your brother, you will have to find a way to be okay with that. Do you understand?"

"Yes, father," Damon said in a solemn tone. "Speaking of finding love…" He flashed me a sheepish smile followed by a guilty look. "I broke off my engagement with Nada…"

I froze at his words, knowing their connotations. If the marriage contract was broken, the country at fault was subject to a fine or even war. A war with Germany was not something that we could afford right now.

"Damon…" I sighed, putting my head in my hands. "You should have talked to me if you felt that way. I could have made alternate arrangements with the German royals but now we are in default with our contract. Do you know what that means?"

"She threatened war," he said softly, avoiding my eyes. "She threatened to take down our entire family and nation if I didn't do exactly what she wanted. I couldn't live like that and on top of that, she had spies around every corner, watching our every move. I didn't feel like it was safe for Illéa or any one with her around."

I slowly ran my hands over my face as I sank down onto the bed. "I-I don't know what is going to happen, Damon…but I support your choice. We will make something work. However, I need you to help come up with a strategy to avoid war. Illéa cannot afford a war right now. The nation will crumble."

"I can do that…but what about finding Rio?"

"I have Aspen doing an investigation and as soon as you are well, I think it would be a good idea to give your account. Please promise me you wont do anything careless? We need you here." I carefully put a hand on Damon's shoulder. I didn't know what I would do if I lost him or any of my other children.

"Your Majesty?"

I looked up to see Aspen standing in the doorway with a small frown on his face. It was very out of character for him. I slowly stood up and made my way towards him, my heart starting to race. What was going on.

"Yes, Officer Ledger?" I swallowed after my words.

"We have a royal visitor, but she doesn't seem very pleased."

"I wasn't expecting anyone. Call down Caleb and have me meet them in the lobby. By the way, Officer Ledger, who is it?"

"Its Princess Adrianna from Belgium, your Highness. She said that our soldiers are attacking her country."

"That has to be a mistake," I said with my mouth agape. "I didn't send out any troops and a war is the last we need. She has to be mistaken."

"No Sir, she has photographic proof. We are at war with Belgium."

Another cliffy! What did you think? Any ideas or theories of what is going on? Thanks for reading! Please review!

~Kay