She giggled. “Excellent attention to detail.
Let the world go to hell around you so long as you can get to her.
I looked away. That wasn’t something I could promise. I weighed Maxon and Aspen in my heart over and over, and neither of them ever had a true edge. Except, maybe, when I was alone with one of them. Because, at that moment, I was tempted to promise Maxon that I would be there for him in the end.
That’s what we were in the eyes of our employers: meant to be heard and not seen.
My head didn’t ache, but my heart did. The longing for Aspen’s arms was so familiar, it was like it never left.
It felt like a wonderful secret that I could revisit in the middle of one of Silvia’s boring lessons or another long day in the Women’s Room.
I took the jar and placed it on my windowsill, leaving it where it should have stayed a long time ago.
I’d felt certain I was looking at my future queen, so I figured the least you deserved was a curtsy.
Falling asleep next to you, I mean, like we did in the safe room. It was nice to hear your breaths as they came and went, something quiet and close, keeping me from feeling so alone.
Not to worry, darling. I’ll see you at dinner.” Yes, I thought, but you’ll see all of us at dinner.
More time meant more opportunities.
I don’t think I realized how hard I’d been running until I had to stop.
No doubt she would unfold it as soon as she was out of sight, but I felt secure in its odd phrasing. These.
Are you all right? You seem tense,” Maxon noted. “You get confused by crying women, I get confused by walks with princes,” I said with a shrug.
Books were a safe place, a world apart from my own.
Almost every time I sang, he did this. I think he enjoyed the sound of my raspy breathing more than the singing itself.
It’s just the way it is. The sky is blue, the sun is bright and Aspen endlessly loves America. It’s how the world was designed to be.” I felt the lift of her cheek against my chest as she smiled. If I couldn’t bring myself to apologize, maybe I could at least make it clear that those last minutes in the tree house were a fluke. “Seriously, Mer, you’re the only girl I ever wanted. I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. I’ve been trying to prepare myself for that, just in case, and... I can’t.
I’m so sorry.” He reached up his hand and covered mine. “No, I’m sorry,” he said. “I was about to ruin both our lives.
My heart is yours to break.
Let’s be honest-we’re a pretty intense bunch, yeah? Osten laughed, and Kaden’s expression brightend. “But whatever we put her through, it was welcome. She’d rather have forced me to learn penmanship than never have had a daughter. She’d rather have been your living encyclopedia than not connect with us. She’d rather have begged you to sit still than have had only three children. None of this is because of us,” I promised.