Summary

In Chapter 1, the narrative opens as a young woman named America is on a date at night in the garden of the palace with Prince Maxon. As he relaxes, she thinks that it has been hard to catch him in calm and happy mood since the number of girls in the Selection has been reduced to six. She thinks that this is because he thought he would have more time before making his choice, and she had asked him for this time. While he has told her that the competition would end if she said that she felt the same way about him as he feels about her, she cannot do so. She cannot give him an answer because her ex-boyfriend, Aspen, is now a guard in the palace, she knows that she is not the only girl Maxon takes on dates and...