The Pledge

I loved voices, I always had. Words held meaning, but voices held emotion.

I pledge to keep you safe.

Nothing's going to happen to you," Max interrupted, gripping my shoulders and forcing me to look at him. "Because you're not going to do it. You're going to tell her to go to hell!

And touching him - I would have to stop doing that as well. But not now. Later, perhaps.

He stood straight then, moving to stand directly in front of me as he dropped low and bowed dramatically. "Your Majesty.

What are you so afraid of?

He leaned in then and kissed me again, sweet and soft and tender, silencing my arguments and stealing my breath, making me wonder how one simple gesture could be so tragically lovely.

She would be trouble, this one; the fact that he was lying awake now was proof of that.

I saw the folded note peeking up from behind the cover of the book in which I'd hidden it. I brushed my fingertips across the lineny surface, my skin sparking with electricity, my fingers itching to pull it free. I shoudn't, I told myself, even as I held my breath and watched myself withdrawing it from the book. I tried to tamp down the feeling of anticipation coursing through me at the same time I argued that it was a mistake to look at it again. It didn't deserve anymore of my time. He didn't deserve the space he already occupied in my mind. I glanced around to see if anyone had noticed me there, tucked beneath my desk, reading a note that I'd already memorized. No one paid me any attention. I held the letter, vividly picturing the six words written inside the folds. Six words that I already knew by heart. Six words that meant more to me than they should. I unfolded the top third of the paper, then the bottom, purposely keeping my eyes unfocused for just a moment. My heart stopped. And then my eyesight cleared. I pledge to keep you safe.

Now it was just the two of us, Max and me. And about a thousand other people around us.

Cushions had been sliced apart and were bleeding stuffing onto the floor.

The citizens of Ludania would finally be free, no longer forced into a class system that determined what language they could speak, what jobs they could do, or who they could be

Eden will stay with you." I glanced up at the blue-haired woman who watched us. "She promises to take good care of you. Right, Eden?" Eden nodded, curt and no-nonsense, a soldier to the bones. I glanced back at Angelina. "You trust her, don't you?" Angelina didn't turn her wide eyes away from me. I needed Angelina's answer. But then her eyes sparkled, ever so slightly, as she gave me her response, a barely perceptible nod. No one else could have possibly known how much meaning that single gesture held. Eden was honorable. Angelina had told me so.

She picked up a handheld grenade launcher, cradling it like a baby.

I love voices, i always have. Words held meaning, but voices held emotion.

We don't want that, Charlie. We don't want to fight, but we can't just go on like this. We deserve to choose what we want to be, who we want to be.

His eyes warmed, even as his brows drew together. "So are you saying we have your cooperation? That you'll agree to be our queen?" "I'm saying that you're guaranteed not to have my cooperation if you don't help me.

And are you trying to tell me you aren't a little bit fascinated by me?