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No matter how romantic he thought this was, all I could think of were the thirty-five loud, obnoxious, weird-smelling boys who were about to invade my home. Nothing about that sounded magical.
he’d never made anything remotely close to an interesting conversation. So help me, if I ever got a bad case of insomnia, I’d hire him to sit in my room and
talk. Problem solved.
But for me, failure meant having my life led by someone else.
Dad approached us. “Ready?” “Yes,” I answered, steadying myself. That wasn’t the pep talk I’d been envisioning.
He smiled. “Well, today I would let you know I come from an excellent family. My father used to be a Two.” “Is that all?”
Undeterred, he went on. “I think it’s pretty impressive.” “Not as impressive as having a father who used to be a One.” His face faltered.
even if everything ended tomorrow, I’d be a better person because of her. There are some things you don’t learn about yourself until you let someone else into the most intimate places of your heart.”
I’m smart and beautiful and strong. I don’t need to be rescued.” Ahren shrugged. “Maybe not. But you never know if one of them might need to be.”
“I’m happy, Ahren. I’m the princess. I have everything.” “I think you’re mistaking comfort for joy.”
Love did nothing but break down defenses, and I could not afford that.
“What are you looking for in a husband?” What was I looking for? My independence. Peace, freedom . . . a happiness I thought I had until Ahren questioned it. I shrugged. “I’m not sure anyone knows what they’re looking for until they find it.”
when you’re upset, the look in your eyes is as strong as a punch. You’re not powerless.”
I think aggression is a sign of weakness. I’m always more impressed when people can end something with words.”
I sighed. “Yes, but I will be queen,” I corrected, sipping my coffee. I really didn’t need this right now. “And your name will be in a history book one day, and some bored ten-year-old will memorize it for a test and then forget all about you. You have a job, just like everybody in the world. Stop acting like it makes you more or less than anyone else.”
“There’s not much to say. People will throw food at me, people will throw words at me, and I have to be stronger than that if I’m going to survive.”
Ahren looked at Camille like she hung the sun in the sky every morning. It was beautiful, the way he watched her, enchanted by every breath that came out of her mouth.
There were no cameras around to capture it, no reporters to tell the world about it. And for some reason, that made it so much better.
I kept thinking that I couldn’t live my life for other people, that love was nothing but chains. And maybe it was, but so help me, I needed these chains. I let myself feel the weight of Ahren leaving, the weight of my father’s worry, and, most important, the weight of my mother’s life hanging in the balance. These things didn’t make me weaker; they held my soul to the earth. I wasn’t going to run from them anymore.
