"Trust me, I know," Ender said, shooting her a tiny smile. God knew he'd spent too much of his life being deified by the people who were supposed to be his peers. Ben had kind of wormed his way past that, too. "From what I know of Warren, he is... something of a starry-eyed romantic. Much like how Ben is one more so than I am."

He took a breath. "Of course, Ben has had to deal with reality for too long to fall into those traps so easily these days. But there's a reason why I gave him the option, then made him wait before I'd let him answer me."