Colton~~

"The lake is orange."

            "I know the lake is orange, Percy."

            Our vehicle drives around Surielius's orange lake. We've had no contact with any of our mysterious drivers. The first car took us to a plane that we boarded to fly from Borilia to Surielius. Once we landed, we found a new vehicle awaiting us.

            It seems like Leorus has arranged everything, and it's become clear we will go where he wants and only when he wants.

            Now I'm stuck with Percy and his fascination with the orange lake. The water is also making Vienna visibly uncomfortable.

            If Preeminence Moretti has arranged this, then the Order must be expecting us.

            I glance again at Vienna.

            Right?

            Across the lake is a mansion but the car takes a road that leads us away from it.

"Have you made any progress on that presentation? Sorry I don't have a poster board to lend."

I shoot Percy a glare.

Before we even switched from car to plane, Percy had asked me what my plan was to win over the Orders. I've been trying to come up with some sort of speech, some sort of logical reasoning to convince them to let Vienna and I marry, that Gwen could marry an Amoris—none in particular—and that her heir could be Preeminence.

            I rake my hand through my hair. I feel like I'm selling my sister.

            The car comes to a stop under the overhang of a small white mansion. Standing before a gilded door is a tall man, his hair a bluish black. He's dressed in slacks and the sleeves of his button up are rolled close to his elbows.

            Beside him are a woman and a man dressed in uniforms of black and gray.

            The two of them come toward the car, the woman opening the door for us.

            Percy steps out of the vehicle first, followed by Vienna and then me. The two attendants take our bags while the man at the door comes forward.

"Welcome, Beta, Iota, Miss Rosen."

            Percy bows with all the grace of an aristocrat. "Tresais."

            I quickly do the same. I don't want to admit it, but I'm thankful Percy is here just now.

            The Tresais smiles. "Preeminence Moretti gave me a brief idea of why you're here, and I have to say I'm intrigued. And please, it's Aries."

Vienna slips her hand into mine, and we followONLYONWATTPADBENDERthe Tresais into the house where natural light floods in through windows on the back wall. On the right wall what looks like fresh green moss or vines cover the wall around a grand white fireplace.

            Outside the windows, the backyard is a mix of hedges and stone pavers. The backyard is sealed in by a railing that overlooks a lake, its water crystal blue, not orange. A smaller house is set off in the corner.

            Aries has us take a seat on plush purple couches that, after spending hours in a small car and in a plane, feel like the comfiest of beds.

"So you two want to marry?" He motions between Vienna and me.

            I sit forward. "Yes—"

            He turns to Percy. "Wouldn't it be more interesting if she and you were to marry?"

            Vienna's eyes widen and "What?" slips out of my month.

Aries ignores us, crossing his legs. "Of course, a Beta wants an exception to be made for him. Us big guys at the top are always breaking the rules. But you little guys—"

"I don't think I'd refer to myself as a little guy."

            "What I mean is those like you at the end of the Order—"

            "I rule a country. Being Number eleven is hardly a significant point when compared to the number of citizens we have or members within the Society."

"You're missing the point, Iota."

            Percy works his jaw. "Please enlighten me then, Tresais."

"I just think it would be an interesting twist if an Iota swept this girl off her feet."

            Vienna's fingers dig into the couch while Percy's lips curl into a cutting smile. "If you want to make life into a story," he says, "talk to our Douze, and believe me when I'd say there are a good many others I'd rather be with than a traitor who stabbed my cousin and family in the back."

            Heat floods Vienna's checks, and her lips press into a thin line.

            Aries looks at me. "I do like the idea of a Tresais's heir becoming Preeminence. Does your sister already have a partner in mind? If not, I have a few I could suggest."

            I'd rather my sister not be subjected to a line of suitors; though, knowing her, she'd probably love it. "I believe she has a few possibilities, but my sister's love life is not something she tends to broadcast. And her heir isn't set to become Preeminence yet. Does this mean you'll lend us your support?" I need him to prefer me. Not Percy.

            Aries leans back in his chair and places a hand on his chin, studying us. "You'll need to win over my cousins. I'm having a bit of an informal get together with them tonight. Come. We're always looking for a new card player."

            Something dark passes over Percy's face. "What game do you play?"

