It was warm here in Allens, though for some reason he wasn't expecting it. It was one of the first things Wesley noticed as he followed Nick off the private plane, stopping to give Veyra his arm so she could follow him. Of course, they were met with the usual gaggle of photographers and reporters, and as Veyra came to stand next to him, they paused to wave for the cameras. The air was not only hot but sticky with cloying humidity. It reminded Wesley of the press. Even in spring, it was already warm on the opposite coast. The days were getting longer and longer, and the warm temperatures were a sign of the coming summer.

"You look incredible," he whispered to Veyra as they walked arm and arm down the steps, following the security detail. She only lightly held onto his arm despite the stilettos she was wearing, they gave her no problems. The black silk dress she wore fluttered in the evening breeze as they took the steps down.

"Lowkey, I'm terrified," she whispered back, a smile fixed on her face. "I'm terrible at this."

"You'll be fine," Wesley told her. They had just spent the last several hours on the royal family's private plane jetting to the other side of the country to Allens, the old seat of the American Pre-Illean government. It was still an important city and the basis for a lot of military things, and Wesley would be representing the monarchy for a gala tonight. Most of the physical army was closer to the capital in Angeles but tradition was a hard thing to let go of, and the old District was still the home turf of much of it.

It was also a test for Veyra. In person, she and Wesley got along great, but she struggled when it came to the princess role. She had not enjoyed planning the New Years' party, and while she had told him she was willing to try for him, there was a lot more to be his wife than just companionship. She had said it herself: she was a secret agent, not a princess.

"I am so not used to being the center of attention," she confessed with a laugh to Wesley as they got in the car that would take them to the venue, a very historic old theater building right on the river that went through the city. "I'm supposed to not be noticed!"

"Well, some of us have a special talent for always being the center of attention, intentional or not," he joked. "Sorry, this has to be so much hassle."

"Hey, first time on a private plane, I'm having fun!"

With things still being tense after the Public Trials and the escape of the Berlin prisoners, there were some differences to this outing, which included no overnight stay in Allens, but after flying half the day to get here, after the gala they would fly home overnight and wake up back home. Luckily, it was, of course, the royal family's plane, and that came with certain perks.

There was even more press when they got there, as well as plenty of people. Not so much the usual Angeles crowd, as this gala benefitted the military so there were a lot of people in uniform, and even though he was a prince and had actually earned his, Wesley felt silly wearing his own uniform. There were lots of people he didn't know since he was a west coast boy and hadn't been out here since he was a kid. This side of the country was different to him, with older more established families and a lot of diplomats and old money. They also had not been affected much by the war, most of that happening in the north. He knew Veyra was nervous too, but he took comfort in her presence. It was a nice feeling, to have her hand tucked into his arm, to have her standing by his side as they walked up the steps that took them to the large terrace balcony that wrapped around the old building, all white marble and gold railings. There were some perks to being a prince—everyone knew who he was, though with that came all eyes on them. He didn't miss the way people all looked at Veyra too. It was kind of a statement, bringing just one of the remaining five girls to an event like this. She didn't say much as they met important person after important person, and she surveyed the room with her usual high alert. The sun was setting, lighting up the river and the blossom-covered trees that lined it, in full bloom this time of year. It had a very different feel than Angeles, it carried a lot more weight, even if it was no longer the capital of the country and a very changed country it was since it had been.

The gala was another one of those things benefitting and honoring the military, on full display with the attendance of a prince, even if he wasn't quite as important as his brothers, his life was slathered over the news right now. It was odd being the only representative of the royal family here, usually, he was tagging along with at least someone else, but the only people in the room he knew were Veyra and Nick, though he wasn't sure his bodyguard counted. Another perk of these types of things in Angeles with the young royal family was the crowd tended to be a lot younger than it was here. Wesley was pretty sure Veyra and he were the youngest people there. The conversations were boring and tedious, and as the night went on, Wesley found himself wishing that he had not volunteered to come to this thing. He caught Veyra's eye from nearby as she was engaged in an uncomfortable and very serious-looking conversation with two older women. Wesley gave her his cheesiest grin, shooting her some low-profile finger guns. He watched with satisfaction as her lips pressed together as she tried not to laugh in the women's faces and bit back her smile.

