Chapter 10 Green Eyed General
Icouldn’t believe how conflicted I felt.
Back at the base, things had been far simpler. The structure, the routine, everything had a purpose. And because of that, I had found myself lost in the militant work, focusing solely on survival and aiding others in that same goal.
And then there had been Riley.
Even if what we shared was mostly friendship, until just before the attack on the base anyway, it had been something real. Something solid to hold on to in the chaos. But here?
Here, sitting at a polished table, eating steak like civilization in this State hadn’t ended, I felt lost. Disconnected. Like I’d been dropped into someone else’s life and told to play along.
Three years ago, this kind of dinner had been normal.
Now, it felt obscene… wrong. I glanced to my right, to the source of the confusion swirling inside me.
The General sat there, calm and collected, listening as my uncle and Aster discussed something about prison security measures.
Their words were a distant hum. The only thing I could focus on was the ache coiling tighter in my chest, like a rope pulled to its limit.
It snapped.
I set my knife and fork down hard enough that the metal clattered against the plate.
The sound was sharp and sliced through conversation as silence fell between them.
I ignored my uncle’s shocked reaction and Aster’s quizzical gaze, his mouth twitching like he knew something big was coming, and instead I focused solely on the man who acted like he needed me here for some unknown purpose.
“Why am I here?” My question came out lower and heavier than I intended, but I didn’t care. The weight of it had been crushing me for days.
As for The General, his response was calm, almost disarmingly so. He placed his own cutlery down with deliberate care before his fingers took hold of his drink. Those long, manly digits brushing along the stem of his wine glass as he turned it slowly between his hands.
“You’re here…” he said, his tone as smooth as that glass he held, “…because you made a bargain.”
I rolled my eyes, muttering under my breath, “Oh, great. Back to this shit.”
“Alex, that’s not…” my uncle started, his voice warning, but I cut him off with a raised hand.
“No, Uncle. I get it. You trust him. You trust these people, and that’s fine.
That’s great for you. Because I know you had a different experience after the Rift opened up than I did.
” I could feel my pulse racing now, words spilling faster than I could catch them.
“And I’m glad, truly, that you found some peace here.
That you built a life in a community you can call your own.
One founded on safety, not on fear like the one the Rift forced me to survive in.
But you have no idea what I’ve been through. ”
“Alex, I understand…” my uncle began, the words full of sympathy, but again, something snapped in me.
“No.” I met his eyes, hard and unflinching, not caring that we had an audience in this family matter. “You don’t understand. You can’t. You weren’t there,” I said with a shaky breath.
He looked pained and I started to share his guilt, yet I couldn’t stop myself. Couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out.
“I’ll spare you the details of starving, of running, of waking every night afraid of what might find me in the dark.
Hell, even on the sunniest of days. Of killing a Chimera and then hiding in a damn closet the second he showed up…
” I jerked my chin toward The General. “…because I didn’t know if I’d just traded one monster for another. ”
My uncle’s mouth parted, but no words came. The room had gone utterly still.
“I’ve been here two days,” I went on, my voice rough.
“And I still have no answers. None. Every minute I spend surrounded by comfort, I can’t help but think about everyone else who doesn’t have it.
The people back at the base. The ones still fighting to stay alive.
” My words nearly broke on a sob that I only just managed to hold back as I closed my eyes and shook my head.
Then once I had clawed back my composure, I turned once again to my uncle, my throat tightening as I told him, “There are kids there. Kids without parents. Because of those creatures, those Myths that shouldn’t even exist in our world.
And maybe he’s not the cause of it…” I paused long enough to gesture toward The General.
“But he’s certainly part of it. Of all of this. ”
The words shook out of me, raw and trembling.
“So, excuse me if I can’t just sit here and pretend like I’m not abandoning them by sitting with the man they still see as the enemy.”
My uncle sighed, weary, guilt shadowing his eyes. Aster looked like he wanted to say something, but The General lifted a hand, silencing him instantly.
When he finally spoke, his voice was low, deliberate, and far too calm.
“You may feel guilty accepting my hospitality,” he said, pausing to look down at the wine left in his glass.
“It may leave a bitter taste on your tongue. But I do not, for a single moment, believe that you have not given enough of yourself for those people.” His gaze caught mine.
It was sharp and unrelenting like molten rock.
“Nor do I believe that you don’t deserve this small reprieve from such a sacrifice. ”
My jaw tightened. “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” I snapped.
“It means, Alexandra…” he said, his tone darkening. “That your purpose here is not yet fulfilled, and although you seem eager to begin it…”
“Of course, I am!” My voice broke as I interrupted him, going on to add, “The sooner I do whatever it is you need me to do, the sooner I can get back to my base, back to Ril…” The name died in my throat when I saw his reaction.
His expression might have changed in only a subtle way, but to me, it seemed devastating.
The warmth drained from his eyes, replaced by something cold and hard.
There was a tightening of his jaw as a muscle jumped at his neck.
But it was also in the way his fingers tightened around the stem of the glass, no longer using it as an object to feign indifference but a vessel for his anger.
The stem snapped with a sharp crack. If it cut him, he gave no sign, instead continuing as if nothing had broken at all.
“Ah,” he said softly, a cruel edge to the word. “But of course, your precious Riley.”
I couldn’t help but flinch as if the sound of Riley’s name coming from his lips had physically cut me.
My uncle frowned. “Riley? Who’s Riley?”
Before I could open my mouth, The General answered for me.
“Riley,” he said, his voice like steel, “is the boy your niece has chosen to concern herself with.”
I gritted my teeth because now he wasn’t the only one gripping onto the glass like it was the enemy. But of course, The General wasn’t finished telling my uncle his version of events surrounding my friend.
