The New One ➳ The Selection trilogy sequel [discontinued]

» Chapter Three

America's Point of View

Oh dear God. Oh dear God. Holy Hell, please wake me up. This is not actually happening right now, in the middle of an attack from the Southerners. Oh dear God..

Pain washes over me, enveloping all of my senses in complete and utter numbness and pain. I stagger and almost slip on the water that has pooled on the ground. The midwife, seeing the pool of water below me and the obvious pain etched on my face, starts stepping into action immediately.

"Please, Your Highness, lie down." Her voice is kind but stern and sharp, and I can't protest - even though I strongly want to - because I know she means business.

The midwife guides me to the bed and gently helps me lie down. She preps up the pillows a bit, helping me to prop my back up on them. Next, she opens one of the cabinets and takes an ice pack and a tube of some ointment. She presses the ice pack to my forehead and rubs some ointment on my back and stomach. "It will ease the pain," she explains as she opens the food cabinets and withdraws a teacup and a small teabag from its depths. "I will be leaving to fetch King Maxon and the nurse, Your Highness," the midwife says as she pours hot water in the teacup and dips the teabag in. She hands it to me on a saucer and wipes her hands on her apron. "Please, Your Highness, avoid straining yourself while I'm gone." she says before leaving, shutting the door gently behind her.

Maxon's Point of View

Palace walls are chipped, and I can vaguely smell smoke, which is making me feel woozy. People are bustling around, some talking to each other and some comforting crying children.

My adviser, Lucas, walks behind me, struggling to keep up with my brisk pace, as we take in the damage the Southerners have caused in their attack.

"Your Highness! The Southerners' attack caused just about 60% damage on the palace, max. Our best carpentry and security teams are doing their best to help - the palace is being patched up, and our outer walls are being patrolled as we speak."

"Good," I say, my voice curt and clipped. "60%, you say? Hmm. We can't afford any more damage - send out all of our carpentry teams, whether they may be good or not. Tell them all to work their best and hardest." "On it, master!" Lucas says before scampering away. Master? "Lucas!" I shout, and my adviser quickly runs back to me. "Yes, Your Kingship?" he says. I wince. "Please do not call me master. It makes me feel like an old slave master or something along that line." I say. Lucas looks as if he's fighting back a laugh, but he replies anyway. "Yes, Your Highness. It shall not be repeated again." And he scurries off.

I turn around and start walking in the direction Lucas ran off, and I see the midwife speeding towards me, her face slightly panicky. Dread begins to settle in me. She parks herself in front of me, and I wince, expecting the worst.

"The baby."

Baby? What baby - oh. My senses fully kick in, and all woozy feeling inside of me vanishes. "What?" I hiss. "She's in the hidden chamber, sire, and she might be going into labor very soon -"

I don't hear the rest of her sentence, and wasting no time, I sprint off to my and America's room like a professional marathon runner.

America's Point of View

The 20 (estimated) minutes that it takes for the midwife to fetch Maxon and the palace's nurse seems like an entire year to me as I lay down, helpless and in pain and feeling very stupid, on the comfortable bed in the secret protection chamber. Having finished my scalding hot tea by gulping it down and biting back tears from the burn in my throat a few minutes ago, I can do nothing else but lie down and stare at the ceiling, cursing my stupid pregnancy, while waiting for Maxon and the nurse.

Finally, finally, after what seems like a million years, Maxon, with the nurse scurrying behind him, burst into the room and marathon-style sprinted over to the bed I lay on. "Oh, America, I'm so, so sorry I couldn't have gotten here sooner! You must be in so much pain - I'm sorry, so, so, so sorry, it's just that the palace was a mess after the Southerners' attack toned down and they left, and so many people were bustling around, and it was such chaos, and -"

I stop his rambling by placing my pointer finger on his lips. Maxon blinks in surprise, but quiets down. "I don't want to hear any of it. Just stay beside me while I'm in labor, okay?" He nods and grabs a seat, pulling it up and sitting down next to me.

I hold his hand for a while, and suddenly, a tiny spurt of blood comes out of my birth canal. Maxon and I stare at each other in horror.

And that's when the pain hits.

I won't be surprised if you completely abandon this story, because Chapter Four is gonna come a lot late, because I've been trying to balance school, Wattpad, and fangirling as of late, and the results haven't been good. 

Plus, birth scenes have to be very detailed, therefore making them very hard to write. Expect a late update and a lot of writing-teamwork from Wendy and I on that one. 

xoxoxo,
Riley