Chapter Thirty-Three
Iris
I knew Remus was going to come for me someday.
I just didn’t think it would be this soon—this brutal.
I wasn’t even aware that one of the abilities in Remus’s repertoire was teleportation.
I see why he never used it and never told me about it.
I feel sick, even if I am freezing to death.
And my mind isn’t quite caught up with my mouth yet.
If it weren’t so cold, I would lie down from the vertigo that’s settling over me.
“You know me,” Remus says, not waiting for me to adjust to my surroundings.
It isn’t a question. He’s telling me. But I nod anyway, my body trembling violently from the cold as I try to keep my eyes open.
My legs have gone numb, and I can’t feel my face.
I think of all the times Remus scolded me for being careless about standing in this weather.
He wasn’t overexaggerating when he said it would kill me if I didn’t pay attention.
That time he was meditating in the snow, when I felt the force field around him, his anger now makes sense.
I want to beg for a semblance of mercy. But as he looks down on me with a cold exterior I’ve never seen on him, not even in the beginning, I close my eyes, hoping he’ll get on with the questioning.
“How?” he asks. His voice cuts through the cold.
“Y-you…t-t-took ov-v-ver m-m-my, p-p-p—”
Remus releases a breath of irritation, and I cry out as he rips me up from the ground.
My skin is on fire where he touches me, but the rest of me is frozen solid.
I know it hasn’t been five minutes yet, but I don’t think I’ll be able to answer any of his questions if I stay out here much longer.
My lips have become so cold that it’s become difficult to say certain words.
“I’m aware of your origins. I am asking how you know me,” he growls out. The blue within his eyes burn bright as he glares at me.
“Chit ‘Tolm putant,” he growls to himself, but I know exactly what he said—that I am weak and useless. I use what little strength I have left to place my hand over his, ripping his grip from my arm as I look him in the eyes, my body shivering.
“I’m not…that useless…I-I-If you’re c-c-coming to me f-f-f-or…answers,” I say.
Remus doesn’t respond as he matches my gaze. If I hadn’t been on the journey that I have with him, I would cower from his gaze and pray he forgets about me. But I know him, and somehow, subconsciously, he knows me. Or he would have crushed my bones to dust by now for speaking to him like this.
“Are you sure you want to waste what little time you have challenging me?” he asks, a cruel grin forming on his lips.
He’s right, though. Already, the cold has penetrated to my bones, and I can feel my consciousness waning.
My face burns, and I am finding it difficult to blink.
It won’t be long before the shock settles in and I am dead.
I grunt in pain, my feet unable to hold me up from the chill, and I collapse in the snow.
Remus stands over me, studying me intensely before kneeling to my height, his fingers drifting under my chin.
“How do you know me?” he growls.
“W-w-w-we….w-we-were…t-t-together,” I gasp. The cold as settled in my lips, making it difficult for me to speak. But Remus shows no signs of mercy, his irritation at my response visible. His hand wraps around my throat, squeezing.
“I thought I told you no lies,” he growls out.
My fingers can’t lift to pry his grip away as my body takes on a violent shiver. I try to remain conscious, but it’s becoming increasingly difficult as the seconds pass. Surely, it hasn’t been five minutes yet.
I’m…n-n-n-not l-l-lying!” I groan. “W-w-we were b-b-b-b-onded!”
Remus releases me, and this time, I can’t even open my eyes. I’m going to die in the snow Remus warned me about because he doesn’t believe me. I chuckle to myself at the irony of the situation.
“Has it…already…b-b-een f-f-f-five…minutes?” I murmur.
But my brain can no longer decipher anything else as it focuses on the chill settling over me. It panics, and I can feel my insides shutting down. Until finally, I can’t even think for myself.
I jolt awake as familiar warmth washes over me.
It takes a moment for me to register my surroundings.
I am in Remus’s home. In one of the spare rooms. I am in a bed, covered in a cloak that smells just like Remus, with only a fireplace for light.
I blink the blurriness from my eyes, and as I come into consciousness, I realize there is a hand on my stomach, radiating warmth. And that hand belongs to Remus.
My panic is instant, and I scream, shoving his hand away as I check myself for damage.
But there is none. Strangely, I feel better than I’ve felt in a very long time.
My body has been rejuvenated. I slowly look away from my hands to Remus.
He’s sitting next to the bed, watching me with an unreadable expression.
He’s been healing me.
“You are a resilient thing, aren’t you?” he says. I flinch from his continued use of the phrase “thing.” He may have temporarily saved my life, but he still sees it as worthless. His only endgame is getting answers.
I gasp as he reaches for me, his hand settling on my stomach. His eyes remain focused on his task. “There’s so much damage in this frail body. Neither of my siblings’ strong suits has ever been healing. But I’m sure you’ve realized that by now.”
I narrow my gaze, pushing his touch away again.
“You’ve been trying to kill me since you met me. Why do you care?” I ask.
“But you’re not dead, are you?” he asks.
