Break My Heart a Thousand Times (The Selection Series Story)

Prologue & Author's Note

SUMMARY:  America Singer never entered the Selection when she was seventeen. Instead, Kriss Ambers won Prince Maxon's heart. When her husband Aspen dies, heartbroken America escapes from her life in Carolina to work at the palace, where she meets the infamous dashing King Maxon. Will a love story unfold? Or will this fairy tale have a tragic ending?

* Reader's Note: This story was written as a collab by: communityvalerie, an author on both wattpad.com and fanfiction.net, who is a pizza enthusiast  (and has a notorious trait of copying the Game of Thrones theme of killing off beloved characters, in a heartbreaking way, sorry! She also likes Game of Thrones as well, so... Adding to this long list, she's a small fan of Korean Pop, K-Pop, and Korean Dramas); very.dazzling.muggle a writer on fanfiction.net, and who is also a vivacious fan of the Harry Potter Series and the Percy Jackson Series.

Author's note: As authors, we understand that the names created in this continuation are spelled incorrectly, or just plain weird. Since the original author of the series, Kiera Cass, spells the characters' names differently, we've adopted that style and based the spelling of names differently.

Ex. Chelsey - Chelsea, Valleree - Valerie, Veronikka - Veronica, Keahnna - Keanna, Adeline - Adelynne

Thank you for reading, and we hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: We don't own The Selection series, Kiera Cass does.

PROLOGUE

Consider yourself lucky if you've never had someone close to you, who you love, die. It hurts, a lot.

You feel empty, hollow, especially if the person who died was the love of your life. You cry, but the tears have no meaning. You scream, but your wails don't matter. They're gone, and nothing has any importance whatsoever anymore.

If you haven't guessed, this has happened to me. The person in my life who died was my first ever boyfriend, a secret I had kept for years, my husband, and... well, my own personal fairy tale. You may swoon and sigh, which you should. Because the love we had, it was real.

He died, and it broke me. He had died while doing his job-- a guard at the palace. A few years before, he had been chosen to be a guard, and that had split us up for some time. When he had been injured in a rebel attack at the palace, he had been sent home for a few months, and we had gotten back together. Seeing him again had made me realize the intensity of our love, so I had gathered my courage and broken the news of our relationship to my family.

May, my younger sister, had nearly burst with excitement. My father... he was pretty calm, so I assumed he had suspected earlier and been okay with it. My older sister Kenna and my brothers Kota and Gerard were indifferent. They were happy for me, but not too interested either way. My mother had been the only one upset... at first. Then May had won a huge art contest, winning a ton of money and fame. That had distracted her for a few days, and eventually, she accepted my relationship with Aspen (it was hard not to love him, after all).

After telling my family about Aspen, and also telling Aspen's family, the two of us had a small wedding ceremony. It wasn't very big or extravagant, but we were in love, so we didn't care. Soon, though, Aspen had to return to the palace. It was hard, with him being so far from home. He was only allowed a few weeks home every year, which was extremely difficult. But we managed to keep our relationship strong through love letters.

But then, a few weeks after Aspen had visited home for a few days, I had found out I was pregnant. At first, I was worried sick. How would Aspen react? We had talked about kids, but not this early, with him being away from home all the time. How would I take care of the baby if I was by myself for most of the year?

It turns out I had been worried for nothing. When I had confessed, Aspen had been overjoyed, along with my family. With a lot of the stress gone, I realized I was pretty excited too. A baby!

My family was very helpful for the next few months. Aspen managed to get a week off around the due date, so when my little daughter was born, she was birthed into the world that loved her. Her name was Adelynne. Aspen,  America, and Adelynne Leger... One small, but happy little family.

In the short time of three years, our family fell apart. I received a letter in the mail, informing me of my husband's death. He had died while on a mission for the palace, so he hadn't actually been killed at the palace, but I was still angry. The letter was so cold and plain. Through my tears, I realized he had probably one of many. Tons of families across the kingdom were possibly getting letters similar to that one, but the palace hadn't cared.

At first, I was angry. I was mad at the palace, for getting my husband in all this trouble. Then I was mad at Aspen himself, for leaving me alone. Then I was simply mad at the world. I didn't deserve this, I had told myself. I had blocked everyone out, including May and my parents, and I had ignored Adelynne.

But after a few weeks, and then months, I started recovering. I was a Six, so I found work at a rich woman's house nearby. My mother offered to watch Adelynne during the day, so after a while, everything was fine again.

Then one fateful day, my whole world changed.

END OF PROLOGUE