Page 98 of Pet: Genesis

His words are gentle, and I can tell he’s trying to reassure me, but I only feel tense by them. He knows nothing. Even if Remus is gone, his hold will always exist in the back of my mind. As I look at Iriel, I feel a deep-seated hatred brewing inside me. I rip my hand away from his grasp, looking at Cypress.

“Why did you bring me here?” I ask. He doesn’t respond, though. Iriel takes it upon himself to speak.

“Your brother wanted me to meet the woman that propelled our cause forward, even though we have already met in the past, haven’t we?” he asks. I don’t respond. I don’t like this situation. So many unanswered questions are beginning to ring in my head, but I fight my instincts to raise alarm and continue to play along.

“I know that things seem strange from your point of view, but if you would just give us an opportunity to explain things—”

“What do you really want?” I ask. I’ve been around Remus long enough to learn the quirks of his people—especially this one.

“Iris—” Cypress begins to speak, but Iriel stops him, his eyes steady on me.

“You’re a very clever one, aren’t you? I can see why he favored you so heavily,” he chuckles, stepping away.

“I’ll skip straight to the point then. We need information any and all information you can offer,” he says.

I blink in confusion.

“About what?” I ask.

“We need layouts, maps, whatever Remus’s plans were up to the celebration. Even if you have information regarding Remus and his sister’s power and secrets, that would be helpful,” he says.

“You’re the Leviathan. Why don’t you already know these things?” I ask.

“Iris!” Cypress shouts at me in disappointment, but I don’t break my gaze with Iriel. The things he’s asking for are things he should already know, not only as a Leviathan but as one of Remus’s handpicked generals. But it would seem that Remus was aware of his betrayal and kept him out of the loop, leaving my brother and the rebels vulnerable without their knowledge.

Iriel sucks in a deep breath. I can tell already he doesn’t like to be questioned, especially in front of his blind followers. My mind shifts to Margot and all the people like her who suffered because of his selfish desires. There were humans infiltrating their society, and none of them thought to give any of us hope that there was a safe place out there to escape to or even that there was someone fighting for them.

“Unfortunately, Remus kept me in the dark on many things in our recent times together. He even gave me false information at the village.”

“And yet, you sent my brother and others out to their deaths?” I ask in disbelief.

“You let him get captured and almost killed him trying to kill Remus with weapons you knew wouldn’t work!” I shout. I feel Cypress’s hand on my shoulder, but my anger grows by the second.

“I know from your point of view, what I’ve done to lead these people doesn’t seem ideal. But I’ve been alongside Remus for decades, conquering galaxies. Everything I did was for the greater good. Cypress knows the dangers of battle and knows that if hewere to get captured, we would know exactly where he is. He was ready to sacrifice his life for the greater good. And if I had gotten caught during Remus’s ambush, then the resistance wouldn’t be able to fend for themselves,” Iriel says.

“You were sacrificing human lives to try and kill Remus with weapons you knew wouldn’t work!” I shout. My chest aches further from the situation, and I feel pain radiating through me. I clutch my chest, stumbling when I feel Cypress holding me gently.

“We may have thrown things too quickly on her.”

I hear Cypress and Iriel speaking over me as if I’m not here, but the sounds of their voices grow foggy as my body fights itself.

“I’m fine,” I hiss, swatting Cypress’s hands away.

“Iris, we appreciate everything that you have done for this resistance. You’ve done more than I could in the years I’ve been here. I wish we could take things slow and allow you to adjust, but we just don’t have the time. As of right now, Leviathan society is in a state of emergency. We know Remus is gone, but his sister’s attack is in the air. We also have their mother to worry about. As a part of our culture, we don’t know everything there is to know about the Divine Three, but Remus seemed to have told you things that he’s never shared, and it would help us so much if you could open that door for us.”

My eyes widen slightly at the situation.

“You don’t know if Xion is dead?” I ask, my voice trembling. I recall the smoke off the shore and Remus’s reaction to it, so how could she have survived, and Remus did not?

“How are you so sure that Remus is dead?” I askin a panic.

Now Cypress speaks up.

“Iris... we saw him disintegrate into nothing,” he says softly. My head is swimming with all of this information as fear comes to the forefront. What have I done? What havewedone? It never occurred to me that the mother is still out there and that Xion could have survived. I was on the high of escaping and fighting back. I look at Iriel, trying to calm my panic.

“What about Ezra?” I ask. Iriel looks shocked for a moment before he covers it up, a smile forming on his lips.

“So, he did tell you everything,” he says. His gaze shifts to Sky at the back of the room, and she nods her head, pushing open the door.

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