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XOXO 7halfbloodss
It's Worse Than Anger and Disappointment
"Gentleman! Gentleman! Settle down!" Maxon raised both of his arms and waved his hands around to make the men quite down. The men finished explaining their thoughts to the other men near them. Soon, a hush resonated throughout the room. Maxon paused before continuing. "We have called this meeting to discuss the recent law. From what I've seen, everything has been going great. The people, in response to the new law have shown no resistance-- which isn't a surprise. No new rebel attacks have started. "
I scanned my eyes around the room. I saw the female politician, Marie Ash, looking up at me. I tilted my head to the side, and she mimicked me. Huh. She picked her hand up, and flickered her fingers at me. I nodded to her. She had never done this before. It's like she wanted my attention. I'd have to ask Maxon about her--
The door into the conference library slammed open. Lord Dray briskly walked in, his chin down, mumbling to himself. From what I could see on my perch above, he was using a handkerchief to wipe down the front of his suit. Something red was poking from beneath. Surely not blood.
He pulled out his chair and sat down, sliding his handkerchief in his breast pocket. "Continue," he said in a hushed tone. "Water!" He yelled to the servants in the room. Instantly, a teenager arrived with a pitcher of water. He quickly poured it into Dray's cup, before leaving.
"Lord Dray, how kind of you to join us," Maxon said with false kindness. "Lord Vam. How was the council meeting?" Vam answered. Maxon asked questions to each Lord, asking them about something they did the past week on the business days. It all went tumbling when Maxon came to Dray, asking him about the new law. "How is it, at your house? How are the citizens reacting to the new law?"
"It's been going terrible," Dray growled. Maxon was taken aback.
"Well here it has been just fine--"
"Oh really?" Dray interrupted. From my spot above the library, I could see Dray, anger making his face turn red, the color clawing up his neck and to his face, causing him to tremble with anger. The red of his embarrassment mirrored the red on his suit jacket.
"Lord Dray. May I ask you to calm down?" Maxon tilted his head to the side and stared him down. "What happened?"
"What happened? WHAT HAPPENED?" He shook his head, gripping his hands at his sides as he stood up. "I'll tell you what happened!" He spit.
Maxon cocked an eyebrow. "What happened?" He repeated.
"Well, I was getting out of my mansion this morning," that's Dray for you, the old git bragging about his mansion. "When I see my servants furiously scrubbing my ride. I ordered them to stop, and walked around the side of the car. And what do you know?" He rumbled. "On the side, dripping down the car doors was tomato juice with squished tomatoes lying on the dirt of my driveway. In white paint, graffiti said 'You rich, spoiled, old man!'" His face had calmed down, but now it was turning red again. "It's those blasted rebels again!"
Maxon shook his head. "We did what they asked."
Lord Vam raised his hand in permission to speak. Maxon granted it. Vam was still my favorite because he saw two sides to everything and usually had a fair judgment. "Lord Dray... Are you positive the servants just don't like you?" Maxon, the other advisors, and lords chuckled.
"THIS IS PREPOSTEROUS! Your father would have taken care of this by now! IN FACT! This wouldn't even been happening if those--"
Maxon's expression stopped Lord Dray. It was worse than anger and disappointment, it was pure rage and displeasure-- a loathing towards the Lord. "Get. Out." Those two words caused everyone to bristle. I expected Dray to talk back, but he paused before picking up his briefcase and leaving.
Maxon calmed himself. "Anything else?" he asked after Dray left.
Vam shook his head looking at everyone else. "It looks like it's just him."
"Okay, I'll look into it," Maxon promised. "Do we have anything else to address?" Everyone shook their heads, still shocked at Maxon's outburst. "Meeting adjourned."
========
I found Maxon in my room, surprisingly. He was sitting on a chair, his bare feet on my desk. His white tie, black pants, and jacket laid on the floor beside him. He was wearing some white threadbare pajamas. His shirt was completely unbuttoned, and some sort of device laid in his lap. He was tapping away at the screen, one hand in his messy hair, the other trying to tap out whatever was on the device.
"Maxon?" I walked closer to him, placing my hand on his shoulder.
"Uh huh. Yeah. I'm okay." I rubbed both of my hands on his shoulders. I traced my fingers down his arms, even placing a brief kiss on his cheek.
