60 She's the Hero

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Jonas~~

I'm only a few blocks away from the flower shop now. I had the car drop me off about three blocks back. Walking feels right. Something about having a car drive me all the way there as if it were only dropping me off at a restaurant for dinner didn't sit right with me. It was too static and yet too fast. I need these steps to think, to say goodbye to the world above.

Amoris on Earth seem drawn to the underworld as if they fear what humans would do to them should they discover what they are.

On Amoria, they don't hide underground.

Ahead of me an older couple stands in the middle of the sidewalk, admiring the amber haze of the string lights reflecting in the puddles covering the stone streets. It stopped raining right before I exited the car, and now there's a light sheen over the cobblestone.

I step around them before I too am sucked into admiring the night.

Even though it's late, I still pass the occasional group of people. Most are drunk or tipsy, clinging to each other and laughing. They're enjoying life, breathing in every second and not taking a moment for granted.

I'm terrified about what's going to happen to me, but even more than that, I fear for Iris. She outweighs any anxiety I have for myself.

And Bently. My cousin. My Digamma. He is mine to protect. The Society might believe the rest of the Order should defend the Preeminence, but my men, my sister took an oath to me and became mine. I'll protect them until the end.

I can still be saved, I tell myself as I cross the street. Amoria is coming. If Odette keeps me alive as she has done so far with Iris, I might see my mother and sister again. My brother. My father.

But if Odette reveals that I'm Expired to the Society, they might realize they're better off without me and kill me themselves.

A harsh laugh slips past my lips.

Iris was always considered the threat to the Society. What would they all say if they were to find out their own Preeminence has been just as much of a threat all along?

Being the Preeminence—or the former Preeminence doesn't mean much when they all turn against me.

With every step my heartbeat quickens. I don't know if it's out of fear or at the possibility of seeing Iris even for a second. A second to apologize. Because maybe when I found out that Odette knew what Iris was, I should have come clean and turned Odette's focus on me and not her. Maybe Odette would have told Andrew she'd trade me for Basile and not Iris for him. He couldn't have taken us both. He never could have gotten us both out of that apartment.

I've let Iris suffer the scrutiny of the Society and Amoria alone. I should have taken the brunt of it. As much as I pray I'm good now, before I Expired and began to fear my family was I really any better than any other member? Didn't I delight in the misery of those who threatened my family? Didn't I look down on the world? Wasn't I bitter that my life was going to be cut short? Didn't I want the world to pay for that fact?

Sighing, I rub at my face.

There will still be guards posted around the shop. A few have been alerted that I will be going down into the catacombs. They've been ordered not to stop me.

Up ahead the road opens up, broadening in about a block and a half. I can just see a glimpse of the barricade they erected to keep the public out.

I rub at my arm where my mutilated Mark is. It might start burning once I go down there. It's hard to predict anymore.

Tires screech and my head snaps up in time to see a black sports car come to a halt. For a moment I see her, on that day, how I always imagined it. The car rushing toward her in the crosswalk, Erik grabbing her, offering her life.

But they're figures of my imagination and vanish in wisps of smoke.

The car stays.

Four doors fly open, light pouring into the world, and Erik's eyes lock with mine. He mouths my name and shoves out of the driver's seat, headed for me.

Colton emerges from the back seat, his eyes wide.

Sebastian and Tobias step out from the other side of the car, their eyes alert, their faces frantic.

Sebastian swears. "I didn't think we'd make it."

Erik grabs hold of my shoulders and slams me into the wall of a café that's closed for the night. Bricks dig into my back through my shirt. "What the hell were you thinking?" He curses. "Don't be a damn hero, Jonas. It's not worth it. It's not."

Vaguely, I know I should push him away, but I think I've gone into shock.

Colton stands right behind him, his hand curled into a fist and pressed against his mouth.

Erik's fingers dig into my shirt, into my skin and muscle. "Just because death doesn't like Iris, doesn't mean it has the same reservations about you. Iris likes playing the hero. Let that be her role, not yours. Stay the villain. Stay. Alive."

"You . . . know." It's like the air is knocked out of me, and I swallow the lump in my throat. "Colton?"

