Jonas~~

"Aliens?" Abella paces between two columns, her hands clasped tight behind her back.

Alix's mouth is parted, his head tilted to the side and his posture rigid.

I've seen movies. I've read books. I know that a person is supposed to be in disbelief when someone tells them aliens are real. But I have grown up always knowing aliens are real. For heaven's sake, I'm descended from them; so while I know a person is supposed to be having a hard time with this kind of news, I don't understand why. Why is it so hard to believe Earth isn't alone?

Afterall, if you don't believe in aliens, you don't believe in me.

"I know this sounds rather farfetched," Iris says, and Abella bobs her head and continues pacing. "As someone who didn't grow up in the Society, I understand how you're feeling."

Alix shakes his head, coming out of his stupor. "There's no algorithm then?"

Sebastian splays out his palms in the air. "How could there be?"

Abella buries her face in one of her hands. "An alien from your country is murdering my people?"

"It's a colony of them," I correct. "And they're not from my country."

Abella drops her hand and faces me. "How are you so sure?"

"The Society is aware of any planes that leave my country."

"Boats?"

"My military patrols the waters."

She tilts her head. "Surely someone could slip through."

"It would have to be a very small boat."

"More like a raft boat, really," Tobias says.

"Undici." I eye him from the corner of my eye, and he bows his head.

"And what of your borders along Mexico and Canada?" Abella asks.

"No one can get through those force fields."

"Could they disable them?" Alix makes his way toward Iris.

"No," I say, inching toward her. "The places where they could disable them are heavily patrolled."

"Do you have any proof these aliens exist?"

I reach into my blazer and pull out my phone. "I just returned from Amoria." I pull up the pictures on my phone, and I scroll through them until I find the right one. Iris catches a glimpse of it, and her eyes widen; which I would say is an appropriate reaction.

I turn my phone so the twins can see. I took a picture of myself with a monkey on my shoulders while visiting a conservation park on Amoria. Winning the Orders over required following them around and listening to them brag about the great things they've done for the planet. "This was taken on Amoria a few weeks ago."

Abella takes the phone from my hands and holds it between herself and her brother. Her lips part, expression softening. Her grip on my phone is firm but careful. It's like she's holding a priceless artifact.

"It's what we would call a monkey, but needless to say they have a different name for it. And it's fur is blue."

"I can see that," Abella mumbles while Iris whispers to me, "You took a selfie?"

"I prefer the phrase I took a picture of myself."

She stares up at me, eyebrows raised.

"You're more shocked about the way I took a picture than the blue monkey?"

"I'm engaged to the man I grew up hating; a blue monkey is nothing."

"Funny." I direct my attention back to the twins. "Behind me there's a partly frozen lake. Algae, minerals, and sediments make the water appear orange."

"This picture could have been edited, and orange lakes exist on Earth." Abella's tone is dismissive, but she holds on tightly to my phone, her gaze transfixed on the screen.

"It's in your best interest to believe us because we need to work together to get rid of the Amoris here. If I call for an army from my country or Amoria the rest of Europe will get nervous."

"What do you propose we do?" Alix asks.

I explain to them how I believe the leadership on Amoria is not aware of what the Amoris here are doing and that these Amoris may have been here for years. That this all means that if we can defeat them, they can be sent to Amoria to be locked away. "No one besides you two can know what they really are. We'll need your resources to defeat them."

Iris takes a step toward the twins. "Princess Abella, they have Bently. I don't know how you feel about him, but he's important to me, and I think at some point he was important to you too. If we don't work together, we have no hope of getting him back."

Abella almost drops my phone. "Bently?"

"It happened when we were ambushed," Iris says.

Abella looks at her brother. "We will help. Of course we'll help. This is our country."

Alix pulls his gaze from my phone. "We clearly cannot stop these monsters without you." I flinch at his language, but his help; it's what I want. "This is how you can win my trust." I nearly scoff at that. Trust. I'm not the only one who needs to earn it. I never would have thought Alix capable of what he did to Vienna. "You rid me of these monsters, and France and Elleany will be allies once more."

