Colton~

"I thought I saw that red hair disappearing down here," I say.

Her shoulder is tense underneath my hand. Exactly what I want to feel. I want her to be scared of me. I don't want her to think she can make me warm up to her like she seems to be so capable of doing to Jonas and Erik.

Still facing away from me, Iris curtsies, my hand remaining on her. "Colton."

"Oh, come now. I want to see those beautiful eyes that my cousin's so besought with."

She doesn't move. If anything, she tenses more.

"Iris," I cluck.

Finally, she turns, her eyes downcast. That won't do.

I place my fingers on her chin, tugging upward. "Higher."

Her eyes meet mine and . . . nothing. Not like before. The haziness, the headache aren't here. Gwen said she had felt something similar when she was around Iris.

"I'll escort her back," I tell Arrietty and offer my arm to Iris. "Shall we?" An eternity passes before she accepts it, and I manage to keep the displeasure at having her hands on me off my face.

As we climb the steps, I ask, "How are you liking my home?"

"It's very beautiful."

"Did the main part of the house not hold enough interest for you that you had to venture down here?"

"I was curious."

"Curiosity killed the cat, darling."

She stops, this time peering up at me with no hesitation. "Yes, but unlike the cat, I have an Expiration Date."

"That doesn't mean you can't be hurt enough that you wish for death."

We continue walking.

"You have a new dress."

"Your brother."

I clench my teeth. Jonas seems to have warmed up to her awfully fast. My brother's smarter than that though. He's been raised to be Preeminence. He can't possibly fall for a girl in a pretty dress without hesitation, even if the pretty dress came from him. The other one was horribly plain.

We reach the main floor, and I steer us in the direction of the ballroom. Neither of us says anything until we're well into the Qae section of the Estate. Sae is the section of the ballroom.

"If you think you can seduce my brother, you're quite wrong."

"I'm—I'm not."

"Do you think I failed to notice every little touch you got from my brother?"

"That was your brother. Not me."

Voices from the ballroom drift toward us. I want to get rid of this girl and find my sister. When I left the ballroom, Erik was speaking with Riley near the far side of the room.

"Remember that." I look down at her. "It would be a shame if Molly's replacement went after the wrong man."

Once in the ballroom, I find Erik and pass her off to him. Gwen stands near the wall with Tobias's sister and Eli. I pull her away.

"Is there a problem?" she asks.

"I found Iris down below."

"What?"

We exit the ballroom and slip into the first sitting room we come across. I lock the door while Gwen walks toward the other end of the room, running her hands through her hair, her fingers never touching her wreath.

"What was she doing when you found her?"

"Talking to Arrietty. She only got to the first floor. I don't know what her plan was, or if she had one."

My twin whirls, pinning me with a glare. "Don't you start entertaining the idea Jonas has that she is perfectly agreeable and nothing seems to be the matter with her."

"So you spoke with him."

She purses her lips. "I needed a talking to after my incident with the wine."

"To be fair, it was evident to everyone it was on purpose."

"I don't want to talk about our brother scolding me." She sits down on the closest couch. "He said he didn't feel weird around her. His head didn't hurt or anything like ours." Her shoulders sag. "He looked at me like I was ridiculous, Colton."

I sit down next to her. "He could be lying."

She lets her hands fall to her lap and shakes her head. "Why would he lie to us because of a girl he met in the early hours of this morning? He wouldn't do that."

"We need to keep an eye on her."

"You need to keep an eye on her."

I furrow my brows and tilt my head. "We're a team."

"If he thinks I'm ridiculous for thinking there's something wrong with her, he'll be furious if he finds out we decided to watch her. Your position is secure, but I don't have one. I can't afford to lose his favor. Right now, I'll have a voice at Senate meetings, but Jonas can take that away."

I have thought many times about all three of us holding the ranks of Preeminence, Beta, and Tresais. Tresais would have been hers if she were a man. But per Society tradition, Erik will be Tresais. Though we all know Gwen would be better on her first day as Tresais than Erik will ever be during his reign.

I pat her hand once and give it a squeeze before standing. "I'll watch her. And I promise, I won't let her hurt us."

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