this is just a quick, sorta choppy filler chapter. it's actually crap. i'm a little embarrassed to be posting it but i am so super busy so i just wanted to update while i had the chance.

"She slept with wolves without fear for the wolves knew a lion was among them." - R.M. Drake

Maxon gave me two days for having Oyun in the palace. I called Princess Nicoletta and she said that they couldn't and wouldn't take her. She actually yelled at me quite a bit for my lack of self-preservation and letting her stay with us. Then she suggested I call the German Federation who also refused to take her but said that they would call their allies in Russia because they would most certainly take her. I felt bad sending her back so close to New Asia but at least she would be out of our hair.

Meanwhile, Maxon met with his war council twice a day to discuss what compromises they could make with our peace treaty with New Asia. He came back to our study the night after Oyun's arrival and sat down across from me. "We have a plan," he announced, his expression stony.

I raised my eyebrows and looked away from my papers I was working on. "What is it?"

"You're not going to like it. I know you won't but just hear me out because the advisers really believe that this will at least buy us some time," he warned.

"Oh no," I groaned, rubbing my face with my hand. "Okay, tell me."

He sighed. "We spread the rumor that you are in fact pregnant and we open up negotiations with New Asia. Once word gets to them that you are pregnant, they will demand possession of the baby if it is a girl. So we tell them that you are having twins and that one of them is a girl and we eventually agree to give the girl to them. When you have the baby we will tell them that their child was a stillborn but hopefully by then we'll have Oyun's son on our side to take over with Elise prepared to be a regent."

"Elise? And I'm sorry, but there are so many things that can go wrong with this plan," I told him. "What if I really am pregnant with twins? Or if I'm having a girl?"

"If you have a girl we keep it; I need an heir somehow. In the unlikely even that you are pregnant with twin boys, we'll rethink something."

I sat back in my chair with my hands folded in my lap. "I thought we agreed that we're not giving them anything."

"We're not. We're just telling them they are."

I shook my head. "This is wrong. We shouldn't be using our child as a chess piece. This is supposed to be a joyful event and I thought you said you didn't want me stressed?"

"That was before the threat of war was looming and we just don't have the soldiers or supplies for war right now. Our allies are still getting back to us on whether or not they're helping us with that."

"And this is the only plan?"

He nodded slowly. "I didn't like it either. Nor did Carter and Aspen. But we all agree with the practicality of this idea." He stood and walked to my side of the desk, kneeling in front of me and putting his hand on my stomach. "I will not let this child out of our hands, understand me?" His brown eyes were practically melting me on the spot.

I nodded. "I trust you." I stroked his cheek and tugged on his ear. "Remember when we used to do this?"

He sighed against my cheek, whispering in a husky voice, "I remember some other things we used to do." He kissed my neck hungrily, forcing my head to tilt back. He pushed me further into my chair and I giggled into his shoulder.

"Maxon, here?" I asked.

"I seem to recall a rather steamy session of love making occurring in this room," he murmured, moving his lips back to meet mine.

I laughed, also remembering that rather vividly. "I seem to recall that Marlee almost walked in on us as well. I think we should move this to somewhere more suitable before we relive that and while we are both presentable."

"Okay, okay," he sighed, lifting me up into his arms. "I better appreciate these moments before your attention is dedicated to a baby," he said as he carried me down the hall.

I ignored the smirks we were getting from the guards we passed and kissed his stubbled jaw. "No one will ever be able to take my attention away from you, My Royal Husbandness," I told him, using the nickname I reserved for special occasions.

"Good to know." He tossed me playfully on to his bed, smothering me with his body. It had been a while since we had been able to do this and I could actually feel my body starting to relax and relieve itself of the pent up stress I had been feeling for the past few days. I sighed and melted into Maxon's warmth as he slowly made love to me.

"We're having a party," I told Maxon the next morning. "We're having a party and inviting all of our allies as well as the New Asians." He lifted his eyes from the trade agreements he was going over, looking confused.

