22. Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Iris

At this point in my long, drawn-out torture, I wish Remus had just beaten me. I tense as another needle enters my flesh, sending a fresh new wave of pain through my body. My arms and legs feel as though they've been broken, my lungs suffocating. Physically, I can see that nothing has been broken. My body remains unharmed, but the technology that Remus's race has come up with allows thousands of microneedles to enter my skin, attaching themselves to my nerves to give me a fresh new kind of pain each time.

The door to the room opens, and in comes Remus himself. He seems to have composed himself since I saw him last. Another needle enters my flesh, causing white-hot pain to shoot through me. My groan fills the room, catching his attention, and his eyes meet mine. I see no emotion there. Remus is back to his original ways with me, the same way he was when we first met, and that sends a fresh kind of fear through me. Over the months, I have grown used to Remus's leniency. I forgot what it was like to be on his bad side... to truly fear him.

He approaches the counter, silently examining the small glass screen embedded within it.

"Your vitals are normal. Looking at your brain signature, however... I'm surprised you're still conscious," he taunts.

Remus watches me for a moment trying to figure out what it is he wants to say, exactly.

"I don't know why I bother torturing you. You'll only disappoint me again. Just like you do every time." Remus approaches the pad embedded in the wall, adjusting the settings. My eyes widen as higher pain tears through me. I arch my back, letting my cries fill the room, trying my best to move from atop the table, but I can't.

Remus walks around the table, eyeing me closely before speaking.

"What drives you, Iris? How can you be so defiant when you know what will await you in the end? Do you want death? Is that it?" he asks.

"... Please... stop...," I sob.

My skin feels on fire, and yet the pain never numbs. It perfectly settles atop my skin, constantly keeping me in the same state of discomfort. Remus laughs as he approaches me, placing his fingers atop my skin. Though the gesture should be soothing, it's excruciating, pulling more screams from my throat .

"Why should I?" he asks, smiling at my expense. I can barely breathe from the pain as another needle pierces my flesh. My muscles begin to spasm as an uncontrollable vibration comes over me.

"Oh? Has my pet endured too much pain?" he says, watching me. I can't breathe. I can't speak. I can't focus. All I can do is writhe as my body takes on a mind of its own, trying to combat the unnatural pain that I feel.

The cool floor is marvelous against my skin. I'm afraid to open my eyes. I'm afraid of what I might find if I do. But as my lack of consciousness slowly leaves me, the weight of my reality hits me hard. I slowly open my eyes, taking in the surrounding environment. I'm in Remus's home in the city. Except it looks very different. It's empty. Everything has been packed up.

I slowly sit up, my head throbbing in pain as I do. I flinch, rubbing my temple, hoping to staunch the pain, but it does little. Even my nerves haven't forgotten the pain they've endured. I can barely move my body.

I hear footsteps and cries of pain just as Remus rounds the corner. My eyes widen, and horror crushes my soul as he rounds the corner with a bloodied and battered Jude. He looks horrible, barely like himself. His eye is swollen as well as his cheek, his lip is split, and he has a bloody gash in his head. His arms and legs also sport bruises, and his once-pale hair is dark, coated in his own blood.

My eyes fall to Remus as he roughly shoves Jude to the ground in front of me. He doesn't say a word, his eyes roaming over Jude in complete disgust. Tears brim my eyes as I take hold of the dire situation that we have been presented with. Jude's breathing is ragged, and he's barely conscious as he looks at the ground, his eyes dull. Suddenly, my body no longer responds to my commands as a weight washes over me. I try to move, but for some reason, I can't. My body won't. Jude's eyes slowly travel up to meet mine, and as he takes me in, disbelief crosses his features. Tears appear in his eyes as well as he looks at me.

"I'm sorry," he whispers. I want to respond. I want to tell him that I am sorry and that this is all my fault. I want to look into the warmth of his gaze and tell him that everything is all right, but I can't.

Remus finally speaks, letting me know why.

"She can't respond to you. She's wearing an inhibitor. Don't worry, she can see you and hear you, but she can't do anything other than that," he says walking around Jude. Jude's eyes shift to Remus, and I see hatred mingled with fear there.

"You're a monster," he manages.

Remus doesn't offer him a response. Instead, he silently moves closer to me, his back to Jude. I note that Jude has silenced as he watches Remus. Remus's eyes focus on mine, and I don't know if I should be relieved or terrified at the fact that his eyes are their usual hue .

"I've studied you for a long time now, Pet. I've come to realize that when it comes to your own life, you are careless. But when it comes to others..."

