Yay for a new chapter! I'm taking a creative writing class and my professor told us that we have to write creatively at least an hour every day. hence the faster updates!

"When it rains look for rainbows. When it's dark look for stars."

Telling Maxon lifted a huge weight off my shoulders but it also created some tension I never expected. I was pretty used to being watched all the time but this was a whole new experience. Maxon couldn't seem to let me out of sight. Everywhere I went where I would most likely be by myself, he insisted he come with me. He started walking me to the Women's Room, following me to the bathroom in the morning…he even come to some of my meetings where he clearly did not need to be there.

I knew he was doing it all unconsciously but it felt like there was an invisible string connecting us that just could not be broken. Even if I was, say, spending time in the Women's Room with Marlee and Kile, he would find excuses to come see me and I wasn't about to tell him that he couldn't come in the room even though it was an option. I wasn't the least bit surprised either. I expected him to be overprotective; he was overprotective even when I wasn't pregnant. I remembered Adele saying that we needed to be put on a leash and I told her that we would kill each other. Well, this was exactly what I meant.

Things finally came to a head one morning when I woke up feeling particularly nauseous and he ran behind me to the bathroom. Since telling him the news I had yet to actually get sick and I was not about to throw up in front of him. I crouched by the toilet and when I finally had the chance to speak I said, "Please, go, I don't want you seeing this."

He shook his head and crouched behind me, holding my hair back in his hands. "Silly woman, I'm not going anywhere."

I was pretty sure that the worst of it had passed and that the day was just going to be a sick day. It was my third one in the past two weeks; I didn't know if I could keep this from anyone much longer. Rumors would start running rampant if I didn't tell the staff soon but I couldn't tell the staff before Marlee and my friends and I couldn't tell them before I tell my family.

"That's the problem. I know you aren't going anywhere."

He frowned. "What are you talking about?"

I sat back against the wall, hearing Mary put start my bath in the other part of the bathroom. "Maxon, you know I love you and I love that you care about me and," I dropped my voice to a whisper, "our baby, but don't you have anything else to do besides babysit me? Like run a country maybe?"

"What do you think I do all day in my office?"

Oh no. He was offended. I had to back this train up really quick. "No, I didn't mean that. It's just that you are following me around all day and it's kind of…freaky."

He raised his eyebrows. "So you want me to not care?"

"No, no. No." I shook my head, reaching for his hand. "I want you to not worry about me. I know it's early and that something could happen but do you really think that if something happened, you wouldn't know about it within seconds?"

"Well, yes, but it's that's not why I want to be with you." He scratched the back of his neck, making me realize that he needed a haircut.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "It's not?"

He sighed and shook his head. "No. I want to be with you because, well, besides the obvious that I love you but because I don't want you to think that I don't care."

Oh. This wasn't about him at all. This was all about his father. Even two and a half years after his death he is still haunting us. I held Maxon's hand tight in mine and looked at him steadily. "You are Maxon Schreave, King of Illea. You are a beloved brother, son, uncle and godfather. You are nothing like your father. Sure, there are some small similarities but you have such a beautiful, loving soul that you will never put our children at risk. You are going to be a wonderful father. If I had any doubt about that, I honestly probably would not have married you."

"Oh, good to know," he said sarcastically.

"Okay, that sounded bad but you know what I mean. I trust you completely and I cannot wait to have your children."

He smiled and looked away from me, something he did when I really touched him. "I don't really know what to say. Just that I'll let you have your space." Despite his obvious boost in confidence he still sounded sad.

"Hey. I love you. I just like to have some room to breathe. I may be pregnant but nothing needs to change between us."

"Except for the obvious," he nodded to my stomach. I leaned in to kiss him but he pulled away. "I love you too, truly, but could you brush your teeth before we kiss?"

"So needy," I scolded sarcastically. I was still feeling pretty rotten so after brushing my teeth I took a bath where I fell asleep long enough that when I woke up the water was cold. Maxon had gone down the hall to work with the promise to come eat his lunch with me.

After my bath I went straight to bed with a few folders of work, hoping to get something done. Maxon had promised to say that I was just doing work in my room and not mention anything about being sick and he could fool everyone except for two people. The two people that knew me almost as well as him.

It wasn't even noon yet when Aspen and Marlee basically stormed into my bedroom loudly, waking me up. I had my computer in my lap but the screen was cold from not being used in a while. I groaned and rubbed my eyes, not even bothering to sit up.

