The Queen

Chapter 35:

1 1/2 WEEKS LATER

"Maxon, wake up." I said, putting my hands on my stomach. I had just woken up, and the idea occurred to me.

"What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed.

"We have to visit the doctor again. Every two weeks, right?"

Maxon let out a sigh of relief. "Well, not normally, but because this is our heir, we have to." he replied. "I'll talk to Dr. Ashlar today and we'll visit him.

"Ok. I just want the baby to be healthy and growing." I said, my mind flashing back to the miscarriage.

"And he or she will." Maxon said. "They will grow up to be a strong ruler of Illéà." I smiled, and his hand went down to my feet tickling them.

"Max-" I said, squirming in the bed. "St- op!" I laughed.

I pulled my feet away and sat up, hiding them under the blankets. Maxon brought his face up to mine, and softly kissed me on the cheek. He kissed my stomach, and then got up, groaning.

"Another day of ruling a country." he sighed, stretching. "We have to work on the castes. We haven't been busy with that, and I want to look it over." he said as he was putting his suit on. I flopped back in bed, wanting to stay there all day.

"Yeah, we have been neglecting that a little." I said, forcing myself to get up and dressed. "What province are we visiting tomorrow?"

"Labrador." he said, picking a tie. "At some point, we're going to have to stop. I don't want you traveling with that baby about to pop out." he said, sitting beside me.

"I'll be fine." I said, grabbing the two ends of his tie and tying them. "I'm only eight weeks; the baby won't be due until April. I've calculated it, and by the rate we're going, we'll be done by the middle of December." I tightened his tie and kissed his cheek. "Don't worry."

He smiled weakly and grabbed my hand. "I just don't want anything to go wrong."

"It won't." I said, smiling brightly, looking at our interlocked hands. "Let's go to the office. We can have breakfast there."

Maxon nodded and kissed my hairline. "Let's go."

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"I'm just going to do a quick ultrasound, ad then we'll be done." Dr. Ashlar said, going through cabinets and drawers. A shiver went down my spine as the cool jelly touched my stomach, and I smiled, looking at the monitor.

"It looks like your little prince or princess is moving around in there." Dr. Ashlar sai, smiling. It was little, but there was movement.

"Woah." Maxon said, in awe of the little baby on the screen. He kissed me on the cheek, and the doctor finished the ultrasound and we left, going back to the office to start work.

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I propped my face on my hand. "So, we have the merging program available to everyone with castes below Three, right?"

"Yes." Maxon answered. He scribbled something on his paper.

The merging program was a program we had set up to help people from lower castes get used to a better lifestyle by providing the people with a small amount of money each month and in some cases, a house. That was only available to former Sevens and Eights with poor living conditions.

"And the schools and businesses that are being built throughout the provinces are near done?" I asked, shuffling through the papers on the desk.

"Some are and some aren't. But we're making good progress. The people are happy, the merging program is working marvellously, and us visiting provinces is going even better." he said, smiling. "I couldn't have done this without you." he leaned over and kissed me.

"Now, the hardest part. Merging Threes and Twos." Some of the richer families took pride in their caste number, so we were worried making them casteless might cause a stir.

"We just need to make a plan. We have lots of time; the former Fours and Fives need some time to adjust."

"Right. So, how should we..." I trailed off. I put  hand on my stomach and groaned, shutting my eyes. My stomach ached.

"How about we take a break?" Maxon said, grabbing my hand and pulling me up. He scooped me up in his arms and carried me to our room.

"You can still carry me?" I asked feebly.

Maxon nodded, chuckling. "Yes, I can. I will always be able to carry you. Even when we're old and wrinkly, I'll still carry you whenever you need me to."

I brought my lips to his and smiled, despite my aching abdomen. I leaned against his chest and let him carry me to our bed.

We got to our room and he gently set me down on the bed. He laid beside me and we cuddled, my hand in his and his arm around me. I closed my eyes and leaned up against my husband,and he took his hand away from mine and brought it up to my face. He ran it gently over my cheek and softly touched his lips to mine.

"Get some rest." he whispered. He closed his eyes and I did the same, cuddling into Maxon.

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I woke up, still leaning on Maxon. I groggily looked around and Maxon woke up too.

"Have a good sleep?" he asked, propping his head on his hand, facing me. His hair was all messed up from our nap, and his shirt buttons were undone, exposing a little of his muscled chest.

"Very." I replied, yawning. I ran a finger over his lips and down to his chest, and I could feel a shiver run down his body. I brought my face close to his, so we were inches away, and I pressed my forehead against his, looking into his eyes. He closed the gap, touching his lips to mine, and I sighed into the wonderful feeling. A mere touch from him would send shivers down my spine. I pulled away and closed my eyes. "Do we have to get back to work? Because I could stay here forever."

Maxon chuckled quietly. "I think we put enough hours in. We don't have anything to do tonight, so I thought we would go on a little date."

"Oh," I said, smiling brightly. "what this time?"

"A evening stroll in the beautiful gardens with my more beautiful wife." he replied, moving a hand to play with my hair. That was something he always did; get his fingers tangled in my hair. "My beautiful wife and my beautiful son or daughter." he added.

"That sounds amazing." I said, slowly bringing myself upward. I fixed my hair because it had gotten all ruffled when I was sleeping, and I headed out to the gardens with Maxon.

"That one is pretty." I said, pointing to a pink hydrangea in a pot. We were walking in the gardens as the sun set, looking at flowers.

Maxon nodded. "Hydrangeas are nice, but I've always had a soft spot for begonias." He pointed to some light purple ones.

We walked for a little while longer until the guards were getting anxious about us getting inside. As we were walking to the doors of the palace, Maxon sat down on a bench.

"I remember this bench." I said, sitting beside him. It was the bench where we had first met in person; the one where I got upset with him.

"Do you know," Maxon said, running his fingers over my hand. "what I was thinking when we met?"

"No." I said, smiling.

"I was blown away by your beauty. When the light caught on your face, I was speechless."

I smiled at Maxon and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you. Now, we'd better get inside, or that guard is going to blow a fuse."

We walked inside, smiling and talking and laughing. The doors closed behind us and I remembered the night we met. I felt like the palace was a cage. But then, that moment, I decided that it was no longer a cage. It was home.

Thank you guys so much for 10k!Whew! I never thought I would have this many people reading my story!! Again, thanks a bunch! On a completely different note, I am pleased to announce that I'm working on two new stories! They're not fanfics of any sort, they're original, and one of them is a more contemporary read, while the other is fantasy and adventure. I'm super excited to start these works, so check in for updates. They might not be on for a while, but I promise they'll be on by the end of the year. Thanks a bunch!!

~Emily