I love you. I love you. I love you now more than ever.
He pulled back after a few moments to take a look at her. He scanned her body, making sure that she was okay.
"I knew it," he said, smirking at her.
"What?" she asked, "What did you know?"
"I knew you could do this."
She smiled at him, feeling totally ridiculous when she realized just how happy she was, despite their situation.
"Hate to break this up," Adrian said, walking up to stand beside them. "But we've got a few things to take care of."
"Shut up, Adrian," Lex said, giving Aria another kiss.
But Adrian was right. They had other things to take care of. They could kiss later.
With that in mind, Aria pulled away and turned to face the group again.
"The palace is surrounded. All the entrances have been secured, all the guards have been disarmed. We need to talk to the others, the ones who might not be on our side. First, we will take all of these guards to the dungeons. Leave them tied up. Those whose loyalty lies with Warren will need to be taken there, too. Search the palace for anyone we might have missed. And then go door to door, bring all the others here so we can talk to them," she said.
People started to file out. The leaders of each group giving directions and orders.
Eventually, the only people that remained in the throne room were Aria, Lex, Mara, Grace, Katy, Hunt, Brent, Peter, Martinez, and Adrian.
Aria looked around at the group. The people who had made all of this possible, the people who believed in her. The people she loved.
"Shawn,” Adrian said, looking at Martinez's bruised and bloody face. "I've gotta say...you've looked better."
"You haven't," Martinez said, patting Adrian on the back.
A few people laughed.
"So that's it? It's over?" Peter asked.
"Yeah," Aria said, "It's over."
"What now?" Mara asked.
"Now we decide on what we should do with them," Hunt said.
"First things first, what do we do with the ones who didn't really pick a side?" Brent asked.
Half the people in the room looked to Aria; the other half looked to Lex.
"What do you think?" he asked, looking at Aria.
"You're the king," she said, unsure. She figured that he'd have a plan—an idea.
"Yeah, but only because of you," he said, smiling at her. "Well, you and your friends."
"I guess..." she began, "I guess we should give them an option. Let them know that the only way they could stay here is if they're okay with living under your, I mean our rule?"
"Well, there you go," Lex said. "That's what we'll do. I'll let you talk to them once they've all gathered."
"And what about Warren? And his people?" Grace asked.
No one spoke up.
"Lex," Grace said. "They...they killed so many of us. We can't just-"
"I don't know. For right now, keep them in the dungeon. We need to think about it. I can't really decide on anything right now. We'll regroup tomorrow," he said, running a hand through his hair.
"Okay. I've set up guards to watch them; make sure they don't do anything," Hunt said.
"Thank you," Lex said, nodding to Hunt.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but eventually, people started filing into the room.
"That's all of them," Mara said.
The room was crowded. Aria found it a little hard to breathe, so she wanted to get it over with.
"Listen up," she said, standing at the front of the group. "This was never your place. You all came here with Warren and took it. But we've taken it back. It belongs to us. Warren, his followers, and the guards who sided with him are all locked away in the dungeon.
A few people started to ask questions, but she put her hand up, silencing them.
"We've summoned you here to give you a choice. Side with us, abide by our rules and accept the king and me as your rulers, and you will be allowed to stay. Not on palace grounds, obviously. But that is something that we can discuss tomorrow. For right now, we just need to know where your loyalties lie. If you want to stick with the others, your fate will be their fate. We will only allow people who follow our rules and live in peace with us on this land to stay."
The room was utterly silent.
She looked back at Lex, and he gave her a nod, telling her to go on.
"We are not prisoners here. We stayed here by choice. And up until you all showed up, we lived in peace with these people. We were all welcomed, just as you will be if you accept my offer. Violence will not be tolerated here; hate will not be tolerated here. If that is something that you can accept, then you will be allowed to stay. The choice is up to you."
With that, she sat back down, giving the people a few minutes to think about what she said.
"Have I ever told you that you make an excellent queen?" Lex asked, lowering his voice so that only she heard him.
She rolled her eyes, but she smiled at him.
"Really," he said, smiling back. "I can't believe you pulled this off."
"What," she exclaimed, "I thought you said you believed in me?"
"I did. I do. I just didn't think it'd go this smoothly. I thought for sure there'd be more fighting. Honestly, I'm a little disappointed. I didn't really get to fight anyone."
"Well, sorry to disappoint you," she said. "I'll fight you if that'll make you feel better?"
"The last thing I want to do is fight you; trust me," he said, smirking at her.
"Yeah? And what's the first?" she asked. She wasn't sure why she was being so bold. Things were still kind of up in the air between them. They hadn't really talked about their relationship yet.
And still, there she was, flirting with him among the chaos around them.
"Thank you for starters."
"You don't have to do that," she said, getting back to being serious. It wasn't exactly