That was when he decided that he didn't want to be here anymore. He just wanted to hang out with Veyra. He finished his drink in a gulp and found Nick on the sidelines of the terrace and gave him a quick head nod. Then he made his way over to her. Other perks of being a prince—people got out of your way. The two women looked very surprised and somewhat startled to see him and both stopped in mid-sentence.

"Excuse me, can I borrow her?"

He didn't wait for a response, just grabbed Veyra's hand and pulled her behind him, trying really hard to not smile like an idiot. Once they went inside, the building was mostly empty, everyone was gathered on the terrace.

"What's going on?" Veyra asked, very confused.

"We're blowing this joint," Wesley responded, knowing Nick would kill him later for this. "I've always wanted to explore the District and this was not my idea of that."

Veyra laughed, allowing him to pull her behind him. Outside a few taxis were loitering but it was quiet. Wesley went to the first one and opened the door for Veyra.

"Why thanks," she said playfully, picking up her skirts with dramatic flare and climbing in. He got in after her, and just as she snuggled up to him, the door opened again, and Nick was standing there.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh, escaping a really boring party?"

Nick sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Okay fine. But scoot over."

"Huh?"

"Remember last time you ditched me?"

Wesley cringed, remembering the first "Veyra incident" involving a fancy sports car and getting pulled over a few weeks ago.

"Ugh, okay fine. I owe you for that." He moved into the middle seat.

"Also just doing my job," Nick told him as they all three squeezed into the taxi. "We could also just take one of our cars."

"This is more fun."

Wesley wrapped his hand around Veyra's as the taxi took them to the historic part of the city. It was dark now, and fairly quiet. There were lots of old memorials, white marble, and classical style, and it was kind of beautiful. They got out of the taxi to walk, Nick nicely tailing them from a safe distance. Between some of the memorials was a stretch of a long manmade pool, reflecting the lights. Veyra and Wesley walked slowly along the edge. He did the cute boyfriendy thing of giving her his jacket and draping it over her shoulders.

"Were you as bored as I was in there?" he asked.

"Probably more," she agreed. "And nervous. And I never get nervous except when it comes to things like that. I'm pretty terrible at them."

He squeezed her hand. "No, you're not. And I loved having you in there with me."

"Are we going to be in trouble for skipping it?"

"Not if no one finds out?"

She elbowed him. "It wasn't a question, but okay."

They were quiet for a while as they walked. Veyra seemed to be thinking about everything, which was unusual for her, she was usually very chill compared to some of the others. He remembered her in the safe rooms, acting like everything was going to be okay.

"What are you thinking about?" he risked the question.

She glanced sideways at him then looked away. "That…that was a test, wasn't it? See how I hold up as princess material."

"I'm not going to lie to you, it kind of was. But it wasn't your fault it was lame. You did great out there."

"I had no idea what to say to any of those people," she admitted. "I'm so bad at this stuff sometimes."

As usual, when anyone started talking about being a princess which meant being his wife, Wesley started to panic. Being who they were now was pretty easy, but the whole marriage thing really really freaked him out. He pushed down his nerves. Veyra didn't deserve to feel like she was right now.

"Okay, first of all, you're not bad at this. And it's hard. I've been doing it my whole life and it still sucks majorly sometimes. I admit my coordinators specifically wanted me to invite you, but I'm so glad they did. There's no one I would rather go on this adventure with, okay?"

She didn't look quite convinced, so he pulled her closer, tucking his arm around her even though it made walking rather difficult. "And besides, if someone does try to rob us, you could definitely like, flip them over your shoulder or something."

This finally got a laugh out of her.

"Me a year ago would never have expected to be doing this right now," she said. "Walking through the District with a prince. On a date. Wearing his jacket."

"Oh yeah?" he joked and stopped to face her. "Me a year ago wouldn't either."

A year ago, he had been up in the north still fighting in the war. They had no idea that it would be even over in a year back then, much less before then.

"On a date with a really pretty really cool secret agent." He put one hand on her waist, then reached to touch her neck, tracing just under her cheekbone with his thumb.

She smirked, her amber eyes shining in the dark. His heart sped up as she stepped closer, feeling the warmth of her body. She was several inches shorter than him usually, but her heels helped a lot tonight. He could only hope Nick wasn't watching as he leaned down and kissed her. He almost immediately felt breathless as her lips parted in response, one hand cupping his face the other running through his hair. He drew her closer around her waist, and he could feel her hips pressed against his. In response, she wrapped her arm around his neck.

