It was over. My life had crashed. Nothing else matter to me anymore now that Lil was gone. I didn't care if Illea was happy anymore; I didn't care what Queen Amberley did. I had fought and ought and the truth was I was tired.

The hospital wing was dark at this time of the night. No one was in the room except for me. I was sitting on a bed in a hospital gown. My hole body ached with the sorrow I was feeling and I didn't know how to make it stop.

I pushed back the covers and swung my legs to the ground. My journey through the sleeping palace almost felt like a dream. My mind knew where it was going. Up.

I climbed all the flights of stairs until I was on the floor I had been told, along with the other Selected, not to enter. Apparently this was the floor with the bedrooms of the royal family. It didn't really matter to me, I wasn't here to kill the Queen in her sleep or anything. I was planning on taking a different life.

I came to a large window that looked out over the garden. I wasn't aware of what I was doing here, it was like I was sleepwalking. I opened up the large window and the cold air blew my hair back behind my shoulders. Using the strong curtain to pull me up, I climbed onto the windowsill and hung out of the window, clinging onto the stone of the palace walls.

All I had to do was let go. If I released the wall I would fall from the top floor of the palace and hit the ground with a sickening end. A quick drop and it would end, I could be free and see Lil again after this life was over.

Then the footsteps sounded behind me. Someone walked up to the window I was hanging out of and leaned against the wall inside.

"It's a nice night. The sun is about to rise. You know, a person should never go too long without seeing a sunrise. It's eye opening."

My toes tightened on the windowsill. Luke was here.

He shrugged at my silence and took something out of his pocket. I tilted my head inside a little and saw he had taken out cigarettes and a lighter.

"Didn't know you smoked," I noted.

He puffed on his cigarette. "Lots you don't know about me. Want one?" He was so played back and relaxed you would never guess that he just walking in on me about to commit suicide.

I was hesitant to answer his question. "Yes."

I wasn't expecting him to hop up on the windowsill with me. He ducked his head outside of the palace and clung for his life next to me, but he didn't look tense like I was. He wasn't scared of falling. His fearlessness was, in a way, beautiful.

He held up a cigarette and put it between my lips for me. Holding on with one had, he used his other to light it.

We didn't talk for a long time, only smoked and hoped our grips didn't fail us. He let me think and I stared at the welcoming ground below me.

Finally Luke flicked his cigarette to the ground and we watched it fall. It sure was a long way down.

He tilted his head towards me. "What are you doing, Anna?"

That was a hard question these days.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. "She's gone." That was all I was able to say to him at first. Then, "I think I hit the point in my life where I am done. I cried and fought, but everything just came crashing down. My demons are screaming louder and I don't think I'm going to fight back this time."

He nodded and hung out over the edge farther. He looked to angelic with the rising sun illuminating his shape. "I won't try to understand what you are feeling. I just didn't take you as a quitter."

"Excuse me?" I tore my gaze away form the ground and starred at him with a furrowed brow.

"I thought you were a fighter." He shrugged at me. "You are a survivor, Anna, it is written all over your body." He slid an arm behind my back to secure me to him, making sure I wouldn't jump. "You weren't born to be soft and quiet, you were born to make the world shatter and shake under your fingertips. It looks to me that you are taking the easy way out. Do you really want Queen Amberley to have that victory over you?"

I let my own cigarette fall to the ground. I thought of my body hitting the ground with that force. I thought of myself crumpling into a lifeless heap. Luke understood that I couldn't give up because then she would win. Queen Amberley will have pride over me, and Illea will be doomed. I couldn't go out like this, it was too easy. When am I ever known for doing the easy thing?

"You are going to leave Illea in this mess? After a spark has been lit, you want to stop fighting. Annalise, you can't give up."

"Why not? Why can't I do what I fucking want to for once. Why does it have to be me that saves everyone? All I ever do is fuck things up. Maybe you should be the public face of this... this revolution." I hadn't thought of it being that, but it was. The riots were becoming worse after my speech on the Report. It really was becoming chaos on the streets.

"Because you aren't a quitter. You will fight because you don't know how to die quietly. From the fist time you were broadcast on television people knew you were the feisty bitch they had all been waiting for. You weren't afraid like the res of the world and it only took a few words from you to start making other people realize that they don't have to be afraid." He ran a hand through his hair and took a long breath. "Listen, Anna, don't let Lil's death be for nothing. You should be wanting to prepare for the next battle. Lil would want you to fight for her. She would want you to be the face of the rebellion."

I let the tears flow down my face. Why did that kind of pressure have to be put on me? I didn't want to be the face of a rebellion, if you could even call it that. My vision blurred from the tears and I started to loose my balance. I felt Luke tug at my waist and we fell backwards into the window together. He couldn't support us so we crumpled to the ground in a heap. I ugly sobbed into his chest and he let me hold not him for as long as I needed.

There we sat in a heaping mess. Him in a white undershirt and pants, me in a hospital gown. I soaked his shirt with my tears and he ran his strong hand through my hair.

"She was all I had."