"Tela. Have you heard of it, Iota?"

            Percy's expression stills into something that could be called collected. "I have."

            I haven't.

"I'll have someone show you to the guesthouse." Aries stands. "I look forward to seeing you tonight."

*****

All Percy will say about Tela is not to play. And with that exceedingly helpful advice, he stalks off to claim a room for himself, leaving me and Vienna alone.

She sags against the wall. "I think that all went rather horribly. What about you?"

            "I think we'd have a better chance if I was Percy."

She stares at me, her eyes piercing. "When are we going to talk about it?"

            "My lifelong jealousy of my cousin?" I quirk an eyebrow in hope.

"That we abandoned your brother and Iris."

            "Iris is usually quite capable of handling things."

            "Colton."

            I've been trying to push all thoughts of them out of my head as they come. I don't know what fate Moretti had planned but whatever it was, it should be over by now. And they should be free.

            "Erik's there," I say.

            "Ah, yes, the great savior."

            I step closer to her. "Don't go head-to-head with me in retorts, Vienna. You won't win."

            She tilts her chin, looking up at me and saying nothing.

            "If you don't want this—don't want us, then leave. Go back and be the savior to Jonas and Iris."

            "Your guilt is showing."

            Stepping closer, I grasp her chin between my fingers. "Why can't you see I love you?"

            She grabs my arm. "This isn't what this is about. I just want you to know you don't have to put up a front with me. You can tell me how you're really feeling."

            I don't want to place that burden on her. That running away with her and leaving my family behind is tearing me apart. That's for me to deal with and for Vienna to feel no guilt over.

            "Colton?"

            I wrap my arms around her, burying my head in her neck, her hair, so she can't see the tears rising to my eyes.

            Her fingers dig intoONLYONWATTPADBENDERmy back. "It's me. You can talk to me."

            I tremble, holding her tighter and the words slip out, "What if they're dead?"

            "They can't be."

            "They're both Expired."

"Wouldn't you feel it though? Wouldn't you know if something did happen to your brother?"

            "I wish I could say that was the case."

            She pushes my head back and brushes away stands of hair that are starting to stick to my forehead. "Alastair said they have to be left alive. Trust in that."

            My fingers tighten in her shirt.

            "Could you, I don't know, call Erik?"

I think back to when Iris had been locked away in her chambers and Erik stopped me from interfering. But I wouldn't be asking him to get involved. Just to tell me what happened. "I don't even know how I would get a hold of him."

            "I'm sure someone here has a way to contact Rydersin. Maybe even Aries?"

"I'll ask him tonight."

            She smiles softly.

            "What?"

"It's okay to hurt, Colton, as long as you let others in to help you heal."

I take her face in my hands, brushing my thumbs over the line of her hair. "I do let you in."

            "You do, but only when you think you won't be a burden to me."

"But I would be."

"No, Colton." She rises up on her toes and presses her lips to my forehead. "You wouldn't."

*****

The entire Order and their significant others are gathered around a table set up near the railing. I can hear the lake water lapping at the wall below us. Flames on black poles flicker above our heads.

Percy eyes the stacks of cards on the table with disdain. Beside them is a collection of matching knives.

Seated on my right is Vienna. Her eyes have hardly left the knives.

"Will you be playing, Iota?" Surielius's Eta asks.

Percy looks up. "No. I will not be."

The Eta's eyes slide to mine. "Beta?" Percy told me not to play. That's all he would say.

"I'm afraid I don't know how."

His eyes flick to Vienna and back to me. "I'd hate for you to regret it if you didn't." The meaning is clear; we won't have the Order's support if I don't play their game.

"I wouldn't say the game is easy." The Douze grabs a full deck of cards from the center of the table. "But it's very easy to understand."

The decks of cards are in the vein of some of the ones found on Earth, but the cards only go up to the number eight and are in three suites: stars, moons, and planets.

"We'll teach you." Aries grabs a deck of his own. "Vienna will be your second."

            She frowns. "Like in a duel?"

            Aries shakes his head, a smile playing on his lips. "You'll see."

            "Colton . . ." Percy mutters under his breath.

            The knives do nothing to help quell my nerves, but what choice do I have? I imagine the significant others of all the Order must be their seconds, so it can't be dangerous.