"He heard everything."

Erik nods.

"You know and you're not here to kill me?" Ever since he attacked the Estate and we had our fight that left me unconscious, I've always thought . . . assumed he'd kill me if he ever knew the truth.

Tobias steps forward. "We're here to save you, you fool."

"You all know."

Sebastian shakes his head, slowly, in a disappointed way. "You don't have to be afraid of us, Jonas. If we didn't know Iris, I'm not sure how this conversation would be going. Maybe we'd kill you." He grimaces. "But things are different now. You are our Preeminence until death takes you from us, and you will still be our Preeminence down in the grave. No matter that our children will assume our thrones, you will always be our Preeminence."

Erik's hands clench against me, the muscles in his arms going taut. "We will get them back. I promise. But not like this. Do you really think any of us want to deal with Iris if she were to learn we just let you die?"

"Once upon a time I thought you would have been happy for me to curl up and die."

"That's true, yes, but being in exile gives you a lot of time to think. You don't control my life anymore, and seeing you again, I realized I didn't hate you. I was bitter, yes. But the hatred I had clung to all these months just wasn't there anymore."

"I don't understand. There was no one else in that hall. How did you overhear us?"

Erik loosens his grip and gives me a lazy grin. "I was hiding in the curtains hoping to pick up on some juicy court gossip. Imagine my surprise when I heard yours. Once you were gone, I revealed myself and found Colton sobbing." He smirks at my brother. "I called Tobias and Sebastian and told them you're Expired."

Colton crosses his arms, head tilted toward Erik. "Before I could stop him."

"Should I expect the entire Society to know by dawn?" I ask dryly. "The world by lunch?"

"I gave the information to the people who needed to know," Erik says. "Which is lucky, because Colton certainly wasn't going to."

"He was obeying orders."

"We know." Sebastian's knuckles crack.

"Then good." I grip Erik's wrists. "Stand down. All of you. That's an order."

Tobias drags his hand forward through his hair, sharing a look with Colton. "The Order is a senate, Preeminence. We vote. Naturally, Erik's no longer counts, but you'll find you're still outnumbered."

"I have to save them."

With a shake of his head, Tobias throws open his arms. "All in favor of Jonas staying right where he is, say aye."

Checks and balances. My grip on Erik tightens.

"Aye," my brother, Sebastian, and Tobias say, my Beta, Theta, and Undici vote.

My nerves unravel as my chance to save her slips away, and I throw Erik's hands off me, needing space to breathe. "None of you know what it's like to love someone who could die at any moment."

Erik rubs at his wrists, eyeing me silently, no anger, just watching.

Sebastian's throat bobs. "We do now."

The confession slams into me.

"We'll let you save her," Colton says. "Just when Amoria's here."

A step forward from Tobias boxes me in. "And we know you won't just stay put."

Erik lets go of his wrist and drops into a mocking bow. "Which is why we'll be locking you in your room, Preeminence."

Sebastian gives Erik a sidelong glance, sighing at his behavior. "Of course, not your current room. We can't trust you with windows."

It's like a hand clamps down on my heart. The barricade. Iris. They're all right there. "Colton is supposed to be your Preeminence. That's what fate dictated."

"Maybe for you." Colton turns his palms up, his shoulders slightly bent. "But you living has no effect on our timelines. We all have our own, and in ours you're clearly supposed to be alive if you can't kill us before our Dates, as evidenced by you not managing to kill a single Amoris the night you arrived or any rebels when they attacked our home in the past year. You've never been a poor shot. The same goes for Iris. Yes, you're supposed to be dead, but you are also supposed to be our Preeminence. You didn't steal anything from me by living, khaleedi."

I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. Words have always come easily to me. Now they fail me.

Erik nods to Sebastian and Colton. "Grab him."

The three of them lunge for me, and Tobias shoves a rag over my mouth.



I'm doing research, and I'm collecting info on folktales from around the world and the names of holiday characters like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and characters like the Tooth Fairy that don't have a holiday. I've found a lot of European characters, but I haven't been able to find many from other continents. You all live all over the world, and I would really appreciate any characters that you could share with me.


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