Chapter 38 Summary: Danni's Point of View
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.
Summary
Rose wakes Danni around one in the morning with a folded blanket in hand, asking her to get dressed for a walk. Danni, exhausted after the day she has had, protests the cold but cannot refuse Rose's face. The two sneak through the hallway and out the front door, which creaks loudly, but no one stirs. Danni notices for the first time that Rose's bodyguard is not with her.
Once outside, Rose explains that they will not get chances to see each other outside their rooms for a long time. Danni's heart sinks, but she follows Rose into the night. At the edge of the woods, Rose notices Danni has forgotten her gloves and wordlessly gives her own. Danni, fearing Rose wants to break up, plants her feet and refuses to go into the woods, insisting she cannot handle a breakup on top of being outed. Rose reassures her, pulling her into a fierce embrace and promising she is in for the long haul.
Rose then shares her suspicion that the person who reported them to the palace was someone close to them, likely from Dewitt. She reasons that a random student could not have caught on given how careful they were. Rose also reveals that the palace threatened to remove Danni from Bramppath and could go further, deporting Danni and her mother, as happened to Rose's father's girlfriend when he was not much older than Rose.
Danni refuses to break up, and the two agree to hide their relationship completely. They will use burner phones or different contact names, meet only when everyone else is asleep, and tell everyone—including Eleanor, Molly, Theodore, and Sidney—that they are staying away from each other. Rose explains the stakes are too high to assume anyone is trustworthy.
Danni initially refuses to enter the woods, but Rose playfully carries her in, and they kiss against a tree. They tumble into a tangle of arms and legs, and Rose delivers a passionate declaration of love, saying she would fight for Danni until broken and bloodied. Danni, stunned, admits she loves Rose too. Rose shouts her love into the night, and the only response is the wind.
Key Events
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Rose wakes Danni at one in the morning and sneaks her out of the building without her bodyguard.
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Rose gives Danni her gloves at the edge of the woods.
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Danni fears Rose wants to break up; Rose reassures her she is committed.
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Rose reveals her suspicion that someone close to them reported them to the palace.
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Rose discloses the palace's threat to remove Danni from Bramppath and potentially deport her and her mother.
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The couple agrees to hide their relationship completely, using burner phones and meeting only while others sleep.
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They enter the woods, kiss, and exchange declarations of love.
Character Development
Danni shows remarkable defiance in this chapter. Despite being outed publicly and facing the threat of removal and deportation, she refuses to break up, declaring she does not care what they threaten. Her fear of losing Rose is palpable, and she admits she would not be okay without her. Her vulnerability—crying at the thought of a breakup—contrasts with her fierce refusal to be bullied, showing growth from earlier chapters where she might have retreated.
Rose reveals a deeper layer of commitment and protectiveness. She shares the painful history of her father's girlfriend being deported, showing she understands the stakes personally. Her decision to trust only Danni, even suspecting their closest friends, demonstrates how the pressure of surveillance has reshaped her worldview. Her love declaration is the most vulnerable and passionate moment of the chapter, showing she has moved from cautious interest to total devotion.
Themes, Symbols, or Motifs
Secrecy and Surveillance: The entire chapter operates under the weight of being watched. The couple's plan to meet only in secret, use burner phones, and lie to their friends underscores how institutional surveillance has forced their love underground.
Threat of Deportation: Rose's revelation about her father's girlfriend being deported gives concrete, personal stakes to the palace's threats. This motif connects institutional power to the couple's private lives, showing how political forces can upend personal happiness.
Trust and Suspicion: Rose's suspicion that someone close to them betrayed them introduces a paranoid undercurrent. The decision to trust no one but each other isolates the couple, even from their closest friends.
Defiance: Danni's refusal to break up, and Rose's shouted declaration of love into the night, are acts of defiance against a system that wants to silence them. The woods, which Danni initially fears, become a space of freedom and rebellion.
Fear of Loss: Both characters articulate their fear of losing each other, and Rose's promise to follow Danni anywhere they might send her reframes the threat as something they can face together.
Why This Chapter Matters
This chapter is a turning point in the novel's central romance. It moves the relationship from a secret that could be exposed to a deliberate, defiant choice made in the face of real consequences. Rose's revelation about the deportation threat raises the stakes dramatically, transforming the couple's love from a personal matter into a political act of resistance.
The chapter also deepens the mystery of who reported them. Rose's suspicion that the betrayer is someone close to them—possibly from Dewitt—casts doubt on the entire supporting cast, including Theodore, Sidney, Eleanor, and Molly. This sets up future tension and makes the reader question every character's motives.
Finally, the love declaration scene is emotionally pivotal. Rose's speech about needing Danni to be the best version of herself, and Danni's admission that she has known she loves Rose for a while, solidifies the relationship as the emotional core of the novel. The chapter ends with Rose shouting her love into the wind, a moment of pure, unguarded joy in a story otherwise defined by secrecy and fear.
Study Questions and Answers
1. Why does Rose suspect the person who reported them is someone close to them, and what does this reveal about her state of mind?
Rose reasons that a random student could not have caught on because she and Danni were careful and hiding their relationship. For someone to have noticed, they must have known the couple well. This suspicion reveals Rose's growing paranoia and sense of being surrounded by people who want to hurt them. It also shows how the pressure of surveillance has made her distrust even her closest friends, isolating her to the point where she trusts only Danni.
2. How does the threat of deportation change the stakes for Danni and Rose's relationship?
The threat of deportation transforms the relationship from a secret romance into a high-stakes act of defiance. Rose's personal history—her father's girlfriend was deported—makes the threat concrete and terrifying. Danni's refusal to break up despite this threat shows her commitment, while Rose's promise to follow Danni anywhere they might send her reframes the threat as something they can face together. The stakes are no longer just about being outed; they are about Danni's entire family being removed from the country.
3. What is the significance of the woods in this chapter?
The woods initially represent danger and fear for Danni, who calls them creepy and refuses to enter. But Rose playfully carries her in, and the woods become a space of freedom and intimacy where they can kiss and declare their love without fear of being seen. The woods symbolize the couple's private world, a place where they can be themselves away from the surveillance of the palace and their peers. Rose's shouted declaration of love into the wind, heard only by the animals, underscores that this space is theirs alone.