Revelation - Chapter 27 (Patreon)

Iris

My eyes slowly open as sleep leaves me. The room comes into view, and for a moment, I have no idea where I am. Until my mind catches up with the present, and I realize I’m in the bedroom. The bedroom of the castle Remus made for me and him. I feel my cheeks beginning to burn as I recall all the things I let him do to me last night. I’m weak when it comes to him.

I try and sit up, but when I go to move my arms, they’re locked. Behind my back. My heart leaps into my chest, and I use my core to sit up in the bed. My arms are still locked tightly behind me.

“It’s no use in trying to break free. Those are energy cuffs.” My whole body tenses and my blood runs cold. Remus is standing across the room with his naked back to me. He’s only wearing a pair of pants as he looks out the window to the snow falling around us. The fireplace casts a warm glow across his body, and the snow beyond the window blends with his hair perfectly.

“What?” I whisper unable to find my voice. Remus doesn’t move for a moment. He only raises his chin continuing to look out the window. He takes a deep breath turning around and I feel any and all hope I had lost as that purple gaze zeroes in on me. He closes his eyes for a moment before inhaling and exhaling.

“Who told you?” He asks. His voice is chilling. Like it was the moment I met him. Terrifying and cruel. I keep my mouth shut as realization dawns on me.

“Told me what?” I barely get out in a shaky whisper. I fear the words he’s about to speak next. It will ruin everything I've built to this point, and it will make me look like the fool I am to have trusted his words.

“Who told you about Earth.”

Breath tears out of my chest as the truth hits me like a train. I glare at him. I can’t look away. Even as the tears well up and pour-over.

“What about Earth?” Even I can hear the lie as it pours off of my tongue. Remus narrows his gaze at me before coming closer. Each step he takes strikes more fear into my heart until he is inches from my face. Intimidation pours off of him in waves as he stares me in the eyes.

I feel fear. Pure, unfiltered fear. I want nothing more than to tell him so that I can get out of this position. But I know that if I do, I will not only ruin Braith’s life but his people as well.

Remus suddenly smiles. But it isn’t kind. It’s the same smile he gave me on Earth before challenging me.

“We can do this easily, or I can force the truth out of you.” His smile immediately drops.

“I’d much rather do this painlessly, Iris. But I will hurt you if it comes down to it.”

At this point, I’m shaking. Not only from fear, but from anger. Not the kind of anger that forces impulse, but the kind that courses through your veins until your skin feels as if it’s on fire. The kind that forces you to drop your head, and suffer.

And that’s exactly what I do.

“How could I have trusted you?” I whisper. Remus doesn’t respond. I don’t expect him to. I look up at him letting any and all emotion I have shine through.

“When are you going to stop torturing me?!” I shout. He doesn’t respond to me, and I try and move but realize not only do I have my arms locked behind me, but my throat as well has been chained to the wall.

“Why are you doing this?” I ask in desperation. Remus has never placed energy cuffs on me before. I can feel it even now draining my energy. Remus keeps his back to me.

“Because now you are a threat to me.” He says.

“Is this what you do when I leave? You go behind my back and make plans with my enemy?” He growls. His tone is eerily calm. He turns back to me.

“You do realize that whatever you have been told is a lie, right?” He snaps. I narrow my gaze at him looking away.

“The only person that has lied to me this whole time has been you. You lied to me, and I trusted you! You told me you spared them, how could you?!” I snap. Remus walks away from me before coming back.

“I only lied to you to spare your feelings, Iris.” He says as if it will make things better.

“Spare my feelings? You killed my entire race!” I shout. He raises a brow at me.

“So you admit. You knew.” He says. I realize all too late that he was messing with me to get the truth out of me. Even now I’m nothing more than an idiot in his presence He was right all those weeks ago on that beach. I’m no match for him. I’m nothing more than his foolish pet.

“Why do you keep me here, Remus? Why are you so intent on torturing me like this?” I say.

“Why do you think, Iris? Did you think I would have told you the truth? I wanted you to myself. I wanted you to forget about that wasteland you called home, and be mine. I wanted you to realize how happy you could be with me.”

“You weren’t supposed to mean this much to me, Iris. You were supposed to last as long as my time did on Earth. You were supposed to go with your people. I didn’t know when I first met you on that planet that you would mean this much to me. You were curiosity. You were a challenge. But you never backed down. You never stopped fighting. Not once. No matter what I did to you. No matter what I put you through.” He stares at my face with such an intense gaze.