"And what is that going to do?" he asked, his tone edgy. I remained patient though. Our time alone the afternoon prior had cost him and he made up for it by only sleeping for an hour that night. I was starting to think that he needed more sleep than I did but I wasn't going to tell him that.

I smiled fondly at him. "Parties are the perfect times to make secret negotiations and alliances. I read somewhere that Kellan Slep has a mistress."

"Yes, he does, but I don't see how inviting them here is going to help."

"Simple. We give them little warning of this party happening; it will be next week, for Halloween. By then we'll have had our ultrasound and we can execute your plan," I told him.

He narrowed his eyes. "Halloween?"

"Sounds like the perfect time for a masquerade, doesn't it?" I asked, lifting the mask Mary had made for me and holding it up to my face. "Deception and danger…it could be a little something to lift us out of this boring rut we've been in."

He laughed and stood up, straightening his tie. "My dear, you wish our lives were boring," he said, knowing full well that our lives were anything but boring. I smiled at him and watched him walk over to his desk.

I swung my feet back and forth as we waited for Dr. Ashlar. "America, calm down," Maxon said from his seat next to my bed. "You seem like you're about to explode."

"I just want to see our baby," I told him, ready to burst with excitement.

Maxon just smiled and shook his head at me. When the doctor entered he stood and extended his hand. "Dr. Ashlar."

Dr. Ashlar shook Maxon's hand. "Your Majesty, I have to say that I was not expecting to see you here. I am very glad that you are here though." Maxon and I smiled at each other as Dr. Ashlar prepared the ultrasound equipment. "First I'm going to take a sonogram just so I can hear the baby's heartbeat." I nodded as he put the wand on my stomach, probing the small bump that had formed over the last week or so.

"So excited," Maxon whispered to me, kissing the back of my hand.

I laughed and focused on Dr. Ashlar then who looked perplexed. Our baby's heartbeat filled the room with a strange echo to it. "Is that my heartbeat?" I asked, confused by the other heartbeat we were hearing.

"No, no. There's definitely two heartbeats though," he said, still sounding shaken up. He put the sonogram equipment away and quickly took out the ultrasound. After moving the wand over my stomach, he started laughing. "This is remarkable."

"What?" Maxon barked, squeezing my hand tightly.

Dr. Ashlar turned the screen to face us and I couldn't make out much so I didn't understand what he was showing us until he said, "May I offer my congratulations to you both; you're having twins."

"Twins?" I repeated as Maxon started laughing. He moved closer to me to hug me as I sat stunned, looking at the screen. "Twins? You're sure?"

"There are two babies here," he said, pointing to the screen. "It's too early to determine the sex but I think twins is big enough news for today."

I started laughing and turned so I could hug Maxon back. "We're having twins," I whispered into his shoulder as he kissed my cheek. Then I pulled away quickly, all laughter gone, looking at him seriously. "We're having twins."

His eyes widened. "We've having twins." He understood my fear. This was not the plan. I couldn't have twins. If I'm having twins then we can't trick the New Asians. His hands gripped my shoulders and he looked at me seriously. "We'll figure something out, okay?"

Dr. Ashlar looked between us curiously, not knowing what we were talking about. He talked to me a bit about health and prescribed me some more pills before letting us leave. Maxon and I walked back up to our bedroom in silence. Once in my room I curled up on the bed, fatigue suddenly overwhelming me.

"Mer, we will find a way to fix this," Maxon said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "We'll find a solution."

I closed my eyes, just wanting to sleep. "Max, I'm tired. Could you give me some time to take a nap?" I asked, rubbing a hand up his arm.

He sighed. "Sure," he agreed. "Take as long as you need." He took the blanket at my feet and draped it over me, tucking it up to my shoulders. "Hey, we're having twins though. That is pretty incredible."

I smiled. "Yeah, it is." He kissed my cheek and left the room, turning the light off as he went.

Maxon and I didn't even need to talk about keeping the twins a secret; it was something we agreed to not even talk about in the privacy of our chambers. It had to stay between Dr. Ashlar and the two of us until the mess with New Asia was sorted. It killed me not to tell Marlee or my family but I knew that this was for our own safety.

