The council would barely notice we were together, as long as it was physical, not some mutual exchange of true feelings. They had plenty of disdain for relationships between naturals; a real relationship between a natural and a chosen one was unheard of. Maybe if the Templeton girls would talk to one another, talk about something of substance, they could prevent it. But when our parents never taught us about sex, irrationally hoping by not talking about it we wouldn’t think about it, they set us up for failure. We didn’t know how to handle any of it. Maybe some of us didn’t even know we could say no. But if the council saw the way James and I looked at each other or the way we clutched so desperately onto each other’s hands, they would know we’d changed the rules. They already suspected us. They knew James questioned the whole thing. And I had aligned myself with a rebel, a terrorist. We had to be careful.