“I died inside when I saw what my mother did. I thought she’d taken you away from me! Even now, I couldn’t end your life. I couldn’t imagine a world without you in It, I don’t want to! You withstood all of the torture, all of the challenges, everything I did to you! I want this life with you, Iris.” He says.

His words do nothing but break my heart and fuel my anger. How could he say such a thing to me knowing he’s been promised to someone else? I know in the back of my mind I should pretend that I am still in the dark about his marriage, but the anger and frustration I feel is too much.

“I know about your marriage, Remus!” I scream. Silence stretches over the room. I’m afraid to open my eyes, so I keep them down staring at the sheets.

“I know about your marriage.” I whisper again as more tears flow. I squeeze my eyes shut letting the tears fall. My sobs echo off the walls.

“Why do you keep me here? Is that why you made this place? So you can hide me away? After everything you told me, you created somewhere to hide me so that you could live your happy life with your queen?” I ask. It takes everything in me, but I force myself to look at him. I want to see his face as I confront him.

I gasp.

His face is inches from mine. His eyes bore into my soul.

“You and I, we are bonded. Partners for life. Soul mates. I want that with you. No one else.”

We sit like that for minutes. Staring at each other. I have no idea what’s going through his mind. I look away.

“No. We’re not, Remus.” I say. I feel his hand under my chin and he moves my face to meet his.

“You and I, are bonded, Iris. She means nothing to me.” He says. “I only have to produce an heir with her.” He says. I narrow my gaze at him.

“Do you even hear yourself?” I snap. He drops his hand. Silence.

“Who told you?” He asks. I shake my head. I refuse to blow Braith’s cover.

“Was it one of the servants?” He asks. He walks around the bed taking a seat next to me.

“You know why they are only in the castle? You know why they aren’t trusted to live their lives without being watched?” He asks. I ignore him though. Everything he says is a lie.

“I will never believe a word out of your mouth.” I snap at him. He eyes me for a moment before smiling. I feel his hand around my throat before he pushes my body back into the bed.

“Good. I’d love to do this the hard way.”

~

Remus

I took things too far. Each time I close my eyes I can see her sobbing in that bed. Alone. Chained. And I hate myself for it.

I have a newfound respect for her. She didn’t crack. She didn’t tell no matter what I did. So a traitor is walking among us in the castle.

A knock sounds at the door. I move to open it revealing Ezra.

“It’s time.” He says. He sounds grim. I know why. We all know why. I nod my head following him out of the room. I can already hear the bells ringing and the crowd cheering in the distance.

“Have you taken care of everything like I asked?” I ask. Ezra nods his head.

“They’ve all been locked away. None of them will be present for the wedding or the banquet.” I nod my head.

“Good.” The last thing I need is some kind of ambush on a day when the most important people will be in attendance. Not only that, but I’m still weak from the conversion. If anything happened, I wouldn’t be able to protect anyone.

I have no idea who the traitor is, and I can’t make the mistake of trusting anyone. Not at this point.

“Did anything happen with Iris while I was away?” I ask. I sense Ezra tensing next to me.

“No.” He says. I look at him.

“Really? Because she knew about the marriage. She also found out about Earth.” I say.

“So, if there’s anything that was different for her to possibly have found out, now would be the time to tell me, Ezra. If something happens, I need to be the best prepared.” I say. I see the doors to the ceremony coming up as we approach. I pause in front of the doors.

Ezra looks uncomfortable next to me. I eye him. I know something happened and he doesn’t want to tell me.

“Nira… she attacked Iris while you were gone. She got her arm pretty good.” He says. My eyes widen as anger rushes through my system.

“What?” I hiss.

“And you didn’t think to tell me?” I growl. He flinches at my tone.

“I was protecting Xion.” He snaps back. I let out an exasperated breath, wanting to give him a lecture but not having the time. I suddenly realize what he said.

“Her arm?” I ask. He nods his head.

“We had to take her to the healer. Her arm was deteriorating.” He says. With each word, my rage grows more and more.

“Did you instruct him not to tell me?” I growl. The castle healer would never keep anything from me, especially if it had to do with Iris.

