If you could do any other event in track, which one would you do? - oooo that's tough. is this assuming that I'm also naturally good at everything? haha. I'd have to choose pole vault, long jump or any of the sprints. I'd like to be in the 4x1. I'm pretty content with doing the decathlon though (I get to do most of that stuff in it anyway) and I like my throwing events too. I just hate going to sprint practice.

"Say something, I'm giving up on you." - Great Big World

America sighed and opened her eyes slowly, seeing her husband's face hanging above hers. She shifted slightly and groaned as she shut her eyes again. "What?" she moaned.

"It's time to get dressed," he told her, backing away and letting her sit up at her own pace. She was undeniably pregnant now, the small mound of their child unmistakable in any position she was in. They could only feel their child move and were still waiting with bated breath to feel it kick.

She checked her watch and pushed herself up slowly. "You let me sleep in?" she asked, seeing that it was already midmorning.

"You deserved a break. Besides, we both have a long day ahead of us." He put a hand on her shoulder and twisted her long, ginger hair around his deft fingers. "Happy birthday," he added, winking. He pulled a present out from behind his back.

"So that's why you let me sleep in!" she exclaimed.

He laughed. "You're the birthday princess!"

"Queen," she quickly corrected. "Thank you." She took the present and tore the bow off that she knew he had tied because it was perfectly haphazard. Opening the small jewelry box, she found a new set of pearl earrings and a pearl necklace. "These are beautiful, thank you." She leaned forward to kiss him. "I think I'll wear these today."

He nodded in approval and guided her off the bed and to her closet. "Oh, wait!" he exclaimed, rushing past her and retrieving a garment bag. "Wear this."

She smiled knowingly at him and unzipped the front of it, revealing a blue lace dress with long sleeves and a swishy skirt. "How'd I know it would be blue?" she asked him and he just shrugged. He let her get dressed and do her hair – which consisted of her just leaving it hanging down in long curls – and walked hand-in-hand to his office.

They ate a light breakfast and then walked down to the courtroom. Maxon took his seat of command, towering over the jury seating. America sat slightly lower than him on his right side. The jury entered quickly and quietly as Maxon transformed from doting husband to austere king. With a resounding bong, a bell in the corner of the room announced the time for the trial to start.

"Bring in the accused," Maxon said in a cold voice.

Drug by two armed guards with three more guards flanking them, Liam was brought into the room and forced to stand in the middle of the court room. As a prisoner, he was not permitted a chair or anything to sit on. "Liam Station, you have been accused of first degree treason and attempt at murder. How do you plead?" Maxon read out from a paper in front of him.

"Not guilty," Liam sneered.

With a sigh, Maxon leaned forward and said, "Liam, denying it is not going to help you. We have evidence that you tried to kill both myself and my wife. At least get executed with a clear mind."

"And are you going to execute me with a clear mind? Because you certainly seem to be assuming a lot about my acts without hearing the full story first cousin."

"And what would the full story be?"

Liam smirked and said, his eyes never once straying from Maxon's, "I was following specific instructions. Instructions given by Amberly to kill you so she could seize the throne back. When Amberly tried to exile me, I followed the orders of Miss May Singer. Funny though, that she is the sister of our queen and she is not having a trial. Is being cousins not enough? Oh, but wait, we're not related. You're not really a Schreave. You're just a miserable peasant bastard."

America glanced up at her husband and could tell that he was working hard to control his temper. She spoke up for him. "May was cleared in an informal hearing earlier this week. Her actions to save the crown far outweighed her actions against it."

"Yet here I am, getting a formal trial where half the people in this room already have their mind made up of whether or not I'm guilty. May I repeat, you don't know the whole story."

Maxon waved a hand over the room. "Then please, regale us in your tale of seemingly unfortunate events that have apparently landed you here. I can't think of a better occasion for you to do so seeing as your days are numbered."