He had kissed Veyra before, but it had never felt like this. He forgot about a lot of things as he kissed her under the lights of the city. He forgot about the Berlins and the pressure of the Selection and the doldrums of the gala and that Nick was somewhere watching nearby. All he could think about was her fingers in his hair, the way she grabbed his shirt and pulled him even closer, moving his lips from her mouth to her neck, the feeling of her body in his arms.

And yet, try as he might to forget it, it came back. The nagging reminder that they weren't just dating. They weren't just kissing. This had consequences. There were four other girls he also had to think about, one of whom he would marry. He thought of Alyex, what she had said before she had left. He had been able to handle this when they were only his Selected girlfriends but Alyex was right. It was a lot more than that.

He lowered his head, breaking the kiss so they just stood with their foreheads touching. He had pulled away so quickly that Veyra picked up on something was wrong.

"Sorry," he breathed, heart still pounding from the adrenaline of kissing her. And he kind of hated it- the overwhelming feeling that he needed to run away. From this, from her, from everything. The worst part was that he didn't want to, but it was so strong. It manifested itself in the inability to catch his breath, the panic he was familiar with that usually came when the memories and nightmares became overwhelming. This was different, it had nothing to do with that, and he had just been so stupid drunk on that kiss that this was ridiculous.

Veyra stepped away. "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing," he said quickly. He tried to take a deep breath, to stop the feeling of suffocation, but in the quiet, it was easy to hear the shuddering sound it made. He got so mad that this always always happened. He had been doing so well going to therapy and handling the things thrown at him as they came. He took a few steps away from Veyra, looking out over the reflecting pool.

She gave him a moment, and then came up next to him, not touching him. But she didn't seem angry or upset. She was just there.

"Sorry about that," he said again, more than a little embarrassed.

"Wesley, it's perfectly fine. Are you good?"

"I think so."

"Is it…war stuff?" she asked softly. "I used to get those after bad missions sometimes. Nightmares and flashbacks when you least expect them. It's totally normal. In fact—"

"Nah," he shook his head. "For once, it's not. I don't know…"

"It's also totally normal just to have anxiety," Veyra said, and the way she said it made him realize it was. She wasn't judging or offended or anything. "I get it. Relationships are scary. And when you've got more than one and everyone in the country is watching it unfold, it's a lot worse."

He didn't know what to say, so he just wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into his side. "You're really wise when you're not being sarcastic."

She smiled up at him. "Oh, I am, am I? Well, I do try."

"Don't get me wrong, I was having an absolutely amazing time kissing you. I just started overthinking. And yet I still never come up with the right answer."

"I might have it," she said. "Physical stuff is easy. It's the mental that counts, and that's the hard part. That's the scary part. Why do you think I kissed you after you dropped me and sprained my ankle?"

Wesley burst out laughing, remembering their ice-skating date. "That was awful."

She grinned. "It was also pretty memorable."

"You were the first girl I kissed in the Selection," he admitted.

"If I remember correctly, I kissed you!" she leaned her head on his shoulder. "Maybe that's where we went wrong."

"I wouldn't say wrong," Wesley said. "I really do like you. I just kinda freaked." He decided to be honest because it wasn't like they didn't know what was going on. "The Selection is terrifying sometimes. I…I have no idea how I'm supposed to get married at this point in my life. I'm like twenty-one."

"Honestly, I'm not ready to get married either. Don't freak out—that's just in general, whether that be you or anyone else."

"I feel like that's a problem for me in the future. I'll let that guy take care of it," he said. "But we should probably head back soon, it's a long flight back." He raised his voice slightly to be heard further off. "And Nick probably witnessed all of this anyway!"

After they walked back and rendezvoused with Nick and he called them the car and headed back to the plane. They changed out of their formal clothes and hung out in the small sitting area in the plane and watched movies until they fell asleep on each other. It had been a nice little break to be out of the palace for a day and night, but Wesley knew when they landed it would be back to reality.

