AMERICA'S POV
"So Saturday's the big day, how are you feeling?" Marlee asked. I'd only been home for two days but the advisors wanted to waste no time in getting us married so in another three days we'll be wed.
"Nervous but excited." I said.
"I'm just glad that all we have to do for the dress is a few small alterations, thank God we had all this done last month." Mary stated, sewing at the white fabric. I started pacing up and down the study and fiddling with my hands.
"It'll all be perfect, America." Marlee said, grabbing my hands and stopping me from moving.
"With my track record? Please."
"I promise that this will be perfect." She smiled at me and I smiled back. We hadn't talked about our last argument but we'd decided to forgive and forget. There was a knock at the door and everyone in the room looked to the door, guessing it was the one person who could not see any of this.
"Um. Who is it?" I called.
"Silvia!" An agitated voice called. I was supposed to meet with her this morning! I ran to the door and opened it.
"Silvia. I am so sorry, I got caught up in preparations."
"Queens are never late!" She said, barging straight past me. "You are all dismissed, I need to have a meeting with Lady America." She shouted putting her folders on my desk.
I looked at my maids who hastily put away folders, put the dress back in the garment bag and left the room. I looked back and she was already sat in the chair, I sighed and picked up the chair from my make-up station and put it at the desk.
"OK. First things first. Your family are arriving in the morning and will stay until the day after the Wedding. Your honeymoon to Italy will commence when they leave and you will be coroneted the day after you return. Most people are able to come to the wedding, except for the German Federation and, of course, Asia."
"I didn't even know that they were invited."
"Of course they were, we thought it might be a good time to make peace."
"You know, sometimes I think that this wedding is more about making peace, allies and for the people, than it is about Maxon and I." I complained.
"Yes. Of course it is. You're going to be a royal, that's all your entire life will be for from now on." She shouted at me. "So, the flowers will be white, to show purity, and there will be some colourful wild flowers, to keep Italy and Greece happy. These will be the same flowers as you will hold in your bouquet. I have organized the seating chart" She pulled out a large piece of paper from one of the folders. "You and King Maxon will sit at the centre of the top table with the Kings, Queens, and leaders of our allies sat with you. There will be clusters of tables around the room where the other guests will sit, and the dance floor in the middle where you will share your first dance." She smiled for the first time. The door opened and we both turned to see Maxon striding in. I stood to greet him and he placed a kiss on my lips and then wrapped his arm around my waist.
"Can I steal her for ten minutes?" He asked Silvia who glared back.
"Fine. But I'll be back in ten minutes, there's more I need to go over before she refuses to do anything in order to see her family." She marched out of the room and I glared at the back of her head until the door banged shut.
As soon as the door was closed, Maxon wrapped the other arm around my waist and kissed me passionately. I wrapped my arms around my neck and enjoyed the kiss.
"How am I going to be a Queen?" I asked, staring up at the wonderful man stood in front of me.
"You'll be a great queen, you'll look after your people, you'll do great." He kissed me again.
"But. I don't understand protocol. I'll never get it straight in my head how not to insult the other countries. I'll never be able to sit like a good little Queen on the other side of the room to my family." I tried to walk away but he grabbed my shoulders.
"America. Silvia puts a lot of emphasis on protocol but, they don't care that much. I mean, this weekend, they're coming here to celebrate us. They couldn't give a hoot about protocol really. You did a great job with Italy and everything went wrong with the German Federation, and they haven't started a war over it. You're going to be an excellent Queen, America. Anything you need to know you'll pick up in no time. And, in the meantime, you have me and Silvia to keep you right and support you." He kissed me again.
"I love you so much, my King." I whispered.
"I love you more, my darling." He whispered back and kissed me softly. "I'm afraid I have to get back to my meetings before someone comes looking for me, but I'll see you at dinner?" I nodded and smiled at him as he left my suite again. Soon Silvia would be back through the doors and she would be shouting at me again. But at least I knew I had Maxon, and that made everything worth it.
MAXON'S POV
I left America's room and quickly walked back to the meeting room, where I had left six advisors arguing.
"So, what have we decided?" I asked as I entered.
"We have all agreed on the same conclusion." Daniel, my head advisor, said standing up from his seat. "We have decided that the best course of action is to triple the protection on the day and double on the honeymoon." I nodded. That made sense.
"And remember, America hears no word of this, do you understand?" I asked glaring at the men around the room, who each nodded. "Good, because if she finds out about this threat then the whole plan goes to pot." Each man nodded again. "Well then, meeting adjourned." I sat down as everyone else left, leaving me alone in the room.
