LOGINThe crowd cheered, but none were louder than our excited children.Ivan’s POVIt was good of Claire to invite me to her wedding. I’d thought for a while that I might avoid the whole thing, but now that I was here, that I could be surrounded by the obvious love between the pair, I was glad that I had
Claire’s POVThe day of our wedding, I couldn’t stop looking at myself in the mirror. I was wearing a flowing white dress that Leo and Nova had helped me pick out. My hair was done up in a bun. I barely recognized myself, so put together and done up.“You look like a princess,” Nova said from nearby
Gideon’s POVI kissed Claire with my full heart, then held her close. She giggled, pressed into the safety of my arms.“We can talk about it now,” she said. “Or you could kiss me again. I liked that.”“I want to,” I told her truly. “I don’t want to stop kissing you. But after all this, I want to see
Claire’s POVI was dragged out of the trunk roughly by my arms, then shoved down into the dirt at Daphne’s feet.Quickly, I glanced around, but I didn’t really recognize where I was. A forest, but I had no idea which one. Tents were set up here and there and people I didn’t know milled about. This m
George glanced over, seeing me in the dim interior light.“He loves you,” he said.“He does.”“Do you love him, too?”“Yes,” I said. It came out easier than I thought it would. “Yes, I do,” I said again, to be sure. This time was just as easy.“Good,” George said. “Gideon is a good man, a brave and
Claire’s POVWe had a handful of hours before we needed to leave for the exchange. In that time, George had me fitted for body armor.“They will likely attempt to remove it from you,” he said. “But try to keep it on for as long as you can. I don’t know what kind of torture they will attempt, but thi
Claire’s POVIf I really wanted Gideon’s help, and I did, then I knew I needed to sit down with him and actually talk about what was going on. Rather than run away, as I have been doing, I needed to sit with him and talk these things through, to tell him about Ivan’s suspicions about what happened t
Nova’s POV I could see how excited Leo was to see Mom and Dad looking all lovey dovey at each other. He’d always said he wanted them to get back together, and this seemed to be a step in the right direction toward that, for him. I didn’t like it. I was warming up to Dad, sure, but that didn’t mea
Claire’s POV I was not jealous. What did I care who he found attractive? Or what he chose to do in his free time? Or who he chose to spend it with? None of this was my concern. Not really. No matter how much my heart ached or how tight my chest felt. “I’m not jealous at all,” I said, trying to sou
Claire’s POV I had barely processed the news before George rushed toward me and crushed me in his embrace. Whatever hesitations he had previously shown toward me were gone in an instant, and he held me like he was proud of me, like we had been reunited after a long time apart. Maybe this was true,







