After: a Maxerica Story

Part 5

Guards come and go from the safe room, updating us on the status of the attack. Then, one guard actually gets our attention. His face is pale and his eyes are wide.

"They say they want to make an agreement with you," he whispers. "I don't think you should trust them- They just told me to take the message to you-"

"Who wants to make this agreement?" Maxon asks, standing up and pulling me up with him.

"One of the rebels. He said his name was... Officer Brown." The guard breathes heavily, obviously out of breath and somewhat scared, too.

Officer Brown. I know that name. The rebel that I took down earlier. I'm positive he mentioned the name.

"I'll go," I say before I know what I'm doing. 

The guard shakes his head. "You shouldn't trust them. They can't be trusted, as I said before. It could be a trap. They're rebels; they're out of control." He breathes in deeply. "I don't think you should go."

"Well I do." I push past Maxon and the guard and start towards the meeting room down the hall, knowing that two sets of eyes are following me in utter disbelief.

I crack open the door. Now, possibly a little too late, I rethink my actions. This could very well be a trap. They could just be here to kill me. But I have to go. I don't know why, but I just have a feeling in my gut. And I always trust my gut.

But before I can enter, I feel Maxon rest his hand on my shoulder.

"You can't do this," he says, his face flushed.

"I have to. This is what we need. An agreement. The baby is going to be born in nine months, and we can't have rebels attacking us then. We couldn't put our heir in danger like that. And I think I know what they want," I whisper.

"Which is?"

I smile at him. "You'll just have to find out."

I enter the room, head high. Maxon comes in behind me, braced, with his hand around the gun in his belt.

Two people sit at the table, male and female. They remain silent as we enter, watching us come in. Do they want us to sit first? Not waiting to find out, I take a seat across from the male, probably Officer Brown, and Maxon sits across from the female.

"Hello," Officer Brown says, his voice deep. "I'm surprised you came to see us."

I shrug, ignoring his comment and cutting right to the chase. We don't have time to waste. "What's the agreement?"

The female raises her eyebrows. "Okay then. Let us explain."

Maxon narrows his eyes and takes my hand under the table. At first the motion makes me jump, but when I realize it's just him, I find myself smiling.

"I know you don't trust us," she continues. "I mean, why would you? We're Southern rebels. The ones that have given you trouble all this time. But now that you, America, are queen, we're willing to make a deal."

Why does me being queen have any impact on them? Voicing my thoughts, I ask, "What does me being queen have anything to do with any of this?"

"You see, America," says Officer Brown, "You're different than all the other Selected girls were. They were ordinary and plain. You, you have some fire. You don't agree with all the policies of our country. The other girls would agree with them just to make Maxon like them more. With you being queen, we knew you would be easier to talk to about something like this."

"So you think you can bend me easier than anyone else?"

"No. We can work better with you," the female says. She still hasn't given us her name.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"What's it to you?" she replies, narrowing her eyes at me.

"Please," Officer Brown mutters. "Her name is Officer Portman."

Officer Portman sighs and rolls her eyes at us.

"Okay," Maxon interjects. "What's this agreement you've brought us here to suggest?"

"You get rid of the caste system and we stop attacking," Officer Brown says flatly.

I sigh in relief. I was right.

"Of course we'll do that. It's fair, after all." I purposely leave out the part where we're already planning to do that.

"It looks as if you're looking into it already," Officer Portman says, and I gulp. "Is that true?"

"Yes," Maxon says honestly, squeezing my hand. I squeeze back.

"One of our officers was looking through your room during the attack and found these," she says, sliding papers about the caste elimination in front of us. "Will these plans be put into action?"

"Yes," I say. "We hate the castes as much as you do."

"We'll give you time. If we don't hear back from you with confirmation that the castes are gone within eighteen months, we start attacking. Are we clear?" Officer Brown says.

"We're clear," Maxon confirms.

"Good." We shake the rebels' hands and they leave. Soon all the rebels are out of the palace.

After they leave, Maxon grabs my shoulders. "What were you thinking?" he exclaims. "You could've been killed!"

"I know." I sigh. "But this is what we needed. And now we have freedom from the rebels, at least for eighteen months. We'll have plenty of time to raise the baby in peace. Well, at least a few months."

He smiles at me mentioning the baby.

"By the way," he says, "I've been planning our honeymoon. We leave tomorrow morning."

I gasp.

"Surprise!" he exclaims.

I kiss him. And he kisses me back.