Exported [Book 3 in the Expiring Series]

76 The Chapter in Which Bently is Irritated

If you're interested in joining the Discord, just let me know! We're currently writing a pirate Bently and Iris one shot on there. You can also find a one shot of current Colton meeting pre-Expiration Date Iris. 

Colton~~

Bently swears as he walks into my hospital room, the door shutting with a click behind him. "You look awful."

I send him a glare that would send most people running. He only laughs, throwing his jacket over the back of a chair across from my bed before crashing down onto the cushion.

"How did it go?" I ask, referring to the interrogation of the French Order. That was supposed to happen today.

"About as well as you expect." He runs a hand through his hair, gazing out the window where the lace and green curtains have been pulled back to let the sun in. "They think they didn't do anything wrong."

"Did we think we were doing anything wrong when we tried killing Iris?"

His eyes narrow. "Don't compare me to those monsters." His tone is icy. "If you recall, Iris wasn't innocent in the eyes of the Society."

"But now she is." I wave a hand dismissively. "Funny how things change."

"There's nothing funny about almost killing her."

"You're in a sour mood. Here I thought I was about to get happy Bently."

"I'm not in the mood to reflect on the past."

"Shall we sit here and try predicting the future then? I'm bored. Perhaps you brought me puzzles or books?"

He rolls his eyes, looking toward the window again.

"I'll take that as a no." From my bed, all I can see out the window is the sky. "Even Sebastian would have been better company."

"He's really not bad, if you would just put aside your petty grudge."

"I'm trying." I pause. "Did Gwen tell you that I cut off the fingers of an Amoris to get him to tell us where you and Iris were?"

"She didn't mention it, but good for you."

I trace the stitching on my sheets. "He said something rather disturbing."

"That you were less impressive in person?"

"That at one point you and Iris were all over each other."

His body stills, not even his chest rises or falls. "Is that so?"

"It's ludicrous, right?"

He braces his elbow on the armrest and props his chin on his hand, his face turned away from me. "We were drugged."

I stare. "It's true?"

"She thought I was Jonas and believed she was dreaming. I thought I was kissing another Amoris they had thrown at me, though I was hallucinating it was Abella. Isabeau and Anastasie were behind it. I had nothing to do with it. I swear. They didn't like the attention Odette was showing Iris, and I think they wanted to make Odette angry by pushing us together."

"So your attentions still lie with the princess?"

"No."

"What does that mean?"

"I love her, Colton."

We're both silent as his words dissolve into the air around us.

"Iris?"

He nods, a sigh rippling through his body.

"You can't."

"Do you think I planned for this to happen? You were the one who had to kidnap both of us."

"How long have you known?"

"I think I was in love with her when I found out she had stabbed Odette with a snail fork, but I didn't know until I realized who it was that was in my arms—that I had been . . ." Kissing is what he can't bring himself to say.

"You have to forget about those feelings."

"Don't you think I've tried?"

"She's engaged to my brother. Our Preeminence."

"I won't act on them. It isn't like we were written in the stars. The only reason we were ever alone so much was due to her being engaged to Jonas." Because he went to Amoria to get permission to marry her, and I shoved them both together when my chance came to visit Vienna.

My brother's supposed to be dead. What if . . . what if she and Bently were . . . No, Iris is supposed to be dead as well. There can't be such a thing as a soulmate for someone who was supposed to be dead before they ever fell in love.

"Does she return your feelings?"

Bently swipes his finger over the top of his nose and huffs out a laugh. "Not that I know."

"Does she know of yours?"

"I've certainly tried to convince her I don't."

"No trying, Bently. That's not enough."

He gives me a cynical glance. "And here I was thinking you would have wanted her engagement to fall through. Isn't it what's keeping you from Vienna?"

"I'll find another way."

He stands and walks to the window, his hands clenched into fists. "I want her." He opens his palms, his fingers strained as he stares down at them. "Badly. I don't know what—I've never—"

"You weren't ever in love with Abella, were you?"

"Not love, no. Does it get easier?"

"I couldn't get over Vienna. That's why we're here."

"I suppose my family's cursed."

"That's a bit dramatic, don't you think?"

"Did you know my mother loved your father? But his whole life he was in love with your mother. When they got engaged, my mom settled for only having a son in the next Order and married my father to make it happen. Who will I settle for?"

"You don't have to settle." I didn't know that about his mother.

"We're all running out of time to get married. I never planned to look for love but now that I know it's out there . . . I'm damned to suffer I suppose. Maybe if I had lived a better life up until now. I don't deserve happiness. So few of us in the Order do." He turns, leaning against the windowsill, his arms crossed. "She thinks we can be better than our fathers' Order. But they raised us. How can we be anything but them?"

"Just take care of it. Iris can't have any doubts that you don't in fact love her. We all suffer in the Society. At least we'll all suffer together."

He cuts me a glare. "I hate talking to you."

"Because I'm honest?"

"Because you make my problems seem like nothing."

"They aren't nothing."

"You could have fooled me." He walks away from the window to the small table against the far wall and pours himself a glass of water, though I imagine he's wishing it were something stronger. "I've noticed Alastair cozying up to Gwen. I suspect a great big scandal. Maybe some babies. An engagement perhaps."

I take a deep breath. He's only trying to get a rise out of me. That's all. "If we all must be married soon, so must Gwen." Just not to Alastair.

He tugs at his sleeves, walking back toward his chair. "I'll never know how you manage to irritate me with everything you say." Picking up his coat, he slings it over his shoulder. "Maybe I will send you a puzzle." He heads for the door. "But I'll be sure to remove a piece first."