Page 85 of Pet: Torment

He looks away from the window, his amethyst gaze falling on me. “Who will hunt you down?”

I pull in a trembling breath, my fingers grasping for my locket. Remus’s eyes follow the motion before shifting back to my face. I see no patience in his expression. This is just a conversation to get the answers he seeks.

“Your mother,” I say. I finally speak the truth.

Remus narrows his gaze seconds before I feel a heavy pressure settling around me. It isn’t uncomfortable yet, but the threat is there. It lingers between us, making me shiver as I sit on the brink of death from the alien that once told me he loved me.

“The words that come from your lips make me want to rip the life from your lungs. And yet you speak them with such absolution. Have you been trained for this? Did someone send you here to fuck with me? To get me to let my guard down?” he seethes.

His tone alone makes me tremble as silent tears spill down my cheeks, over my quivering lips. Remus holds my life in his hands, and as he glares at me with hatred, I suddenly see the slight tremble of his pupil, and it all suddenly makes sense to me.

“You’re scared,” I say. “You feel betrayed…”

He doesn’t move. If anything, he doesn’t even look like he’s breathing. My chest aches as I take him in, standing before me in a way I’ve never seen him. Even though I don’t know what it is he’s experiencing in his mind, I know that he is desperate for answers as his mother’s work slips through the cracks. Whatever memories he has of me must be enough for him to follow what I say...but not enough to believe me entirely.

“I’m telling the truth, Remus. You left to see her, and you never came back. I felt your anger and your betrayal—agh!” The pressure around me grows unbearable, and my body feels like it’s being crushed.

Remus holds me right on the edge as he moves closer to me, the black of his pupil dilating so much that I can no longer see the purple as he glares at me.

“Why do you lie with such ease?” he hisses.

“I am not lying!” I ground out. “I know you, Remus. I know that you don’t need food to survive, but you still like shaved ice in a small town calledMallora. I know that you like to live among your people in disguise. I know that you like to read, and that you enjoy Ifasy. I know that you have ice imported and I know that you would split a mountain for me and kill Iriel without a trial if I asked because of what he did to me. And I know that you loved me in your own way, enough to make a room for me in your home with everything I’ve ever held close in my life.”

The pressure around me slowly dissolves as Remus’s expression grows more flustered.

“I’m sorry I took you for granted. You’ve saved my life on so many occasions, protecting me from my own people and I still hated you for it. I was so angry about the loss of my world, I didn’t take the time to understand who you are and where you were coming from in all of this,” I sob.

I slowly sit up as the pressure disappears, reaching for Remus, and he lets me, his expression still unreadable. “But I understand now, and this—who you are at this moment, isn’t you. Your mother has taken that from you—from us. And if she knew you were asking these questions, or that I was still alive, there’s no telling what she would do to retaliate—Ah!”

My body is suddenly thrown across the room by an invisible force, and I crash into the wall. Pain ripples up my spine, as Icollide with the wall, collapsing in a heap as I fight to breathe. I barely am able to take in the sound of Remus’s slow approach until he is standing over me.

Blood drains from my face from the heavy pressure that fills the room as his hair shifts slightly around him. I’m still gasping for breath as he kneels in front of me, and a prickling sensation settles over me. It takes a moment for me to realize it’s the blood beneath my skin pulling against my veins as Remus threatens me.

“Speak to me like this ever again, and I will kill you.” I fight the urge to vomit as fear cuts through me.

He glares down at me without recognition, and certainly without patience, his anger suffocating. Suddenly, his presence disappears from the room and I sag in relief, flinching as the pain continues to radiate over every inch of my body.

I lift my head just enough to see the rings slowly forming. They look like slow waves that will eventually connect, and I can do nothing but watch as my last bit of hope is ripped away.

The pain finally becomes too much, and I black out.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Iris

I flinch in pain as I bring the dress over my shoulders. I wouldn’t be shocked if something was broken beneath the surface. But I don’t have time to worry about that. Not when I’m losing what little of Remus’s trust I had. I slowly reach behind me for the ties on the dress, groaning in pain as I pull it to cover my skin.Luckily, the material isn’t like anything on Earth. It doesn’t take much to fasten it.

I slowly move to the mirror, taking in my handiwork. The dress looks even more beautiful than it did the day I wore it in the fitting. It also covers the bruise forming on my back from Remus’s attack last night. I look myself in the face, forcing a smile on my lips as I look down at Remus’s hairpin. Even though he left in anger, he left it with me. That must mean something. It’s much warmer than a piece of jewelry should be, I note, as I place it in my hair to hold it away from my face as I’ve seen Remus do.

My fingers drift from the hairpin to my mother’s locket. I look more like the woman in the picture than I ever have. I pull in a trembling breath as I find the strength to open it. My family’s faded photo is still there. I’m so young in the picture. Cypress as well. I bite the inside of my cheek as I think of my brother and our last moments together. He was the only family I had left, and he abandoned me. Does his life even remain in Remus’s hands? Will I never see him again?

Am I truly alone?

It feels like I am just counting down the hours until my death these days. I am sure Remus is going to find his mother and confront her about my words to him—if he even believes me. I can’t help but think of the expression on his face as I screamed the truth at him. Looking back, it was a poor decision on my part. I should have been more calculating about how I revealed information to him. I couldn’t imagine hearing such a wild story from someone I have no recollection of after she convinced me to do something that apparently puts their society in danger.

And while I can reflect on that decision, my determination for him to see the truth has not waned. It is why I feel so calm getting ready for this celebration. I need to speak to him again. Even if he doesn’t believe me, he needs me. I saw it in hisexpression last night, even if it ended in anger. Something I said resonated with him.

I still feel the chill of his fear and betrayal that day. He’s going to have to kill me himself for me to stop fighting for him to come back—him or his mother. I don’t doubt that I will be seeing her soon. But at least if his memory ever does come back, his mother will be faced with a vengeance for what she did to me—to us.