"It's okay. Don't worry too much."
"How?" he whispered. "Do you believe it was the rebels or his own people? Maybe the servants?" He was still staring at his screen, and it looked like he was pressing the same button over-and-over again.
"Maxon, honey," I tried soothing him. I took the device out of his hands and sat on the floor in front of him, grabbing his hands in the process. "I'm pretty sure it was the rebels," I admitted to myself.
The castes were only gone for a little more than a week, and yet these little rebel acts still happened. I don't understand. When the rebels kept attacking, I could have sworn they wanted their freedom. But now that I thought about it, I realized there was something else they needed. Their goal was to harm Maxon, but what good what that be? There is no one better trained for this than Maxon.
Maxon groaned and placed his head in his hands. "Shh.." I placed my hands on top of his. I stood up and said, "Come on." He raised his head and then the rest of his body. When he stood up, he was 2 inches taller than me, causing me to crane my neck. I lifted my hand to his cheek and softly caressed it, his head tilting toward my touch in the process. I wrapped my other arm around his waist, pulling him closer to me so that our chests were touching. His arms wrapped around my waist, securing my body safely into his.
"Come on, I think you need a massage." I tried to think of something to soothe him, but he seemed permanently in despair. We slowly shuffled to the side towards the giant king-sized bed. I fell on my butt, with him on top of me. I couldn't suppress the giggle that left my mouth. He shot me a grateful smile, but still slumped his shoulders. "Come on, lay on your belly." He did, falling onto his chest when he flipped over. I sat with my two legs on either side of him and sat down on his butt.
I gently pressed my fingers into neck, making sure to avoid the scars I knew were there. He moaned into the duvet and I could barely make out what he said next. "Why does this always happen to me?"
"What do you mean?" I reached another sensitive spot on his back, to which he moaned again.
"I mean... Why my country?"
"I don't know, baby. I don't know." I felt kind of weird calling him that, but it worked to calm him. I felt his muscles unwind beneath my fingers. "But, what I do know is that you have me now, so you aren't entirely alone." Maxon flipped onto his back, causing me to fall onto him. My elbows fitted perfectly behind his shoulders.
He shut his eyes closed before blinking. "I just... Can't. Besides you, the country is the most important thing in my life. The thing that needs protection. I don't know what I'd do to keep my people happy and most of all safe. It's times like these where I worry about loosing my title, giving it up to to help the people."
I sat up, blinking down at him. "Oh, Maxon. I'm sure that's not what they want." I pondered some more over what he just said. I laid my back against the headboard and soon Maxon joined me there, wrapping an arm around my shoulders.
The rebels had been attacking our country for such a long time, so long, that the late king had just stopped caring about the cause and more the safety aspect. Maxon and I had thought I finally found the cause, or at least some of it, but the attacks were now personal and directed at Maxon's advisors. It's like they wanted something so big, and then the caste system was disbanded, but that didn't stop their original plans. It's like the only way to get them to stop is to hit the bullseye of what they want, and only then would they stop.
The only problem was that Maxon and I had absolutely no clue. There were certain things we could allow, like taking away the castes. But if someone wanted a dictatorship... That's already above the limit.
"What are you thinking about?" Maxon murmured against my neck.
"A dictatorship," I calmly joked.
He instantly moved away from me. "What?"
"Just kidding." I grinned at him when he creased his eyebrows in confusion.
"Okay," he gave in. He leaned back on my neck and kissed it. He sighed before kissing it again.
"What do you want Maxon?" I meant it in a 'why are you kissing me way?', but he took it a little to broadly.
"What do I want. Hm... Let's see." He started counting off the things he wanted on his fingers. "One. I want a happy wife." I smiled, scooting closer to him. "Two. I want children with that wife... As many as she wants. Three. I want a happy country. Four-- And you're going to like this one-- I want other countries to be jealous of me. For my happy country, my beautiful wife, and gorgeous children. Five. I want every single person in my country to achieve and be something they want to be. Not what their parents were, or their grandparents, or what their ancestors couldn't get. Never. Again. I don't want a single homeless person to exist in my country. And if they do exist, I want to have a program for them where they get food and shelter-- no matter if it's my own palace. That would be number 6, about the homeless," Maxon clarified. "And number seven. I want those damned rebels gone."
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