Liam shrugged. "Very well. One year ago today, I received a letter from Amberly, personally inviting me to be in the palace guard. She guaranteed that despite my performance in training, she would ensure me a spot here in the palace. I didn't know her motives until a few months after my placement here and she approached me. It was the day after your supposed death and she had you all fooled, thinking that she was hiding in her bedroom too overcome with grief to interact with you all when she was really already planning her return to power. Clarkson had nothing to do with it. He was irrational and unstable and she was letting him self-combust."

"And how has that led you here?" Maxon quickly asked.

Holding up a hand to signal patience, Liam nodded and continued, "After Christian's apparent kidnapping I was dispatched to be a part of the Masons' army. No one knew who I was there and my fighting skills made me a top choice for recruitment. I spent several weeks with him, waiting for Amberly's further instruction. Finally, she brought me back here and told me of her desire for your death. I told her of your plans to change the country and she told me that it was time to act. I still didn't know her whole plan and by the time I did I was in too deep; she had her claws in me and I had to do what she was asking or she would kill me. I was providing for my family with my salary because she hardly ever sent us any money. Unlike May, I couldn't run to them because instead of getting me out of it they would tell me to do what I had to do to stay in good favor with her. I was terrified and lost."

For the first time, America saw him for who he was; a horrified teenager, racked with guilt over his actions and desperately wanting to save his family from lives of hunger and struggle. He was just like Aspen and she realized that she could not kill him. Even though he had tried to kill Maxon, she could not return the favor for Liam.

Maxon leaned back in his chair with his hands pressed together in front of him. America looked up at him, for once having no idea what he was thinking. Maxon then spoke slowly. "I can spare your life," he paused for a moment, "if you can tell me Amberly's future plans."

Liam's shoulders visibly hunched. "I barely knew her plans when I was working with her. How am I supposed to know now?"

"If you're as important to her as you're making it seem, you would know."

"She exiled me. She cast me out of her little club and all but replaced me with May. If anyone knows Amberly's plans, it'd be May."

America narrowed her eyes. "She would have told me."

"Yeah? She would have told her family? After her own brother, sister and brother-in-law tried to kill her boyfriend?" Liam laughed at their dumbfounded expressions. "Of anyone here in this room, she has the most reasons to want to kill all of you."

Maxon cleared his throat and looked to the guard standing in front of him. "Avery, go bring Miss May here immediately. Seems we need a testimony." Avery nodded and left, his sword clanging against the stone wall as he skirted his way around the room to the exit. "And you're sure about this?"

"Of course not! It's a diversion!" America exclaimed, half-rising from her seat. Maxon waved to her to sit down and she obliged begrudgingly. "Maxon you can't possibly believe him. May saved us. Why would she save us only to kill us later?"

"Why don't you save her questions for her?" Liam called up to her.

America pleaded to Maxon to see reason with her eyes. "Please, Maxon, don't do this."

He looked down to her with pain evident in his eyes. "Ames, I have to. Not just for my sake but for our children's."

The door to the courtroom banged open just moments later and Avery ran in. "Your Majesties, Miss May is gone."

Liam smirked. "Would now be a bad time to say 'I told you so?'"

May ran along the large stone wall and damned the map of the palace she had looked at. She had thought the exit to the city would be a lot closer to the actual palace but she was wrong. Way wrong. She had run about half a mile and she was already feeling winded. America was always the runner in the family; May spent her days sitting on a stool painting. Finally, she saw a small man-sized gate in the stone wall and panted in relief. Guards were light here during the day and no one stopped her from walking through the dank passageway through the wall.

Sunlight enveloped her as she stepped outside the walls. She smiled and pulled her sunglasses down over her face and pulled her bag tight around her shoulders. Stepping onto the street, she let the people of Illéa surround her and hide her from the rest of the world.

I know, two updates within 24 hours! it's a miracle. it's more like the good ol' days of me writing As the One! haha. anyway, the next chapter is probably one of my favorites in this story so I'm really excited for my next update (if I do say so myself).

and as for my boy problems, I asked another guy to prom today, a good friend of mine so hopefully he'll say yes and everything will be right with the world again!

thanks for the support guys. review please!