Ever After . . .

Chapter 26

~Maxon~

The thought of never seeing America again kept me up all night. I was tired, and a little irritated.

My advisors had been bugging me all day with new problems that they could solve just as well as I could. I slammed the paper that I was holding loudly onto the table. I couldn't get any of this done with how tired I am.

Just when I thought my day couldn't get any better, my father walks into my office. He looks extremely mad at me. I knew it was because of the Selection winners. I play calm, and begin to look at the next paper as he sat in the chair across from me.

"Mind explaining what happened last night?" he asks trying to sound calm about it.

I knew what he was after. He wanted to know how an eight won. I set the paper down gently and say, "The winners of the Selection were announced. Do you have a problem with them?"

"I have a huge problem with them. Let's see there are two sixes, two sevens, and one eight."

I saw the letters after the Selection so I knew who had won. I knew there were lower castes that had won for their province, and I knew my father was going to be furious with me. "And that's a problem?"

"That is a huge problem. Maxon we can't have their kind here."

"They entered fairly, and they won fairly. There is nothing we can do about it."

"Yes there is. Pull them out. They don't deserve this kind of honor."

I think about my next move. I knew my father was wrong. "And what if I say no?"

"Then you'll regret it."

"I will? Because it seems like I'm not the person to take up business about the Selection with. It's my son, and you are not going anywhere near him. What's done is done."

"Maybe you should stick to your own rules then, Maxon."

My father stands and leaves my office. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I just stood up to my father for the first time since the Selection. It felt weird. Slouching down into my chair I press my palms into my eyes. There was a migraine coming, and I could feel it.

Then it hits me like a brick wall. My father knew something. 'Maybe you should stick to your own rules,' is what he said. I had stated what was done was done. Which meant what happened with America was done. It was in the past. I couldn't change it. Not even for the future. He knew something. I needed to know what he knew. That is if he knew anything about what happened in Carolina.

The door bursts open, and I quickly sit up. It is another advisor. What do they need now.

"Your highness, we have a very important update for you on the Selection. You may want to hear this," the advisor said.

"Come in," I say.

He walks in, and closes the door behind him. He takes the folder tucked under his arm, and hands it to me. I open it to see the Selection ballot from Carolina. The girl was Lila Rhodes. She was a two. Seeing her sent pain through me knowing that she had won instead of America's daughter.

I scan the paper before saying, "Okay. And why am I seeing this?"

"When we sent our people to learn more about the winner we found something quite alarming. The rest of us has come to a conclusion for what we want to do, and we want your opinion on the situation."

"Go on."

"We found that Miss Rhodes here is in fact engaged to another, and is pregnant with a child. We also found she lied about her age, and lied about her photo. Our conclusion was that we redo Carolina's ballots. Have Prince Nathan re-select a girl from Carolina."

I nod my head in agreement. "That's good. I'll have to tell my son about this, but I believe he will agree to these terms. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. You are dismissed."

The advisor stands and bows. He leaves my office. After I'm sure that he's gone I step outside my office. To my luck a butler was passing by. "Excuse me. Could you please tell Prince Nathan that I would like to see him in office as soon as he can."

"Yes sir," the butler says as he bows and leaves.

I turn back to my office, and sit back down in my chair. It isn't before too long that Nathan comes into my office.

"You said you wanted to see me?" he asks.

"Yes. Sit down. You're not in any trouble, I just want to tell you something," I say. He sits down across from me. "One of my advisors came to me a few minutes ago and brought something to my attention. It appears that our Carolina contestant was lying about everything. She wasn't who she said she was. We came to a conclusion where we want you to re-select a girl from Carolina."

Nathan takes this in. "I agree. We can't have anything like that happen."

"I thought so. Thank you for agreeing to do it. We don't know when we'll redo the drawing, but it'll have to be soon. Everyone is going to be here by next week."

"Yeah. No pressure."

"You'll do great. It'll be a lot better once you finally know who all is coming."

"That'll help for sure. How did you do it all?"

"Well I started off with learning everyone's names. I used the ballots to learn their names, and things they liked. It also helped me figure out who I was going to eliminate first. You'll figure it out from there, but that's what I recommend you do to start. It'll make everything so much easier."

"Okay. I'll start with what I have, then add in Carolina when we get her."

I smile at him. "That's my boy. Now off you go. Knowing you, you probably left Silvia's lesson again."

"You know me too well." He flashes me a smile before leaving my office.

This was a second and final chance for everything to take place. This would be the moment when I found out if America and I were meant to be together.