"Okay, tell us what's wrong," Marlee demanded, sitting down on the bed, jostling me.

I squinted in the light pouring through my windows. "Nothing's wrong." That was the truth.

Aspen crossed his arms. "Maxon said you were doing work in here but c'mon, you'd never do work in here. Not unless you and Maxon are fighting and if that was the case he wouldn't have sounded so concerned when he told us that you were doing work in here."

"Nothing gets by you," I grumbled, burying my face in my pillow again.

"Are you sick?" Aspen pressed.

"Yes, now let me sleep." I waited to hear their retreating footsteps but that didn't happen.

Instead, Marlee said, "And you're a little moody, I see."

Marlee was a mom. She would be the one to figure it out first without me telling her. She spent every day with me. I was actually a little surprised that she hadn't found out sooner. "Just say it Marlee. You've already done the math."

She gasped. I opened one eye to see her covering her mouth. "Really?" she whispered. "You're really…"

"Really what?" Aspen asked, sounding disgruntled that he was out of the loop.

"You're pregnant!" Marlee shouted, tackling me in a hug.

I laughed and hugged her back. "Yes, and I'm having a sick day so you smothering me really isn't helping. I'm sure you'd understand that. Also, you guys aren't supposed to know yet."

"Well then you're doing a pretty crappy job of hiding it. How far along are you? Do you know the due date yet? When did you even find out? How did you tell Maxon?" Marlee gushed.

"Slow down. I don't know how far along I am yet. We have an appointment scheduled with Dr. Ashlar this Thursday. I found out a few weeks ago and told Maxon on his birthday." I looked up at Aspen who looked like he was having a stroke. "You okay?" I asked slowly, actually unsure of how he would react.

He shook his head as if to clear it. "Yeah, yeah. I just can't believe it." He kept staring at me, quite similarly to the way Maxon did after I told him. "This is…remarkable? I don't even know how to explain it. I'm just so happy for you both." He came to me and hugged me. He sat down next to Marlee. "So how does it feel to be responsible for the heir to the country?"

I laughed. "Like you said, it is quite remarkable. I don't think it has really hit me yet."

"It won't until you have the physical evidence."

"Trust me, there was some physical evidence in my toilet this morning," I answered Marlee.

She held up a hand to stop me. "Okay, okay, you know what I meant."

The door opened and Maxon poked his head in. He looked confused by my company and quickly recovered by saying, "How's work going?"

"The gig is up, Maxon," I told him.

He nodded, looking between Marlee and Aspen. "I figured it would be once you two visited."

"Marlee is just very intuitive," I said as Maxon sat down next to me.

"Feeling better?"

I shook my head sadly. "Not really but I'll gladly watch you eat your lunch."

Marlee rolled her eyes. "Well this just got uncomfortable." She hugged me and kissed my cheek. "You'll let me know if you need anything."

"Of course. Consider yourself my unofficial midwife."

Aspen stood up as well and hugged me, shaking my Maxon's hand. "Congrats. Are we okay to tell our spouses about this?"

Maxon nodded. "It'll get around in the staff soon enough. We're telling America's family in a few days. We just need to wait until she's twelve weeks to tell the country."

"That makes sense," Marlee said. "Okay, well, see you three later!" she bade as she and Aspen walked out.

"That's weird to think," I said to Maxon. "There's three of us now."

"That's just another person for the people to love. In fact, that is one of my reasons of coming to see you besides eating lunch with you, like I promised." Mary entered and curtsied. I had told her from the start of my reign that I did not want to be curtsied to but I knew Maxon was a whole other story. "Do you want anything?"

I considered it and realized that I did have an overwhelming craving for something. "Grilled cheese and tomato soup, please!" I told her.

"Make that two. Thank you Mary." She excused herself, leaving Maxon and I alone again. He held a newspaper out in front of him and started reading. "His Majesty the King has shown us these past two years that he is not only a visionary for revolution but an executor. These recent embellishments to the caste system are pointing to an overall abolishment of the castes, an idea first suggest by Her Majesty Queen America. We are not sure of who had the idea first but we now can trust that with these two as our leaders, this country will move forward to be great. Trade negotiations have been flourishing, making hunger stats lower all around the country. The initial waves of unhappiness concerning the castes combining are dying down, leading to the highest approval ratings this country has ever seen. With such beautiful rulers, there is very little to complain about here in Illea. There is one thing that can make that all better and this reporter believes that we can all agree on this: an heir. It has been a long two years, waiting for a royal baby to assume the throne in a couple decades and we hope that our king and queen won't make us wait much longer!"

