I was jolted awake by the plane hitting the tarmac. I looked to my left and saw Maxon looking at me.
"I was going to wake you but you looked so peaceful." He said before kissing my cheek. He took my hand and led me towards the door of the royal plane which opened after a moment. Outside there were a few hundred people on either side of a small walkway, it reminded me of going to the Selection with everyone cheering us on. We walked hand-in-hand and waved at the people who were so welcoming that an outsider would never have guessed that we were technically the enemy – perhaps they were excited for the war to end as well.
We walked along the red carpet that had been laid across the dark tarmac and walked swiftly into the airport where we waited for a moment on the red leather seats before we were informed that the car was ready to take us to the Imperial Palace.
As we drove along in the car, I stared out the window and watched this beautiful country go past, New Asia was very different from Illèa since it was so much older and there were some of the most beautiful buildings I had ever seen the closer we got to the palace. Many roofs were adorned with green jade dragons to ward off bad spirits and were surrounded in the gold which seemed to be plentiful. Then we came to the palace itself.
The palace was very different from ours back in Angeles but was just as (if not more) grand. The basics of it seemed to be a large rectangular building on top of a small hill – with about a hundred steps leading up to it – and was covered by a large pagoda-style roof with dragons on each corner. The tiles themselves were black whilst the brick of the palace were bright red. It followed the style of the other buildings we had seen by being covered in gold and having great stone dragons on either side of the staircase at intervals all the way up.
Someone else took our bags but Maxon was still unsure about me walking up so many stairs. I was just beginning to show my pregnancy (although we hadn't told anyone that I was) and he was very worried about the whole thing because of the complications I'd had during my first pregnancy and the fact he hadn't been there for most of Shalom's. However, I managed to convince him not to carry me up the stairs but the compromise was that he could keep his hand on my left hip and his arm around my back so that he could catch me before I even knew I was falling.
"Your servants have received your itinerary for the week, Your Majesties, and the Emperor and Empress of New Asia would like to invite you to the banqueting room tonight at six for a welcome banquet. Your rooms are upstairs on the left in the grand guest suites, however, if either of these are unacceptable then please let us know and we can change them. A cot has been put in the Queen's room for the young prince as per your request – although he is still welcome in the nursery at any time where we have staff who are able to look after him as needed." We nodded along with him but I was fairly sure that both of us were too mentally drained to actually say anything to the man who was taking us to our rooms.
My room was covered in dark half-wall panelling and green wallpaper on the walls and the floor was dark wood but covered with green rugs that matched the sheets on the huge four poster bed in the middle of my room. Much like at the start of the selection, when we got into our suites I simply collapsed onto the bed and closed my eyes for a few minutes. Before long Maxon came through carrying our son who was sat up slightly on his elbow and supported with his other arm.
"Hello mummy!" Maxon said as he walked in. I sat up from my rest and looked at my son and his father.
"Come here Shal." I said and Maxon handed him over to me so that I could give him a cuddle that I had been unable to do since we gave him to the nursemaid for the journey on the plane. Maxon sat down next to me on the bed and put an arm around my shoulders embracing the both of us. "You're going to stay in here, right?" I asked Maxon.
"Of course." He replied, kissing me on my ear. "When was the last time we slept apart?" he laughed. It was true, many of the servants back home had actually commented on the fact that we spent a lot more time together than Clarkson and Amberly had – they had actually slept in their separate rooms from the start! We still used our separate rooms, of course, but we always slept in one bed.
A few hours later we separated again to dress for dinner as our clothes were of course in different rooms. Mary, Marlee, and Amy helped put my hair up in a tight bun and dressed me in an equally tight dress. I had been worried about it showing my tiny bump but I managed to convince them to put in a control panel that would hide my bump. I was fairly sure they knew as the only excuse I could think of was: "Because I'm the Queen!" They had worked in silence after that but I could see them smirking whilst they did it. I didn't care, I was technically keeping my promise to Maxon and they would act all giddy and surprised even if I told them as I was literally giving birth to the child.
Maxon collected me from my room and we decided to send Marlee along with the children to the nursery so we wouldn't have to worry about them for the rest of the evening and we could all go to the banquet. Inside the main banquet hall was a long dark wood table with about twenty chairs all around it. Everyone in the room bowed as we entered and we bowed back – in the direction of Emperor Li and his wife Mei. Both were very powerful and imposing looking and certainly intimidated me, although Maxon showed no signs of this. I kind of hoped we could be like this in twenty-odd years when we were their age.
During dinner, I realised that we were not what Li and Mei were expecting because they kept sharing confused looks and whispering in fast Chinese (which I was not a master of and Maxon only spoke a few words). They did speak quite a bit of English and we had several translators to help us with the rest but it was clear that they were trying not to talk to us during this time.
"They have only really dealt with my father – even my mother barely spoke to people like that." Maxon explained later as we got ready for bed. "The only time I've ever spoken to them before was at parties and we never chatted. You must admit we're quite a contrast to my parents!" He laughed.
"Your mother was a wonderful queen." I stated. "Will I ever be as good as her?" Maxon paused. He was clearly thinking of what to say to me next.
"America, you and my mother are totally different. No better or worse. She preferred to sit on the side-lines and help more with the planning and entertaining of foreign dignitaries. She never really had much to do with foreign policy. You, on the other hand, have helped with treaties and policies since before you were even queen! Your philanthropic charity idea was to completely change the way our country is! Yes, we're doing that but you can't say you're anything like mother. But I kind of like that because I don't want a relationship with you like my father did with my mother." He kissed me lightly on the cheek and dragged me to bed to sleep. He had a lot of worries about me and the baby and so had to make sure I got at least eight hours of sleep a night – no matter what.
Sorry for my disappearance…yet again. But it has been a hectic few weeks and I haven't even had time to do NaNoWriMo this year . There's always next year I suppose. Anyway, I will try to update soon but please review in the meantime! – Chescaannie xx