1.

Eliminated in ROUND ONE

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“Yeah . . . the point being willingly. I hate her trying to dictate every part of my life lately.”
Christian leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Like I said, you made a deal with the devil. You’re her darling now. She wants to make sure you’re making her look good.”

2.

___________________________________

“Then tell her the deal’s off. You’ll be eighteen in a couple of months. Royal or not, you’re under no obligations. You don’t need her to go to a big school. We’ll just take off, you and me. Go to whatever college you want. Or don’t go to college at all. We can run off to Paris or something and work at a little café. Or sell bad art on the streets.”
This actually made Lissa laugh, and she snuggled closer to Christian. “Right. I can totally see you having the patience to wait on people. You’d be fired your first day. Looks like the only way we’ll survive is if I go to college and support us.”

3.

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“I don’t know,” said Christian. “Maybe. Maybe not.” Any other guy would have said something overly sweet and comforting, assuring her that yes, yes, of course she’d know. But it was part of Christian’s nature to be brutally honest. Lissa liked that about him. So did I. It didn’t always make him a pleasant friend, but at least you knew he wasn’t bull****ting you.

4.

___________________________________

She and Christian continued sitting there in comfortable silence, drawing strength and love from each other. They had what Dimitri and I had had, a sense of such oneness and familiarity that words often weren’t needed. He ran his fingers through her hair, and while I couldn’t see it so well through her own eyes, I could imagine the way that pale hair would gleam in the rainbow light of the stained-glass windows. He tucked several long locks behind her ear and then tipped her head back, bringing his lips down to hers. The kiss started off light and sweet and then slowly intensified, warmth spreading from his mouth to hers.

5.

___________________________________

“It’s time,” she said regretfully. “We’ve got to go.”
The look in Christian’s crystal-blue eyes said otherwise. “Maybe this is the perfect time for you to stand up to the queen. You should just stay here —it’d be a great way to build character.”
Lissa lightly elbowed him and then planted a kiss on his forehead before standing up. “That is not why you want me to stay, so don’t even try to play me.”

6.

___________________________________

Lissa followed the others and fell in step with Christian. “Did you set this up?” she teased.
“Nope. Wish I had, though. This class is killing me.”
“You? I have the worst headache ever.”
He gave her a knowing grin. “Let that be a lesson to you, Little Miss Lush.”
She made a face in return and gave him a light punch.

7.

Eliminated in ROUND TWO

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[As soon as Avery was gone, Lissa turned on Christian. “Are you really serious about me bringing Jill instead of you?”
“Yep,” said Christian. He tried to lie back into her lap, but she pushed him away. “But I’ll count the seconds until you return.”
“I can’t believe you think this is a joke.”
“I don’t,” he said. “Look, I didn’t mean to get you all worked up, okay? But really . . . I just don’t want to deal with all that Court drama. And it would be good for Jill.” He frowned. “You don’t have anything against her, do you?”
“I don’t even know her,” said Lissa. She was still upset—more so than I would have expected, which was odd.
Christian caught hold of Lissa’s hands, face serious. Those blue eyes she loved softened her anger a little. “Please, I’m not trying to upset you. If it’s really that important . . .”
Like that, Lissa’s anger diffused. It was abrupt, like a switch.

8.

