Expiration Date (Books 1 and 2)

26 Vienna

Photo by Work_in_progress519 

Jonas~~

I shut the iron-bar cell door behind me.

Vienna looks up from the ground, her eyes rimmed in red. She's still in her ballgown from last night. "I wasn't expecting you." Her voice is hoarse.

"I figured I'd be better company than at least Bently." I ordered the Veil stationed at her cell to give us some privacy but to still be in hearing range in the case something should go wrong.

She rubs at her upper arm, and I make a note in my head to have a blanket sent down. A draft perpetuates in the dungeons, and I feel like Colton would sleep better if he knew she wasn't so cold.

"You don't have to treat me differently from any other rebel."

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm hoping you can tell me what I need to know."

She frowns, drawing her knees to her chest. "I know you won't."

"Then why, Vienna? You know if my father was still in charge that he would not hesitate to do whatever is required to get information out of you. If you knew I was different, why didn't you give me a chance? Or at least Colton a chance?" Though maybe she had, and Colton going after Iris was the breaking point for her.

"I saw, Jonas, what the Society could be with you at the helm. I was leaving the rebels. Delivering the letter to Iris was my last task. It was my decision to retrieve the information they wanted her to get."

"Why would you do that for her?"

"If you have to ask, then maybe you aren't the leader I thought you were." She tucks her hair behind her ear. "I've had a good life. A privileged life. I've heard about Seong-ho's mission to Iris's orphanage. She was raised to be a rebel and never became one. But I chose this life."

If she hadn't confessed, I might have been able to find her a way out of this. But now the Society knows her to be a traitor, and they won't want to see her out of prison.

"Will they still be expecting Iris to deliver them the book?"

She shakes her head. "I don't think so. Not after I've been caught."