He doesn't give me a chance to take in his words as he turns around, snatching Jude off the ground in an instant. His hand is closed around Jude's throat, and helplessness washes over me as I watch his feet dangle, his hands clawing uselessly at Remus's steely grip. My groan of pain fills the room as I fight against the inhibitor. My fingers twitch ever so slightly, but the feeling is excruciating. My brain feels like it's going to explode. My body finally rejects my attempts at control as blood trickles from my nose from the strain. But Jude's struggles are slowly dying down.

"Do you not think I know what has been happening under my own roof? How stupid can you be?" he growls.

Jude's eyes meet mine, the whites of his eyes gradually turning red as Remus squeezes the life out of him. Remus doesn't have to choke him. He could take his life with a simple touch. But where would be the fun in that? Where would be the torture?

Remus drops Jude, using his foot to shove him away from us, his eyes meeting mine. He grins as he takes in my pathetic state. Blood pours over my lips as I fight against the inhibitor, my mind tearing as it tries to delve into unconsciousness.

"R..emu...s...... pl..pl.l..e..as...e...," I manage.

His gaze narrows as he takes me in.

"You shouldn't strain so much," he says, watching me in fascination. "I want you to watch him... as I take his life." Tears fall from my eyes, and I move my arm only an inch before Remus snatches it in his, rage filling his gaze. His eyes shift over my face, studying me intensely before speaking again.

"Learn. Your. Place."

Remus turns away from me, grabbing Jude's barely conscious body as he forces him to kneel in front of me. Jude's ragged breathing fills the air as he slowly lifts his head, his eyes fluttering as he tries to remain conscious. Blood drips from multiple wounds on his face, and as his swollen eyes finally focus on me, he offers me a broken smile.

"Don't worry. It's going to be okay. What we did… was worth it…," he says.

The pounding against my skull is unbearable as I fight against the inhibitor with Remus's knowing gaze on me. He's challenging me. My eyes continually attempt to roll back as I fight to keep consciousness from the pain of breaking this inhibitor. Remus's grip tightens, and his smile widens as he watches me torture myself to break free of his grasp.

I watch in horror as Jude slowly begins to lose consciousness, his body growing limp in Remus's arms. He's killing him. He's slowly pulling his life force. My small whimper fills the silent air, slowly morphing into the scream that I am trying my best to get out. My body begins convulsing, and Remus continues to watch me, his gaze unwavering.

He scoffs.

"I will not be stopping you. Go ahead. Fight it. Kill yourself in the process," he growls. His words are cold and unfeeling, and I realize just how much he means it. His gaze is filled with malice for me, and I finally break through the hold of the inhibitor. My cry fills the air just as I reach for Jude's unconscious body. But my own body won't follow anymore. I've strained myself too much. I collapse, unable to move before hearing the sickening thud of Jude's body hitting the ground.

My labored breathing fills the air as Remus rolls me over to face him. He's watching me with a smile that makes me shudder. I don't have the energy even to flinch as he pushes my hair out of my face, his knuckles brushing against my cheek lightly.

"I applaud your tenacity as always. Enjoy this pain. Enjoy this despair. Enjoy the feeling of loss. It is the last thing you will feel for a very long time." He laughs to himself as he stands. "You will finally understand the suffering your friend endured."

Remus doesn't spare me a backward glance as he walks away, leaving me bloodied and broken in the middle of the floor. Tears spill into my hair and onto the marble as his words sink in. He's going to put a full inhibitor on me. I recall his words to me when he explained the difference between Margot's full inhibitor and the one he placed on me temporarily.

"Your friend feels nothing. Her mind has been locked away. You cannot control a body if there is a will to live or fight. The mind is a muscle. The more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. And eventually, the wearer would break out of their... vegetative state."

Jude was wrong. There is no hope.

Remu s

Jealousy.

It's an ugly thing—something that I've never been fond of or even understood until Iris. I go over it constantly in my head, wondering what could have been the driving force behind her betrayal. I have no logical conclusion. Logically, she should have been too fearful to betray me. I had not only made it clear mentally but physically that she was mine. That should have been enough for her never to dare to do something so bold. But when it comes to logic, Iris is always the exception.

"So you're saying they somehow created an entire, thriving society within the confines of a mountain?" I say, looking at the map laid out before me. I look over the room at my generals, irritation boiling in my veins.

How could we have let this happen?

"And why is it that we can't find this location?" I growl. I look at Zaya, but she keeps her head down. She's been avoiding me ever since the incident between our pets.

Alistar finally speaks up.

