Iris~~

"Surielius is beautiful."

Brielle, the Preeminence's wife, passes behind me as I lean against the railing, white birds like doves flying past on a breeze that stirs my hair. Spanning across the sides of four mountains, ivory-white buildings gleam as if they were carved and polished for display in a museum. Bridges, of the same color, connect the city, crossing in behemoth arches over the expanse of the vale far below us, the vale shrouded in the mist that swirls and shields the base of the mountains and ground from view.

"Thank you." Brielle places her hands on the railing. "This is only one small part of Surielius, but it is my favorite."

The sun casts shadows of the columns lining the courtyard over the railing, half of one hand caught in the shade, the other in the sun. Children's laughter skips across the courtyard as young Amorians play a game that seems similar to tag.

Jonas and Preeminence Tomen hover near one of the columns in the shade, speaking.

"He doesn't let you out of his sight, does he?" Brielle's brown hair is pinned in a chignon. Loose strands of her hair sway in the breeze.

"We both worry after each other."

"It's not hard to understand after what you've been through."

"You've heard . . ."

"About Clarignon? Yes."

My gaze fixes on Jonas whose black hair is styled up in the front today, his head bent as he speaks with Tomen. His blazer is not as tight as usual, leaving room for the breeze to sweep inside it, lifting it from his torso on occasion. If Odette had known Jonas was Expired, what would she have done to him?

It's as if he heard me say his name. He looksONLYONWATTPADBENDERup and offers me a calming smile before his eyes return to the Preeminence.

When Brielle offered to give me a tour, the invitation was only issued to me, but that didn't stop both Preeminences from being here, and I'm relieved to not be separated from Jonas.

I return my focus to the children. "What made you open this home?"

"I was adopted."

My eyes snap to hers.

"I was relieved to get out of the adocova"—the Amorian word for orphanage—"I had lived in. Even while there, I knew I wanted to build a place for Surielius's children. A place I would have wanted to live. It wasn't until I married Tomen that I had the means to." She pauses. "Tomen told me you were adopted as well."

I tense. "I grew up in an adocova, yes, but it . . . it had to shut its doors before I found a family."

"I'm sorry."

"If I had been, I don't think I would have found the family I have now." And I would not give them up.

Could I build something like this in Elleany? A home for children? For those who didn't want to be told what they had to become or who were told they were limited by their Marks. Where no matter their Expiration Date, they would be loved.

And why stop at one home? Why not two or three or a dozen?

My thoughts turning over in my head, I look out over the city again. The buildings seem to twinkle with an ethereal quality, and I imagine this must be what Heaven looks like. This was a city built for angels. For things that can fly, and the fact that children can play so close to these drop offs that seem to fall into an abyss—even with Marks shielding them from death—unsettles me.

If I had grown up here—called these four mountains home—would all the city have become my playground? Would I balance on the railings of the bridges to cross them? Would I climb over balconies to get from one to the next?

"It must have been hard to have to leave your home though."

"Yes." Regardless of every single thing that was painful about growing up there or that haunts me, it was my home.

She looks past the children to where a dark alcove leads inside. "Shall I show you more?"

I force warmth into my eyes, banishing thoughts of my former home until they're nothing more than echoes of crackling fire. "Please."

Crossing the courtyard, Brielle offers smiles to the children, and I can't decide if it's more motherly or sisterly. Either way it doesn't make it any less clear what she is—a queen. She doesn't need her husband the Preeminence at her side for that part of her to shine. It's in the grace of her lips, in her eyes that reveal everything and nothing at once, in the sureness of her step—like she could whirl and spin with a book balanced on her head and it would never slip off.

Jonas and Preeminence Tomen look up, my husband's eyes tracking me.

"We've been graced with the presence of many of your family members lately," she says.

"You must be weary of the Blackwoods at this point."

She laughs, and it's nothing less than regal. "It's nice to welcome family no matter how distantly removed."

I stop just before the doorway. "Family?"

"From what I know of my ancestry, many generations back, a grandparent was a Mortelixiri."

I follow her inside where it's not as dark as I thought it would be, the lighting simply dim compared to the sunlight in the courtyard. The only source of light enters through slates in the ceiling. Thin strips of light brown wood panel the walls, and lush green plants are spaced along them, making the space feel more open than it is.

"Preeminence Blackwood will have my husband's support." Before I can thank her, she continues, "As for his brother and cousins, they might be a bit more difficult to convince."

"You mean, they don't believe a raggioet should—"

"No, it's not that. Frankly, I don't think they care. They grow bored easily, you see." She brushes out her sleeve. "You'd think they were immortal," she mutters with a shake of her head. "They act like it. They wish to be entertained in most things they do. You'll have to make it worth their while."

I'm not certain what to say to that and our conversation turns from the Order to her explaining what the different rooms we pass are used for, and why she found them important to have. Most hold things she had longed for growing up.

"The image I had of Surielius was that it was filled with orange lakes." And blue monkeys. "I realize now how foolish that was."

She adjusts a drooping plant, before plucking a tiny yellowing leaf. "We have a home on the lake you're thinking of. But I prefer our home here, and so I convince Tomen to spend as much time here as we can. Though his Order is not happy about that."

"They don't like it here?"

"They prefer the water than being all the way up here in the skies. But with Senate meetings they can't be far from the Preeminence for too long as I'm sure you know."

It probably wouldn't be appropriate for me to explain all the times Elleany's Oder was separated for long periods of time.

Now would be an example.

"If you don't mind me asking, what would make the Order . . . amiable to voting in favor of my husband?"

Her lips turn down. "They'll decide how they wish to be entertained, and it will be up to the two of you to accommodate them. Aries has a lot more influence in the Order than he should, but win him over, and you're almost guaranteed to have their support."

*****

That night after dinner I find Jonas up on the roof of the Preeminence's home. The house is smaller than the orphanage, and its interior is bedecked in white gold, its walls made of a light-colored stone, no wood paneling to be found.

The roof is also made of stone, and I can't imagine he's comfortable. He smiles but he seems sad. "Hi."

"Everything all right?"

He shrugs, tilting his head back. "I was missing my parents, my sister."

I tense at the mention of my father-in-law. I would never ask Jonas to not love his father, but he knows I never can, not after the former Preeminence gave the orders to burn my orphanage and its directors inside.

"I'm sure they're missing you just as much."

"I imagine Gwen's rather preoccupied."

"You really think her and Alastair . . ."

"She likes him. A lot. At least she did. Now I don't know what her feelings are."

I take a seat beside him. "Do you like Alastair?"

"Promise not to tell Colton?"

My lips quirk. "Promise."

"I do. No one will ever be good enough for my sister, but Alastair is not the man I thought he was. I don't know how to reconcile the man I know from the heir in the headlines. But I'm worried that Gwen will marry him only for his power and not because her feelings for him have returned."

I wrap my arm around him and place a kiss on his shoulder. "You just have to trust her. She is your Tresais."

He sighs. "I know but she's still my baby sister."

"Just like Colton's your baby brother?"

"Exactly."

"Did he say anything about how Surielius went for them?"

He shakes his head. "None of them wanted to talk about it other than that it went fine."

"So it was the opposite then."

Jonas takes a deep breath before letting it out. "My thoughts exactly."

"And Erik?"

"I never saw him after he left the room the other night. And if I even mentioned Surielius, he would be onto us."

"We did what we had to do."

He threads his fingers through mine and brings the back of my hand to his lips. "I'd lie to him a thousand times more if it's what it takes to keep you safe."

Has anyone else listened to the Belle soundtrack?

https://youtu.be/7pKOqGoZ7yQ