You ask for such simple things, I can't deny you.

I love you, America Singer. As long as I live, I'll love you." There was some deep emotion in his voice, and it caught me off guard. "I love you, Aspen. You'll always be my prince.

I was afraid I was wrong, that you would change your mind any second. I’ve been looking for a suitable alternative, but the truth is …”—Maxon looked me in the eyes again, unwavering—“there’s only you. Maybe I’m not really looking, maybe they aren’t right for me. It doesn’t matter. I just know I want you. And that terrifies me. I’ve been waiting for you to take back the words, to beg to leave.

I know there was a time, when our country was new, when the assignment of these numbers helped organize something that was on the brink of not existing. But we are no longer that country. We are so much more now.

That was my great ambition. Not to be Illea's princess. To be Aspen's.

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

I pranced around the room like a blind moose, but what I lacked in grace I made up for in effort.