Reminder: My notes will be in italicized red font, and the text from E1 will be in black. E1 refers to edition one, and E2 refers to edition two.
3
[beginning removed]
Jayce is her boyfriend. They met two years ago when he joined the royal guard. The two randomly ran into each other, and the connection was instant. Aria is pretty sure her father noticed right away, considering Jayce was assigned to her specifically after that. Garne approved wholeheartedly of their relationship. Aria wonders sometimes if he has already given permission for Jayce to marry her.
I decided to change this bit of information. How Jayce and Aria met and fell in love will be told later. There are things in E1 that will probably no longer be canon.
The brown-haired royal guard with short stubble smiles in amusement. “Then I suppose I shouldn’t surprise you like this. I wouldn’t exactly be doing my job right if I cause you to die of fright.”
“Well, I didn’t say you couldn’t surprise me. Maybe just do it somewhere I’d expect you to be.”
Jayce feigns disappointment. “That ruins the purpose of a surprise.”
Aria grins and shakes her head as he stands up and walks over to her. Jayce wraps his arms around her. Aria gladly presses herself up against him and rests her head against his chest.
[a few paragraphs removed about Jayce and Aria]
Jayce and Garne both only know a little bit about the anxiety and nothing about the depression. Her few trips to the healers were hard to hide from them, and her anxious antics aren’t always easy to cover for. The questions like “is everything alright” are more frequent lately. She will just respond that she is okay with a practiced smile.
“Alright” is an informal form of “all right.” I went with the formal version in E2. It is also spelled that way in other books.
Neither man presses her for more of an explanation, trusting she truly is alright or is dealing with her issues effectively. She doesn’t have the heart to tell them she isn’t just sad or worried for a few moments. Now, those emotions are present all of the time and in her dreams. There is no concept of being able to deal with them properly anymore.
Aria wants to tell her father and Jayce. She imagines conversations with them, but actually following through in real life is more difficult than she can envision. Aria feels guilty to make them worry about her, especially her father who has enough on his plate running the kingdom. The princess also fears they might be judgmental about her mental illness. She is pretty sure they won’t, but she is just too scared to take the chance.
Will my father still believe I can handle being queen?
He’ll consider you as a useless, helpless child.
Will Jayce still love me?
He’ll leave and find someone who isn’t going to be a burden.
Aria sighs and closes her eyes. She clings to Jayce a little tighter.
[ending removed]
Besides a few alterations, the bones of the chapter remained the same in E2.
Copyright © 2018 Lindsay McCafferty