"Little do they know…" I whispered, staring at the paper in wonder. "They like it. Maxon, they really like what we're doing. They're cheering for us. This is unbelievable."

Maxon leaned closer to me. "Just think: they're about to get a lot happier!"

I laughed and rested my chin on his strong shoulder. "So happy…" I mumbled, breathing in the smell of his cologne. Mary came in a little later with our food. I really just ate the soup and let Maxon eat half of my sandwich.

"Are you feeling better, my dear?" he asked, finishing my sandwich.

I shrugged. "I'll be back at it tomorrow," I told him. "After all, we have to keep the approval ratings up in the clouds."

"I'm not concerned with that. Babies tend to give a big boost. Besides, the public knows only what we tell them. They don't know our reasoning. It is impossible to fully understand our work unless you are directly involved with making it happen."

"Good point. When did you get so smart?" I tossed his hair in my hand, resting my hand on his other shoulder and enjoying my time with him in this bubble of peace before returning to the craziness the next day.

"I'm telling you Maxon, my mom will know right away," I said as we stepped out of the car. Maxon shut my door for me and walked me to the door. I had the smallest bump starting to form but I felt like it would be a beacon of light when I walked into the house.

The door swung open before we could even knock. May threw her arms around me. She was officially the same height as me and was probably going to stay that way. "C'mon, Mom is in a fit because you guys are late," she warned, turning from me to hug Maxon.

We followed her down the hall to the kitchen where Mom had all of the food set out on the table. She was by the stove finishing the preparation of her potato salad. I went and hugged her. "Sorry we're late," I apologized, keeping an arm around her shoulders as she mixed the salad in a big bowl.

"You two don't even have kids yet and you're already late going everywhere," she joked, knowing about that all too well after having five kids herself.

"The queen is never late," May called from the table where she was teaching Maxon a new technique for shuffling playing cards. "Everyone else is simply early."

I laughed and carried the bowl of potato salad over to the table. I hugged Kenna on my way to my seat beside Maxon. Mom took her seat and we all started dishing out food for each other. "This chicken is delicious Mom. Did you make it?"

"Yeah, Mom, did you make it?" May repeated, her voice mocking.

I was confused and looked back to Mom in time to see her blush. "No, I picked it up from a catering company."

May smiled to herself. "You've been going there a lot lately Mom."

"May Singer, this is none of your business," Mom snapped.

I raised my eyebrows at my mother. She was seeing someone, that was obvious. May was clearly excited but judging by the sour look on Kenna's face there were some unhappy parties in the house. "Well, Maxon and I have some news," I abruptly announced.

Maxon jumped and nearly dropped his fork. "Now?" he asked me, looking terrified.

I nodded and took his hand on the table. "In March, we will be welcoming the newest member of our family."

Everyone was quiet around the table, just staring at us. Finally Gerad said, "You're getting another dog?"

"No, Ger, they're having a baby," May told him. Then she looked at us with wide eyes. "Oh my gosh, Ames, you're pregnant!" she screamed, getting up from the table to give me a big hug. Gerad gave a triumphant whoop.

James and Kenna stood as well to give us hugs and in the celebration I noticed my mother slip away from the table and go to the kitchen. I managed to extricate myself from the affair and follow her, finding her by the stove sniffling. "Mom?" I asked, walking into the room slowly.

"I'm fine, I just wanted to check on the dessert." She could lie to me all she wanted but I couldn't miss the choked up sound of her voice.

"Mom." I went up to her and put an arm around her shoulders.

She bowed her head and let her tears come out. "He would have been so proud of you. Look at all you have accomplished these past two years…your father could only dream of such things. And now a baby…just remarkable."

I smiled and held her closer. "Thanks, Mom."

She sniffed and pulled away from me, looking at me sternly. "Now, missy, you have to take care of yourself. You are responsible for the future king of Illea. This is important."

"I know." I rolled my eyes, this not being the first time someone had said that to me.

She smiled fondly at me. "Congratulations."

I nodded, smiling back. "Thank you."

"All in all, I think that went well," Maxon said as we walked back up to my room for the night. "Your mother seemed happy."

I laughed. "I think she's excited to finally have another grandchild to spoil besides Astra. Or she's excited that she's going to be the future king's grandmother," I joked, nudging Maxon playfully. "When are we going to tell the public?"

