Exported [Book 3 in the Expiring Series]

11 Pantomime of Us

Colton~~

Vienna stares at me, her entire body stagnant. Do I say something? Do I wait for her?

Damn it all. I came all the way here to—

She whirls around and slams the doors behind her.

Oh no, she doesn't. I dart for the doors and throw them open, not bothering to excuse myself before the king of France.

Ahead, Vienna rounds a corner, and I take off after her, skidding on the polish floors. I'm gaining on her.

"Vienna!"

Dress fanning around her, she chances a look over her shoulder. For a moment, our eyes lock. I can't read them from here.

She rounds the corner ahead, and when I reach it, I'm just in time to catch her disappearing through a door.

I don't slow down until I'm upon it, and I hurry to open it.

Water flows down all four sides of the room, the walls underneath the water a pinkish stone besides for the wall before me, made of what appears to be glass, though I can't see through it. From the left and right walls, it falls into tiny pools. On the wall the door is set in, the water disappears into two slits in the floor. Vienna isn't in here, and I'm standing at the only door.

The water falling before me cascades into two waiting pools that connect with the pools on the sides of the room. Between the pools a walkway leads to the glass.

"Vienna?" I call out, partly wondering if she'll magically appear. I step onto the walkway, nerves alert and body tense.

Through the glass, a blurry figure of white and blue appears. I reach out, my palm connecting with the glass.

"Vienna, is that you?"

The figure comes closer until I can make out Vienna's face.

"Why are you here?" she asks, her voice muffled by the fall of water.

"I've given up."

"What do you mean."

"I want you. And I'll do anything to have you."

"That's not possible, Colton. You know. I'm a traitor to the Society. How can I go back?"

"I'll figure out a way," I say even as I know my brother is on his way to Amoria to use my marriage to an Amoris as a bargaining chip.

"I'm in exile."

"Upon my request. I asked for you to be exported."

"Exactly. You made your decision."

"You didn't even want to help the rebels."

"I still helped them though."

"And protected my brother." I swallow, sliding my hand down the water, the mist falling in droplets on my face, and the crashing of the water, filling my ears like a second heartbeat.

She shakes her head. "I think we're just star crossed. You shouldn't have come."

"But I did. Please, Vienna." I lean my head against the glass, water pouring over the top of my hair. "My life is slipping through my hand. I'm losing control of it."

"What do you mean? Your Expiration Date—"

"As Preeminence, Jonas has to marry an Amoris. But he's headed for Amoria to ask that I be the one to marry an Amoris instead."