Exposed [Book 4 in the Expiring Series]

72 The Announcement

You might have missed my announcement last week, but I finished the first draft of Exposed, and this is the second to last chapter. I didn't realize it when I started writing this chapter, but as I wrote it, the ending finally came to me. However, I'm a believer in people having many different endings that happen over the course of their lives, and characters in books are no different. The end of Iris's books is really just the end of a chapter in these characters' lives and the start of a new one. 

Jonas~~

            Over two hundred people stare at me when I step out of the ship and onto the stairs, the rays of the setting sun basking over them. In an attempt to steady myself, I take hold of the railing even as I try to project the image of a cold, dogged leader. There are no pitch forks or swords visible to my eye, but that doesn't mean the Society isn't here as a mob. Why would they want an Expired Preeminence when they could have Colton? They haven't been around as I pleaded my case to Amoria's Orders. Perhaps they're here to act as a wall to keep me from returning home to the Estate as Elleany's leader and to ensure Colton enters it as Preeminence, as he should have been by now.

Panic builds in me but when my eyes settle on my father and mother in the front of the crowd, the tightness in my chest begins to unravel. My sister stands beside my mother, with Alastair on her left. My Delta flanks my father, and the rest of my Order fills out the rest of the front line. I may consider the Society as a whole my family, but those right there in the front row are my true family. The ones I know I can trust with my life.

Behind me, Iris steps out of the ship and slides her hand into mine. "Welcome home, Preeminence."

I bend down, giving her a chaste kiss on the lips. The Society can wait.

"Remember to breathe." Her eyes search mine. "Please?"

I tap her on the nose. "You're asking for a lot. But I'll try."

My mother and father start to head for the stairs, and I use it as my cue for us to begin descending them, keeping Iris's advice to breathe at the front of my mind.

The moment I have two feet on the tarmac, my mother pulls me into a hug and kisses my cheek. "You have no idea how worried I've been."

Something tightens in the back of my throat even as the tightness in my chest continues to ease as I hold her, feeling like I'm just a young boy again. "I missed you." I squeeze her, holding her tighter.

"I missed you every second, my love."

My father clears his throat. As I pull away from my mother, I take her hands in mine.

"It's good to have you home, Jonas," he says.

I nod to him. "Thank you, Father."

My mother shifts her gaze to Iris. "Congratulations by the way."

With Iris's dress sleeveless, her marriage Mark on her right arm is prominent. "I suppose the whole Society knows?"

"Of course."

"Are they"—I pause, searching for the words—"here to protest my return?"

"Jonas." My father places his hand on my shoulder. "They're here because they support you."

I look out over the Society. They accepted Iris as Expired, but I didn't ever really believe they would accept someone who had defied his Expiration Date as their leader.