Colton~~
As Iris and I make our way down the stone steps that take us deeper below the Estate, I can't help but think of how strange my life has become. I'm working with Iris—the girl I was trying to kill only days ago in another state—to find a rebel that's hidden themselves among the Society.
The candelabras set in the alcoves of the dark stone walls catch on the gems in Iris's dress making them sparkle. We've both left our masks on.
"How many more flights?" Iris asks.
"Three. Tired from all that dancing?"
"Don't."
"That's the best you've got?"
"Can we focus on the task at hand and on not alerting anyone that we're coming?"
I shrug. "Very well."
The library below the Estate takes up an entire floor, and its entrance waits for us as we step off the last stair and onto its flight. No doors guard the library. We'd never expect anyone to steal from it and never believed a rebel would have been able to find out about it.
There's a reason the Konkursi are only made up of Society members or newly minted ones who came from the Society's outer and inncer circles. The Society's staff aren't privy to knowledge of the Amorians nor are they allowed below the Estate.
We pass through the entrance of the library. Inside, shelves cover the floor of the library and are full of the clear books like the one I made. The tiled floor gleams with gems embedded in it that is meant to look like gold stars. The library would be completely silent if it weren't for the delicate treading of shoes against the floor.
If I were Jonas or Erik, I might push Iris behind me as I pull out my gun and make my way down the aisle that wraps the room. But I am not them, and I don't care if she gets harmed. She walks alongside me, a gun she tucked into a holster around her leg before venturing down here now in her hand. I made sure to retrieve a few weapons from hiding places on the ground floor near the staircase. They're hidden in the circumstance that rebels breach the Estate.
They were not intended for this kind of breach.
Usually a librarian is on duty, and you would have to check the book out with them before you could leave with it. It's the only way when living in an Estate full of people to keep track of the books.
Tonight, there is no librarian. Whoever would usually be on duty is at the ball.
Iris and I both tread with silence, and I have to begrudgingly admit that she's impressing me with her level of stealth while in a dress.
There's the sound of tapping and scraping most likely the rebel touching the different books to bring them to life or turning the books on their sides where the titles are carved as if they were the spine of normal books. It's all in Amorian, though, either the Romanized alphabet or the one from Amoria.
Not wanting the click to alert the rebel, I wait until I round the corner to pull down the hammer on my gun.
The sight that befalls me threatens to buckle me at my knees.
"Vienna," I breathe.
Blonde curls hang down her back, draped over her shoulder, and her silver ball gown I was pressed against barely an hour ago now brushes the floor of the library that holds my family's secrets. She stares at me through her mask, her lips parted and hand raised to the shelf. Even hidden underneath her mask, her eyes look haunted to me.
Though my arm wavers, I don't lower the gun. "Tell me this isn't what I think."
Iris doesn't have to touch me for me to feel her presence beside me. She holds her gun at a forty-five-degree angle to the ground.
Vienna's fingers close around air. "I told you it would be handled," she says to Iris who takes a slight step forward.
"You're the one who attacked me?"
Vienna drops her hand from the shelf. "No. That wasn't me."
I grind my teeth. Here my life is quite literally breaking before my eyes, and Iris is worried about who tried to kill her.
"Vienna," I say. "Explain."
"What do you want me to say?"
"Anything!"
She presses her lips into a thin line, reaching up and untying her mask. Hair pins falls to the ground, pinging against it, and she pulls the mask away from her face, revealing tears in her eyes.
I hear quick footsteps before Enzo and Percy step around the shelf at its other end. Vienna jerks back a step, twisting to see who's behind her. They both carry a gun and still wear their masks.
Cocking his head to the side, Percy wears an almost feral grin. "When we followed the two of you"—his eyes flick between me and Iris—"we'd expected—"
"Hoped," Enzo interjects with a bored expression.
"—to catch you doing something indecent, but it seems we've come upon something far better."
I take a step forward, lowering my gun only to where Iris has hers. "Douze, Iota—"
Percy looks at Enzo with amusement. "Isn't it Kerrie-uh, cousin?" he asks him, and Enzo nods, his eyes flicking to us. "Should you really be addressing us so formally?"
My nostrils flare. "The two of you—"
"So, you're a rebel, I take it." Percy offers Vienna a frown. "Do you deny it?"
Vienna says nothing, and everything inside me is begging for her to speak and say she isn't.
Enzo shrugs, still looking uninterested. "Good enough for me." He drives his foot into the back of Vienna's leg, and her knee buckles before both of her knees drive into the hard tile. She grimaces but doesn't cry out.
I pass Iris my gun, hardly knowing what I'm doing and slide up alongside Vienna. I place my hands on her arms, instinct telling me to make sure she's okay even as I'm beginning to realize she is one of the things I hate most in this world.
Percy aims his gun at her back. "Jonas is on his way, Colton. Just in case you were planning to cover this up."
"When did you contact him?" Iris asks Percy. They haven't had their phones out once since arriving.
Enzo rests his elbow on an empty shelf. "When we were following you."
