Erik~~

Meilin stands in the doorway of the closet, arms crossed and a frown on her lips. "Apologies for the interruption. I thought it best if you made your escape while the Preeminence and your mother are locked in their usual shouting match."

Rydersin quickly extracts her arms from around me as I focus on Meilin's words—not the part about the Preeminence though.

"How long have you been standing out there?" I ask.

"Awhile. Do you think any of us would actually lose Rydersin?"

"Well I'd hope not."

Meilin tugs at the cuffs of her uniform. "Your family requests your presence in their room."

"Their room?"

"Apparently they've all been sharing one."

"With my cousin freshly married?"

"It's not my place to speculate on your family's business, only to escort you to them."

Rydersin and I step out into the hall, and I glance at her, the feel of her lips on mine still crisp in my mind and yet it feels as if a chasm has already opened up between us.

"You two can kiss each other goodbye. It's not as if I didn't know what you were doing."

Rydersin bites down on a smile, trapping her laugh, and I debate kissing her but, with Meilin here, decide against it. Plus, I don't know when the Preeminence will storm off in a huff from his fight. I'd find no mercy if he caught me kissing his daughter.

I settle for a quick brush of my knuckles against her hand and allow Meilin to escort me away from her and up a set of stairs. Only when we reach the top, does she speak.

"You care for her, right?"

"Of course."

She halts her steps, rounding on me and pinning me with her light purple eyes. "So once your family has what they want, you're not going to leave Amoria and never look back?"

I flinch. "I—I can't go back. I was exported—"

"You made the choice to come here though. You can return to Earth."

"There's no life for me there."

"And what about the life you made for yourself here? Sleeping with one woman and then moving onto the next? Rydersin's heart doesn't function like that. If she kissed you, it means something to her. If you toss her aside, she's too proud to let you know she's hurt, but she will be, and we won't be able to take away that pain."

"Only a fool would toss Rydersin aside."

"And haven't you called yourself just that?"

The room seems to tighten in on me. Something in Meilin's gaze says she sees me—all of me—not just my Expiration Date, but every thought I've ever had—every action I've ever done, and nowhere does she find me worthy of her friend.

"What happens between me and Rydersin is up to her. She's the one who wishes to rule a continent. In the end, I'm sure she'll realize there are many better choices out there for her. I'll be the one forgotten."

Meilin opens her mouth, but I cut her off, "My family's waiting, right?"

She snaps her mouth shut and nods, jerking her body away from me and heading to the left.

My heart still feels as if it thumps erratically, like it did when it was just me and Rydersin. The last person to make me feel this way was Molly, not Iris. I want to peel way from Meilin and find Rydersin. I want to know if what Meilin said is true, that the kiss meant something to Rydersin. That I wasn't just a pretty face and handsome body who happened to be there.

Meilin stops before a door and knocks sharply, and when it opens, Percy is on the other side, the top buttons of his shirt undone, his hair tousled. His dark brown eyes flick to me, and it's clear he's tired.

"Erik, you're still in one piece."

I shrug before feeling something poking at me and remember the glass. Not wanting to drag shards of glass into a room with two Expired, I carefully remove the jacket, glass tinkling to the floor.

Percy leans against the door frame. "Can't wait to hear about that one." He looks at Meilin. "Thank you for bringing him."

She bows. "Of course, Iota."

Percy moves to the side, allowing me to step past him before he shuts the door. Iris and Jonas sit in the middle of a large bed, while Vienna's legs are stretched out in front of her on a deep green rug, and Colton lounges in a chair, a ceramic white mug in his hand.

I wave.

Colton snorts, setting his coffee on an end table beside him.

I stroll across the room, plopping onto the green rug. Close enough to Vienna that she's forced to scoot over. "Care to share what happened after I made my grand exit?"

Jonas's face is quite serious. "I was about to pin the Preeminence against the wall."

Iris rolls her eyes, and Percy takes a seat on the edge of the bed.

"Which would have jeopardized your mission," he says to Jonas.

"He harmed a member of our family. It was justified. However, it didn't get that far as the Order didn't know what the Preeminence had done to you, and all twelve of them went at it."

"Great to know they don't all approve of his methods of diplomacy."

Iris tilts her head, studying me. "Are you okay?"

I place my hands behind me, the rug firm under my palms. It's not a comfy rug. Just one more thing for which to dislike the Preeminence: his taste in rugs. "I'm fine. Andrew helped Rydersin find me."

Jonas's expression darkens. "And why would he know where the Preeminence was keeping you?"

"He didn't. But he witnessed me being taken. I haven't had any communication with him since Borilia." When I let Iris scream until she was probably hoarse. But unless Colton told her—and that would be incriminating himself—she wouldn't know about that. "I hear you're all sharing a room now."