I nod slowly. "There is nothing I would like more, Alix. I will need to return to the rest of family in France to inform them of our agreement."

Abella waves her hand in the air. "What kind of hosts would we be if we forced you to leave on the same day you arrived?" She holds out my phone. "You'll stay here tonight. I want to hear more about this Amoria of yours."

I force my face to be pleasant, but internally I tremble. I struggle as it is with taking orders from Amoria, but here on Earth I am a king, equals with Alix, and as much as I respect Abella, she is a princess—she is not in a position to be giving me orders, no matter how nicely she weaves her words.

I accept my phone and tuck it into the pocket of my blazer before threading my fingers through Iris's. Tobias and Sebastian flank our sides.

I look Abella straight in the eye. "We'd be delighted to stay for the night. Thank you."

Alix eyes me up and down as if sizing up a threat. "As part of our agreement, I want you to bring me Vienna, Jonas."

I squeeze Iris's hand probably too tightly. My mouth has gone dry. That demand is all too familiar.

"Bring me Molly, Jonas." Uncle Raoul, Erik's father, had said once, sitting in one of the red cushioned chairs by a roaring fire. We were tucked away in one of the many private lounges the old Estate in Wyoming held.

"Why, Uncle?" I asked. It was the night of a winter ball. I was sixteen.

"She's dating my son. What other reason do I need to speak with the—"

"Uncle." I gripped the back of a chair identical to his. "Please excuse me, but I owe my mother a dance."

Minutes later I found Molly alone near the twenty-foot Christmas tree—fake of course. Too many Society members were allergic to the terpenes found in the real trees. Which was a shame because I found the pine-like smell comforting.

She smiled at me, her brown hair fallen in curls around her neck and green eyes reflecting the lights of the tree. The sleeves of her red satin dress covered her Mark. "Jonas, shouldn't you be dancing?"

Before I could respond, Erik appeared, two glasses of punch in hand. He offered one to Molly, who took it only to blush down at the crystal. Fifteen-year-olds could be so awkward when it came to love.

Passing me the glass that was meant for himself, Erik beamed at me, his bronze laurel wreath glinting in his blond hair. He was so perfectly happy in that moment. He had a love he thought he would have forever. He was going to rule a country with his cousins at his side.

Even though I never told them of Uncle Raoul's request, Molly still eventually spoke with him. Molly had always been upset over her Expiration Date. She had destroyed her Mark before she met Erik who never learned her Date until she was dead. I respected his wishes for none of us to know it either. After her meeting, Molly often seemed lost. She'd put everything she had into a moment, and the next she would distance herself. It was like she didn't know where she was in time.

I suspect Uncle Raoul knew she would be dead in two years and told her she'd ruin Erik with her death. He would have been right because that boy smiling beside the love of his life at a winter ball was not the same person who was exiled to France.

Now Alix wants me to bring him Vienna, and I can't help but dread the consequences will be much worse than what happened to Molly if I hand him her. Vienna may have betrayed my family, but after seeing what Alix is capable of, I would never let him put his hands on her again.

I give Alix a dark smile for his satisfaction though. "I'll see what I can do."

To my surprise Iris doesn't pull away at my words but instead gives Alix a smile to rival my own. Still holding onto my hand, she drops down into a deep curtsy, her gaze trained on Alix. "I hope we may continue our discussion over diner?"

Alix's eyes flick to mine. "Certainly." He returns his focus to Iris. "A servant will show you to your rooms." He steps forward and takes Iris's free hand in his and raises it to his lips. I struggle with my desire to tear her away from him. "Mademoiselle," he says and presses his lips against her skin.

I can't even draw stick figures, but I would really love to see the selfie Jonas took with a blue monkey, so if anyone likes to draw and could draw that, you'd be the best person ever.