"Hmm. Well, you know what Dr. Ashlar said."

I sighed and leaned my head against his shoulder. "Five weeks is such a long time!" I whined, not knowing how we would keep this a secret until I was twelve weeks.

He shrugged. "Well we're gonna have to try. It'll be fun, like our own little secret. Like the removal of the castes? Oh, wait..."

I rolled my eyes but laughed anyway, loving how relaxed Maxon was for the time being. Sometimes his job was demanding and he got stressed. Those were days where it was best for me to just let him lock himself away on his side of our study.

An adviser approached us and I was instantly concerned. Advisers were hardly ever here just hanging out this time of night. Not unless they were having a meeting. "Hawthorn, what is it?" Maxon asked.

"Uh, sir, there's something you need to see," he said, his voice full of fear.

We followed him into one of the common rooms where the advisers spent their free time and saw that the TV was on. A popular news station was covering something I couldn't figure out but Maxon seemed to know exactly what it was within seconds. "Why was I not informed of this sooner?" he demanded angrily as a face flashed up on the screen. Who was this man on TV? I wished someone could explain to this because Maxon was obviously several steps ahead of me already.

"We only just found out, Your Majesty. Clearly, because we're not all here yet. We're still waiting on Orders and Misciagna," Hawthorn reported. "How the news got word of it before us is completely beyond me."

Maxon shook his head. "No, he did this in a way where it would catch the attention of reporters before we could know about it. He wanted us to find out this way. It catches us off guard like this. He's looking for a hostile reaction, and not just from Illéa but from all of our allies; Swendway, Swiss-Austria, England, France, Italy…" his voice trailed off as he raked a hand through his hair.

"Um, excuse me?" I called into the suddenly quiet room. "Could someone please explain to me what's going on?"

Carter and Aspen walked in, both wearing stony expressions. "The New Asian king was assassinated," Aspen said, his voice full of disbelief even though it had clearly happened.

"And the assassin?" one of the advisers asked them.

"He's taken over," Carter said sadly.

Maxon's eyes flicked up sharply to Carter's and then he nodded. "Prepare the war council. We're in for a long night, gentlemen. Officer Tybee, find a maid and ask her to send a tray of light food up here for us as well as some coffee."

"Why? What's wrong with that guy taking over? It's not like King Don was a great guy." I was still so confused. I wished someone would just lay it out for me.

"King Don looks like a puppy compared to this guy," Aspen told me, brushing past me to grab some books and start searching through them.

Maxon finally met my questioning gaze head-on. "The man who has taken over is named Kellan Slep. He's dangerous because he was my father's best friend growing up. He was raised here in the palace alongside my father. He holds the same beliefs as my father held."

I nodded. "And?"

"And he's not happy with the way we're ruling Illéa. I knew he wouldn't be I just never dreamed he would do something this drastic to stop it."

My breathing hitched. "Stop it how?"

"He's going to try to destroy us."

the king is dead! oh no! i'm sorry, i know this chapter is a little choppy. what's gonna happen?

winterprincess: it is weird. when i initially wrote the part about her telling her family four years had passed since they had gotten married which i guess makes her...23. so not that young but still on the young side. but, in all reality, there's no way that the advisers would have let them wait that long to have a baby, as awful as that sounds. William and Kate had a baby after two years. :)

dolly123: well welcome to the club!

Weatherbug02: yes! you're the only one that caught on to that (or at least mentioned it in your review). i read it in that second epilogue and really wanted to give the backstory. it sounds hilarious. i just imagine Magda and Adele acting like the wild sorority girls at parties, despite being there with their kids. haha.

just-A-Girl-1517: yay! i'm glad!

prnamber3909: okay yeah i was expecting someone to catch this. if you go back and read the very first chapter or maybe the second of the Selection, America mentions that New Years isn't a specific date anymore; it's based on the moon or something so it changes every year. Like Thanksgiving is never the same date.

Guest: i hope you were making hearts and you didn't divide the devil's number in half? but don't worry, i got the message!

Theoneforever: good! i sometimes worry that some of the chapters are blah but maybe that's because i'm the one writing it? idk.

PEETAMELLARKLOVER123: YAY! I FEEL LIKE I HAVE TO ANSWER YOUR REVIEWS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE OF YOUR NAME.

booksforbreakfast: congrats on having the first review of chapter 19! glad you liked it!