Iris's hand is clutched in mine when we enter the lounge. Colton immediately approaches, his gaze going to our hands. "I take it Erik didn't find you," he says to Iris.
She rubs the bridge of her nose. "Why am I not surprised he suddenly wanted to talk to me?"
"He was going to tell you he only yelled to protect you from them."
Her hand moves up to her forehead where she massages the skin there and continues to rub her nose. "So he decided the best way to get me to leave a room was to mortify me?"
Colton shrugs.
"Are you trying to find him?" I ask.
"We wanted to get a game of cards going, and Riley thought we needed to include Erik, but he's not answering his phone."
I sigh. "Of course, he isn't." I don't want to deal with one of Erik's temper tantrums. Especially when I'd rather find somewhere private where maybe I'd be able to push down the voice in my head telling me it's a bad idea and kiss Iris again.
She'll be gone in a few days.
And that's the annoying voice in question.
"Iris, Jonas." Abella comes up to us. "Did Colton tell you about cards?"
"He mentioned it," I say.
"Well, you must play." She turns to Iris. "And Alix still hasn't had the chance to speak with you."
"I'd love to, but"—Iris glances to where attendants are setting up card tables—"I'm hopeless when it comes to most card games."
Abella loops her arm through Iris's, steering her toward the tables. "My brother is also hopeless at cards, but we absolutely do not have to coddle him even if he is a prince." Abella looks over her shoulder at me. Beside me Colton is texting, and my phone buzzes in my pocket. It must be him trying to be discrete.
"Are you coming, Jonas?" Abella asks.
"In just a moment." I pull out my phone, and my stomach twists into a knot. It's not Colton. It's Brydan.
I miss him. I really do. I wish I could debrief him on everything I'm feeling about my future and Iris leaving and have him tell me what he thinks I should do. But he hurt me when he chose to help Erik and then Colton. I can't forget that. How do I forgive that?
Brydan: Can I come to the Estate tomorrow? I really want to talk.
Wary of Colton reading over my shoulder I take refuge in a corner. I know I need to speak with him. If I can stand to be around Colton and Erik, why is it so hard to imagine talking to Brydan? He's been my best friend for as long as I can remember.
Jonas: The Society is entertaining guests. In two days they're leaving to spend a few days at the beach. You can come then.
*****
It takes four hours without any word from or sight of Erik for any of us to become worried. I call security asking if they have had eyes on Erik at any point, and it's five minutes later that I receive a call back with an answer; the Tresais removed Vienna from her cell on the request of the Beta.
Behind me, Colton is seated on one side of the end of my bed, Iris on the other. When I tell him what security said, he jerks to his feet and heads for the door.
"He did what?" His hand goes for the handle.
"Colton, wait," I say. "The Veil are going to check the security footage and let us know if he did leave the Estate."
"There are only two options. He either left the Estate with her or he has her chained to the wall in one of the safe rooms and torturing her."
"I don't think he'd do that." But he would leave. There is no good scenario where Erik takes Vienna from her cell.
Colton throws open my door and takes off down the hall.
"Where are you going?" Iris jumps off the bed and runs out into the hall.
"To break down Erik's door."
We follow him. "Could you at least have security unlock it?" I rake a hand through my hair. "You're not going to find her inside anyway."
Colton whirls, stalking toward me, his eyes blazing, the blue liquid fire. "He could be torturing her, Jonas."
"Erik doesn't torture, Colton. You know that. If he didn't want that for Andrew, why would he hurt Vienna?" I pause, unsure how he'll react to what I have to say. "I think you know why he's taken her."
"Erik isn't the Society's biggest fan." Iris shifts her weight between her feet. "But he wouldn't go that far."
I clasp my hands, rubbing the knuckles. "Wouldn't he?"
Colton's eyes shutter. "But the rebels?"
My phone rings. "Preeminence," the Veil says on the other end. "The Tresais left the Estate with Miss Rosen."
I reach for the wall to steady myself even if I was expecting this.
"He took his car," the Veil continues. "The tracker the former Beta had put on it isn't sending any signals."
"He'll abandon the car the first chance he gets. Send out Veil to look for him. Now."
"Yes, Preeminence."
As the three of us walk back to my room, I send a text to my . . . remaining . . . Order, telling them to meet me in my room immediately. Calling a meeting in the Senate chamber, especially at this hour, would draw too much attention.
Colton lets us know he's going to get someone to unlock Erik's door and leaves.