For only having a week's notice, the palace staff did a splendid job of setting up for the Halloween ball. Maxon and I decided to go as the two main characters of his favorite book, The Great Gatsby. The straight-lined dress did well to hide my baby bump as well.

This ball was certainly fancier than the one three years ago. This one played host to at least a hundred foreign dignitaries, most of them allies but there were some enemies mixed in. I was sipping from a glass of ginger ale made to look like champagne so no one would immediately question as to why I wasn't drinking.

After greeting all of our guests, Maxon and I took to the dance floor to have the first dance in front of our guests. "Maybe next year I'll finally get to the shrubbery costume," he commented lightly.

I laughed, remembering our dance at the Halloween ball fondly. "Maybe. But I think next year we will have our hands full with a couple of important matters to the throne."

He smiled and kissed my forehead lightly, that being the furthest he could go for affection in such a formal setting. "Kellan's mistress's name is Dara. She's about thirty and from France. She's very worldly and when you meet her you'll see that the two of them really are the perfect match."

"She's that bad?" I asked, my heart sinking.

He shrugged. "Just a little temperamental and drastic. She's more akin to my father than I am."

I rolled my eyes. "Well that's not difficult; you are hardly like your father."

"Jury is still out but thank you for the vote of confidence." He was staring past me now, keeping an eye out for our guests. "Having these people here makes me nervous," he admitted.

I started sweeping the room myself. "Me too but this will work."

"Do you remember what you have to say to Dara?"

"I think so. No promises though with my pregnancy brain I've been having lately," I joked.

"And we get six more months of it. Oh joy!" he joked sarcastically, a smile finally gracing his beautiful face. "Five o'clock, Kellan is staring us down."

I smiled at him pleasantly. "Then let's give him something good to stare at," I proposed, gripping his hands tighter and stepping into the dance with more enthusiasm. He went along with me until the dance was over and my feet were aching. I could practically feel my ankles swelling. "Game time?" I asked as I curtsied to him.

"Good luck," he bid as he kissed the back of my hand in his bow.

I adjusted my necklaces as we approached Kellan and Dara, Maxon's hand light on my back as we walked. Kellan at least had the decency to nod his head to Maxon out of respect. "King Maxon, thank you for your invitation to your…little party." He smirked, looking down at me.

I felt myself blush but stepped up anyway. "We're happy you could make it. Take it as a warm welcome to the world of rule."

"Well I knew not to expect anything threatening from Illea. You ended, what, all of your wars when you took the throne, King Maxon?" Kellan snapped.

"I ended those wars because they were nothing but turf wars and draining expenses," Maxon answered coolly. "We have more important things to worry about."

Kellan nodded as if he had experienced a sudden revelation. "Ah, like abolishing the caste system because your wife wants her fellow Fives to not suffer anymore?"

This time I blushed out of anger. Confrontations were not good with my hormones so uncontrollable. It was time for me to escape. "Dara, I was hoping to pull you away for a few moments? Maybe introduce you to some other princesses and queens?"

Dara smiled coyly. "Yes, I would very much like that Queen America." I escorted her over to Princess Nicolette, figuring she would be a good one to start with. Princess Nicolette introduced herself and then introduced Georgia, who was standing with her. "Oh, I know Georgia. You're America's little rebel project, correct?"

Georgia's eyes grew wide and she looked at me as Dara turned on her heel to walk out to the gardens. "Don't go out there alone with her, America!" Georgia whispered urgently to me.

"At least arm yourself before you do," Nicolette interjected.

"I'll be fine. Guards are all around the gardens; they won't let anything happen to me," I assured them, following Dara out. I could only imagine what they would say if they knew I was pregnant. I was surprised Maxon was letting me do this but when it came to Nicolette, Marlee, and Georgia…they were a fearsome trio when it came to my safety and wellbeing. "This is your first time in Illea, am I right?" I asked Dara as we walked around the gardens.

