Page 49 of Pet: Genesis

Exhausted doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel. I thought ensuring Remus’s promise to teach me the Leviathan language would come with benefits and the slightest bit of confidence, but it’s only come with exhaustion and the realization that I am out of my league. Remus has discovered a newfound interest in me when it comes to sex. And being the powerful being that he is, his exhaustion comes long after mine. He’s also found a way of mixing his desire with teaching me to read. I can’t help but wonder if he does so to make me weary of learning. If so, his plan has succeeded. The strangest thing about it is that Remus is surprisingly patient when it comes to teaching, even if it takes me hours to decipher a simple sentence.

“Iris, you’ve completed nothing within the last hour of me leaving you here.” I’m pulled out of my thoughts as Remus walks byme, snatching the scribbled-up paper from in front of me. He eyes my handiwork with a blank expression before looking at me.

“Tell me, am I a poor teacher, or are you a poor student?” he asks before moving to sit next to me. My cheeks burn at his proximity as he places the sheet in front of me. He’s looking at my scratchy handwriting with keen interest as he takes in my notes. I use the moment of silence to study him. He’s dressed in his usual attire, his hair only half pulled back as the rest drapes over his shoulder to form a curtain of white. His purple eyes move over the page with subtlety. He’s impossible to read, just like his language.

His eyes shift to me before I can look away, and I feel my face on fire as I whip my gaze to the paper, embarrassed from being caught watching him swallowing me whole. His soft chuckle sweeps over me before he uses the pen to circle the issues on the page.

“Our written language is not horizontal or linear. It’s static. Why do you repeatedly ignore that concept?” he asks.

I suck in a shaky breath letting my embarrassment roll further.

“I don’t know what static means,” I whisper.

Silence washes over us as Remus recognizes my lack of knowledge. But he doesn’t humiliate me for it.

“Static means it doesn’t move. It doesn’t read in a specific direction.” He begins writing on the page in front of me, his handwriting smooth and elegant. I immediately notice that he’s left-handed. My handwriting pales in comparison to his. It’s messy, bold, and all over the place. I stare at the letters in front of me, and it takes me a moment to realize he’s written my name.

“Your language moves left to right, with the alphabet conforming to form words, which in turn form sentences.”

He continues writing after my name, forming a sentence.

Iris is learning.

“My language stays in one place, each element adding meaning. My language also contains symbols that specify who, what, and when.”

He draws a strange shape that resembles an “A.” His pen doesn’t lift as he marks through it, adding more symbols that I don’t understand.

“This is your name...” He adds two curved loops on the edge. “This clarifies it as a proper noun, and this clarifies that proper noun being a living entity that is called that.”

His pen moves only slightly further up. “Verbs are placed above the subject because it is the command of the sentence...” He adds another strange symbol that hooks on the end of the verb, “And this clarifies tense.”

He looks at me to make sure I’m following along before writing something else on the page.

“Translate this, and we’ll be done for the day,” he says. I stare at the sheet, my eyes deciphering my name immediately. I look above at the verb and the adjective describing my name. It slowly falls into place what the writing says, and although I’m pleased that I’ve made a breakthrough with his explanation, the words cause my cheeks to flush.

“Iris is... aroused,” I whisper.

Remus’s arms are around me, his lips playing at my throat with a smile.

“Very good.”

The Leviathan are holding a celebration. It’s a festival to celebrate the saviors of their planet on the day of their release. It’s the day Remus’s mother released him and his siblings to save and lead the Leviathan race.

More servants sprint past Remus’s study to make their way to his location. They’ve been preparing him all morning, and even though it is a celebration, Remus doesn’t seem excited in the least. He seems upset. One thing I’ve never been able to do is read Remus’s emotions. But today, he hasn’t said a word or uttered a command. His temper is short, and he is borderline angry.

The servants dressed me in a beautiful white gown that hugs my skin flatteringly, leaving a lengthy train behind it with the symbol that I’ve come to associate with Remus on it. The length of the dress is slightly transparent, and jewels I’ve never seen before attach it to my waist. I silently wonder if they’re from Remus’s homeworld. They also pinned my short hair back with a silver pin, holding it out of my face for the day.

I slowly make my way out of the study to the balcony that rests on the edge of Remus’s city residence. When I enter the living room, Margot slowly begins to follow me from her silent postagainst the wall. I suck in a deep breath as we both walk to the glass door that leads to the balcony.

“How long has it been?” I ask.

I’m met with silence. I’m always met with silence. I turn to face Margot, who watches me with that dilated gaze. It’s eerie.

“How long have you been trapped in there? How long have I been trapped here?” I ask. I suck in a deep breath.

“I haven’t given up, Margot. We have so much more hope now than when we lived in the blight. Don’t worry. I’m so close to saving you—to saving all of us. I just have to keep at it,” I say softly.

I turn back to the balcony door, my fingers inches from the glass, when I hear Remus’s voice. “Step away from the glass, Iris.”

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