He shushed me and held me tighter. "I know. I know. She didn't leave you, you know. I can feel her with us at every moment because that's the thing about someone who really loves you, they never leave you."

I wiped my last tears for Lil on his shirt and every ounce of sadness was gone in an instant. A wave of rage took over me as the Devil himself grasped my soul. Looking at Luke, I could see the fear in his eyes as he stared face to face with a demon. He didn't dare appose this force within me, he knew he didn't stand a chance anymore. Every ash in me was being used to mold my weapon that i would wield on the corrupt palace. He held me almost like he was afraid to move. He was afraid of me as the fire was lighting behind my eyes.

"Anna." He moved away from me an inch. I thought he might talk me out of fighting Queen Amberley after he had just told me that was what I needed to do. "She may be evil, but she is my mother."

"Then I'll do this alone."

"What is this exactly? You can't just kill her, that would do nothing for anyone. It has to be the people that revolt against her system. You need an army for this. We need to take our time with planning and figuring how to overthrow the-" He cut himself short and looked up at me with a giddy realization. "Holy shit."

I didn't have time to react before he jumped to his feet and left me in the floor alone. My mind was numb and I wasn't sure of anything that was happening. I wasn't sure if any of this would work or if it was even possible to make that big of a change to an entire country. I

I was sure of one thing, no matter how lost I felt right now without my second half, I was not alone. Luke was here for me ever since I knocked him on his ass on day one at the palace, and he was here for me now. And I didn't think twice before charging after him like a child playing tag.

We ran through the dark hallway, our shadows dancing on the walls as the sun was rising.

Luke slid across the slick floor in his socks and came to a stop in front of a plain looking wall. He looked at me and grind before looking back at the wall and reaching behind a shelf to open up the hidden room door.

I was shocked as the wall opened up and a pitch black room was revealed.

"Is this your secret layer?" I teased, but he wasn't laughing.

"If you ever tell anyone about this room we are both dead. I mean it too, this is top secret. If someone so much as suspects something about this room we are-"

"I got. Thanks."

"Sorry. It's just serious."

"So what's in there."

He didn't answer but lit a candle and the tiny room was awakened. The walls were covered in dusty books that looked to be falling apart. I was almost too afraid to touch any of them as I scanned the shelves. The sight was really breathtaking, and it felt mischievous that we weren't supposed to be in here.

"They are all the books that have been forbidden over the years."

"Why are they forbidden?"

"Probably because most of them are history books. They could help us learn about what this country used to be. We can learn about rebellions and revolutions and- here it is!"

I turned to see Luke with a childlike expression as he held a book in his arms. He really like this stuff didn't he?

"A Tale of Two Cities." He showed me the deteriorating cover. "It talks about people being secretive about the French Revolution until the moment was right to reek havoc. They all observed the people in the towns and an old lady knitted her information out in a sort of map."

"We can't knit."

He rolled his eyes and tossed the book aside, taking my shoulders in his hands and shaking me. "Not the point. The point is that this is a revolution. We have to start slowly and be patient. We need to plan and gather information about who to trust and who needs to be pushed out of our way."

"So, you are in this with me?"

He sighed deeply and closed his eyes. "I will help you as best I can to take down the government portion, but I cannot personally bring harm to my family. I just can't."

I understood him. He had always had a family that surely loves him. I hadn't felt that, and even if I hated the Queen for what she did, he probably still couldn't look passed all the days of his childhood. I couldn't ask him to do something to his own family.

A smile kept onto my face with a new hope. He was right about revolutions not being started in one night, but I wanted it to move quicker. I wanted change and i wanted it now. For Lil and for ever other person who has had to suffer because of laws and injustice, I will fight. I will scream until my last breath. With all the secret information in the room, it was possible. We could get a difference we deserve. I could read all about the history of other revolutions and better ours.

"Alright." I nodded and gazed into his blue eyes where I saw the want for freedom. I saw in his eyes what I saw in Lil's eyes and I still don't understand how, but I saw hope. "What else you got, nerd?"

We spent the entire rest of the night looking through old books. I can't say I remember falling asleep, but I do remember a big pile of books surrounding me. However, when I woke up I was not in that pile of books. I was in a room with a large wall of windows. I was curled into an enormous bed with a fluffy white blanket covering my body, still in a hospital gown. There were books sitting around on the floor and on shelves. The walls had posters hanging on them in uneven ways, but the sleep held my eyes too much and i couldn't make out what they were. Lastly, I noticed a pile of old clothes. No, gym clothes. And a little pile of different boxing gloves and hand wraps. This was Luke's room.

I sat up in a panic, feeling uneasy with the odd environment I had woken into. The walls were a light grey and the furniture was a shining silver. Everything about the room was bright and inviting. I noticed a black piano in the corner next to a dozen shelves of what looked to be comic books, something I hadn't seen before. My mind was fuzzy from all the reading I had done last night or more accurately in the early morning.

"Miss Mallory."

