41 The Third Dance

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Iris~~

Three songs later, I'm resting against a column while Society members face each other lined up in rows. They're doing a jig I never learned. I think it's almost over.

"Just the girl I'm looking for."

I stiffen. "Beta, don't you have a girlfriend to be dancing with?"

"I have been for most of the evening. Now I'm going to dance with you."

"No."

"Yes. You and I need to talk." He grabs my hand and tugs me onto the dance floor as the jig is ending. Couples pair up and form rows facing each other again. Colton lets go of my hand to stand across from me.

The music begins, and I know the song. It sounds like a tango, but the dance is more of a group effort. The girl next to me and I walk around each other, our eyes on our partners'. I can't help making eye contact with Colton. This dance is very much a battle, and if I show any bit of timidness, I'll lose.

Colton and I step forward and circle each other, our eyes surveying each other.

"Do you like the dress?"

"What?"

We step back in line.

"I picked it out for you."

That chill returns. Everyone switches places diagonally. Colton bumps against my arm as we pass, a smirk on his lips.

"Your brother liked it."

We step toward each other.

"You could be wearing a sack and he'd still somehow be taken with you."

The music swells, and we take each other's hand while I place my other on his upper arm and his presses against my lower back. We spin this way and that and he dips me in a deep arc. When he pulls me back up, he leans toward my ear.

"I saw how you two looked at each other at the end of your dance. Everyone did."

The violins' pitch increases.

"I warned you."

We alternate between spinning together and him spinning me.

"Whatever game you and Erik are playing, leave Jonas out of it."

I break out of the spin, backing up as he follows. "How much longer do I have to tell you that I'm not playing a game for you to believe me?"

We stop, pressed against each other, his hand splayed against my back. By his expression, it's apparent neither of us are pleased with the proximity the dance requires of us. "Until you're gone." The music from the violins abruptly ceases, and he dips me until my back aches. He raises me up to the piano's crescendo. The violins drift back in, and he twirls me to a new partner, a young man.

We each connect one of our palms, circling the other. His eyes bore into me, while I keep mine cast downward. Looking down for a few seconds won't ruin the dance, and I'm not competing against him after all.

I return to Colton, placing my palm against his.

"What will it take for you to start taking my threats seriously?"

"I suppose I don't think much of men who threaten women."

We push off of our palms.

"Why don't you just talk to your brother?"

His mouth twists into a sneer, and he grabs my waist and hand. "I have." We move as one, never missing a step. "You're Erik's."

My eyes narrow. "No, I'm not."

"Is that what you think?" He spins me out and back in, his hand brushing along my bandage. "You are his, and Jonas knows that. Why don't you?"

"Because it's not true, Colton."

"Beta, and you make Erik happy. The Society, the country needs him to be happy. You're the closest he'll get to having Molly back. You don't have a choice."

I frown as he dips me, the music coming to an end.

"I do have a choice."

He brings me up enough to reach my ear. "No, you don't," he whispers, and the song ends.

He walks away, not bothering to escort me off the dance floor. I can't help the sickening feeling that he won that battle. I head back to the refreshment tables to get more water, hopeful that this time Colton won't be around to rid me of it.

Erik intercepts me. He looks . . . cross.

"Hey," my voice comes out hoarse. Maybe because all I can think about is what Colton told me. I'm Erik's? No. That's not what we are.

"I saw that, and I'm quite sure everyone else did too."

"Colton and me?"

"You and the Preeminence."

"Dancing?" I ask, praying that's all he's referring to in his comment. Not how I was about to kiss Jonas.

"His hands on your face. You both staring into each other's eyes. I told you not to make eye contact, and you do it with him? Why can't you just listen to me, Iris? Stay away from him." He tries to walk away, but I follow.

"Erik."

He stops but doesn't turn around.

I search for the right words to say.

"Well?"

Nothing comes out.

"That's what I thought." He grabs a glass of champagne off one of the tables and loses himself in the clusters of Society members.

My shoulders feel a weight pressing on them. Somehow, someway I'm going to have to tell Erik about Jonas and me even if I don't know what Jonas and I are. I'm genuinely starting to believe I can't go through with our plan anymore. If the Society finds out that being Expired is possible, will that put Jonas in danger of being exposed?

"Iris." Vienna steps out from behind a column. Was she eavesdropping? "Can we speak, please?" Maybe she's angry I danced with her boyfriend. I will certainly try my best to assure her I wanted no part in the dance.

"Of course."

She glances in the direction Erik went. "Some place private. The maze?"

"Do you know how to get back out?"

She nods, her eyes still looking somewhere else.

If she tries anything I could probably take her, though she did seem to know what she was doing with the gun in Erik's car. She could be leading me to Colton, but no, there he is twirling a new girl across the room.

"All right then."

******

By day, the maze is intimidating. By night, it's ominous. Vienna leads the way, pausing a few times at forks but still carrying onward. When it seems we've gone quite deep, I speak up.

"What is it you want to talk about?"

She stops. "Erik."

"What about him?"

She wets her lips. "I was an orphan like you. Well, not a rebel one at least."

I step back, my apprehension growing that this is a trap. "How do you know that?"

"You knew those rebels. One of their names was Y. Add that to your skills with a gun and the dancing you did tonight, and it's not hard to solve that equation."

I dig my hands into the hedge. Twigs scrape my skin. "I'm not a rebel."

"I didn't tell anyone. No one, I swear. If you don't believe me, my own name was V before I was adopted. My orphanage wasn't like yours though. I'm telling you this to earn your trust."

"Why do you need my trust?"

"You've heard of Molly, I'm sure."

"According to your boyfriend, I'm a replacement for her."

She purses her lips, shaking her head. "You can't be. For your sake, you can't."

"Did you know her?"

"No, she died a about a year before I met Colton, so I wasn't there that night. Only Erik knows the full details."

I release my grip on the leaves, watching her warily but not making eye contact. "What is it that you know?"

"Iris"—her chest swells as she takes a deep breath—"Erik killed Molly."


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