Princess Academy: Palace of Stone

Peder is Miri's love interest in the novel, the boy in the village who all the girls want to talk with. He and Miri have been best friends since childhood, but now that they are young adults their relationship is changing in unexpected and sometimes uncomfortable ways: for Peder, who is older than Miri, it is alarming. Miri is his best friend and his sister's age and, after all, he is getting attention from Liana and Bena. At first it seems that he is playing with Miri, or at least has a better sense of humor about their situation than she does. After the girls are taken to the academy Peder's behavior changes: toward Miri he is moodier and his behavior more cryptic. While the girls have been away at the academy it seems as if Peder has little to do but think, and his thoughts inevitably turn to the questions of who will become princess. He fears Miri will be taken away from him by a prince, so their encounters are often tense and fraught with everything unsaid between them. Eventually Peder is worried that Miri does in fact want to become princess, not only for the prestige and honor of the title but because she has feelings for Steffan.

Peder enjoys life on the mountain but dreams of something more: he wants to carve linder stone for a living. His dreams are not as grand as some of the others', but in a village that can barely make it through the winter on the linder they manage to mine is dream of making pretty carvings is almost as unlikely as Katar becoming princess or Britta learning quarry-speech. It is because of the changes Miri brings to the village that Peder is able to finally do something he loves. He recognizes her part in his new career and feels he must thank her, but is nervous about the prince up to the very moment he hears Britta is chosen instead. His final obstacle out of the way, Peder finds the strength to show Miri how he feels: he holds her hand through the village for all to see, a public display of affection. This action reassures Miri as well that Peder's feelings for her are real. After all the emotional ups and downs, Peder is finally able to declare his feelings for Miri and do a job that he likes.