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the deep voice speak to me from the door. The man that had called to me was older looking and in a nice suit. He held his head so high I could see right up his large hairy nostrils.

"Miss Mallory," he said again. "I have been told by Prince Lucas to escort you back to your room once you have awoken."

This must be one of Luke's butlers. I rubbed my head. "How did I get here?"

"Prince Lucas didn't want to disturb you too much after you fell asleep reading." The butler knew I was reading, but Luke probably didn't tell him where or what if he was smart about it. "He said it was easier to take you next door to his room rather than down three flights of stair to your own quarters. You were out rather cold, I must say."

I would say so too if I didn't even remember being taken out of the secret library.

"Are you ready to go now?"

The butler looked impatient so I slid out of the bed and took his arm so he could escort me back to my room. I wanted to stay and nose in Luke's room, but that would've been rude. He let me stay in here last night while he was probably already out to work on prince things, whatever it is they work on.

We came to my room and my maids nearly pulled me inside the moment I turned the doorknob.

"We heard you weren't in the hospital wing this morning," Macie said, trying her best not to sound too curious.

"Macie," scolded Rosalyn. "Do not be nosy. It is none of our business where she was. She has had a hard time." Rosalyn did not pity me, but she understood me. I could only imagine the true sadness she feels behind her masked expressions.

"I'm okay now, ladies. I promise. I was having a hard time... accepting it." If the mood hadn't been so depressing and I hadn't been flooded with memories of Lil, I would've told them i spent the night in Luke's room. They would've loved it, eaten up every detail i would've offered to them.

"The body was taken out to be buried. We tried to tell them you would want to see it happen, but they refused." Maddie sat me at my vanity and brushed out my tangled hair. "They are calling the murder an accident. We all know what really happened of course."

"Do not upset her more," Rosalyn scolded from the bathroom.

"It's okay," I insisted. I stared blankly at my reflection. I looked like a new person after what I had just gone through. I couldn't cry for Lil anymore, but I felt a deep grief that would never go away. "I want to hear what happened to her."

"Well," Maddie began again. "Queen Amberley command the shot to be taken. The poor guard, Winston it was, he did as he was told. He didn't know the person was a child, or that she was your friend. He did his duty and took aim after he was commanded to. He was fired after that. They blame him for it all."

"Winston? That sounds familiar," Macie thought allowed. "Does he have bright blond hair?"

Maddie nodded sadly. "That's him. His life is ruined now. He will be an Eight now. They took away everything from him and blamed him for making a mistake."

My heart sunk. "He wouldn't happen to be the guard that used to walk me down to the gym before Luke did it, would he?"

Maddie nodded and I closed my eyes. That guard had always been sweet to me. I remember him snickering the very first time I knocked Luke down. Luke had stormed out and the guard hid his smile when I called him a brat. I rather like him, sad he was forced to take a life without even knowing why. He was doing his duties and thought she was some sort of danger. He trusted Queen Amberley. A mistake no one should make anymore.

"Maddie," I thought a long time before speaking again. "Do you think I am the reading the riots are getting more out of hand lately?" I wanted the opinion of someone that wasn't myself or Luke. I wanted to be sure that they were seeing this difference in Illea too. I needed to make sure we weren't delusional.

"They have a new purpose to life," Rosalyn answered for Maddie as she came out of the bathroom with an armful of dirty towels. "You, Annalise Mallory, have done something that I never thought would be possible in all my years. You have given hope to the hopeless."

I met eyes with Rosalyn through the mirror. She nodded at me and pursed her lips.

"I do not know the other girls in this competition very well, but I believe you would make a stunning queen."

I swallowed hard. It was time to tell them all the truth. I turned in my chair to face them all. "I need to confess some things to you. I can't be queen. It is only because I have been here since the beginning to help the ratings of Prince Alexandr go up. He is using me. He doesn't care about anything, kind of like his mother. I want a change to happen just as much as the rioters, but I can't lead them as a queen of Illea." The realization dawned on me as I spoke. "I have to lead them from the outside. I am no good to them here."

Rosalyn dropped all the towels in her hands crossed her arms over her chest. "What are you saying? You want to leave?"

"I think that might be the best option for me." If I could get away and meet with the people that were leading the riots we might be able to organize a proper plan of deconstruction. Luke could come with me. We could lead the people together against the palace. It was all falling into place. "I was only here for Lil. She is gone now, and I thought I had nothing left to fight for, but I was wrong. I have this country to fight for. It deserves freedom."

Macie sniffled and wiped away a stray tear on her cheek. "We are forever loyal to you, Your Majesty."

Macie was the first to dip into a low curtsy and the other two followed her lead. To them I was already royalty. The really were gifts from God, and i realized it more as they all swore they would help me with anything from here on out.

And I though of Luke and A Tale of Two Cities as I mentally knitted in my brain that these three girls were loyal.

HI HI. Author here! Sorry if you don't get my Tale of Two Cities references but it's cool. So I hope you all are loving the story and please leave a review telling me what you think of it and how I can improve it. Thank you!

xoxo

jeweleethegeek