Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Iris
The celebration is livelier than the original one I attended.
The Leviathan here are more relaxed as they celebrate in the presence of their gods.
For most of the evening, Sky and I have remained on the outskirts of the party, content to enjoy the company of humans.
But I see we’re the only ones, as Noah has made it his mission to remain by Xion’s side.
Even now, worlds apart, humans have chosen a side.
“So, are we going to talk about it?” Sky asks, breaking the silence between us.
“About what?” I ask, looking away from the party to face her. She raises a brow at me, tilting her chin to the opening behind us that reveals the sky.
“The rings. I know you had something to do with them,” she says.
I try to feign confusion as best as I can, especially with Remus no more than fifty feet away from me.
I shift my gaze to look at him briefly, and he’s standing alone on the edge of the party, looking out over the landscape.
My mind drifts to his explanation at the first party we attended on Xyrannis together.
“I hardly ever enjoy attending these. I am known to disappear after an hour or so.”
Even with his memory gone, he still doesn’t join in. I guess he truly never did. He’s always been distant when it comes to his people; that has never changed. Even on Earth, I noticed it. But with me, things were different. I take a deep breath, forcing my attention back to Sky.
“I didn’t have anything to do with it. I don’t know why he did it. Maybe he knows more than we originally thought,” I say softly.
I hate lying to her. But I don’t want to test Remus’s threat to me about relaying this to anyone. Especially with the way we left things last night. But Sky isn’t buying it. She keeps her eyes lined to mine, her lips pursing in irritation.
“Do you really think keeping it from the only people who can help is a good idea?” she asks.
I scoff.
“Even if I were keeping something, what can any of you do about it? Remus was the one who took those rings down, not Ezra and not Xion,” I say.
Sky narrows her gaze but stops herself from speaking too quickly as she thinks about what I’m saying. She takes a breath herself, crossing her arms as she looks out over the crowd.
“I only meant, taking everything on yourself could be dangerous. You need someone in your corner. And if that someone is the alien who doesn’t even remember bonding with you, that doesn’t make your odds of coming out of this alive better,” she says.
“I know. And I appreciate your concern. But really, I had nothing to do with the rings,” I say.
Sky continues to glare at me. I know she doesn’t believe me, but she doesn’t push the issue either. So we fall back into somewhat comfortable silence as we people watch the aliens responsible for the current state of our lives.
I once again find my gaze drifting to Remus.
The longer I study him, the more I realize he isn’t just being distant.
His mind is elsewhere. He isn’t at least observing the crowd as he did in the past. He doesn’t even bother with speaking to his siblings either.
He is purposefully alone, lost in thought.
“I’ll…be right back,” I murmur to Sky.
I move to approach Remus when I feel a snag on my arm. I turn to see her looking at me like I’m crazy, shaking her head.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she hisses.
“It’s okay,” I say, but her expression shifts to even more disbelief.
“Iris. You told me yourself he has never used his power the way he has recently against you. Do you think Ezra and Xion can stop him in front of their people if he decides to rip you apart for talking to him in a public setting like this?” she asks.
I open my mouth to respond when I notice my arm is trembling in her grip. She’s scared for me. I know it’s from her experiencing what it feels like being stopped by him the other day. It’s terrifying as a human who has never experienced anything like that before—or even known it was possible.
It warms my heart that she cares this much about me.
I pull my hand from her grip, taking a deep breath as I suddenly have the urge to confide in her.
“I know it’s scary, but he’s already—”
Sky gasps, taking a step back as her eyes widen in fear over my shoulder. I turn, following her gaze to see none other than Remus standing over us. His eyes flit briefly to Sky.
“My brother is calling for you,” he says.
Whether it’s a lie or the truth, I can’t decipher. I feel Sky step closer to me in an attempt to be protective, but I turn to face her, giving her a nod that I’ll be okay. She hesitates, but finally moves through the crowd to find Ezra.
“You don’t have a very strong sense of survival, do you?
” Remus says as we both watch Sky disappear.
I wait until she is no longer in my eyeline to face Remus.
The pulse of my heart in my ears feels louder than the music as I stand before him after everything that’s transpired and ended with last night.
I know what he is capable of, and I am scared. But I also know that if I let him go, his mother will win, and he’ll be lost forever. So I hold fast to the small bit of confidence that I have left.
His eyes look different. The calm pulse of purple has transpired into a glittering pulse that shifts back and forth.
It makes looking him in the eyes difficult.
My body can’t seem to comprehend his existence, and his gaze is so intense that it feels like he is looking right through me.
I slowly pull my bottom lip between my teeth to fight the shiver climbing up my spine from that chilling expression, and his eyes follow the movement.
He lifts his hand, reaching for my face, and I flinch, closing my eyes. I slowly open them when I feel his fingers on the hairpin.
“I see my warning had no effect on you. Then again, I guess they never really did,” he says.
My eyes widen.
“You remember?” I ask.
He makes a face, laughing at my reaction. “You’re that desperate for me to remember who you are?” he asks.
I look down for a moment, taking a break from holding his frightening gaze.
“Do you remember?” I ask.
Silence passes between us, and when I look up at him, he’s still watching me.
“Unfortunately, there is more than memories of you that have been stripped from me,” he says.
I try to look away, but he reaches for my face, holding my chin as he studies me.
“But you are there…in small moments,” he says, “Too small to believe your stories. Or believe you were anything other than a slave from a conquered world,” he says.
I pull away from him, my anger shining through.
“If they’re so small, then why do you keep coming to me as if I matter?” I ask.
“You are the only thing in my missing memory that is still here,” he says.
A bitter chuckle escapes me. So he’s still using me to complete his puzzle piece. He has no intention of returning to me—only to recovering what was lost. And according to him, it’s much more than our time on Earth.
“I’m not giving up on you, Remus,” I say.
This time, as I look him in the eyes, I let the shudder of discomfort consume me. I want him to see how terrified I am. Whatever change has occurred between last night and today has made him noticeably less human, for lack of a better word.
“I am not lying to you. I am the only one who isn’t. I care about you. And I know you know I’m not lying. You need me, and I won’t stop fighting for you, the same way I didn’t stop fighting for my planet,” I say.
Remus’s gaze is unreadable as he steps closer to me.
He once again reaches for my face, his fingers brushing my cheek before drifting down the side of my throat, tracing my shoulder to rest on my back.
I flinch as he brushes over the bruise beneath the dress, but then I feel warmth against it, the pain slowly subsiding.
Remus slowly steps away from me, confusion on his expression.
“I know,” he says, his tone laced in the same confusion I see in his expression.
His hand slowly falls at his side as he watches me, his eyes returning to their normal ethereal glow as he takes a step back. He briefly looks at the hairpin in my hair before focusing back on my face.
“You will eventually die a meaningless death because of it. And I won’t be the one to mourn you. No one will.”