Silence drifts between us. I don’t understand why he saved me from the snow. He didn’t believe my answer, and my time ran out. Yet here I am with his healing hands to comfort me.
“Tell me again, what are we to one another?” he asks.
I narrow my gaze, looking away.
“We were together,” I say.
“I know when you are lying,” he says.
I pull in a trembling breath, looking back at him, letting my irritation show. “Then you know I am telling the truth. I am the only one who has told you the truth.”
Remus tilts his head, and it’s unnerving. He doesn’t seem to be as hostile as he was, and I don’t know if it’s because he believes me or if he somehow remembers me.
“So, Iriel wasn’t lying,” he says, watching my reaction.
I assume my existence must have been among Iriel’s last words.
“Iriel can’t be the only reason you’ve decided to question things,” I say, looking at him.
I can tell that he doesn’t like the way I am speaking to him.
But he doesn’t react to it. Answers are too important to him.
That is a trait of Remus’s that I have always admired.
His ability to put aside his personal feelings.
His eyes remain lined to mine as he reaches behind his head. His hair falls out of the tight half-updo it was in, flowing freely around him as he reveals the hairpin he took from me. I know he can sense my reaction to seeing it. Even I feel my heart beating slightly faster as I take it in.
“You said I gave this to you. Tell me again,” he says, watching me carefully. He’s seeing if I’m lying.
“You gave it to me,” I say.
His eyes narrow. He doesn’t trust me or understand why I seem to be telling the truth.
“Why did I give this to you?” he asks.
I stare at it for a moment, gathering the courage to speak without giving him an answer.
“Aren’t you more interested in why you don’t remember—mph!”
Remus’s hand lashes out, his grip like iron as he covers my mouth. An eerie rage fills the deep crystalline pools of his eyes as he glares at me, warring with himself.
“You seem to have forgotten yourself and why you are here. The only reason I didn’t let you die in the snow is that I want answers—”
I jerk away from his grip, tears burning my eyes.
“You want answers? Maybe you should go find them somewhere else, then!” I shout. “You don’t think this is hard for me? To watch you exist without me? When you told me we would—” I trail off, not wanting to reveal our last conversation. It would only make him go after his mother.
For some reason, he hasn’t responded or attacked me for my outburst, so I pull in a deep breath, calming myself before I speak.
“The questions you’re asking are dangerous. Why do you think Xion and Ezra are lying to you? Why do you think they are trying so hard to protect me? Me, a human who has no connection to them. And you have no recollection of,” I say.
I told Xion I would tell Remus the truth if I got the chance. But I see now that I have to be calculating in speaking to him. I have to do as he does, and allow him to think he is in control of the situation. I have to lead him to do what I want.
“Kill me if you want. But if you want the truth. The real truth, you have to get rid of the rings that surround this planet,” I say.
I close my eyes, waiting for the pain of his torture to come for speaking against his home world.
But it doesn’t. So, I slowly open my eyes, looking at him.
He leans in close, his scent filling my senses, and I fight the urge to throw my arms around his neck and hold him close.
He isn’t my Remus. I have to remember that.
He releases a bitter chuckle. “And if I say I’ll flatten you until you’re a puddle of bone and mush, if you don’t tell me yourself, what will you say to that?”
I meet his gaze. “You will come to regret that decision.”
We both glare at one another, except my bravery is false bravado. On the inside, I am terrified. But this is the only way to help him. This is the only way to get through his hatred of what I am to make him see the truth.
He scoffs, standing.
“Don’t move. Or else you may arrive back at my sister’s place with a missing limb,” he says, holding his hand out.
“Mngh!” My insides twist, and I recognize the feeling. He’s transporting me again. This is it. This is all I have left of speaking to him.
“Wait! Aren’t you curious why you don’t remember me?
” I ask, shifting forward in the bed. Remus narrows his gaze slightly at my lack of obedience before moving to the edge of the bed.
He leans into me, his hair falling between us as his eyes line to mine.
His gaze holds mine and I feel his hand close around mine as he places something in my grasp.
“Keep this night between us. Or you will regret it. I know more than you think, Iris.”
He doesn’t give me a chance to respond as the world tilts around me, my insides turning to mush.
Everything disappears, and I am unable to breathe as my body goes into shock from the sudden shift.
It takes two seconds, but I am suddenly in a bed again, looking up at a familiar ceiling as I gasp, unable to inhale.
I pull in a heavy breath, my lungs filling with air as my mind and body slowly connect. I am back in my room at Xion’s. Remus sent me back after forcing me to give him the most minimal of answers to his questions.
I didn’t even get to tell him who is behind this. Or warn him not to look.
His warning rings in my mind. He wants me to keep this to myself. I saw no semblance of my Remus as he spoke to me. Even so, he knew my name. I missed hearing my name come from his lips.
As I settle into my body, I slowly sit up and I realize I’m holding something in my hand. I open my palm, gasping as I recognize it.
It’s the hairpin Remus gave me.