13 A Game of Morals

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Colton~~

The monarchy has offered for us to stay in the palace for the duration of our visit; a visit that I have not set a duration on. For me, we're staying until I figure out how I can secure Vienna's hand, convincing her that there is a way we can be together. Bently would tell me to chop her hand off and say, 'let's go home.' One, I'm not doing that, and two, what if Jonas does return with permission to marry Iris? My hands tighten around the box in my hands as I climb the stairs. The contents of the books keep sliding side to side, and I want to tell the box to be quiet, but it is unfortunately only an inanimate object, one of the few things that won't listen to me.

Besides for guards patrolling the palace, everyone else has retired for the night. Even if the guards should spread rumors about me and Vienna, out loud, I'm the one that will always be believed. People may think what they wish on the inside. I catch my reflection in one of the many mirrors of the palace. With a face like mine, it doesn't matter if they believe me or not; they'll always say they do.

I knock lightly on Vienna's door, and she opens it part way, her eyes going from my face to the box in my hand. Her face lights up, and she tugs me into the room, locking the door.

I take in her appearance, the white fitted t-shirt and gray sweatpants. I have an urge to pull her against me, knowing she'd be quite comfortable. If I do that, I want to let her go, and it would be very difficult to figure out a solution to our problems while holding her.

I balance the box containing a board game on one hand like a dish. "Your favorite, darling."

Her face lights up like Seong-ho's on Christmas when we were younger. "You're incredible.

We set up the game on the silver rug. Vienna's room is luxurious: marble floor, white walls, and white bed coverings. It's crisp, clean. Her balcony doors are open, and the silver curtains lift and sway in the breeze that slips inside. Do they treat her like a princess here when at the Society they would treat her like a traitor?

Drawing a card, Vienna moves her token across the board. "Sneaking into my room late at night to play board games . . . You're right. You definitely have no morals."

I laugh, and using one of my earlier cards, I send her token back to her starting position. I lean forward. "You bring out the worst in me."

"I'd say. With the rate you've been taking me out in this game, you're going to win."

"Would you like me to let you win?"

She glares before moving her token to her left, landing her on a spot where she gets to draw another card. After she reads the card, she begins counting off the spots to where her token will end up. ". . . five . . . six." She sets the figurine down and to tidy up the pile of draw cards. "So where were you during dinner?"

"Getting drunk in a bar."

Her hands slip, ruining the stack of cards. "What?"

"Well, I didn't get drunk. But Iris did. Bently not so much either."

She rubs her forehead. "Why?"

I sigh, fixing the draw pile. "Iris is claiming she saw an Amoris kill someone. We followed her to the spot she claims it happened, and there was nothing there."

"You don't believe her though? Colton, why would she make that up?"

I draw three cards. "If an Amoris went through the trouble of Marking someone, as Iris claims they did, they wouldn't hide the body. They would have been doing it for attention. Bently decided if we got Iris drunk, she'd recall what she saw for what it was, her imagination." I jerk my head over my shoulder to the door. "She's passed out in her room."

"And if it was an Amoris?"

I lay down my cards. "Trust me when I say an Amoris would not go through the trouble of Marking someone only to hide the body afterward."

She twirls one of the rings on her fingers. I recognize it as the one I gave her when she turned eighteen after my trip to Ireland. A claddagh ring. A part of me always liked to think of it as an engagement ring, though I never told her that. She always wore it on the wrong hand for it to mean that.

"I suppose it's too early to wonder if you've discovered a solution to our problem."

"I had my hands full with Iris, and her Amoris."

She frowns. "So you and Iris never . . ."

"What?"

"You know." She doesn't look at me, and what she's trying to say clicks and images of that flood my brain. "No, absolutely not." I press the heels of my hands into my eyes, trying to block out the images. "She's like a sister in a way"

"Who you got drunk."

"I assure you, nothing like that has or will ever happen between Iris and me. Since you're asking though, Alix, he never?"

"In the beginning he tried, but Abella must have spoken with him because he's backed off."

Someone knocks on the door.

"Watch that's Alix," I say, my voice low.

She presses her finger against my lips. "Get in my closet while I clean up this." She motions to our game. The game that's going to be unfinishable once she disturbs it. "One moment," she calls out for the person on the other side of the door. While she scoops the game pieces into the box, I slip inside her closet, leaving the door open a crack. Vienna disappears from my line of view before the closet door is shut in my face, leaving me with no way to see out.

A moment later I hear the door open and a voice ask, "Can I come in?" That sounds like Abella.

"Of course."

I hear the lock click.

"I'm a mess," Abella says.

"Bently?"

"You have no idea what it was like being stuck in a room with that man. He lectured me on running a country."

"Bently is . . . difficult."

The mattress creaks. "Et Colton?"

If Vienna says anything, I can't hear it though my ears are straining.

"Il t'a exilé." Though I don't speak French, hearing exilé leaves me with little doubt as to what she said.

"I know, Abella."

"Is he taking you back with him?"

"No. No, I don't think so."

My stomach tightens and churns.

"Vienna, I don't want you to leave me."

"I don't think I'm going anywhere. But can we talk about this tomorrow? Today has left me exhausted."

"Of course. I understand."

The lock clicks again and the door opens.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Abella says.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be more of a friend tonight."

"It is all right, mon amie. Only be wary of Colton. That's all."

"You don't have to worry about me."


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