Exported [Book 3 in the Expiring Series]

36 A Leader

Iris~~

We cram into Basile's car to get back to Andrew's. Once there, Jonas and I each take showers before I give him the tour of the house. I end where we'll be sleeping—the training room.

"Andrew and Basile get the bed," I explain. "Erik the couch, and then we get the padded floor."

"Cozy."

"You'd be amazed what a few pillows and blankets can do."

He places his hands on my shoulders and digs his fingers into my muscles. I lean my head back and close my eyes.

"Remind me to return the favor when you wake up tomorrow with a stiff neck."

He places a kiss on the tip of my ear. "Gladly."

After a few minutes of his massage, I turn around to face him. "Sleeping on the floor isn't going to be a problem for the Preeminence?"

"I have slept on the floor of a cell."

For a moment all I see is him chained to the cell wall in the rebel's base, his arm covered in blood from his marred Mark, the cuff still around his wrist that he used to mutilate the Mark.

My face must give away what I'm thinking because he wraps his arms around me and pulls me against him.

I inhale, my breath shaky.

I want to ask him about the outcome of his trip, but I'm too afraid to hear that the Order said no. Wouldn't he have already told me if they had said yes?

"Jonas, Iris." Colton leans through the doorway, one hand wrapped around the frame. "Erik wants a meeting before we go to sleep."

We follow him up to the first floor of the bunker where Andrew, Basile, Vienna, and Erik already wait. Andrew glances up at us when we enter but quickly looks away. At least the posters of our faces are no longer up.

"We need a game plan," Erik says. "We'll need people to keep watch, and we need to figure out a strategy for dealing with an ambush."

Vienna rests her arms on the table. "Maybe we need a leader. Heaven knows we can hardly agree. We need a deciding voice."

"That would of course be Jonas," Colton says, and Andrew crosses his arms.

"This is my house."

"Jonas has experience leading an entire country. Sorry, cousin, but I think your resume is a little bare."

Jonas places his hand on my lower back and nudges me closer to the table. "Iris should be in charge."

"What?" I whirl toward him. Erik tilts his head, his face scrunched as if he's actually contemplating it. Colton nods, his expression thoughtful. "I've never led anything. If you think his qualifications are bad"— I point to Andrew—"you should see mine."

"Iris," Colton says, "you've seen more of Odette than we have. The majority of us get along with you somewhat better than with each other. You helped us rescue Jonas. And I think you took down more Amoris tonight than anyone else."

I can't be in charge. I can't. If I am, that means it's my responsibility to get Bently back, and if I don't, then it will always be my fault he was lost.

"We get along? I knocked Andrew to the ground the first day we met. None of you even listen to me."

"We're more likely to listen to you than each other," Erik says. "Jonas and Andrew certainly won't listen to each other."
I rest my elbows on the table and bury my head in my hands. "What if I don't want this responsibility?"