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first few times I avoided him, not really sure I wanted to interact with him. I heard rumors that the guards were switching schedules so fast it was dizzying. Some wanted to go to the party desperately while others had girls back home and would be in huge trouble if they were seen dancing with someone else, especially since five of us would be eligible again soon and in very high demand.
    But seeing as this was our last formal rehearsal, when Aspen was near enough to offer me a dance, I didn’t turn him down.
    “Are you all right?” he asked. “You’ve seemed down the last few times I’ve seen you.”
    “Just tired,” I lied. I couldn’t talk with him about boy problems.
    “Really?” he asked doubtfully. “I was sure that it meant bad news was coming.”
    “What do you mean?” Did he know something I didn’t?
    He sighed. “If you’re preparing to tell me that I need to stop fighting for you, that’s not a conversation I want to have.”
    In truth, I hadn’t even thought about Aspen in the last week or so. I was so consumed by my mistimed words and mistaken guesses, I couldn’t consider anything else. And here, while I’d been worried about Maxon letting me go, Aspen had been worrying about me doing the same to him.
    “That’s not what it is,” I answered vaguely, feeling guilty.
    He nodded, satisfied with that response for now. “Ouch!”
    “Oops!” I said. I genuinely hadn’t meant to step on him. I worked to focus a little more on the dancing.
    “I’m sorry, Mer, but you’re terrible.” He was chuckling even though the heel of my shoe had to have hurt him.
    “I know, I know,” I said breathlessly. “I’m trying, I swear!”
    I pranced around the room like a blind moose, but what I lacked in grace I made up for in effort. Aspen, kindly, did his best to make me look good, attempting to be a little less on the beat to be in time with me. That was so typical of him, always trying to be my hero.
    By the end of that last lesson, I at least knew all the steps. I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t accidentally take out a visiting diplomat with an energetic kick of my leg, but I’d do my best. As I considered that image, I realized it was no wonder Maxon was having second thoughts. I’d be an embarrassment to take to another country let alone receive anyone here. I just didn’t have that princess air about me.
    I sighed and went to get a cup of water. Aspen followed me while the rest of the girls left.
    “So,” he started. I did a sweep of the room to make sure no one was watching. “I have to assume that if you’re not worried about me, you’re worried about him.”
    I lowered my eyes and blushed. How well he knew me.
    “Not that I’m cheering for him or anything, but if he can’t see how amazing you are, he’s an idiot.”
    I smiled, continuing to study the floor.
    “And if you don’t get to be princess then, so what? That doesn’t make you any less incredible. And you know … you know …” He couldn’t get out what he wanted to say, and I risked looking at his face.
    In Aspen’s eyes I saw a thousand different endings to that sentence, all of them connecting him to me. That he was still waiting for me. That he knew me better than anyone. That we were the same. That a few months at the palace couldn’t erase two years. No matter what, Aspen would always be there for me.
    “I know, Aspen. I do.”

CHAPTER 7
    I STOOD IN LINE WITH the other girls in the massive foyer of the palace, bouncing on the balls of my feet.
    “Lady America,” Silvia whispered, and that was all it took to know I was behaving in an unacceptable way. As our main tutor for the Selection, she took our actions quite personally.
    I tried to still myself. I envied Silvia and the staff and the handful of guards who were moving around the space if only for the fact that they were allowed to walk. If I could do the same, I knew I’d feel much calmer.
    Maybe if Maxon was here already it wouldn’t be so bad. Then