Finally, the Honeymoon
The soft hum of water filled the air as Maxon and I walked hand in hand to the stream. It was located on the West Wing of the castle, making a rift between the castle and the fields of green before the protection walls. Even with the gray cobblestone walls visible, a short distance away, the view was spectacular. The smell was too, who knew saltwater and pizza smelled so good?
Our picnic blanket was set up, pieces of stone holding down the edges. Maxon held my hand as I gracefully sat down, my jeans folding under me. I leaned my head on his shoulder as he broke the silence.
"I'm glad we're doing this," he murmured.
"Me too." He groaned. I considered asking him about it, and decided for it. "What?" I asked.
"No matter how hard I try, I keep thinking about our future. I want this to be a relaxing two weeks, not planning something else. Nor doing any work for that matter. And on top of that, I want to give you a full, real honeymoon. Not whatever this monstrosity is."
"Hey! I like this. And we can still plan the future, as long as we aren't going too in depth."
"Okay," Maxon chuckled.
"Do you want boys or girls for children?" I asked.
"A combination of both. How many children in total do you want?"
"I want... four," I said. I made it seem like I had this planned out since the beginning of time, but in reality, I just spit out a random number. If we still had the castes and I was with Aspen, I would've wanted less-- less mouths to feed. In this huge castle, I needed as many children as I could to fill the place up and make it less lonely during Maxon's office hours.
"Four," Maxon repeated. He pondered over it for a while, the sides of his mouth turning down in thought. "Yes. Four. How many of girls and boys of these four?"
"Um..." I pondered over how many girls I wanted. "I'm not sure. Two girls and two boys? To make it even?"
"I guess. When do you think we'll have them?"
"Within the next few years for sure. I promise you Maxon, we'll have a heir. No reason to worry."
"I trust you," Maxon said, tilting his head down so that the golden sunlight would catch into his dirty blonde hair.
I laid down even further, to the point where my head was laying on his legs, facing up at his face. I reached my fingers out to brush his cheek, to which he leaned into. "I like this."
"Me too."
"You don't," I contradicted him.
"What do you mean, my dear? Of course I'm enjoying--".
"You're still worrying about work." I sat up and moved my body so my legs were straddling him. I caressed his cheek. "Maxon," I chided."Just forget about it now. If you overthink it, the answer to whatever will never come to you. This way, when you get back, you'll have a fresh perspective and new ideas."
Maxon tapped my nose. "When did you get so smart?"
"Maxon," I jokingly rolled my eyes. "I've always been smart. You've just started to understand me." Maxon shook his head, grinning in the process.
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I bent my toes as they reached the icy cold water. A chill ran up my feet stopping at my ankles. Maxon gently stuck in his toes too, wrapping his arm around my shoulders in the process.
"You know, I've never done this before," he commented.
"Really?" I asked, genuinely shocked. But then I realized that he was a prince, now a king, extremely busy with his kingdom and people. Of course he never had time. "Well, enjoy it while it lasts."
"America, can I tell you a secret?"
I tilted my head to look up at him. "A secret? Sure," I giggled. I planted a brief kiss onto his lips, and as I was about to pull away, he came back and kissed me harder.
He leaned his forehead against mine. "I hate the castes as much as you do," I nodded vigorously, "But I think something's going to happen. Maybe something even worse than the Rebels."
"What do you mean?" I asked, my forehead creasing in confusion.
"Why do you think General Marty left?"
"Did it occur to you that he retired of old age?"
"The day we announce the castes are gone. No." Maxon shook his head. "Think about how much of a coincidence that is."
"Well, you are King. You could find him and ask..." Maxon's eyes traveled to the right in thought.
"Maybe I will."
I wanted to say that this was our honeymoon, and that we shouldn't be talking about this, but other than this, there wasn't anything too interesting to talk about. Well, maybe there were a few things.
"Tell me about your childhood, my dear," I kissed his right cheek and then his left cheek. I casted a brief glance at his eyes as they fluttered shut.
"Maybe later," he mumbled. I stopped kissing him. "What?" He whined, snapping his eyes open. I laid on my back, my feet still in the water, and waited for Maxon to join me. When he did, I pulled one leg out of the water and wrapped it around his outer leg. Then I draped my hand on his shoulder and rested my head on him.
"I want cute childhood stories. Now," I fake demanded, breaking down into a giggle fit when Maxon sighed.
"Well, it was... Jeez, Christmas and I was 5. We had this huge towering tree in the middle of the grand hall, and I loved to run around it. I also loved to hide inside the leaves for hours until my mom would find me. Then Christmas day came, and I got tons and tons of presents."
"Aww, poor Maxon," I teased him. I couldn't help but feel jealous. Yes, I had my fair share of presents as a young child, but I couldn't imagine the amount he had.