“We took her to the servants' healer… We didn’t know what to do!” He begins explaining next to me but my mind is running a mile a minute from his words. The type of injury Iris had could not have been healed by the servants' healer. They don’t have the power or the knowledge of such a complex art of healing.

“Ezra, you had one fucking job to do! How could you screw something like this up? Everyone here could be in danger!” I hiss. He flinches from my tone but I don’t care. And I can’t stop the words coming out of my mouth.

“You’re a disappointment to me, and this entire race. I should have never trusted you with something so important.” I hiss.

Panic settles in as how close the traitor must be. Either the healer or someone who is close with her. I open my mouth to ask more questions of Ezra, but the woman of the hour comes up next to me wearing a strikingly beautiful dress.

It’s time. And I have no time to formulate a plan or calculate a strike. And I can’t just leave the wedding.

Shit.

Nira looks at me with wide eyes and a smile. She has no idea how bad I want to rip her fucking arm off for what she did.

The doors open to reveal the massive crowd of celestivine that have come to witness the union of Nira and me, and the crowning of the new King and Queen. I look at Ezra and see the hurt still plastered across his features as he refuses to meet my gaze.

My heart is beating rapidly and my nerves are shot. For once I am terrified. I have no idea what’s about to happen or how bad things are about to get. And I have no power to protect anyone. I feel a pull on my arm and realize Nira is walking with me up the aisle.

She stares at me happily, but I can’t help but think of how beautiful Iris would be in this dress. How this should be Iris that I am marrying and making my queen. How Iris and I are bonded, but will never share this moment.

Even as we go through our vows and oaths together, I still feel anger at myself for everything that I’ve done. And the image of Iris’ crying body curled up in the bed in that realm all alone sears itself into my heart.

Nira and I kneel, as my father comes to crown us.

~

The banquet is in full swing. Everyone is having a good time celebrating the union between Nira and me. Nira keeps me on her arm, smiling when necessary.

I see Ezra across the room with Sky. He looks depressed even as he smiles down at her.

"Can I borrow the king for a moment?" I look up, shocked to see Xion. Nira reluctantly lets me go and we walk away from the crowded room.

"I never expected you to go through with this." She says. I narrow my gaze at her.

"You were supposed to watch Iris." I snap. She laughs.

"I was. It isn't my fault your psycho wife got to her first. And what do you care anymore? You obviously don't care about her that much or you wouldn't have done this." She says. She has no idea how her words hit me.

She looks over to Ezra.

"What did you say to him." She says. I lower my gaze not wanting to admit the harsh words I said to my brother.

"That bad, huh?" She says.

"I can tell. He was so worried about disappointing you while you were gone. I will never understand why he cares so much for your approval." She says. Her words only cause more guilt to rocket through me at the harsh words I said earlier to Ezra.

"So where is she?" She asks.

"Who?"

"You know who." She says.

"In a realm I created for her," I say. Xion looks at me startled.

"So you're going to keep her a prisoner there?" She asks. I shrug not wanting to get into it. She shakes her head.

"You have changed so much, Remus." She says. I turn and look at her and she keeps my gaze.

"My brother would have never let himself be forced into a marriage he didn't want. You have done some things since we've arrived, but this takes the cake." She says. I know I should be irritated, but I feel relief that she isn't afraid of me. It's refreshing.

I take a deep breath looking around the room. Something is off.

"Do you feel that?" I ask. She raises a brow at me but doesn't respond.

I know some of the older celestials feel it too. It’s dark. Cold. Soul-Sucking.

Something no one in this room has felt in a long time. Not since the war that ended their existence, and placed them under our control and jurisdiction. I feel confusion. I locked them all away. There’s no way.

I flinch when I feel a searing on my chest where my symbol has been. I know instantly where the energy is coming from. And I know instantly that we are all fucked.

The doors are blasted open in a billow of black. I immediately rise, getting in a defensive stance for what I know is about to be the hardest fight of my life. My eyes widen in shock when I see the offender on the other side of the destruction.

A woman. Her hair is flowing around her from the energy running through her veins. Veins that are visibly black through her pale skin. Her hands radiate energy that’s visible to all of us. Her black hair flows around her in a wave of energy similar to mine and my mothers. And her once green eyes are black. Her face is filled with rage.

I stare in shock and confusion and sorrow as Iris stands at the back of the room exuding the same energy that the servants had stripped from them. Energy that is dangerous and powerful.

Her gaze zeroes in on me, and she attacks.