The Legend Trilogy Collection (56 page)

Still, I say nothing. What is he talking about? See
what
on my face? What do I look like right now?

Day sighs at my silence. His face is unbearable. “June,” he says slowly. Behind his words, his voice sounds like it might break at any moment. “It will never, ever work out between us.”

And here is the real reason why. I shake my head, unwilling to hear the rest. Not this.
Please don’t say it, Day, please don’t say it.
“We’ll figure out a way,” I begin to say. The details come pouring out. “I can work in the capital’s patrols for a while. That would be a more feasible option, anyway. Shadow a Senator, if I really want to go into politics. Twelve of the Senators—”

Day can’t even look at me. “We weren’t meant to be. There are just . . . too many things that have happened.” He grows quieter. “Too many things.”

The weight of it hits me. This has nothing to do with the Princeps position, and everything to do with something else. Day would be saying all this even if Anden never offered anything.
Our argument in the underground tunnel.
I want to say how wrong he is, but I can’t even argue his point. Because he’s right. How could I
possibly
think that we’d never suffer the consequences of what I’d done to him? How could I be
so arrogant
to assume it would all work out for us in the end, that my doing a couple of good deeds could make up for all the pain I caused him? The truth will never change. No matter how hard he tries, every time he looks at me, he’ll see what happened to his family. He’ll see what I did. It will always haunt him; it will forever stand between us.

I need to let him go.

I can feel the tears threatening to spill from my eyes, but I don’t dare let them fall. “So,” I whisper, my voice trembling from the effort. “Is that it? After everything?” Even as I say it, I know there’s no point. The damage has already been done. There is no turning back.

Day hunches over and presses his hands against his eyes. “I’m so sorry,” he whispers.

Long seconds pass.

After an eternity, I swallow hard. I will
not
cry. Love is illogical, love has consequences—I did this to myself, and I should be able to take it.
So take it, June.
I am the one who should be sorry. Finally, instead of saying what I want to say, I manage to wrestle down the tremor in my voice and give a more appropriate answer. What I
should
say.

“I’ll let Anden know.”

Day runs a hand through his hair, opens his mouth to say something, and closes it again. I can tell there’s another part of this whole scenario that he’s not telling me, but I don’t press it. It wouldn’t make a difference, anyway—there are already enough reasons why we weren’t meant to be. His eyes catch the moonlight spilling in from the windows. Another moment passes between us, filled with nothing but the whisper of breathing. “Well, I—” His voice cracks, and he clenches his hands into fists. He stays there for a second, steeling himself. “I should let you get some sleep. You must be tired.” He rises and straightens his coat. We exchange a final, parting nod. Then he gives me a polite bow, turns around, and starts walking away. “Good night, June.”

My heart is ripped open, shredded, leaking blood. I can’t let him leave like this. We’ve been through too much to turn into strangers.
A farewell between us should be more than a polite bow.
Suddenly I find my feet and rush toward him right as he reaches the door. “Day, wait—”

He spins around. Before I can say anything else, he steps forward and takes my face in his hands. Then he’s kissing me one last time, overwhelming me with his warmth, breathing life and love and aching sorrow into me. I throw my arms around his neck as he wraps his around my waist. My lips part for him and his mouth moves desperately against mine, devouring me, taking every breath that I have.
Don’t go,
I plead wordlessly. But I can taste the good-bye on his lips, and now I can no longer hold back my tears. He’s trembling. His face is wet. I hang on to him like he’ll disappear if I let go, like I’ll be left alone in this dark room, standing in the empty air. Day, the boy from the streets with nothing except the clothes on his back and the earnestness in his eyes, owns my heart.

He is beauty, inside and out.

He is the silver lining in a world of darkness.

He is my light.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing
Prodigy
was a thoroughly different experience from writing
Legend
, one that involved many panic attacks and much desperate sobbing in front of my laptop, and one that involved digging much deeper into my characters’ cores and unearthing their darkest thoughts and memories. Luckily for me, I have the support of an amazing group of people who helped me put this book together:

To my literary agent Kristin Nelson, for being the first set of eyes on this manuscript. I would die in a quicksand swamp without your advice and feedback. To the entire team at NLA, for always getting my back. To beta reader extraordinaire Ellen Oh, for seeing an early draft of
Prodigy
and knocking some sense into me on some very crucial scenes. To JJ, for being my freakishly sharp sounding board and beta reader as
Prodigy
gradually formed.

To my unbelievable pair of editors, Jen Besser and Ari Lewin, for taking the first draft of
Prodigy
and transforming it into something much greater than I could create on my own. Thanks for pushing me hard to strengthen my characters, world, and plot; anyone who thinks that books don’t get edited anymore has clearly never worked with either of you. You are amazing. (Special shout-out to Little Primo!)

To the entire team at Putnam Children’s and Penguin Young Readers for their never-ending support—Don Weisberg, Shauna Fay, Anna Jarzab, Jessica Schoffel, Elyse Marshall, Scottie Bowditch, Lori Thorn, Linda McCarthy, Erin Dempsey, Shanta Newlin, Emily Romero, Erin Gallagher, Mia Garcia, Lisa Kelly, Courtney Wood, Marie Kent, and everyone else who has helped give life to both
Legend
and
Prodigy.
No author could ask for a greater support group.

To the awesome teams at CBS Films, Temple Hill, and UTA for the continued dedication to
Legend
: Wolfgang Hammer, Grey Munford, Matt Gilhooley, Ally Mielnicki, Christine Batista, Isaac Klausner, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Gina Martinez, Kassie Evashevski, and Wayne Alexander. I can’t believe how much I lucked out.

To all of the bloggers, reviewers, and media who covered
Legend
and
Prodigy,
and to the booksellers around the nation who put both books into the hands of shoppers. Thank you so much—I am so grateful for all that you do in connecting the right books to the right readers.

To my amazing readers and fans, for the enthusiastic letters and kind encouragement. Every time I saw your messages about
Legend
,
I became that much more motivated to make
Prodigy
as good as I possibly could. Thank you for taking the time to read my books.

And finally, to the fam bam, my mom, Andre, and all of my friends. Thank you so much for all of your support—you guys are irreplaceable.

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS

Published by the Penguin Group

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Copyright © 2013 by Xiwei Lu.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lu, Marie, 1984–

Champion : a Legend novel / Marie Lu.

pages cm

Summary: “June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic— and each other—and now their country is on the brink of a new existence. Just when a peace treaty is imminent, a plague outbreak causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities”—Provided by publisher.

[1. Plague—Fiction. 2. Love—Fiction. 3. Science fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.L96768Ch 2013 [Fic]—dc23 2013028221

ISBN 978-0-698-13541-3

Map illustration by Peter Bollinger.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibilityfor author or third-party websites or their content.

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