“He was the one my men found half-dead, attacked by a Gryphon at their base,” the General began, his voice cold.
“The one we healed. The one we brought back to the prison out of mercy.” Every word was measured, clipped, and deliberate.
“And he repaid that mercy by attacking my men. By spreading fear among the others with his claims that you mortals were all… what was the word he used… ah yes… brainwashed.” His golden eyes found mine at that single word, said with such loathing that it was as if the food had turned to ash in his mouth.
Plates were now being taken away as if this argument wasn’t even happening, and nothing could prevent the dinner service from continuing.
“He’s the one we were forced to confine for everyone’s safety. The same man you made a bargain to free in exchange for your own cooperation,” The General said, now bringing his dark gaze back to me as if reminding me.
As for my uncle, he also turned to me, confusion and hurt etching his face, but of course, The General wasn’t quite finished.
“But you chose not to keep that bargain,” he continued. “Instead, you betrayed the trust of those sent to protect you and fled with him. And if it hadn’t been for a single moment of hesitation…” His voice dropped, dangerous now. “You’d have jumped into that river and vanished without a trace.”
My uncle now stared at me, stunned. “Alex… is that true?”
I ignored him. My blood was boiling too hot from shame as I slammed my hand down on the table, and I rose from my seat.
“What did you expect me to do?!” The words cracked through the air.
“At that point, it felt like I’d made a deal with the fucking devil!
I’d have been a fool not to try to get out of it.
Did you think I knew you weren’t the enemy?
That you had saved my uncle? That I would have then made that same decision if I’d known?
” I leaned forward, my voice shaking. “Because you sure as hell didn’t do yourself any favors convincing me otherwise,” I said, jerking my head at him with a disgusted gesture and causing the muscle in his jaw to tick in that small, dangerous flicker of anger.
“Even after everything I’ve done for you, you still insist on seeing me as the villain,” he said quietly, almost exasperated at this point.
“Yes, well, after yesterday, can you really blame me?” I snapped.
My uncle frowned at this before asking, “What happened yesterday?”
But neither of us answered. Instead, The General’s eyes darkened further, if such a thing was possible.
“All that happened is that you let your fear control you,” he replied, answering my uncle’s question as if I had been the one to ask it.
“Fear?” I hissed. “Oh, that’s rich. You think it’s so easy to control, don’t you? Maybe you didn’t hear me when I was pleading with you to stop!”
The General had the good sense to flinch at this lash of words.
“To stop what?” my uncle demanded, worry sharpening his tone as he rose from his chair, his fists beginning to clench.
“Calm yourself, Rick,” The General said flatly, schooling his features once more and hardening himself against my argument.
“She was not harmed, nor was she ever in any danger of being harmed.” He paused as my uncle sat back down slowly, his eyes narrowed, then added with a cruel edge, “Unless you count her wounded pride.”
“How dare you? This isn’t about pride! It’s about respect, about you not crossing boundaries that don’t belong to you!” I said, leaning closer to him, and I swear I was close to vibrating, I was so angry.
“Respect…” he said, rising from his own chair so that he could look down at me. “Is earned, not taken for granted.”
I barked out a bitter laugh. “Ha! That’s rich coming from you. You walk into every room like you own the air everyone breathes!”
“Careful, Alexandra.” His voice dropped lower. “My patience only stretches so far for that venomous tongue of yours.”
I baulked back in outrage. “You see! That’s exactly what I mean.
The second someone challenges you, you throw that same threat at them, that convenient, ‘I am in charge here’ type warning to remind them to know their place.
Well, here’s mine, oh Lord High and Mighty, I’m done with this!
” I shoved my chair further back and removed myself from the table just as dessert was being brought out.
“I don’t need your fancy food or your cryptic mind games!
” I ranted, as he too started to move from the table.
“I agree,” he said, his tone deadly calm. “Perhaps a little absence from each other’s company would be… wise.” This last word was gritted out.
“Fine by me!”
“Good,” he said as if needing the last word.
He reached across the table, snatching up a full bottle of wine that was still corked. “I’ll be taking this. I’m sure it will help me recover from this infuriating exchange.”
“Perfect,” I said, grabbing a bowl of fancy ice cream the moment it hit the table. “And I’ll take this, because clearly, I need something sweet after such sour company!”
He sneered at me, and I did so right back at him, as we both turned toward the exit… in the same direction.
Fantastic!
Just what I needed in my dramatic exit was a tag-along trying to make his own.
I vaguely heard my uncle ask Aster, “What just happened?” But I didn’t hear his reply as I made it to the lobby.
The tension between us was electric, sparking with every step as we stalked toward the elevators side by side.
“I can’t believe I wasted wearing my first dress in three years on you,” I muttered the confession before I could stop myself, then hated myself for it. A confession he hadn’t missed, as I saw it in the flash of shock across his face before it hardened again.
“Well,” he said darkly, “I suppose you’ll be thrilled to crawl back into those army fatigues.
Don’t worry, you will be running off to join your precious Riley before you know it, little soldier girl.
Perhaps then you can keep the dress for who really matters!
” he snapped angrily, lashing out like some barrier had dropped in his defenses.
The elevator thankfully chimed, and I stepped inside, glaring daggers at him before he entered his elevator, still reeling from what he had just said to me.
“Goodnight, Your Majesty,” I said in as much of a mocking tone as I could muster in my angry state. If he wanted to act like a King, an infuriating one at that, I was going to treat him like one.
He turned his head just enough to meet my glare.
“Goodnight, childish little human.”
The doors slid shut, cutting off his dark gaze. And only when the elevator began to rise did I let out the breath I’d been holding.
The one that had been trembling in my chest, and I hadn’t seemed able to fully release it since the moment he’d said Riley’s name.
Said it like he had been…
Jealous.