by Kiera Cass
He smiled. “Good. Because I do love you, and I’m planning on making sure you never have a reason to doubt it.”
I squirmed. “Aspen, whatever we were, or are right now, we can’t be that here.”
“What do you mean?” he asked, shifting his weight.
“I’m part of the Selection right now. I’m here for Maxon, and I can’t date you or whatever this is while it’s still going on.” I started fidgeting with a bit of my comforter.
He thought a moment. “So were you lying to me? When you said you never stopped loving me?”
“No,” I assured him. “You’ve been in my heart the whole time. You’re the reason things have been going as slow as they are. Maxon likes me, but I can’t let myself really care about him because of you.”
“Well, great,” he said sarcastically. “Glad to know you’d be fine dating him if I wasn’t around.”
Underneath the anger, I could see he was heartbroken, but it wasn’t my fault it turned out this way.
“Aspen?” I asked quietly, getting him to look at me. “When you left me in the tree house, you crushed me.”
“Mer, I said I—”
“Let me finish.” He huffed, then was silent. “You took away my dreams, and the only reason I’m here is because you insisted I sign up.”
He shook his head, irritated at the truth.
“I’ve been trying to put myself back together, and Maxon really cares about me. You mean so much to me, you know you do. But I’m part of this now, and I’d be stupid to not let myself see what happens.”
“So you’re choosing him over me?” he asked miserably.
“No, I’m not choosing him or you. I’m choosing me.”
That was the truth at the core of everything. I didn’t know what I wanted yet, and I couldn’t let myself be swayed by what was easy or what someone else thought was right. I had to give myself time to decide what was best for me.
Aspen mulled this over for a moment, still not happy with what I was saying. Finally he smiled.
“You know I’m not giving up, right?” His tone was an obvious challenge, and I grinned in spite of myself. It was true that Aspen was not the type to admit defeat.
“This really isn’t a good place to try to fight for me. Your determination is a dangerous trait here.”
“I’m not afraid of that suit,” he scoffed.
I rolled my eyes, amused at being on this end of the relationship. I’d always been worried about someone stealing Aspen. I felt guilty about how refreshing it was to see him worried about someone stealing me for a change.
“Okay. You said you didn’t love him . . . but you must like him a little to be willing to stay, right?”
I ducked my head. “I do,” I said with a tiny nod. “He’s more than I ever imagined he was.”
He considered that for a moment, soaking it in.
“I guess that means I’ll have to fight harder than I thought,” he said, heading for the hall. Then he turned and gave me another wink. “Goodnight, Lady America.”
“Goodnight, Officer Leger.”
The door clicked shut, and the sense of peace was overwhelming. Since the Selection had started, I’d been worrying that it was something that was going to ruin my life. But in this moment, I couldn’t think of a time that felt more right.
Too soon, my maids bustled in. Anne pulled back the curtains, and as the light fell on me, it felt like this was truly my first day at the palace.
The Selection was no longer something that was simply happening to me, but something I was actively a part of. I was an Elite. I pulled back the covers and leaped into the morning.
END OF BOOK ONE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
OKAY, JUST IN CASE YOU’RE really busy or tired because you stayed up late finishing, I want to thank you first for reading my book. For reals, I love you. Thanks.
Now, to the people who made this happen. Well, actually, let’s go back a bit more.
As always, I thank God for words. I’m so glad I don’t have to try to communicate this story to you with my antennae or something. Words are so delicious, and I’ll be forever happy they exist.
Callaway: Oat bananas! Thanks for supporting me and being generally awesome.
Guyden: Thank you for sharing Mommy with the friends in her head.
Loads of love to my mom, dad, and little brother for encouraging me to be strange. Also, hugs and love to my mom, dad, and little brother-in-law for being such incredible cheerleaders. Between the six of you, I’ve been engulfed in excitement, and I’m so grateful for all of you.