"Oh, yes, and it is a beautiful country. Much less pollution here than New Asia. I feel like I can breathe," she joked, laughing quietly.

Okay, so maybe this wasn't going to be that bad. "And how are you liking New Asia?" I asked cautiously.

Dara shook her head and turned to face me abruptly. I saw a guard stiffen in the shadows. "You're not going to win this game with me, America. Kellan and I are tyrants. We're smart. We know how to manipulate and deceive better than any other royal out there."

I nodded, seeing that I was wrong. "Okay, so then what do you want?"

"I think you and your husband know. We want your child. We would like both but we'll settle for one," Dara explained.

"How do you know I'm having twins?" I asked incredulously.

She smirked. "You should have listened to Maxon and kicked Oyun out of here last week before she could do any digging. She's been weaseling her way around the palace for the past week and you don't even know it."

"Why? You killed her husband, she has no reason to help you."

Dara casually took a sip of champagne. "We may have killed her husband but, seeing as you're basically a mother now, you could probably understand the leverage that children can be. Oyun thought her son was safe while Kellan and I had him in our possession the whole time. So long as we have him, we can make her do anything we want." She leaned in closer to me. "Terminate the peace treaty or give us one of your children. It's your choice."

"No," I said defiantly. "We're not giving you anything."

"You're not really in a position for negotiations," she spat. "Pass the message along to your husband. I think Kellan and I will be leaving now." She left me in the gardens and when she had finally disappeared inside, I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

I wasn't surprised to see Aspen limp up to me seconds later. "Twins?" he asked.

"Yep," I confirmed, watching Dara make her way back into the palace.

"Well, things just got a little bit more complicated."

I nodded. "Yep."

hope y'all liked it!

anybody hear the big news from Kiera today?! Maxerica twins! a boy and a girl! eeeeppp! (oh, yeah, spoiler alert.)

Mac: wow, if you hadn't told me you were 12 i wouldn't have believed you! you speak so eloquently! (you actually sound like me at 12, haha) keep writing and don't be afraid of putting yourself out there! there's almost 8 billion people on this planet; one of them is bound to like it. just find your niche. explore and write something that's a little daring for you. that's the only way for you to grow!

keeperfan123: glad you like it!

Weatherbug02: so i looked for the song but couldn't find it. :( i'll take your word for it though that it's a good one! oh, and i blast Camp Rock songs in my dorm room with no shame. you're okay with Barbie songs.

radflutakin: awww thanks! let me tell you how tired i am right now (it is too late o'clock) that as i was just typing awww i accidentally typed assss. whoops. i'll try to keep it G in reviews, i promise! #zombietyping

Someone the World Forgot: do you feel bad for her now?! oh, and believe me, updating has gotten so hard with school. i don't blame you at all if school gets in the way of reading/writing/everything.

lilythemermaid: oh my gosh, you don't know how much i miss the good old days of Selection Fanfiction. when i published the first chapter of As the One, there were 32 fanfics for the Selection. 32! i repeat, 32! and all of them were amazing. i feel like such an old fart now. it's kind of like my child. i'm just like, awww look how much Selection fan fiction has grown!...except its all the same story. yes, i am quite annoyed by that as well. there are some golden nuggets in here though!

AcademicGirl: (love the profile pic, btw. creeped a bit on your profile and i dig the photography thing.) if i'm perfectly honest, my first reaction was to just blow up and tear her apart in my review. however, i wanted to make a point that i am in fact more mature than her wise age of 15 and i figured that by lashing out at her would only give her the response she wanted to get. i don't expect everyone to love what i write. i was lucky in that i had nothing of the next chapter to write so i had time to simmer down and actually put some thought into a tasteful response.

Theoneforever: bonkers! the world has gone bonkers!

winterprincess: America is just stretching her legs now. remember her dealing with the New Asians the first time? hopefully we'll see more of evil America in the next couple chapters. (cough, cough, foreshadow.) or maybe not. America hasn't told me any of that yet.

that's it for this chapter! thanks so much for the great reviews guys!