"But I didn't want most of them. Like, I wanted the red car instead of the blue one." He paused for a moment, letting out a short laugh. "So, I went into the servants headquarters, about a week later, and gave out some of the toys I didn't want. At first, the kids were skeptical, but I insisted they keep it."
"What about the blue car?" I asked.
"I gave it to a baby, 3 years younger than me. 2 years old--"
"My dear, I can do simple math," I joked with him. He shot me a grin.
"Anyways, I gave him the car and his parents were beyond grateful. I still know the kid, 16 years old. He's a soldier, and I swear to Illéa, he still has a car shaped bulge in his pocket."
"That was a beautiful story, Maxon."
"Thank you, my dear."
"Maybe we should host a donation event every Christmas-- one for the palace staff and one for all of the major cities in Illéa. You know, so less fortunate children can get presents too. Or maybe," I wondered,"we should host a giant buffet in the major cities, where chefs get to try their new foods on the people. That would be a hit."
"That would take a lot of time to coordinate, but it might just work."
"Do you have any other stories to tell?"
"Any other stories... Hm... Do you have any stories to tell?"
"Hm..." I thought about it for a little, cocking my head to one side. "Well, there is one." I pulled both of my feet out of the lake and laid them on top of his legs, snuggling my feet in between his calfs. "I was about thirteen years old and I was playing at my local tavern, switching between violin and piano. I started singing this song, when all of a sudden, the lyrics went away from my brain. It's like someone extracted them from my memory."
"What happened?" Maxon eyed me.
"Well, I made up new lyrics."
"New lyrics? Isn't there a copywrite thing about that? Actually, I'm quite positive there is."
"I know, but what else was I supposed to do? Stop singing? Start playing a new song? Anyways, I made up new lyrics and ended up switching to a different song with the words kind of rhyming. I ended up being a DJ that night, and the people loved it. They totally thought it was planned."
"What did the tavern owners say? Or do?"
"They paid me more, I came every other night instead of every Friday."
"Wow," Maxon breathed. "Did you continue to 'DJ'?"
"Only when I messed up," I laughed. Maxon flipped onto his side to face me, my legs falling in the process. When he was finally facing me, I slid my legs in between his thighs.
"Do you want to play for me? I mean, for our honeymoon?"
"I... I could... But I don't know if I want to--"
"Why?"
"Well, it has been a while... I'm not sure if... Well..."
"No matter what happens, I'll always love you." Maxon chuckled. "And a simple musical mess-up wouldn't make anyone break up with you. And if someone did breakup with you because of that, then they're an-- excuse my language-- an asshole and idiot. Although, I am happy because if it did actually happen, it eventually led me to you."
I playfully slapped his chest. "Shut up," I muttered, a blush rising up my neck.
"I love it when you blush," he said, rubbing a finger up and down my neck. He placed a gentle kiss on the right side of my neck, his touch spreading ripples of energy all around my upper body. The feeling was so powerful, it caused chills to run around my arms and spine. He chuckled against my skin.
"Maxon?" I asked.
"Yes, my dear?"
"How much do you love me?" I could feel the mischievous grin spreading around my face, and I could feel my smile spreading to his face.
"How much do you love me?"
"Very, very much." I laughed. He frowned at my answer, or more like at my lack of answer. I closed my eyes when answering him. "I love you so much that... I feel like if I were to fall backwards anywhere, you would be there to catch me. I love you so much that I feel like I can do anything around you and be safe." I opened one eye to his face. His face was curious, yet serious. "And this ones the worst." I didn't even look at him. "I feel like I don't need to watch after myself when you're around, because I know you'll take better care of me than I take care of myself."
If it's possible, Maxon pulled me closer. His chest was against mine, my stomach against his, our thighs now pressing into each others. My forehead was resting on the crook of his neck, the hairs on my neck rising every time he took a breath and let it go. His fingers gradually made their way to interwind with my hair.
"America," he whispered. "Before I met you, I was a friendless loser. I was a lonely prince, who didn't appreciate everything he got. I was a future king who almost followed in his fathers footsteps. If I had, I would've become an ignorant, selfish, cruel, and tyrannous king. When you came along, I didn't even realize what you did to me at first. My days and nights became brighter. This whole 'Selection' concept was way more appealing because of you. If I had married Kriss... Sometimes I'm glad that those damned rebels attacked on my announcement day."
It's funny how, while we were saying this, our personalities were switched. When I proclaimed my love for him, I was totally serious, way more serious than usual. He, on the other hand, changed from his usual sober tone to a less mature one, giving what we exchanged an even more significant meaning.
I was hopelessly, madly, in love.
"I'm madly, hopelessly, in love," he said aloud. Close enough.
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