Queen Amberley insisted we all take our meals in our rooms the next day. After I talked on the Report, the world had gone crazy.

Macie and Maddie were sitting with me in my room, reading the magazine.

"'Annalise Mallory says what Illea has been feeling for years. The country was too scared of change, that was until Miss Mallory was the voice of hope that told us a better life was possible.'" Macie clutched onto the paper and continued to read it. "'There have been many riots in the streets since the airing of the Report. Most of the participants are of caste Five and Six. People are demanding a change now, and Miss Mallory has most of Illea's support throughout the Selection. Long Live Annalise Mallory.'"

"Oh. My. God." Maddie was grinning from ear to ear. "Things will change now, they have to. We can have better lives. We can marry Threes if we want to. We can stay out after curfew. We can-"

"Maddie, nothing is changing anytime soon. These people are delusional." I hated to crush her spirit like this. "I just said a few words and people got fired up. Trust me, the King won't give into a few riots. They will be stopped within the week."

"What about the king?"

"You all should know by now that he is another puppet that Amberley controls," Rosalyn piped in from her cleaning.

I nodded my agreement. "Guards have already been sent out to control the rioting. This will blow over soon."

Macie and Maddie were very disappointed. They sadly closed the magazine and set it aside.

Rosalyn hobbled over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "I was supposed to tell you to go to the kitchen this evening."

I furrowed my brow. "What for?"

"Not sure. Just do as you are told, for once."

I nodded and pushed out of my chair. To the kitchen it was.

I was too tired to think about what I could be seeing in the kitchen. Had Luke wanted to see me there so his mother wouldn't know? Whatever the reason, I hoped that I could see Miss Petegry again. It had been a while since my encounter with the jolly plump cook. I ate the food she cooked everyday, and I felt guilty that I had forgotten about her.

I walked the familiar path to the kitchen. Last time I was there the kitchen was full of people bustling around each other. It was odd now, standing on the opposite side of the door, to hear that there was no noise now.

My hand reached for the door and pushed it open. Before I understood what I saw inside the kitchen there was a person holding me close.

Lil.

She was here. She was hugging me. She was alive.

I felt so happy I didn't know what to do with myself. I held her close then I pulled her away to look at her and then held her again.

"I've missed you," she said in a joyous tone.

"You've grown," I noted.

She had change in a lot more ways than height. First thing I noticed was that the dirt was scrubbed off of her. She looked clean and refreshed. Her beautiful porcelain skin glistened. She was wearing a small maids uniform that someone had let her borrow.

Miss Petegry put a hand on Lil's shoulder and I turned my attention to her.

"Officer Chance brought this peach to me last night. He told me everything. She is safe with me, but we will have to put her to work with the laundry."

I kissed Lil's cheek and held her again. "She can do any work you need, as long as she's safe. Right?"

She nodded. I could see in her eyes she was going to start crying, and she did. She burst into tears.

"Lil, everything is alright now, you don't need to cry."

She wiped her face on my shoulder. "I can't believe we are in the palace," she laughed. "You have to tell me all about it. I want to know everything about everyone, don't leave out any detail."

"You two can catch up here. I'm going off to bed. Lil, you know where to go?" Miss Petegry hung her apron onto the peg by the wall.

"Can't she stay in my room?"

Lil shook her head. "We have to be smart, Anna. No one can know I'm here. I have a small bedroom. It's a few doors down from Miss Petegry's. Don't worry."

I pursed my lips and nodded.

"So, tell me about Prince Lucas."

I tried not to smile at her, but I just couldn't help myself. I didn't know how she knew. Officer Chance probably told her how we hung out a lot.

And so we sat in the kitchen floor and talk and talked for hours and hours, and I couldn't have been more happy to be warm and fed and in the company of Lil.

"I like the soldier man who came for me," Lil said sleepily, rubbing at her eyes.

She was leaning on my arm on the kitchen floor, trying to stay awake to catch up with me.

"Tall? Stupid hair?"

She giggled. "That's the one."

"That's Max Chance. I shot a gun at him in the bank."

Lil gasped and hit my stomach lightly. "He could've died!"

"I wasn't going to hit him. I promise."

We were falling asleep. I twirled a strand of her clean brown hair around my finger.

"He's a nice man. We can count on him."

Suddenly the kitchen door opened and we both sat up stick straight. My heart was pumping twice the normal speed.

"Anna?"