            "How do you play?"

            Percy mutters something else under his breath.

            The Eta slides me a deck of cards. "Take six and place the rest in a pile in front of you. The goal is to get six in a row or make a set."

            Aries begins spreading out the knives. "And when you do, grab one. Or once you see one of us take a knife, take one before none are left or you lose."

            I can easily see a wild scramble for a knife happening every round. "And what are the seconds for?"

The light from a flame glints in Aries's eyes. "That is almost impossible to say."

            Percy rolls his shoulders back, his chest rising.

"Begin," the Preeminence, seated at the end of the table, calls.

            The Order begins flipping cards, one at a time, over from their stack. I quickly

jump in, doing the same.

            The only start of anything I have going with my cards are a three and four of stars. Nothing I'm flipping over is helping.

            Out of the corner of my eye, I see the Delta reach slowly for a knife.

            My heart thuds, and my hand shoots out, wrapping around a hilt and yanking it back to me.

            Immediately, hands dart forward, clambering for a knife. There's hissing as blades slice skin.

            But in the end the Digamma is left without a knife.

            The Delta lays down his cards, revealing a set with a smirk on his lips.

            The Digamma's wife looks uncomfortable, shifting on her feet.

"I want you to swim across the lake and back," the Delta says.

The woman purses her lips, glancing down at her husband.

            "It's dark," Vienna says.

            The Delta leans back in his seat. "She won't die."

            The woman doesn't appear afraid, only annoyed as she turns and heads for a gate in the railing. Opening it, she follows the steps down to the water. We all stand, crowding around the railing to watch.

            After only a moment's hesitation, she dives in.

            I turn to Percy standing beside me. "She isn't even playing the game. Why would she go through with it?"

            This part of the lake isn't very wide, and by now she's reached the middle. The water looks cold, and it would be impossible to see what might be swimming underneath you.

            "Pride. For players of Tela, your second not going through with a challenge is a disgrace on both of you. And sometimes, as in your case, something else is on the line that the other players won't always know about."

Vienna shifts on her feet. I know she's thinking about having to complete a similar challenge.

            When the Digamma's wife exits the water, the Digamma is there with a towel he sweeps around her. She sends him an icy glare and trudges up the steps to the hoots and hollers of the Order at her husband.

            Minutes later the next round is in progress, and I have two of the three cards I need for a set, but before I can find the third, the Beta of Surielius grabs a knife and then Aries. I lurch for one at the same time as the Eta, but his hand grasps the hilt, and as he pulls it toward him, the knife slides against my palm, slicing the skin open.

            I bite back a curse and drop my cards to use my other hand to grab what's now the second to last knife.

            I pull it back to me, trying to ignore the burning of my bleeding palm, of the blood dripping on my pants.

            This time it's the Preeminence without a knife. The Beta's grin is ruthless, and I wonder if they're brothers. There's certainly a resemblance with their brown hair, long nose, and the shape of their heavy-lidded eyes.

"Brielle," he says to the Preeminence's wife. "I want you to tell us the thing you hate the most about Toman."

            She opens her mouth—

"And I'll know if you aren't sincere."

            She glances nervously at her husband.

            What does Iris hate about Jonas?

            What would Vienna say about me if asked this question?

            "He talks too much about himself." Brielle looks almost apologetic while the Preeminence adjusts his shoulders and keeps his chin raised.

            The Beta must be satisfied because he begins to reshuffle his deck of cards.

            "Colton." Vienna reaches for my cut hand, but I tighten it into a fist. "I'm fine. I'll just get blood all over the cards." I'm really hating this game. Letting out a deep breath, I reach for the first card of my draw pile and the next and the next and the next.

            Soon I have five cards in a row. I only need one more.

            But it's at that moment I hear the sliding of knives across the table.

            I reach out for the last one, but the Undici drags it away.     

And when Aries lays down his cards, I'm filled with dread.

            Whatever challenge he issues, it's become clear that if Vienna doesn't meet it, we will not win their support, and if we fail to convince even just one single Order we've lost.

"Vienna," Aries's voice is a taunting caress. "I want you to kiss your Iota."

Do you think Vienna will do it and maybe the better question is, will Percy?