All I knew was, even if she wasn't mine, I wanted to leave her with a smile.

I had been so mad at him when I left, I'd given them back. All except for the one that stuck to the bottom of the jar. He smiled. "They're at home, waiting." "For what?" His eyes glittered. "That, I cannot say.

Mom was bossy. Even in print I could hear her tone, smugly congratulating me on already earning the prince's affections and telling me firmly to keep up whatever I was doing. Yeah, Mom, I'll just keep telling the prince that he has absolutely no shot with me and offend him as often as I can. Great plan.

I let myself be sad. I let myself think of him.

It doesn't really matter how you feel about your character; it just matters what you do with it.

You’re too beautiful for your own good. Once you leave, we’ll have to send some of the guards with you. You’ll never survive on your own, poor thing.

When we died, no one would know, and that fraction of a moment that was so important to who we were would be gone.