"Jonas." Iris crosses my room, her arms folded.
"Yes?"
With her back turned toward me, her shoulders sag. "Do you think he heard us?"
The thought crossed my mind. "He must have, but he shouldn't have had this kind of reaction." Unless he was really holding out that Iris would let him reveal her Mark.
"I'm so sorry, Jonas." She still doesn't look at me.
I place a hand on her shoulder. "You didn't make Erik do anything." I somehow have to get myself into the mindset to have a meeting with my Order, now minus a Tresais. "It might be best to try to get some sleep. I don't know what tomorrow will bring."
She bows her head. "Right." Turning, she lets my hand fall from her. "Let me know if there's anything I can do."
"I will. Thank you."
Iris leaves for her room, not sparing a glance back before she's gone, and soon my Order is gathered inside my bedroom.
They're agitated and fidgeting and then talking as I try filling them in on what has happened. "I'm appointing Gwen as interim Tresais."
"Preeminence," August says. "With all due respect, Amoria will not allow that, and if anyone steps in as Tresais, it should be me." And then his brother would become Douze.
"I'll handle Amoria, but my mind is made up."
August clenches his hands but keeps his mouth shut.
"Until we can determine what Erik's plan is, we keep this to ourselves. Alix and Abella will leave in a few days. We need to keep this under wraps until then. I have the most trusted Veil members looking for him."
"Do we think Erik will wait long to make his move?" Percy asks.
Enzo, my Douze, eases onto the edge of my bed. "It's Erik. The only predictable thing about him is his unpredictability."
"Didn't we see this coming?" Tobias looks at him. "Look how close he was with Andrew."
"Who knows what all Andrew filled his head with," Sebastian says.
Eli leans his head back against the wall and groans. "The Estate just got through repairs for the damage he caused. If Erik tries the same thing, the place is going to be a mess again. And the repairs were so loud."
Sebastian leans against my dresser, arms crossed. "The Estate is usually loud. I don't know where you've been living."
Hearing them talk so casually about the bomb that should have killed me, my palms grow slick. "Sebastian and Tobias, when Abella and Alix leave for the beach, I want one of you to go with them. You decide which one of you goes."
Bently looks affronted. "And why am I not being considered for this?"
"Bently, I don't care if your French is perfect. You are the last person I would ever send." Riley rubs the back of his neck. "What do we say if someone asks about Erik?".
"That he left for one of his houses." Colton's stance is wide, his arms crossed as he leans against the wall. "The Society shouldn't assume where he's really gone."
That he's finally left us for the rebels.
*****
In the morning when I go to my parents' room, there is no new word on Erik. His room revealed nothing but that he left his phone. As I tell my parents about Erik, I feel as if I am an absolute failure of a Preeminence. Fate didn't mean for me to be handling this role. I beat fate once by living, but now it seems like I'm destined to prove that it was right that I wasn't meant for this role.
"We'll tell your aunt and uncle," my mother says, her cup of tea cooling on the end table beside her. She traces her finger along the blue velvet of her chair. "Just focus on what you need to do."
From his seat on the other side of the end table, my father nods in agreement.
I'm relieved they'll handle telling Uncle Raoul and Aunt Gerogiana about their son. It's one burden I do not have to bear.
I shift, the room starting to feel too cold.
"Jonas?" My father leans forward in his seat.
My mouth goes dry as I try to get the words out. "I'm making Gwen my interim Tresais."
My parents are silent. It's a method they've used on me and my siblings too many times to count. They know silence will most likely lead us to spilling everything, but I don't want to tell them about August's objection. "Can you arrange a video call with me and the Head Order? It's best they hear the news from me."
"I will." He hesitates, glancing at my mother. "They won't be pleased."
I do my best to hold my ground and look him in the eyes. "Which is why I need you to travel to Amoria and make the case that Gwen become my permanent Tresais."
"Jonas!" My mother sits forward, her mouth parted and eyes flicking between me and my father.
"Do you disagree that she's far more capable than Erik?"
"No," she says. "I would love to see my daughter as Tresais, but you know how the Society is about tradition. How Amoria is."
"Tradition left me with Erik as Tresais. They'll have to forgive me for thinking tradition seems to have its flaws." I face my father. "Will you go?"
My parents look at each other, and there's an unspoken conversation that passes between them.
When my father looks away from her and at me, I hold my breath.
"We'll go."