Colton~~

Abella's shown me to a room where I can call my twin over video. The screen on the wall is the height of me. It will be the first time I've seen her—face-to-face—in weeks. This morning, Amoria's army landed in Elleany. When Gwen couldn't get in touch with Jonas, she told me to let him know she wants him on the call as well.

The last thing I need is him telling our sister I've locked him up against his will.

To save his life though. Not that I can explain that to Gwen.

Expired. My brother is Expired. Am I a fool not to have seen that? Could I have known?

We've had to take away his ability to contact the outside world. Abella and Alix know we're trying to prevent him from going down there but don't know he's Expired. As for everyone else—rumors run rampant around the palace about why he has not left his room in a week.

An alert appears on the screen that Gwen is ringing me. I answer to see her standing against a wall I recognize as being in her office because of the framed picture of the constellation Pisces, the zodiac sign that we share, hanging on the wall. Beside her is a young man that I identify immediately despite having seen so few pictures of him. Of stories, there have been plenty.

His black hair is thick but trimmed, and both he and my sister wear a black laurel wreath crown in their hair. His looks as though the blood of stars has been woven through it. He stands taller than my sister, his skin a slightly darker shade of olive than Mid'haa's. His purple eyes are alert and excited at the same time. Although the two of them don't touch, I'd like nothing more than to force him to take an extra step away from my sister.

"Beta, where is the Preeminence?" Gwen asks, her tone calm, but eyes narrowed. When I elected to ignore her request to have Jonas on our call, I didn't know she wouldn't be the only one joining us.

"In a meeting with King Alix. My sincerest apologies."

Gwen purses her lips; however, the man beside her smiles at me before looking down at her. She straightens her shoulders. "I'd like you to meet Alastairi Moretti. The future Preeminence of Amoria."

The heir dips his head. "Please call me Alastair. It was my father's decision to give me a name that rhymed, not mine."

I bow my head as well, the picture of composure even as my thoughts race, firing off a dozen curses in every language I know. "I must admit this is a surprise."

"The Tresais has been in contact with me regarding the circumstances in France," he says. "As I've always been fascinated by your world, I thought this might be my opportunity to see it." I'm certainly glad having our Digamma and future queen kidnapped by rogue Amoris has given him a chance to have a vacation. Truly, I am. "Please don't be cross with her for not informing you I was coming. She did not know until I arrived with my soldiers. I asked to be on this call rather last minute." He adjusts his crown. "I suppose it's clear I'm not yet ready to be Amoria's Preeminence." He chuckles in a self-deprecating way.

In any other Order, he would have assumed the role of Preeminence at twenty-one, but in the head Order, the transition of power doesn't happen until the Preeminence's heir turns thirty—ruling the world is a great deal harder than ruling a country or territory. Technically, as a year on Amoria is roughly equivalent to two years on earth, the age to start the transition is fifteen. Alastair would only be about eleven and a half on Amoria. I'd be considered ten.

I shake my head. "Think nothing of it, Alastair." My eyes drift to my sister. Something tells me he didn't come just to see Earth.

Alastair Moretti, Amoria's most elusive bachelor at twenty-three. He's developed a skill at avoiding compromising photos; though, that does nothing to stop the stories of his escapades. I heard he recently threw a party on the shores of Lake Britarney that boasted every type of debauchery imaginable.

Where the Society keeps our traditions, Amoria uses them as a screen to hide their taste for depravity.

Gwen is my twin. Anyone who shares that much DNA with me is too attractive for their own good. He'll lure my sister down a path of corruption as he makes her fall in love with him only to leave her heartbroken—and possibly pregnant—when he grows tired of Earth.

Gwen is giving me a look that says she knows exactly what is going through my head and that I've never been more ridiculous. "We'll arrive in France tomorrow."

"We?"

"Alastair and I will be escorting the army. Most of the soldiers do not speak English, and none speak French." French was one of the languages she chose to study. Her other languages were Mandarin and of course Amorian. She's recently dived into learning Russian. As much as I miss her, I don't want her coming to France, not if our time here ends with Jonas being killed.

More importantly, if she were she to find out our brother is Expired, would she do her duty and kill him herself?

"I'm looking forward to meeting you, Beta, and your brother. If you're both anywhere nearly as capable and accomplished as your Tresais, I'm sure it will be a pleasure."

How much trouble would I get Elleany in if I were to threaten him?

"Likewise. I look forward to having a long conversation with you, and I'm sure the Preeminence will too."

Gwen's eyes narrow, but Alastair doesn't seem to pick up on my meaning.