I stared at the piece of paper in front of me. I was so scared. 'We've had her once, we'll have her again, on this, your wedding day.' They were going to try to take America again on our wedding day. Of course I didn't want that to happen, but we were fed up of living in fear of them. This is my country, they will not force me to do anything that I don't want to. If they think that they can they have another thing coming. I threw the paper across the room.
I left, slamming the door behind me, I nodded to the guards who stood outside and headed downstairs to my gym. I started stretching on the floor and doing simple push ups. This was the only way I could get rid of my frustration. At least if I did this then I would be better prepared to protect her myself if needed. Once I was done stretching I moved onto weight lifting. I pretended that the weights were the bodies of rebels trying to hurt us, once I did that I found that I could lift about double what I normally could. This was definitely a good way to remove pent up frustration. There was a big part of me that wanted to tell the guards to shoot the rebels on sight, or anyone they even suspected. But I knew that that wouldn't make me a beloved king. But we did have to stop them. How could I remove the threat without killing what I assumed was a couple of hundred people? If I did that then when I am gone, I won't be remembered for removing the castes or whatever else I might do that's good, all I will be remembered for is being a mass-murderer, because some people didn't agree with me. History won't care that they were trying to bring harm to my family. The motives are not considered in history, just the decisions made. But if I did nothing then I would be remembered as the king who stood idly by and watched as rebels killed my people and my family. I couldn't let my children follow in those footsteps, in some ways I would rather they had to follow a mass-murderer. I just hoped that once we started improving the country they would see that I am not the enemy, I am not my father. I already have the northern rebels on my side, why can't I have the southern rebels too? What if I captured them, or at least a few of them, and asked them why they were attacking? Maybe then we could all make the country a better place for everyone. Talking to America during the Selection had already opened my eyes to how awful my country could be, it had helped me to decide how I could make it better, if I could do that with people with clearly different problems, maybe I could make it a great country for everyone.
Before I knew it, it was half past five so I ran back upstairs and quickly showered in my bathroom, I then came back put and put on the casual suit that was laid out on my bed. I quickly dried and brushed my hair before leaving again, America would surely be ready and waiting now. I stood outside her door and could already hear the raised voices of her and Silvia, what were they arguing about now? I knocked and heard them silence and America opened the door smiling.
"Ready for dinner?" I asked, smiling.
"Yes, just a moment." She turned to Silvia. "We'll finish this meeting in the morning? Good night Silvia." She stated, not leaving any room for a response before she came out and shut the door behind her. I took her hand and started walking down the corridor.
"Everything ok?" I asked.
"I'm not going to pretend that it is because I can tell that you heard my shouting. But I'm not really in the mood to discuss it."
"Ok. Let's just go and enjoy our dinner." I squeezed her hand and led her outside to our bench in the gardens, where there was a blanket and a basket of food ready and waiting. I sat down on the red blanket and she sat next to me and leaned her head on my shoulder.
"Silvia thinks that Kota should be the only one of my family allowed at the wedding." She said softly. "She says that he's the only one who could properly conduct himself in front of royalty. And there's a pretty big part of me that knows that she's probably right, I mean, I can barely conduct myself properly in front of royalty and I've been living in the palace for the last six months or so. But, if they aren't coming then I don't think I could go either."
"They're coming America, they are. I promise you that." I told her.
"No. You can't say anything to her. I need to solve it on my own so that she can see that I am going to be a great Queen, that I'm not just going to be the King's wife. That I am going to be Queen. Once she understands that then she can be my advisor and help me decide when I don't know. Then she might stop insulting my family. Don't worry about me. I'll sort it. Thing is, she knows that that's the one thing that could possibly stop this wedding from happening. I know it's stupid, but I kind of think she doesn't want it to happen." I put my arm around her waist and pulled her closer to me.
"We are getting married on Saturday, I don't care what anyone says or does." I kissed her and lowered her onto the blanket, her hands finding the back of my head and playing with my hair. She sat up after a few moments.
"Come on, let's eat." She demanded, reaching for the basket of food.
"You really are just here for the food, aren't you?" She nodded and we both laughed. As we ate I prayed that everything would be alright.
Wow. 23 Chapters! Ok, so I think the next chapter is going to be the wedding day, I am looking forward to writing it so it will probably be up within the next week or so. I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter, please review!