Colton~~

For the past eight hours, Tobias and I have been camped out in my room within the palace as Jonas ordered. Over that time our positions have changed. We started off in the plush chairs gathered around the table Alix had brought in. Then Tobias spread out on my bed while I draped my legs over the arm of my chair. Somehow, I've found my way onto the table, and Tobias, on top of and surrounded by pillows, has lain out on the rug. We've been pouring over the maps that have the symbol for possession overlaid on them that Amoria sent four days ago.

When those maps had first arrived, it was Tobias who said Odette's base must be in the catacombs while Sebastian said they wouldn't be daft enough to put their stronghold in the capitol city of the country they're trying to overthrow. Alix then informed us that the catacombs have already been searched and—I thought—settled that debate.

I grab a pen and label a section of the map where I think Odette could leave a body while Tobias keeps muttering about how he's sure they're in the catacombs. And that has been my life these past eight hours—me doing all the work and Tobias daydreaming with a decent contribution every forty-five minutes or so.

And the muttering. Heaven help me. He's the Undici; he shouldn't be this butthurt when someone thinks his idea is asinine. He has a country to help run and now a country to save.

I tap the pen against the map. At this point all of the maps look the same even though they aren't all of the same view. Based on the lines Amoria drew, Tobias and I have to find where along them it seems the most likely Odette will leave a body, basing it on the area, the surrounding buildings, and the landscape. Many of the maps we have are zoomed in images of Paris.

Three days ago a new body was found, a young woman who the French identified as Ines Fraise. A wife, a mother, and an accountant. There's been no word from Mid'haa since she and her team member went missing.

Tobias presses his palms into the rug, the muscles under his umber-black skin going taut as he pushes himself up off the ground and stands. He twists his back in a S formation, cracking it, as he walks over to the bar cart. I roll my eyes as he reaches for the mango passion-fruit juice sent up specifically for him.

Drink something with caffeine, I want to scream at him and reach for my fourth cup of coffee. He's always wrinkled his nose whenever someone brews a pot while he's in the room. He likes tea but prefers juice. I myself enjoy the occasional cold glass of juice for breakfast, but I don't walk around the Estate with a tumbler of juice in my hand.

He frowns into his glass. "I've been thinking—"

"About the catacombs. I've heard."

He walks back over, the ice clinking in his glass as the yellowish juice sways side to side. "Well, yes, but about afterward. After our Order is done. About what I want to do."

"Is now really the time for that?"

"It's either that or contemplate throwing your coffee in your face every time you pour another cup and say how it hardly affects you anymore."

I grip the pen, my eyes boring down at the map. "I'm sorry that I'm committed to finding our cousin and doing my job."

Tobias sets his glass down on the table with a decisive clink. "Do you really think I'm not committed to the Society because I wanted to go to college?"

As my palm presses into the map—steadying myself—I raise my eyes to him. "Is being Undici not good enough?"

"Colton, I'm honored to be able to serve my country and the Society, but what am I supposed to for the rest of my life when I am no longer Undici?"

"Help your son in his Order."

He smiles ruefully. "My chances of having an heir in the next Order are slim. It's guaranteed for you now that your heir will be Preeminence, but for those lower in rank, our heirs seldom have a place in the Order. There's hardly a chance that Enzo at twelfth in line will have an heir serve the Society as he has. What will my legacy be if my son doesn't get to serve in the same way I have?"

"Being the Undici is a legacy in itself."

"And will I have been any different than all the past Undici? I am going to attend college after and finally get to study to study civil engineering. I'll be able to continue serving our country that way. Make a legacy for myself."

I set the pen down and sigh. "Won't you have done enough by then?"

He shakes his head, eyes on his glass of juice where it rests on the table far enough from any maps that I don't have to worry about condensation. "Sometimes I agree that fear is the best way to control people. It's no secret that our people hate us. But how long will that fear last? We need our people to not hate us if the Society is to last. How many more years of rebel attacks can we take?"

"There haven't been any since Cinderville." And if they ever slither back out, I'll crush them like the snakes and weeds that they are.

"It's only a matter of time before they rise back up—unless we can win the country's love."

Scoffing, I grab the pen and force my focus back on the map, eyes scanning it for places where soldiers can lie in wait to apprehend Odette or her followers when they leave their next victim. An idealist. That's what Tobias is. Our people will never want us. "And how do you seduce a country?"

"You be what they want you to be. Being surrounded by the Society is where I feel at home, where I feel the safest. I want my descendants to feel the same way. I don't want them to watch as we destroy ourselves."

"It's all very—" I pause, hearing voices out in the hall. They lack a French accent and bear an Elleanian one instead, maybe a bit of a northern one. I breathe out in relief. They're our soldiers. The last thing I want is any of Alix's soldiers listening in on us.

