Chapter Fourteen #2
“Would you like a tutor?” he asks.
“You’re not going to teach me anymore?” I ask. The words are out of my mouth before I can think of how desperate they make me sound. But Remus doesn’t point it out, and I am grateful for it as he moves to the shelves that hold his gifts to me.
“I’m afraid I won’t have the time for a while. With Iriel’s trial and everything else that comes with being Aureon, I am grateful to have returned to the longer days Xyrannis provides so that I can see you at least a few hours out of them,” he says.
Once again, his words make me feel warm as he voices his desire.
“So, the hours are longer here,” I say, earning a smile from Remus.
“Yes. Xyrannis is slightly larger than Earth, so the hours are about thirty for a day as opposed to the twenty four you are used to,” Remus says, confirming my suspicions.
“It must have felt like you were always in a rush on Earth,” I scoff.
Remus shrugs, his attention falling to the notes I took. He isn’t just passing by. He came in here to spend time with me specifically, even after the long day he had where he spent most of it at a trial.
“Can I ask how the trial is going?” I ask.
“You can ask me anything you like,” he says without missing a beat. “But to answer your question, it’s going as well as one would hope. His sentence will be passed on by the end of next week if things continue to run smoothly.”
“And why wouldn’t they?” I ask.
“Leviathan are welcome to plead for his sentence. I wouldn’t be surprised if a few came forward to ask for leniency,” he says.
I shake my head in confusion. “Leniency? And you would just…give it to him?” I ask.
Remus shrugs.
“It is the council’s decision, not mine,” he says.
I scoff in disbelief, pulling his attention.
“Why is that even a possibility? The council wasn’t there. Why do they decide what happens?” I ask.
Remus notices my irritation, his expression falling blank as he studies me.
“Iriel is a Leviathan citizen who put his race at risk. And so, the council decides what happens to him. If those who are a part of his race feel the need to plead on his behalf, then the council is compelled to listen and take it into account,” he says.
“That’s bullshit,” I snap.
Now I have Remus’s full attention. He turns away from the shelf, standing tall as he closes the distance between us. I can’t tell if he is being threatening or just listening to my complaints, as my body is both terrified and excited that he is so close.
“Oh?” he asks.
I tense when I see the blue flecks within his irises gleaming in excitement.
“He…used us. All of us. Leniency shouldn’t be an option. He’s a coward who deserves death,” I murmur.
Remus laughs. “I’m sorry, but that isn’t how things work on Xyrannis.”
I release a bitter chuckle.
“Only on Earth, right? Humans who fought for their homes are given instant death without a trial, or worse, become slaves to your empire. But Leviathan, who plot against their own and their entire race, get a fair trial. And the possibility of leniency,” I say.
Remus wraps his arms around my waist, pulling me flush against him. His warmth is overwhelming.
“Yes. Because you are the conquered, so you do not make the rules,” he says simply.
I try to push away from him, but his grip tightens around me, his face devoid of amusement. He’s realizing I am upset.
“Come now, Iris. I thought you put this behind you,” he says in disappointment.
My heart beats slightly faster from his tone and the strength of his grip. But my mind instantly shifts to his words to me before we left Earth.
“You won’t ever have to worry about my wrath ever again.”
“Let go of me, Remus,” I say. My voice gives away how I feel, and I feel Remus’s grip tighten slightly before he finally releases me.
I shift my attention to the shelf, taking in the gifts he gave me to help me ease the suffering of losing my home world. I feel bitter resentment rising up as I imagine how he felt when he thought these would ease the ache.
“You really don’t get how I feel. I can’t just make this go away.
It is going to live inside of me for the rest of my life.
And it will come and go as I grow, but I can’t just…
put it behind me. It only happened a few months ago,” I say.
“But you wouldn’t understand that, would you?
You don’t understand anything, and I don’t know why I expected you to after you told me you can’t even remember being a child. ”
Remus is stoic as I speak, hiding any emotion, if possible, from me.
“You and me should not be together, Remus. You can’t expect this to work.
You will never understand me, you will never be able to relate to anything about me, and when I die in the short span of fifty years, you will forget I existed, but I will never forget how I feel being by your side—Ah! ”
I cry out as my back is suddenly against the wall, with Remus between my legs, holding me between him and the wall. His expression is unreadable.
“You chose this. You chose, Iris.”
My body is overstimulated by his closeness. My skin prickles in excitement, and my heart beats wildly, yet I feel somewhat relieved. My body is warring with my mind as the effects of the bond intensify.
“Regardless of who I am, what I’ve done, how I emote…you chose me,” he growls.
I swallow my scream as he changes before me. His eyes tremble the same way they did the day he bonded with me. His skin seems to illuminate as his hair gently floats, even though there is no breeze in here. I tense when I feel something shifting in my mind, my panic increasing.
Remus is using the bond.
But it is both ways at this moment. The rush of foreign emotions is overwhelming, but not as terrifying as the darkness that swallows me as Remus’s most forefront emotion makes itself known in my mind—what I mistook as desire is actually his unbridled obsession.