Iris~~

"Fancy seeing you again."

My hands spasm, and I pull them against me. "Jae-yeon."

"Seong-ho actually. And also Zeta now. Can you imagine my surprise when I found you of all people sitting below my throne?" He steps onto the mat, and I jerk back. "Especially when I thought I'd never see you again." He looks down at my bandage and back up, his eyebrows raised, that smile still on his face.

"I don't—I don't . . ."

He tuts. "Think about our training, Iris. No one knew what the Digamma's son looked like, the son who would be Zeta. And what was the Digamma's favorite past time?"

I can only form the words with my lips. I can't say them. Hunting rebels.

"It's only natural he'd decide I would find out which orphanages trained rebels."

"You're the reason they're dead."

He grimaces. "That's not fair. Not when they wanted my family dead." He takes a step toward me, and I stumble back and into someone's arms—Jonas's arms.

"Seong-ho, what are you doing?" Jonas demands.

I grip the arms of the Preeminence.

"Saying hello to an old friend."

"Why didn't you arrest us all then?" My hands shake. "Why didn't you lock us up?"

Jae-yeon sighs as he walks across the mat. "You all were children; you didn't choose to be there. And you, Iris, you were going to die in a couple years."

Jonas's arms tighten around me.

"After everything, I figured I owed you more than a death in a cell. I could have turned Lilyana and Kirk in that first day I walked inside the front doors, but we wanted intel. I needed their trust."

Colton steps next to Jonas's side. "You're saying Iris is a rebel?"

Jae-yeon gives an infuriating tilt of his head at me as if I'm a puzzle with missing pieces. "She was at least."

Tears have swelled in my eyes, and my jaw trembles with the strain of trying to hold in a sob. I didn't think I'd have to see him again. I take a deep breath. "They were the closest thing I had to parents. How could you take them from me?"

"They were traitors. And I'd do it all over again if it meant there are two less rebels to terrorize this country."

I push myself out of Jonas's arms, rage steadying my trembling muscles. Jae-yeon throws his hands up to block me, but I send a swift kick to his thigh. He catches my legs, throwing me onto the mat. He pins my arms on either side of my head.

"I was waiting for you to do that," he says. "Old habits die hard, right?"

I jam my knee into his side and manage to flip us so I'm on top.

I'm not a rebel.

"I was never one of them." I land a punch to his cheek and members of the Order lurch forward as if they're a wave, but Jae-yeon holds up a hand, and they stop.

"What about all that talk of how you blame the Society for everything?" Jae-yeon bucks his hips, and I lose my grip on his waist. I scramble up while he stands slowly.

"They abandoned me."

True surprise flickers across his face. "What?"

"The others, they wouldn't let me come with them."

His brows furrow. "They loved you."

"I thought they did."

Jae-yeon steps back, his forehead wrinkling. "It was a surprise seeing you alive," he says and walks away, pasts the mats and out the gym.

I pull my Marked arm to me. Now that he's gone, the trembles return. Jonas places his hands on my shoulders. What is he thinking right now? That he really does have to kill me?

Erik gives me a long look before walking away. If the Society believes I'm a rebel, then they'll probably think the same of Erik. To salvage his plans, he'll have to distance himself from me. Maybe even kill me since he's apparently capable of that.

"Iris," Jonas says, "can I speak with you in my office?"

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