The Royalty

Chapter 43

America's POV

I couldn't lose him. It would kill me. There was no way I could ever keep going on without him.
Maxon was laying in my arms, his eyes refusing to open.

"No," I whimpered. He wasn't gone, not yet. There was still a chance. Hopefully, it was enough.

I heard footsteps and I looked up. A team of guards and medics were racing down the hallway, a stretcher in tow. I felt the smallest bit of relief. They came over, all trying to talk over one another. "It's going to be alright," I whispered into his ear, running my fingers through his hair with tears still running down my face. "You're going to be fine."

They hastily removed him from my arms and put him on to the stretcher. In no time at all, they started jogging with him in the direction of the hospital wing. I got to my feet and ran to keep up with them. I followed next to them, trying to take Maxon's hand, trying to make sure he was still alive.

One of the medics gently pulled me away from him. "Ma'am if we are going to save him, you're going to have to back up and give us some room to do our job."

I nodded, trying to resist the urge to push past him to be with Maxon. "Is he going to be all right?" I asked, my voice catching in my throat with every syllable.

His eyes turned sympathetic. "He lost a lot of blood. It's hard to tell right now. That's why we need to get him down to the hospital wing as soon as possible."

I nodded again, attempting to force myself to stop crying. "Well, then go. Do everything you can do for him, please."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

The man hurried back to his coworkers, who'd already left the hallway with Maxon.

I was left in the hallway, alone and shaking like a building during an earthquake, just seconds away from crumbling. I kept my eyes trained on where he'd disappeared around the corner. The floor was smeared with Maxon's blood. It covered my hands and was streaked up parts of my forearms. I couldn't bear to look at the blood for more than a millisecond. It just reminded me that he was dying, that he could slip away from me any moment now.

I heard a gasp from behind me. I turned around to see Mom, Dad, Gerad, May, Kenna, and Kota.

"America," Kota said wide-eyed. "What happened?"

I tried to speak, but my throat was tight and I couldn't push any words out. It took only one tear to send my family into action. They came over and crowded around me. My older sister pulled me into a hug. I hid my face in her shoulder, trying to draw strength from her arms, but knowing that no amount of strength is enough to face the fact that my husband was bleeding to death in the hospital wing.

"Ames, tell us what happened," May said, trying to sound gentle though she was obviously worried. I moved from Kenna's arms to face them.

"There was a bomb and Maxon," I nearly choked on his name, "h-he got a piece of glass in his side. He lost a lot of blood and I don't know if he's going to make it."

"Oh, kitten," Dad breathed, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Do you want me to go get Alex? He should hear it from you."

"No," I said instantly, shaking my head forcefully. "No, he can't see me like this."

There was no way I was letting Alex see me with his dad's blood on my hands. He would never be able to get that image out of his head. I couldn't let that picture haunt him. But I also couldn't leave him in the dark. He had a right to know. Alex would never forgive me if I hid him from the truth about Maxon's condition until it was too late.