I held Lil's arm in a death grip and gawked at Luke in the doorway. I opened my mouth to speak, but no words would surface.

"Who are you?" Lil sounded defensive.

He narrowed his eyes at her. "Luke McQuay. Prince of Illea."

The blood drained from Lil's face as well.

"Um," I started, standing up and straightening my dress. "This is, um, don't tell anyone, but this is Lil."

He shifted his body weight from foot to foot. "Why is she here? She had a nice place to stay in the suburbs."

I didn't want to tell him about his mother was threatening Lil, but given the circumstances I had to. I turned to Lil and said, "I need some time to talk with the prince. Okay? Go off to bed, it's late."

Lil stuck out her bottom lip and pouted, but after some coaxing she left the dim kitchen.

I closed the door behind Lil and turned back around to Luke. He was opening up a cabinet, getting out two glasses and whisky.

"What are you doing?"

He shrugged. "You have some explaining to do. I figure we will be here a long while." He poured me a drink and handed it to me. "Start talking."

I didn't know where to start. Where could I start?

"Your mother made me stop hanging out wit you at the gym."

Luke froze with his glass halfway to his mouth. "Fucking what?"

I took a swg and jumped up on the counter to sit and look at him. "She told me I had to stay away from you and stay in line; do what she wanted." He didn't say anything. "She was going to kill Lil. She said she would kill the only thing I loved and I believed her."

He downed his drink and poured another. "How did you get her here?"

"You know Officer Chance?"

"No. I don't know names of the help."

"You should. They are people too and they are all good people."

"Coming from the girl that doesn't know more than five names of the Selected."

Fuck. He got me there.

"Anyway, Officer Chance agreed to help me. He brought her here and she's going to work in laundry. She isn't staying for free, she can pull her own weight and earn a living until I get out of this Selection."

Luke didn't speak. We both stared at the ground. I became embarrassingly aware that I was sitting up on the counter very close to him. His hand was next to my thigh and the other hand was holding his glass. Sure, we had been close before when we fought, but this was different. We weren't in sweaty gym clothes with boxing gloves on. He was in his suit with a few shirt buttons undone and his tie missing. I was in a long evening gown that showed more of my chest then I preferred.

"When do you think that'll happen? Leaving the Selection, I mean."

"I don't know. After the people have started rioting I don't think Alexandr will keep me much longer. I've cause more trouble than I should've, I won't be helping his ratings anymore. The people will be mad at me for giving them false hope once they realize they won't get the law changed like they want."

He put his hand on my knee and looked into my eyes. "Are you crazy? You're an idol to them now. You are the most popular with the people out of all the Selected. Even if Alex wanted to get rid of you, he couldn't." The look in his eyes was adorable. He was so excited for me. He leaned in and continued. "The people need a leader like you. You actually care for them, they aren't used to that. If you got eliminated they would riot more; it would be a slaughter house."

I turned my head to the side and tried to suppress a smile. "I can't be what they want me to be."

"You already are."

I don't remember leaning into him, but it happened. My lips crashed onto his. I didn't know what I thought I was doing, but I'm glad he went with it.

I heard him set his glass on the counter. He slid his hand up my back and tangled it in my hair. With his other hand he cupped my face.

We were hungry for each other. Two broken people were put back together with the help of one another. The madness of it was mesmerizing.

I wrapped my legs around his torso and held his head to me. I finally got to run my fingers through his hair like I had wanted to do since I saw him. His lips were so soft when they trailed down my neck. He pushed me down on the counter and my hand swung out and knocked the bottle of whisky to the ground.

He pulled away from me with a start. The broken shards of glass were all over the floor. I cursed myself and lay with my eyes closed so I could catch my breath.

He ran his hand through his hair. "I'll, uh, I can clean this up."

I sat up. "I can help. It was my fault."

"No," he said too quickly. "I'm fine. You should get to bed too."

I felt hurt that he wanted me gone so fast, but I nodded. I started to hop off the counter but he took my arm.

"Watch the glass. Here." He picked me up and set my by the door. Of course I didn't have shoes on and would've cut my feet to pieces.

I subcontiously straighten my hair and dress. I wanted to say bye or something, but he was already at work picking up the pieces of glass. I stumbled backward and hit the door.

Once I was in the hall and out of sight I broke into a sprint. My feet clapped onto the marble floor all the way to my room. I threw the door open and slammed it closed behind me. Rosalyn was sleeping in a chair and nearly died when I came barging in. She jumped out of her chair and held her chest.

