The Selection (Selection - Trilogy)

You still haven’t taken me there.”
    “Let’s do that. I could use something relaxing. What kinds of movies do you like best?” he asked as we started walking toward where I guessed the stairwell to the basement was.
    “Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t get to watch a lot of movies. But I like romantic books. And comedies, too!”
    “Romance, you say?” He raised his eyebrows like he was up to no good. I had to laugh.
    We turned a corner and continued to talk. As we approached, a mass of the palace guard pulled to the side of the hall and saluted. There had to be more than a dozen men standing in the hallway. I was used to them by now. Even the sight of a collection that big couldn’t distract me from the fun time I was about to have with Maxon.
    What did stop me was when I heard the gasp that escaped someone’s mouth as we passed. Maxon and I both turned.
    And there was Aspen.
    I gasped, too.
    A few weeks ago, I’d heard some administrator in the palace talk about the draft in passing. I had wondered about Aspen, but seeing as I was running late to one of Silvia’s many lessons, I didn’t really have a chance to speculate much.
    So he’d been taken by the draft after all. Of all the places he could have gone…
    Maxon caught on. “America, do you know this young man?”
    It had been more than a month since I’d seen Aspen, but this was the person I’d spent years committing to memory, the person who still visited my dreams. I would know him anywhere. He looked a little bigger, like he’d been fed, really fed, and was working out a lot. His scraggly hair had been cut short, practically all gone. And I was used to seeing him in secondhand clothes that were barely being held together by threads, and here he was in one of the brilliant, fitted uniforms of the palace guard.
    He was alien and familiar at once. So many of the things around him seemed wrong. But those eyes … those were Aspen’s eyes.
    My eyes fell to the name tag on his uniform: OFFICER LEGER.
    I doubted a second had passed.
    I kept myself composed enough that no one saw the storm raging inside—a miracle in and of itself. I wanted to touch him, kiss him, scream at him, demand he leave my sanctuary. I wanted to melt away and disappear, but I felt so very here .
    None of it made sense.
    I cleared my throat. “Yes. Officer Leger comes from Carolina. He’s actually from my hometown.” I smiled at Maxon.
    No doubt Aspen would have heard us laughing as we rounded the corner, would have noted that my arm was still draped on the prince’s. Let him make of that what he would.
    Maxon seemed excited for me. “Well, how about that! Welcome, Officer Leger. You must be happy to see your Champion Girl again.” Maxon held his hand out, and Aspen shook it.
    Aspen’s face was like a stone. “Yes, Your Majesty. Very much so.”
    What did that mean?
    “I’m sure you’re pulling for her, too,” Maxon encouraged as he winked at me.
    “Of course, Your Majesty.” Aspen bowed his head a bit.
    And what did that mean?
    “Excellent. Since America is from your home province, I can’t think of a better man in the palace to leave her with. I’ll make sure you’re put on her guard rotation. This girl of yours refuses to keep a maid in her room at night. I’ve tried to tell her....” Maxon shook his head at me.
    Aspen finally seemed to relax a bit. “I’m not surprised by that, Your Majesty.”
    Maxon smiled. “Well, I’m sure you all have a busy day ahead of you. We’ll just be off. Good day, officers.” Maxon gave a quick nod and pulled me away.
    It took all the strength in my body not to look back.
    In the dark of the theater, I tried to figure out what to do. Maxon had made it clear from the night I’d told him about Aspen that he hated anyone who would treat me with so little care. If I told Maxon that the man he’d just assigned to watch over me was that very person, would he punish him somehow? I wouldn’t put it past him. He’d invented an entire support system for the country based on my stories of being hungry.
    So I couldn’t tell him. I wouldn’t tell him. Because as mad as I was, I loved Aspen. And I couldn’t bear him being hurt.
    Then should I leave? The ambivalence pulled at my heart. I could escape Aspen, get away from his face—a face that would torture me every day when I saw it and knew it was no longer mine. But if I left, I’d have to leave Maxon, too. And Maxon was my closest friend, maybe even more. I