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“When were you going to tell me?” he demanded. His voice was loud, and several passing people turned in surprise.
Lissa hurried him to a corner, pitching her voice low. “What are you talking about?”
“You know what I’m talking about. You using your weekend getaway as a chance to hook up with other guys.”
She stared at him for several heavy seconds Then the truth hit. “Jill told you!”
“Yes. I had to drag it out of her. She showed up to practice with me and was on the verge of tears.”
Uncharacteristic anger suddenly burned through Lissa. “She had no right!”
“You had no right. Do you honestly think you could do something like that—without ever letting me know?”
“Christian, it was a stupid drunk kiss, for God’s sake. A joke because he saved me from falling off a table. It meant nothing.”
Christian’s face grew pensive, and Lissa thought for sure he was about to agree with her. “It would have been nothing,” he said at last, “if you’d told me yourself. I shouldn’t have had to hear it from someone else.”
“Jill—”
“—isn’t the problem. You are.”
Shock stunned Lissa for a moment. “What are you saying?”
“I . . .” Christian suddenly looked weary. He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just . . . things have been rough lately. I just . . . I’m just not sure if I can deal with all this. You were picking fights with me before you left, and now this?”
“Why won’t you listen? It was nothing! Even Avery agreed.”
“Oh,” said Christian sarcastically, “if Avery agreed, then it must be okay.”
Lissa’s temper raised its ugly head. “What’s that supposed to mean? I thought you liked her.”
“I do. But I don’t like how you’re confiding in her more than me lately.”
“You didn’t have a problem with me confiding in Rose.”
“Avery’s not Rose.”
“Christian . . .”
He shook his head. “Look, I don’t really want to go to dinner anymore. I just need to think.”
“When am I going to see you again?” she asked frantically. Her anger had been supplanted by fear.
“I don’t know. Later.”

9.

___________________________________

As she stalked furiously across campus, she spotted Christian going in the opposite direction. Hope lit the blackness of her mind like sunshine. “Christian!” she yelled, running up to him.
He stopped, giving her a wary look. “ He stopped, giving her a wary look. “What do you want?”
“What do you mean what do I want?” She wanted to throw herself in his arms and have him tell her everything would be okay. She was upset and overwhelmed and filled with darkness . . . but there was a piece of vulnerability there that desperately needed him. “I haven’t been able to find you.”
“I’ve just been . . .” His face darkened. “I don’t know. Thinking. Besides, from what I hear, you haven’t been too bored.” No surprise everyone knew about last night’s fiasco. That kind of thing spread like wildfire thanks to the Academy’s gossip mill.
“It was nothing,” she said. The way he regarded her made her heart ache.
“That’s the thing,” he said. “Everything’s nothing lately. All your partying. Making out with other guys. Lying.”
“I haven’t been lying!” she exclaimed. “And when are you going to get over Aaron?”
“You aren’t telling me the truth. It’s the same thing.” It was an echo of Jill’s sentiment. Lissa barely knew her and was really starting to hate her. “I just can’t handle this. I can’t be a part of you going back to your days of being a royal girl doing crazy stunts with your other royal friends.”

10.

___________________________________

“I can’t do it,” he said. “I can’t be with you if that’s your life now.”
Her eyes went wide. “Are you breaking up with me?”
“I’m . . . I don’t know. Yeah, I guess.” Lissa was so consumed by the shock and horror of this that she didn’t really see Christian the way I did, didn’t see the agony in his eyes. It destroyed him to have to do this. He was hurting too, and all he saw was the girl he loved changing and becoming someone he couldn’t be with. “Things aren’t the way they used to be.”
“You can’t do that,” she cried. She didn’t see his pain. She saw him as being cruel and unfair. “We need to talk about this—figure it out—”
“The time for talking’s past,” he argued. “You should have been ready to talk sooner—not now, not when things suddenly aren’t going your way.”
Lissa didn’t know whether she wanted to scream or cry. She just knew she couldn’t lose Christian—not after losing me, too. If she lost both of us, there was nothing left for her in the world.
“Please, don’t do this,” she begged. “I can change.”
“I’m sorry,” he snapped. “I just don’t see any evidence of that.”

11.

___________________________________

My amusement faded. “But since you mentioned Lissa—”
“No, no.” He held up his hand by way of protest, face hardening. “I knew you were going to go there.”
“Christian! She loves you. You know that what happened wasn’t her fault—”
“I know that,” he interrupted. “But it doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt. Rose, I know it’s in your nature to rush in and say what everyone else is afraid to, but please . . . not this time. I need time to figure things out.”
I had to bite back a lot of comments. Lissa had mentioned Christian in our talk yesterday. What had happened between them was one of her biggest regrets—probably the thing she hated Avery the most for. Lissa wanted to approach him and make up, but he’d kept his distance. And yes, he was right. It wasn’t my place to rush in—yet. But I did need them to fix this.
So I respected his wishes and simply nodded. “Okay. For now.”