Colton~~

Right now, my brother and Iris are packing—my brother with the mindset that he won't be returning—and I'm here pacing back and forth in my office, right where Alastair said he'd meet me. Ten minutes ago.

I slam my fist into the side of my bookcase and grimace, certain I've only caused a future bruise to form. I should be out there. Fighting this. Fighting someone. Figuring out a way to smuggle my brother to safety.

And then figure out how I am supposed to be Preeminence in his place.

In the past, I had always wanted the position. I even made a move to attain it when Jonas left the Estate to find Iris after Erik exposed her to the Society. It wasn't that I woke up one morning and realized I no longer had the desire to be Preeminence. Hell, that actually might have been what happened had I bothered paying attention. But that's the thing. I stopped focusing on that aspiration, and when I finally realized I no longer wanted to be the Preeminence, it had felt right. Maybe it had something to do with Vienna being exported to France and that I was distracted with finding her, but those months away from her and the months following her return to my life, I fell into a rhythm, one with Jonas at the lead, Gwen flourishing in her role as Tresais, and me enjoying the chance to develop deeper bonds with my cousins in the Order. Bonds that had felt strained in the years leading up to our initiations into the Order. But over these past months, they became family again.

And Iris was there in the center of it. Laughing, smiling, poking fun at us when we got too serious.

How could I upset this balance that was struck?

Even when I learned Jonas was Expired and that I am supposed to be Preeminence, I wanted him to keep the title. I wanted to serve him and continue to look up to my older brother. Because that's what he is. My older brother who always looked out for me and our sister even when we were beastly to him or ignored him as younger siblings are wont to do to their older siblings when they suddenly believe they have all the wisdom they need.

There's a knock on the door.

"Come in." My voice sounds more like a growl than anything close to a respectable tone.

Alastair pushes open my door. "I'm—"

"You knew this was going to happen."

Stepping inside, he shuts the door behind him. "I knew what my orders were, but I had no intention of following them. I didn't expect Alessi to force my hand."

"Did you believe Jonas was Expired?"

"When the prisoner told us, a part of me did believe him. After meeting Iris, was it so hard to believe? But I never once thought he should be punished if he were Expired. Most of Amoria would agree, but the Orders . . . they are different."

"So you've come to plead your innocence then?"

"No. I've come to tell you that you have to go with Jonas to Amoria."

I stiffen, restraining myself from wrapping my hands around his throat. How dare he come in here and taunt me with impossible demands? "They're not allowing us to go. Hell, he's barely getting Iris onto that ship."

"I can sneak you on and hide you in my quarters long enough at least that we'll already have taken off, and they won't turn around."

"Why though? Will the Order listen to someone who knew what his brother was and did nothing?"

Alastair drags his fingers over the smooth wood polish of my desk, his head tilted down toward them. "This isn't about your brother," he mumbles.

"Does this somehow have to do with your plan to seduce my sister?"

Alastair's head snaps up. "What?"

"My sister. As I'm sure you've noticed, you're a rake."

"A rake? Beta, are you calling me a gardening tool?"

I run my hand over my face. "What—no," I say, trying to recall the correct Amorian word. "A craepeira."

Alastair's eyes widen a fraction before they narrow. "You insult me? Frankly, I don't need to explain my intentions to you, but I assure you that any intentions I might have regarding your sister are not ill. Your sister who now hates me, if you recall. I insist that you go to Amoria because your brother is about to spend his life locked in a cell, and you are going to become Preeminence. If you want any chance of marrying Vienna, you have to go and plead your case."

I stare at him in disbelief. "You think that's what I'm concerned with?"

"Who is more important to you? Your brother or your future wife?"

His words jar me.

"Before you say your brother, ask yourself who is more important to him. You or Iris?"

My hand tightens into a fist. It's already sore from hitting the bookcase earlier. He'd choose Iris over me without hesitation. Not after I tried killing her and removing him from the Order. For my brother, the answer will always be Iris.

"You still wish to help me after I called you a craepeira?"

"Unlike you, my feelings are not so easily hurt. Grab what you need and Vienna. I'll have to get you to the ship before your brother or my father's men arrive there."