Our forces arrived from Elleany two days ago. Amoria's won't be here for almost twelve more days.

"It's noble of you," I finish.

He shrugs and gulps down his juice. "You'll be busy helping your heir be Preeminence. I've never been one to be idle."

I take a sip of my coffee. It's black. No sugar. No cream. "I don't know about Preeminence. Maybe Beta."

"You think Iris won't make it out of this?"

I drum the tips of my short nails against the ceramic mug. "What I think—what I expect is that it won't be long before Iris's body shows up as the next marker in Odette's pursuit to create this symbol." I point at the map on top of my pile, at that ancient symbol. Just another body—that's what she'll be. One whose Expiration Date will be bared to the world and expose that she had been Expired long before she died.

I won't need to marry an Amoris.

But I'll lose Iris.

"Jonas will be a mess."

"He shouldn't have fallen in love with someone who should be dead." It comes out harsher than I mean it to.

"It's not his fault."

I roll my eyes and set the mug down. "How is it not his fault? He pursued her. Hell, he was smitten the moment they met. He knew what she was long before we did. He could have ended it."

He arches an eyebrow. "By killing her?"

"I believe that's what we all were pushing for."

"She helped us take down those rebels. If he disposed of her from the beginning, she wouldn't have been there to rescue us."

"Our people were taken prisoner by Erik because of Iris. Her death would have solved problems before they had even arisen."

He refills his glass. "So, you wish he had killed her?"

"No." I slouch forward, bracing myself on the table. "A year ago I wouldn't have understood, but I'm thankful every day that he didn't. And that I didn't either."

There's an urgent knock on the door. We exchange a glance before Tobias moves across the room and openes it. Vienna and Sebastian barge in. Her gaze goes right to me, her face a sickly white.

I drop off from the edge of the table, standing up, my back ridged. "What's happened?"

"They've found Mid'haa." Vienna wrings her hands. "She's alive but unconscious. Colton, she's been Marked."

Sebastian clutches his phone in his hand. "Odette's left us a note in Amorian. Mid'haa was found at an entrance into their stronghold. You were right, Tobias. They're in the catacombs."

Tobias sets his glass down and crosses his arms, arrogant enough to look smug. "You don't say," he drawls.

"Not the time, Undici," I snap.

He merely cocks his head at me and blinks. "Back to using titles then?"

I press my fingers into the bridge of my nose. Here I thought Tobias and I had a breakthrough. Vienna takes a step toward me, putting her closer to Sebastian, who makes a very blatant show of moving away from her.

"Are we paying Odette a visit now?" I ask.

The Theta shakes his head. "We're only going to go investigate the location. If Odette wants us to come into her fortress then she's not wanting a war. She must believe one battle will decide everything. If she's that prepared, we need Amoria, and then we'll have two armies facing off with one another that are essentially immortal."

Tobias drums his fingers against the table. "They won't be here for a while."

"Jonas wants us ready to leave in"—Vienna glances at the clock on the wall—"ten minutes."

Sebastian cuts her a scathing look that makes me bristle and takes his leave.

"I need to visit my room before we depart, if you'll excuse me, Beta." Tobias gives Vienna a wide berth on his way out.

She lets loose a long-suffering sigh, her shoulders drooping. "I'm still surprised Tobias even bothered to pull Alix off me instead of letting me pass out." It's an effort to not choke Alix myself.

"Give them time."

She rubs at her arm. "It's not like I'm going back to the Society. You and I both know that." Her eyes drift over the maps. "As much as I love Abella, I'm not sure I can stay in France, not with Alix."

"Come back with me to the Society. Give us time to figure out how to get around my marriage situation." I hold out my hand, palm up. She takes a step toward the door instead, and there's a twinge in my heart.

"Your brother is waiting. I'll let you have a minute to get ready." She pauses when she reaches the door. "I want more than anything to go back with you. Just"—she twists the door knob—"don't get my hopes up," she says.

And then she's gone.

I'm so proud to announce that my mentee for the Wattys Bootcamp is RappyTheDinosaur. I'll be helping her get her book A Gamble of Paintings and Poison Watty ready. There are dragons, and fairies, and mermaids in her story, and I just love it, and the main character is trapped in the world that her favorite video game is based on.

Here's the description: 

MAGGIE is a college girl who just wants to paint, stuck in a fantasy world where she must kill a queen to get home.

KINDLE is a wayward dragon dealing with PTSD, an obsessive fairy queen, and a stalling rebellion.

ELLE, who wants nothing more than to find her missing best friend, is stuck babysitting (not literally) an angel (literally.)