Your Royal Husbandness (The Selection fanfic)

Ch1:The magic of marriage

America's POV:

(from the epilogue in The One)

Maxon and I move to each other as the ceremony starts.

"Hello, my dear," he whispers.

"Don't start," I warn in return, and we're both left smiling.

He holds my hands as if they're the only things pinning him to the earth, and I focus on that as I prepare myself for the words coming, the promises I'll never back. It's magical, really, the power this day has. 

But even now I know this isn't a fairy tale. I know that we'll have hard times, confusing times. I know that things won't always happen the way we want them to and that we'll have to work to remember that we chose this. It won't be perfect, not all the time.

This isn't happily ever after. 

It's so much more than that.

(end of The One)

Maxon turned to face me. His eyes met mine. His gaze was full of sincerity and passion that won't be easily extinguished. 

"I, Maxon Schreave, take you, America Singer, to be my wedded wife," Maxon smiled sweetly as though he was the luckiest man alive, "With deepest joy I receive you into my life that together we may be one." I could tell his eyes were full of tears, despite the watery tears, I could still see his genuineness in his eyes. He continued, "As is Christ to His body, the church, so I will be to you a loving and faithful husband. I promise you my deepest love, my fullest devotion, my tenderest care. I promise I will live first unto God rather than others or even you. And so throughout life, no matter what may lie ahead of us, I pledge to you my life as a loving and faithful husband." 

This is the no doubt the most beautiful moment of my entire life. I couldn't help but shed a tear. He cupped my cheek with his hand and wiped away the tears with his thumb with tenderness. "I love you, Maxon Schreave, and I thank the Lord for the love that has bound our hearts and lives together in spiritual fellowship of marriage. I will love, honor, cherish and obey you always. As we enter upon the privileges and joys of life's most holy relationship and begin together the great adventure of building a Christian home, I will look to you as head of our home as I have looked to Christ as Head of the Church. I will love you in sickness as in health, in poverty as in wealth, in sorrow as in joy, and will be true to you by God's grace, trusting in Him, so long as we both shall live." 

We didn't bother to wait for the priest's signal, his lips lowered to mine with affection. His lips were soft and warm. Kissing him is the most magical thing in the world, it's like we're alone in our own little universe, without any politics and war, without other people. We both closed our eyes and savored the moment. He cupped my cheeks with both of his strong hands, and deepened the kiss. It was as if he couldn't have enough of it.  

I could hear people awwww-ing and chitchatting in the background, I used to feel embarrassed being intimate in public, but for some reason, I'm not feeling any of it now. 

After what seemed like a million years, the priest cleared his throat and brought us both back to reality. I turned and observed the crowd, seeing thousand pairs of eyes staring at me made me realise how embarrassing this was. I could feel my cheeks heating up. I instinctively looked down and study the ground. I could feel Maxon staring at me, slightly laughing at my awkwardness. 

After all these traditional procedures, we had a grand party at the great room. I looked over to where the King and Queen normally sit, searching for Queen Amberly's warm smile, looking forward to her approval nod, telling me how proud she is. Then I realized she wouldn't be here, neither would King Clarkson. My heart broke a little. Queen Amberly was nothing but sweet to me, it would mean the world to me if she could witness this day, the day her dear son marries the girl he loves. Even though, to me, King Clarkson was the exact opposite of friendly, he was still Maxon's father, he is my family, it's still hard and weird not able to see him around. Now that they're gone, Maxon is the new king of illea, and i'm.... i'm... the new queen. I knew what that meant for me the moment the King and Queen were gone, but I still couldn't wrap my head around the idea of me being queen. 

Maxon came to me, giving me a hand, "Mrs. Schreave, would you dance with me?" His eyebrow slightly raised. I happily took his offer and went to the middle of the Great room. The music was slow, thankfully, so I will at least have a better chance not stepping on anything. He lightly put one of his hands on my waist, and the other locked together with my hand. 

We didn't spoke much. We stared at each other for an eternity until he finally broke the silence, "Have you ever thought this would be your life when we first met at the gardens?" When we first met at the gardens. All I could think about is how rude I was to him while he was nothing but caring and patient. It was actually kind of funny looking back, I chuckled. 

"What? Do I have food on my face?" He asked a little too quickly while cleaning his chin with his fingers.

"Noo!!! There's nothing wrong with your face, it's perfect," I couldn't help but smile at his silliness.

"Then why are you laughing?" Maxon asked with confusion.

"Looking back at the first night of the Selection, how I offended you and shouted at you, it's somehow quite funny," 

He laughed, "Oh my goodness, that was ridiculous!! I can't wait to tell our kids about that so they could make fun of you for the rest of your life,"  What did he just say? Our kids? He spoke it so naturally, as if it was a thing that already existed. I smiled at the fact that he wanted to have kids, with me. I know it's super natural to have kids with your wife, but it still seem unbelievable to me. I could feel my cheeks redden. 

He smirked at me. Oh god. Every time he does that, my heart melts into a puddle of water. "Our kids, huh?" I finally said, putting both of my hands around his neck, my arms resting on his broad shoulder, pulling him closer. 

"Yes. Our kids." He smiled. I didn't speak, letting the words linger in the air, filling the space around us with hope. We danced for a little while and the party was over as everybody was really tired. 

We thanked everyone for joining us as they left the Great Room with their faces beaming, some with their faces red as an apple together with a hint of alcohol scent on them. Finally, everyone left, and it was just Maxon and I in the Great room, with some maids cleaning up the room.         

Thank you  SOOOO SOOO MUCH for reading, I hope you guys like it :)) I had absolutely so much fun writing this, I was grinning the entire time, i hope it did the same to you. Please feel free to comment, it'll be lovely to hear your thoughts.