*****

Twenty minutes later Vienna and I are in a car and on the road, Alastair in the back row. I can't help but feel we're eloping though that isn't what this is.

Once we reach the airport, there are servants already preparing the ship.

There's no way to sneak past them so we don't try to. They only bow as we pass them, and the only explanation Alastair offers them is that Vienna and I are delivering my brother's and Iris's belongings.

Inside the ship, I'm taken aback by its layout. I've seen pictures, but actually being in one is different. Were it a plane that carried passengers from country to country, it would probably fit eight seats in a row, ten if there were no aisles. Instead, the ship is laid out with rooms and a small hallway running along the side of the cabin. Alastair takes us to the room in the back, and gauging by the placements of the other doors, this seems to be the largest room.

There's a place to enter a key code, but Alastair merely pushes the handle down, and the door opens. Vienna raises her eyebrows, and I know she must be thinking like me that it's odd for him to leave it unlocked. Alastair notices her expression and explains how he left it unlocked for his belongings to be delivered.

He frowns though when he looks around the room. There's a queen-sized bed against the middle of the wall, draped in silver sheets and blankets that shimmer, its frame black. A desk is against one wall with a chair that must be nailed down as well as a dresser. Near the desk are two other chairs that have straps attached to them, for take-off and landing, I assume. There are two doors that must lead to a closet and a bathroom.

"Is something wrong?" I ask him.

"My belongings haven't been delivered yet."

"Will that be an issue if we're here?" Vienna asks as Alastair shuts and locks the door.

"I'll be here. It will be fine." He strides across the room and opens one of the doors, revealing a very tiny closet. "When the konkursi arrive with my things, you can hide yourself underneath the bed." He looks over his shoulder at me. "Unless you have an issue with confined places." Though by his tone and arched brow, I know he couldn't care less if I did. The blankets on the bed hang off the sides, touching the floor. No one will see us. "Or you may hide in the bathroom." He motions to the other door before instructing us to put our things into the closet and to make sure we strap them down. He steps outside the room to check on the state of the quarters Jonas—and I assume Iris—will be staying in.

Once the door is shut, Vienna turns to me, wringing her hands and taking a deep breath. "Are we . . . Is this an awful idea? Your brother . . ."

I place a hand on her cheek. "No. This is right. Iris is Jonas's first priority. I don't need to feel any guilt about putting you above him. And besides, at least I'll be on Amoria if something were to go wrong."

"If you need to break your brother out of prison, you mean?"

I chuckle to keep that image out of my head. "Or to stop Iris from stabbing the Head Preeminence."

Vienna cocks her head to the side, a sparkle in her eyes. "That sounds the more likely scenario. What—"

"Get your hands off me," Alastair shouts in Amorian, and while Vienna is not fluent in Amorian, she understands enough that she grips my hands and pulls me in the direction of the bed. It seems like the better option, the least likely place in which someone will end up spotting us.

"Forgive us, but we're only following your father's orders, sir," a deep voice says from the other side of the door.

"How long does he expect me to stay here?"

A pause, and Vienna lifts the bedspread.

"He doesn't want you interfering."

There's no time to ponder their conversation because the moment Vienna ducks down, her eyes widen, and she falls back.

I crouch down beside her, trying to figure out what's wrong, when I see Percy with a sheepish smile on his face as he looks at me from where he's tucked underneath the bed.

I almost fall back as well and bite back a curse.

Instinct causes me to want to drag him out from underneath the bed and demand why he's here, but the voices from outside the room are getting louder, and someone says, "Preeminence," followed by the sound of Jonas's voice.

The glare I send Percy is enough to get him to move over, and as he shuffles to the side, Vienna and I squirm our way underneath the bed, and she pulls the blanket back down to conceal all of us.

She and I face one way, and Percy the other, but my head is near his stomach, so at least there's no uncomfortable staring. Only uncomfortable silence, while we're all acutely aware of one another's presence.

I suppose everything is planning on going wrong today. 

Hello, loves. I'm so sorry for the delay on this. This chapter and the next few all go together closely, which meant I had to write them all first so I could edit them together before sharing. This means that the next few chapters will be coming over the next few days.