He grins. "I already know I'll love it here."

Gwen's hand tightens in the folds of her black toga dress. "We will let you go," she says to me. "We both have much to prepare before our flight."

I nod. "Alastair. Tresais."

The heir has such a damnably pleasant smile on his face that it makes it hard for me to want to drag him into a corner and scare the living hell out of him. "Beta."

Gwen ends the call, and I scrub at my face. I've never been so grateful that we don't have stables at our current Estate. I heard the bachelor was once discovered in the head Zeta's stables, naked on a pile of hay with three women.

There's a knock on the door, and I open it to find Vienna.

"What did Gwen say?" she asks as I close the door behind her.

"She's coming to Paris with the army."

"She hates me now, doesn't she?" Once upon a time they were good friends.

Turning away from her and to the black screen, I press my thumb into my palm, massaging it. "She's probably too busy being Tresais to even think of you." It's been days since Sebastian brought up Tobias and Vienna to me, but I finally steel my nerves to say it now. "Sebastian told me that Tobias used to have an interest in you." I know I'm betraying both my cousins by saying it.

She remains quiet, and it's that silence that prompts me to face her. She looks stricken. "An interest? Like an interest in banishing me to the deepest part of hell and being the one to torture me for eternity?"

"No. I mean, romantically."

She breaks out in laughter, and when I quirk an eyebrow, she laughs harder.

"Tobias? Have you seen the way he's treated me?"

"I . . ."

"If he ever did feel that way, I didn't know about it, and he certainly doesn't hold those feelings now. Where are you going with this?"

Heaven help me. I look off to the side, not wanting to watch her as I explain my thoughts. "Your family is back in Elleany. You belong there. Not here."

"I know. I'm very aware of the fact."

"I . . . have cousins."

"You don't say."

"If you were to marry one in the Order, you could come back, be with your family."

She emits a choking sound. "Marry? Colton, I've been speaking to Jonas," she splutters, "and he's already said I can come back after all of this.

"But you deserve the best, Vienna, and my cousins could give that to you."

She laughs sounding as if she's at her wits' end. "Shall I go through your oh-so-eligible cousins?"

"Vienna . . ."

"As I said, Tobias would not want to marry me. Sebastian's planning to marry someone who will only be alive for five years after they're married. August is in love with Arrietty." She counts each of them off on her fingers. "I've had nightmares that I'm married to Eli where he spends all his time groping me like a boy who just hit puberty. Bently is most likely in love with Iris and won't realize it until he's on his deathbed. Seong-ho? I'd rather not. Riley? He's also looking for a wife who won't live long. Percy? Don't make me laugh. I have no complaints with Enzo. He's dashing, a gentleman—"

"Vienna."

"But I certainly don't love him." She places her hand on my cheek, turning my head toward her. "I love you. I used to be able to see our future every time I looked at you from the moment we fell into that fountain. I don't look at you and just see you here and now. I can picture you years from now. That image to me is home. I want to wake up to that face every morning. I want to end my days with it."

I cover her hand with mine. "You have to know there's nothing I want more than that. But if I can't marry you, I can't lose you from my life. At least this way we'd still be family." Even if it'd be torture to watch her with one of my cousins.

Her eyes narrow. "Something happened during the call. You have a tendency to be melodramatic but not this much."

"Gwen wasn't the only one on the call. The heir of the head Order's Preeminence has come to Earth. He's coming to France with her."

"You're worried he'll find out about Jonas." Erik told her minutes after we locked Jonas in his room, bursting into hers as she was sleeping. "But they let Iris live."

"It's . . . different. Iris was ours in a sense, a citizen of Elleany. The Society is Amoria's. For Amoria to have punished or killed one of our citizens, it would have caused issues to say the least, but they have every right to punish someone in the Society." But only those who are Amorian or related to the Amoris. Not humans. "The best-case scenario is that they remove him as Preeminence."

"Meaning you'll have no choice but to marry an Amoris. Dare I ask the other scenarios?"

"Imprisonment. Death. Jonas is the Preeminence of Elleany; he answers to the Head Order and the rest of Amoria's Orders."

She draws her hand back. "When will you understand that traditions are destroying all of you? You're already mostly Amorian. Does your wife really need to be as well? What does it gain you? Your descendants still won't be able to know Expiration Dates."

"It's . . . it's an alliance. Amoria orders it."

She turns on her heel, headed for the door. "Just so you all remember that you're not human? I don't think that's something you forget."

*****

When I enter Jonas's room, he's seated in an armchair, a book lying open in his lap. There's a layer of stubble along the lower portion of his face. "It's been a few days." He closes the book.