Percy snorts. "I tried to bring August at first, but I couldn't drag him away from a certain Konkursi." If this were at another time, another place, I would ask who it was, but knowing the answer doesn't matter to me at all.
Not when Vienna won't meet my eyes.
"Tell me what's going on." I try to keep my voice calm.
"I'm sorry."
"Vienna."
She sinks the rest of the way to the floor, her dress billowing around her.
I grip her arms. "How long?"
"Years."
"Your family?"
Her eyes snap up, fear in them. "They don't know. They were never supposed to know."
"Was knowing me just so you could learn my family's secrets?"
Covering her face with her hand, she takes a deep breath. "No." The word floats there between us. "Getting this book was my last mission and then I was getting out. I was leaving them, Colton."
"I want to believe you."
She opens her mouth to speak, but Iris beats her to it. "Who were you working with?"
Pressing her lips into a thin line, she shakes her head slowly.
I didn't realize I had hope that she would be willing to share everything until it flickers out. She's a rebel now—always has been, and rebels never make anything easy.
I hear more footsteps coming this way. No effort is made to conceal them and judging by the rhythm and sounds, there are three of them.
Vienna closes her eyes and bows her head.
Flanked by Erik and Eli, Jonas steps between Enzo and Percy. There's a storm brewing around him. It's in his eyes, the lines of his face, his posture. No mask covers him nor is there one on Eli or Erik. "You lot have ten seconds to explain."
Iris keeps silent. Is it because she doesn't fear the repercussions of disobeying the Preeminence or because she doesn't want to incriminate a rebel, a former sister-in-arms?
My brother's eyes take in the scene before switching back and forth between me and Vienna.
Enzo tilts his head, studying Vienna. "Miss Rosen is a rebel."
"She wasn't the one who attacked Iris," I say, coming to her defense as if she were still the woman I love.
Jonas's eyes narrow. "I didn't realize we were even considering it was a rebel who attacked her, so what do you mean by she wasn't the one?"
"Jonas." Iris fully lowers her gun. "Can Colton and I speak to you alone?"
"Very well." He turns to Vienna. "Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Enzo, Percy, escort Miss Rosen to a cell. No one is to question her unless I or Colton are present. Understood?"
They bow. "Yes, Preeminence." Taking Vienna by the arms, they pull her to her feet. I want to stop them, but I have to remind myself again that she is the enemy now. I force myself to release her and stand, angling myself toward Iris, so I don't have to watch.
Once they have left, Jonas says, "We will have to have her family questioned."
"Preeminence?" Eli asks.
"You may go."
Eli bows and leaves.
"Erik." Jonas doesn't look at him.
Erik only crosses his arms, his feet planted firmly into the ground. "I want to hear just as much as you about why they're together."
Iris shakes her head at me, and I step toward her in an attempt to have a conversation with only her.
"We have to tell Jonas," she whispers. "Bringing them both in is too dangerous. With Vienna captured will they expect me to still deliver it to them?"
"I know. I'll have to see what I can find out from Vienna. But Erik's here and you know we aren't going to get away without telling him."
"We could lie?"
"And tell them we're having an affair?" I say in a deadpan voice.
Jonas clears his throat. "Care to bring us into the conversation?"
Iris returns my gun back and faces them. "The night I was attacked there was a letter from the rebels asking for secrets. About your family. They said they would know if I went to any friends in the Society for help, and I believed them. While I knew a Society member had to have attacked me"—she rubs at her arm—"I also know that letter was not there when I went to bed."
Erik crosses his arms. "And Colton is with you why?"
"He was the last person anyone in the Society would expect me to work with."
I cross my arms as well, my gun still in my hand. "You have to admit, she has a point."
Iris continues, "I received a letter at breakfast this morning telling me that everything was going to be taken care of. I didn't know the letter was from Vienna."
Jonas looks at him. "Are you all right?" It's a straightforward question. There's no emotion in his voice or on his face.
"I'm fine," I lie.
Jonas closes his eyes running a hand through his hair. "We'll need to find out if they're still expecting you to deliver information to them."
"We know," I say, my words clipped.
Jonas's eyes flash for a moment. Having a brother as Preeminence is not easy. Finding where you can push the boundaries and where you have to acquiesce is no easy to task.
"Iris, Erik, would you give me and my brother a chance to speak?"
Iris's gaze flicks between us. "Of course."
Erik follows her out, leaving my brother and I alone.
He shoves his hands in his pockets. "If you don't want any part in this, I can handle it."
"She might only speak to me."
"No, I don't think she will. She's a rebel. She's going to protect them."
"You're going to hurt her?"
"If I was, would I have cared if she were hurt just now? You have to know that this is urgent." He swears before sighing. "I can't believe you and Iris worked together."
I tuck my gun into the back of my waistband. "It was a necessary evil."
Jonas rolls his eyes, and I adjust my jacket.
"I think you should try talking to Vienna first."
"You're sure?" he asks.
I nod.
Jonas sighs and like the older brother he is agrees.