"Queen Amberly," i almost whisper. Everyone notices me and the Queen turns around.
"Oh America, thank goodness you okay," she has a look of relief on her face for a second or two, then it goes back to worry and serious consideration.
She was trying to negotiate with them. What did they want? my question was answered almost immediately
"So, back to business. If i give you what you want.. you will let us go and leave my kingdom alone?" the Queen said, almost suspiciously.
"Thats right your majesty. We don't want to hurt anyone, but we will if you don't agree to our terms," a middle age man that had short brown hair and a stone-cold look on his face.
"Okay... so what do you want? Was it necessary to take us from the palace and causing even more trouble?"
I was upset. I didn't want anyone else messing with this country anymore and ruining my chance with Maxon.
"Okay Princess," said a snarky girl, about in her 20s. "We want a guard. A palace guard. His name is Aspen Ledger."
Oh my.
Aspen? I havent spoken to him since I caught him and Celeste kissing on the way to dinner after Maxon proposed to me. Even though i knew we weren't together anymore and that I loved Maxon, but Celest? It hurt a little bit. He tried to follow me up to my room but i shut the door in his face. I just didn't want to deal with that.
"What do you want with a palace guard? Especially Aspen."
"They want his intelligence. He has many advantages over the other guards because he was a six." Queen Amberly answered my question.
"He knows about life before the war. We found him studying it when we were attacking the palace. We want to get life the way it was before the selection or kings and queens." The snarky lady replied.
"So... are you going to give them Aspen?" I asked the queen slowly and rather unsure of whether or not to ask.
the queen thought for a minute or two. I could see all of the thoughts swirling around in her head. Then, she finally looked up. staring me straight in the eye.
" If I chose to hand over officer ledger, it would benefit us but put him in danger. If I chose not to, then I put my people and you in danger. There is no easy path for me to chose. However, I must to this for the good of my people and bring you home to Maxon. I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of a choice I made. I only hope that they will treat the officer with respect and mercy," she responded, slowly turning her head towards the mad with the hard face.
"Why of course, your majesty," the man said with an grin that made me uneasy and question his truthfulness.
"So it is done. Aspen will be delivered to you as soon as you let us go." Queen Amberly stood up straight and looked like the one of the flawless ladies I used to see on Celeste's magazines.
The Queen walked away from the group and down to the basement where I had woken up.
I realize now that I haven't said anything. nothing to defend Aspen. But what was there to do?
I reach out my arm to get the queens attention and I gasp and clench my teeth, remembering the bullet wound I had just received.
Queen Amberly turns around to see my situation and her face softens. she ran to go grab a wet cloth to wipe down of the blood off of my skin. She was very gentile and showed a great amount of care. she dabbed around the wound and tied the cloth around it to prevent bleeding out.
A few hours later I was exhausted by the day's events Andy kind kept fluttering asleep. but thoughts of Aspen and Maxon kept creeping into my thoughts and keeping me awake.
are they okay?
are they worried?
that's when I heard a pounding at the door.