"Still growing out that beard?"

He shrugs. "I figured if I'm going to be locked up away from people, what better time to try a look that has the potential to be disastrous. And for your information, I'm not planning to let it turn into a proper beard."

"It's not a bad look."

He runs his hand over his jaw. "It's growing on me."

As I take the seat across from him, I roll my eyes. "I'm glad you can still make jokes."

His expression sours.

Sighing, I pick at my nails. "It makes you look intimidating."

"Out with it, Colton."

"The Amorian army has landed in Elleany. They will be here tomorrow."

Life rushes into his eyes. He knows that means I'll be letting him out. I suppose only one of us is eager for him to run toward his death.

"Gwen will be coming. Alastairi Moretti will be with her."

Jonas looks shocked. "Alastair?" He blinks before leaning forward and, despite it being only the two of us, drops his voice into a whisper, "I heard he has children with fifteen different mistresses."

"I hadn't heard that one."

Jonas reclines back in the chair and sets his book on the end table beside him. "You're worried about Gwen."

"Yes, aren't you?"

"She's heard the stories too. I trust her to look out for herself."

"So you won't help me warn him off?"

His shoulders heave and for a brief moment he looks incredibly tired. "I'm not looking to make an enemy in Amoria's future Preeminence. And were he to try anything, I have no doubt that Gwen would be able to handle him. A few well-timed pretty words aren't going to lead her astray."

"But if he offers her power?" Gwen's greatest strength and flaw is that she desires power and will go to great lengths to achieve it.

"Then it's her decision to be foolish enough to be lured into that trap." He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Honestly, Colton."

"I'm sorry. Do I tire you with my trivial concerns?"

"Like your worry that Alastair will kill me?"

I stiffen. "I never—"

"Your thoughts are written on your face. I take it you just spoke to Vienna. You're usually easy to read after your interactions with her."

I glower at him. Even though I know he hasn't actually read my mind, I still feel as if he's invaded my privacy.

"I suppose this means I'll need to shave if Alastair will be here."

Waving my hand, I dismiss the suggestion. "Leave it. Sebastian and Enzo keep theirs."

"Was Alastair every bit as salacious as we all imagined him to be?"

"Hardly. He seems like he's the type of person to be disgustingly happy all the time."

"The man who supposedly went on a rampage, burning his ex's boat when she cheated on him?"

"I suppose when you're that unnaturally handsome, you have a reason to be happy all the time."

"Even more handsome than you, dear brother?" He sounds affronted, but I know he's trying to goad me.

"Yes, though you can rest assured as no one could be prettier than you."

Reaching for his book, he rolls his eyes. "Then I suppose he will take that claim when I am dead."

A jolt runs through me at hearing him talk about his death with such indifference.

Again, he must see my thoughts written on my face because he frowns. "I forget that I can't be so blunt around others."

"You casually talk with your beloved fiancée about being dead?"

"It's not as if we have others we can talk to about living past our Expiration Dates. It's an . . . inexplicable feeling to wait for death and then when the day comes and passes to find that you're still alive. A part of you feels like a ghost. Another feels as if you're so brittle, you'll crack with the slightest misstep, a god turned mortal. Things that couldn't kill you now have the power to take your life. And another part of you feels like you have to live harder than you did when you were invincible because you never know when it will all be gone." He opens his book and turns it over to lay face down on his leg. "Any new bodies today?"

I swear, keeping the curse in my head. His death really is a casual topic of conversation for him.

Over the past few days, Odette's been leaving more bodies around the city as if urging us to act sooner than later. Maybe she's figured out we're waiting on Amoria. Or maybe she doesn't believe Amoria would ever help a country that doesn't belong to them. If anything, maybe she thinks Amoria would want to help her.

Whatever her reasons, it's made Alix and Abella extremely tense as we wait for Amoria to arrive.

"Not today."

He lets out a breath. I know he's just waiting for one of us to tell him that Iris's body has been found. But thankfully that has yet to happen.

Yet.

I don't know what we'd do if we end up discovering her body only a day before we attack.

The sorrow and guilt of waiting . . .

Jonas would burn the world.

And then watch it turn to ash.

So I've asked you who you ship together in the story, but who in the story do you ship yourself with?

These are the men I'd be quite happy with:

Jonas

Bently

Colton

Alastair—really excited for you all to get to know this man. Coming up with the rumors about him was entirely too much fun. *beckons you closer* Did you hear Amorians think he might have ties to their criminal underworld? You didn't hear that from me.