Daniel angles his head so he can get a better look at her. “Why can’t I call you Lyn?”

“Because I’m Emily, remember?”

“When we’re in public, not in a private room where no one can hear us.” As if to prove his point, Daniel makes a wide gesture with his arm to encompass their room. The train isn’t moving, people are still boarding, and if Lynell strains, she can hear another couple in their car talking and laughing loudly. “What’s the real reason?”

“No one calls me Lyn,” she says. The only people who ever called her Lyn were Daniel and her mom.

“I used to exclusively call you Lyn.”

“‘Used to,’” she says. “Past tense, Daniel. If I remember correctly, you stopped calling me ‘Lyn’ the day you made the promise you broke today.”

“What promise?”

“We don’t have to do this,” she says, resting her head against the wall.

Daniel sits up and throws his legs over the side of the bed, so their knees are mere inches apart. “Do what? Have a conversation?”

“Dig up everything that happened. We broke up, but we’re here now, so can we leave it at that? Just for today?”

Daniel sighs and looks down, picking at a stain on his pants. The silence stretches on for so long that the train whistles and lurches before he speaks again. The movement thrusts Lynell back and she grasps the arms of the chair to steady herself.

“I didn’t mean it. What I said that day,” Daniel whispers.

Lynell stands and turns away from him, attempting to put as much distance between them as possible in such a cramped space. “Seriously, Daniel. Leave the past where it belongs. I don’t want to bring it all back up when I don’t even have a future.”

She realizes her mistake as soon as the words escape her mouth. He doesn’t know that a stranger Registered her. He can’t know unless Price isn’t a stranger to him. Unless he knows about Price’s plan. Knew about it even before Price Registered her.

She hadn’t considered the possibility. That Daniel was somehow involved in her being Registered. But it makes sense. That could be the real reason he insisted she leave without telling her why. To keep her safe without revealing he knew this was going to happen. But why would he know? Was it his idea? Daniel hates the Registration, he always has. He hated it enough to join the rebels although it was so unlikely they’d succeed. She can’t imagine him ever being involved with someone Registering her.

She knows she hurt him. But did she hurt him enough to make him bend his morals?

The train lurches and Lynell loses her balance, causing her to fall onto the bed. Lynell instantly rolls to the head of the bed and pulls her knees up.

“What do you mean, you won’t have a future?” Daniel asks.

He might not know. Maybe he really is worried about riots. Maybe that’s all.