"Apparently, they used our technology to not only cloak themselves when creating it but to continue keeping readings of the confined space similar to the mountains surrounding it," he says softly.

I feel blinding rage at his words. I want to kill someone. Humanity may be a nuisance, but they are smart. By using our own technology, they have managed to keep themselves safe. To search the mountains would take much too long. Earth has over a million of them, and per our society's makeup, we only have a limited number of cities on this planet. We aren't spread enough. We are in a bind.

"Is there any news from Ezra yet?" I ask. The general who was stationed near Ezra drops his head before speaking.

"No," he says.

Fuck.

Ezra stopped checking in months ago. And none of us know why. His reports stopped coming, as did the signal of his location. We even checked his last known location, which is nowhere near the mountains. The longer he is missing, the harder it is not to wipe this planet of its inhabitants. If what we've found is true about their weapons and they have figured out a way to harm Leviathan, he might be in trouble.

This is proving to be far more irritating than I had originally hoped.

"Have you heard from Xion lately?" Alistar asks.

"Yes. Every conversation is a battle to get her to stay on Xyrannis ."

Another general speaks up. "Why are you so insistent on having her stay? Isn't now the perfect time to bring her in? You know she can help you land a devastating blow."

I shake my head.

"Xion would kill everyone. That would be her devastating blow. Then all our work here would be pointless. If she finds out about Ezra, she will definitely be difficult to reason with. We must find him first, then we can bring her in," I say .

My sister's name is feared throughout the galaxies, along with my own. I never thought she would fall in love and sacrifice taking on new worlds for the sake of a man. Years ago, a group of humans crash-landed on our planet as a result of their ship being caught in a star storm that catapulted them across the galaxy. I warned her against it, but she fell for one of them, even after his people's betrayal.

"But wouldn't it just be easier to kill them all?"

I shake my head.

"No. They play a part in this planet's continued success as well as the growth of our empire."

I release a deep sigh, rubbing my temples. I have little tolerance for incompetence. The moment I discover this resistance's location, I will wipe them out just like I did with that waste Iris called home.

Now, Zaya speaks up.

"Don't stress too hard on it. There's a traitor among us, is all."

The thought of a traitor fills me with rage. The same rage I felt when I discovered Iris's betrayal of kissing that boy. Even now, I want to snap her neck for doing something so wretched. I almost did. I told Zaya I didn't want them near one another, but she believed that fear alone was enough to control her pet. She was wrong. Iris is a shining example of that. Iris is a dangerous human.

"Where were the last consecutive attacks with heavy casualties?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

Alistar stands, using his hand to swipe the screen and reveal a new location on the map showing me marked attacks. I scoff in disgust. I take back what I said. Humans aren't smart. They attack in patterns instead of at random. They are impatient. I can anticipate the next attack just by looking at their pattern.

"I'll travel to this rural settlement. Have the transportation ships and a handful of Leviathan on standby," I say.

"Why?" Zaya asks.

"It's the next attack. And I'm going to be there when it happens," I say.

I note that I know this area. I've been studying it since I began looking into Iris's family. I can't help but smile as a new strategy forms.

"I will wipe whoever stands against me out, leaving one for information. Alert Iriel of my arrival," I say.

I don't wait for rebuttals or responses as I make my way to the door. It's time to take things into my own hands.

I head to the launch bay where my waiting ship resides. I make my way inside, silently greeting the crew as we slowly begin our ascent to my next location. As I pass the loading bay, I sense my newest inhibitor. She follows obediently behind me as I approach my seat that overlooks the city.

My eyes shift to Iris. She's standing next to me, her hair swept up into a small bun, giving me the perfect view of her nape. The small chip that resides there provides me access to her nervous system without having to look into her eyes. I take in the inhibitor that keeps her brain docile, attached to her temple. The warm hue of green that I enjoy seeing is barely visible from the dilated state of her pupils. I laugh softly, brushing my hand over her cheek .

"I do wonder what hell you are encountering inside that head of yours," I say aloud. She doesn't move. Doesn't respond. I look away from her, taking in the city as we leave. She would love this view. I suck in a breath of irritation as my cock stirs in my pants. I've never wanted someone in the way I want Iris. I've also never wanted to break someone as much as her. The desire to control her is overtaking my mind. She's becoming an obsession. I want to be the reason she loses that spark. I want to control everything about her. Not in this way, though.

This victory feels tainted.

I take in her soft features. I may never see that spark again. At this point, I don't know if I'll ever give her freedom again. For now, she shall remain at my side like the rest of her kind, mindless in their quest to serve their conqueror.