Thank you to the gang at [nlcf] and to the FTW Crew for celebrating with me along the way. Hugs!
Thanks to Mary—the first person to read The Selection ever—for thinking it was cool, and to Liz and Michelle for being the thoughtful, rational, in-depth readers that I am not. The book is better because of you guys. Also, I think you are awesome.
Thank you to Ashley Brouillette for making a great video and earning her name a spot in the book. Bravo, miss! I also have to say thanks to Elizabeth O’Brien, Emily Arnold, and Kayleigh Poulin for hanging out with me when I was a nerd. Thanks for letting me use your names as well.
Other names I borrowed: Jenna, Elise, Mary, Lucy, Gerad, Amy, etc. Thanks for popping into my mind when I had no idea what to type. Yay!
Elana Roth: You are a rock goddess of an agent, and I cannot thank you enough for taking a chance on me even though I’m really, really awful on the phone. Still can’t figure out what possessed you. Also, thanks for letting me hug you. Love!
To Caren and Colleen at JLA, thanks for being there and generally rocking.
Erica Sussman: You are so dang cool. For realzies. It’s kind of amazing how well you get America and how fun you are to work with. I adore you and your purple pen. Thank you for never making this feel like work.
Tyler, you sassy girl, I feel your energy in everything. Thanks for all your work.
Dear Everyone at HarperTeen: Umm, THANK YOU! You were a dream I didn’t dare speak aloud, and I’m honored to be one of your authors and appreciate all of your work for me. From cover art to marketing to just the way you communicate with me, everything has been better than I could have ever hoped for. Thank you. Truly.
Jeannette, Catherine, Kati, Ciara, Christina, the ladies at Guy’s daycare, and anyone I might have missed: Thank you for watching Guyden at various times so I could work. It meant so much to me to know I wasn’t alone in this.
And, if you made it all the way through this, thanks again to you! Some of you have been with me from the first time I sat in front of a camera and said “Hello Interwebs.” Some of you read The Siren or found me on Twitter. Some of you just saw the pretty girl on the cover of the book and decided to pick it up. However and whenever you found me, thank you for reading my book. I hope it made you all kinds of happy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KIERA CASS is a graduate of Radford University and currently lives in Blacksburg, Virginia, with her family. Her fantasy novel THE SIREN was self-published in 2009. Kiera has kissed approximately fourteen boys in her life. None of them were princes. You can learn more about Kiera’s books, videos, and love of cake online at www.kieracass.com.
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epicreads.com
BOOKS BY KIERA CASS
The Selection
The Elite
The One
The Heir
The Selection Stories: The Prince & The Guard
The Selection Stories #2: The Queen & The Favorite
The Selec
tion Series Sampler
The Selection Series 3-Book Collection
The Selection Series 4-Book Collection
CREDITS
COVER ART © 2012 BY GUSTAVO MARX/MERGELEFT REPS, INC.
COVER DESIGN BY SARAH HOY
COPYRIGHT
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
THE SELECTION
Copyright © 2012 by Kiera Cass
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.epicreads.com
* * *
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cass, Kiera.
The Selection / by Kiera Cass.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: “Sixteen-year-old America Singer is living in the caste-divided nation of Illéa, which formed after the war that destroyed the United States. America is chosen to compete in the Selection—a contest to see which girl can win the heart of Illéa’s prince—but all she really wants is a chance for a future with her secret love, Aspen, who is a caste below her”—Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-205993-2 (trade bdg.)
ISBN 978-0-06-220313-7 (int’l ed.)
EPub Edition © APRIL 2012 ISBN: 9780062059956
Version 06207014
[1. Marriage—Fiction. 2. Contests—Fiction. 3. Social classes—Fiction. 4. Princes—Fiction. 5. Love—Fiction. 6. Revolutionaries—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.C2685133Sel 2012
2011042113
[Fic]—dc23
CIP
AC
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12 13 14 15 16 CG/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
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