"Get out," I commanded.

She was trying to gather her wits when I yelled at her again. She didn't complain or ask questions, just left me alone.

Alone. That probably wasn't what I needed. It gave me time to think when I was alone and I had come to the conclusion that I shouldn't think much about things. But I was alone.

What was I doing? Did I just make out with the prince in the the kitchen in the middle of the night? Where would this go? He had to have liked me like that. Did I like him like that? I guess I didn't have to worry about the Queen killing Lil over the matter, but this would never be allowed. It was treason for me to be with anyone else besides Alexandr because I was in the Selection, but he was a prince too.

Another thing about being alone was that I felt free to cry. I didn't like to cry, but I had nothing stopping my confused mind from letting me cry. So, I let the tears flow. I sat on my bed with my knees pulled to my chest. The moonlight caught the gold rose on my bedside table perfectly. I cried myself to sleep that night.

I cried because I didn't know what was going on with Luke.

I cried because I was so happy to have Lil back and so scarred I would lose her again.

I cried because I didn't think I could be the person that the people of Illea wanted to lead.

And I fell asleep alone and crying.

The next morning, before the sun came up, there was a knock at my door. My eyes shot open. I rolled out of bed, still in my dress from yesterday. The knock came again. My heart fluttered. It had to be Luke. He probably thought I wanted to go to the gym every morning again now that the Queen couldn't use Lil to stop me. But I wasn't in clothes for that, and I had sent Rosalyn away so she couldn't help me.

I opened the door anyway. It was not Luke.

"Miss Mallory, I thought I warned you." Queen Amberley pushed passed me into my room and closed the door. "I told you to not step out of line." She was livid. "I told you to stay away from my Lucas."

I opened my mouth to tell her I didn't know what she was talking about, but she didn't let me.

"I saw you two last night, don't worry. I know everything about you Annalise Mallory. I know Lil is here, but not for long."

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"I will destroy you and everything you have made the population think you are." She was raising her voice. The fine china on the shelves trembled.

I was going to faint. I had to get away from her or I would loose my fucking mind.

So, I ran. I ran out of my room and away from the wicked queen. I ran down the stairs to where the workers of the palace lived. I didn't know where Lil was, but I would find her.

"Lil!" I screamed as loud as I could. Running through the halls and screaming, perfect plan. "Lil!"

One door opened behind me. I turned and saw her tiny figure come outside. I sprinted at her.

"What is the matter?"

I crashed into her and scooped her up. Where could I take her? We had to leave, together. We had to get somewhere safe and now.

"Anna, what is happening?"

"We have to go. Okay?"

"Put me down. I can run."

I did as I was told and we sprinted up the stairs as fast as we could. I don't know what I was thinking when I led us toward the main entrance of the palace.

Guards surrounded us in an instant. It all happened too quickly. So much screaming. Me screaming for Lil. Lil screaming for me. Guards screaming at us. Queen Amberley screaming at the guards. Then the gunshot.

It made my world stop spinning. It buzzed in my ears for so long. It haunts me every minute of my miserable life. The gunshot that killed Lil.

I kicked a guard in the throat and they didn't stop me from crawling to Lil's bleeding body. Her eyes were wild. I held her head in my lap, her blood soaking me. This couldn't be happening.

I patted her hair and cried over her. She met my eyes finally. Dying, she gave her last little smile to the world that had been so unkind to her. And she was gone. My precious baby that had gotton me through the hard times was gone. I hated the queen and the guards and the stupid palace, but most of all I hated myself. I should've done more for her. I shouldn't have let her come here in the first place. I should've let her stay with Dante. Everything was my fucking fault, per usual.

My ears were clogged with my sorrow. I didn't hear myself scream as loud as I could. I held onto her lifeless, tiny body. The guards were pulling at my arms, but I fought to stay with her. I punched and kicked and head butted.

What stopped my tantrum was a knock in the face with something hard and solid. I crashed down onto Lil and my world went black.

The last thing I can remember before I woke up in the hospital was Lil in a pink ballgown. Her hair was in curls and her smile was as bright as ever. Her giggles were so comforting and peaceful. She was living the life I had always wanted to give her.

Lil will dance in the palace in heaven forever.

I know it was a sad chapter but I hope you will forgive me. Thank you all for reading and thank you for the amazing reviews I have been getting. I love you all dearly and I am glad at least a few people like my work. I really do love you all.

xoxo

jeweleethegeek