A shadow passes over Iris's face, and Vienna points her foot. "Someone tried to kill them," she says.

I blink, coldness settling into my veins. "And you think it was Andrew?" This explains why they are all sleeping in the same bedroom and why there is not a single window in this room.

"No," Colton drawls, mug held close to his nose as if he needs to smell the espresso just to get him to the next second. "Percy thinks Bently did it."

I throw my head back and laugh. In France, I'm fairly certain I was picking up on signs that my woman-despising cousin was in love with Iris. Despite his rather pathetic attempt to kill her in the past, he wouldn't do that now. And he certainly wouldn't kill Jonas to get him out of the way.

When I finally stop laughing and look at Percy, he glowers.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Bently in Elleany?"

"I didn't actually think it was him."

Colton tries to compete with Percy's scowl. "He didn't want us thinking his girlfriend did it."

"You have a girlfriend?" I ask at the same moment Percy says rather emphatically that he does not have a girlfriend.

"Enough." Iris's voice cuts across the room. "Can we please get back to why we wanted to see Erik?"

Percy adjusts his position on the bed, and Iris looks at me.

"What did the Preeminence do to you?"

"A little bit of drugging, some punching, some kicking. He was trying to take his anger at his daughter out on me."

"Sounds healthy," Jonas's voice is as prickly as icicles. Or a porcupine. That sounds scary.

"That explains the Preeminence's less than ecstatic mood." Colton stares into his mug, which I imagine must be empty at this point.

"What can I say? I have that effect on people."

"I know."

There's a knock on the door, and, moving to answer it, Percy slides off the bed. When he opens it, there's a woman with blonde hair with light blue highlights on the other side. I've seen her before but for the life of me can't remember her name which means she must not have made much of an impression on me and can you really blame me if that's why I can't remember a name? It sounds like that would be the other party's fault.

"I heard there was a bit of a commotion," she says. "I wanted to make sure everything was okay."

Colton's eyes narrow behind his mug, which I don't know why he's still holding if it's empty.

Percy steps to the side to allow her to enter. "We're fine. Thank you."

"Your concern is appreciated, Elisana." Jonas slides his hand over Iris's, threading his fingers with hers and looks at me. "Iris and I are leaving for Gadfrie tomorrow."

"Just the two of you?"

Iris nods.

"And that's wise after someone tried to kill you?"

"The sooner we convince the Orders to let Jonas retain his title, the sooner we can go home. Whoever wants us dead isn't going to wait for us to be alone. They'll just poison our food."

"I don't think poisoning someone's food is something Amorians here think to do."

Something dark passes across Iris's face. "Regardless, if we leave without confronting the culprit, we may just find ourselves trapped on a ship for two weeks with an assassin."

"But you're going off by yourself?"

Jonas's expression is grim as he holds my gaze. "We've survived people trying to kill us before."

I look away, guilt scratching its way up my throat. "Still why isn't Percy going with you?"

"I'm needed here," my cousin's voice is rough.

"For what purpose?" I step toward him. "Why are you here anyway, Percy?"

"Originally to babysit." Percy's lip curls in a smirk. "But now I'm on cleanup duty after your lady made a mess of things with Acquaellia's Preeminence."

In the span of a breath, I have Percy pinned to the wall, my hand gripping his collar. "Watch where you place blame, cousin."

From where she sits on the floor, Vienna mutters, "Not in front of a guest . . ."

The muscles along Percy's neck flex. "Would you like me to direct it toward you instead?"

"You seem to have a tendency to fix the blame on the wrong people."

He looks down his nose at me. "No, I believe I always point it exactly where it needs to go."

Something in his eyes makes me release him and step back. I turn to Iris and Jonas. "Let the record show I'm against the two of you going off on your own."

Jonas gives me a lazy smile. "So, you'll miss us if we die?"

In this moment I don't know if I want to punch him or grab hold of him. "It would just be a shame if Elleany had to suffer under Colton as Preeminence."

Colton grumbles something I choose not to hear.

"Erik." Iris's voice brooks no room for argument. "The decision has been made. Jonas and I are leaving. Tomorrow."

"Is this because I'm here?"

Colton sets his mug down on the end table, hard. "How do you always find a way to make everything about yourself?"

"Because I'm a narcissist," I retort. Colton's eyes narrow, but he doesn't argue with me.

I cross the room and open the door.

"Are you sure you wish to go out there?" Vienna asks. "The Preeminence was not very happy with you."

I roll my eyes. "Bite me, Vienna. And the Preeminence can go to hell with you for all I care."

I slam the door behind me and count to ten. Only then do I realize I have no idea where I'm supposed to go.

Ideas for a song for this chapter?