He didn't sleep long; he had never slept well on planes. Especially after the war, he didn't enjoy much about planes anymore, but he was better than he used to be. He knew he should since it would be early morning when they got back, and he would be wrecked if he stayed up, but it was no use. Veyra had her legs draped over his lap and was pretty much out. She looked cute wearing one of his shirts, and he didn't want to disturb her by getting up, so he stayed where he was. He took out his phone, deciding to at least attempt to be productive and look at his emails for once. He checked his emails from the Council, searching for anything pressing.

Ever since Georgia had told him she knew Cody Trevelyne was alive courtesy of the Berlins, he had been trying to figure out what to do about it. According to Georgia, they wanted him to know so he would retaliate, which was why he had been keeping the information to himself. The last time they had talked, it had ended rather badly, with him being awful and prying the information out of her and her yelling. Aaaaand similar things had happened with Eleanor at the horse races, though not the yelling. He needed to patch things up with her as well. But other than that, things were okay for now. Yeah, they had been evacuated to the safe rooms not long ago, yeah, things were the usual level of mess up north, and yeah, the Selection terrified him…but what was new about that?

He ended up getting a good amount of Council work done, so at least his insomnia was good for something. He would feel awful when they landed, but he had all his emails answered and a good bit of work squared away. He was keenly aware of the fact that when the Selection got too scary, he put all his energy into the rest of the prince business, but oh well. When the plane landed in the very early hours of the morning after skipping through three time zones, Veyra woke up quite well-rested just as Wesley was starting to feel miserable.

"Did you stay up all night?" she asked, a coy smile on her face.

Wesley groaned, rubbing his hands over his face. "I barely tolerate planes, and I absolutely cannot sleep in them. So yes, I did."

"Aw, you poor thing," she said, wrapping her arms around him. It was half teasing half sympathetic and it made him smile like an idiot.

Nick looked like he was in a similar state that Wesley was when he came to tell them there was a lot of press outside even at the early hour when they disembarked the plane. Lately, the press had been absolutely ravenous when it came to the Selection, with the stakes higher than ever before. Neither him nor Veyra had brought much in the way of clothes other than the comfy things they had been wearing in transit and their formal clothes so it was rather awkward to walk past all the reporters, smiling and waving, hiding behind sunglasses as they got in yet another car that would drive the short distance to the palace. The exhaustion hit Wesley and he almost fell asleep on the window now that they were off the plane, with Veyra leaning on his shoulder.

As the car pulled to a stop in front of the palace, Veyra sat up, smiling at his sleepiness.

"Your hair is a mess," she said. Wesley grimaced, knowing full well it was. "I had a wonderful time; this was a lot of fun."

"Even if we sat on a plane for most of it?"

"Hey, as I said, private planes—super cool," Veyra gave him a poke in his arm. "And also thank you."

He laughed a little. "For what? Dragging you around with me?"

"For being honest," Veyra corrected. "I know the Selection is high stakes. We shouldn't have to pretend it's not."

Wesley nodded. "Yeah. You're welcome. Thanks for understanding, I guess. And for running out of the gala and creeping around the District with me at night. That too."

"And if I can be honest with you…" she looked almost bashful for a second, which was not a way he was used to seeing her.

"Of course."

She hesitated. "I really like you. I like being with you and hanging out with you. But like I said, I'm not ready to marry anyone either. And the worst part is…your world is terrifying to me. I'm not sure I would make a very good princess. I like my freedom and being covert a little too much to be one of the most observed women in the world." She sighed. "I know we've talked about this before. And I told you I was willing to try, and I still am. If you'll still have me, I want to stay. But I also wanted to be honest with you too."

"Well, thanks." Wesley tried to be genuine, but it sounded a little dumb. It always shocked him when all the girls, not just Veyra, gave up their whole world to be here with him. As hard as it was some days for him, he had to remember it was hard for the girls too. "I'm not sure I make a very good prince either, so remember the bar isn't that high."

Veyra grinned, rolling her eyes at him. She leaned over to kiss his cheek, and then they got out of the car. Veyra made him not walk her back to her room, instead of forcing him to go straight to his own, and Wesley had to admit, he was really really really looking forward to it. His bed was a beautiful sight as he opened the door, and he practically face-planted into it. His phone was dead now, but he plugged it in any way, planning on ignoring it for a few hours. He had caught up with everything for now so no one should need him.

He was woken up a few hours later by his back-to-life phone buzzing on his nightstand, with an urgent summons to a Council meeting. And Wesley had a sickening sense that something was about to go wrong again.