Page 52 of Obsession

Aris purses his lips. “As I said, I understand your loyalty to this world, but it is not me who damned it,” he says. “I visited, but I left this place alone. Now, it is an unfortunate casualty of Jaegen’s greed.”

I stare at him for a few seconds. Why does he care who I blame?

“You know, there doesn’t have to be any kind of fight between you and Jaegen,” I say. “Why don’t you two—can’t you come to some sort of an agreement?”

“I told you not to say his name,” he reminds me.

I bite the inside of my mouth and take a long drink of wine, annoyed, and Aris surprises me once more by breaking the tension with a laugh.

I look up, baffled by the grin on his face. “What?” I demand.

“It’s nice to see some fight in you again,” he says with a smile, resting his cheek on his palm. “You are so indignant—I love it.”

I’m confused. Why isn’t he furious? He figured out that I’m working with someone he hates. Shouldn’t he be ripping off the skin where my sigils lay and compelling the truth from my thoughts, turning me into a shadow monster?

I am at the mercy of his moods, and I am suddenly struck by my own insignificance. I feel weary and hopeless. I now know what I’ve wondered for years, but what has it changed? The beginning of the story has given nothing to change the end.

“Can you answer me something else?”

“This is a night of truths,” he says amicably, still acting pleasant. “What is your question?”

“Well… What happens when it’s over? Say the world ends, everything’s flattened, and he doesn’t give up. What then?”

I know he’s thought about this before, but he still takes his time before replying. “My brother has a curious and sometimes sensitive nature. He will become interested in another world, eventually.”

I shift in discomfort. Another world. Will Aris follow Jaegen there, and will that world end, too? Will I be dragged along to witness its end?

I can’t bring myself to ask.

Aris reads the questions in my eyes, and my dilemma. Luckily, he does not subject me to any further honesty. “You’ve learned many truths tonight,” he says carefully.“Maybe it’s best if I let you sit on them, so you might reconsider your loyalties.”

Aris makes a motion with his hands, and servants come toppling in, overeager to offer anything. The way that they bow their heads makes me slightly nauseous.

Were they listening? Do they know what Aris plans to do with our world? If so, how can they not care?

He will kill every human and fill the oceans with oil and tar, letting beaches turn silver from the shine of fish scales. He will flatten mountains, blacken and brown every flower until no one can remember what color meant in the first place, until there is no one left, even, to wonder what color ever was. He will drain the life from this world.

And for what?

“Clean up,” he tells them, then looks back at me, raising a brow. “You may leave now.”

I pause, then stand on unsteady legs. The room is the same, but the ground feels different, as if the fabric of reality has been shaken. I take great care in each step taken toward the exit, hands trembling at my sides—from the wine, I tell myself, not fear. Not panic.

I take my leave.

Elizabeth is right by the door and falls in step beside me as I set out for my bedroom. I’d love to sort through my thoughts alone—to break down, really, so when we get to my room, I firmly tell her, “Good night,” and shut the door in her face.

Alone, I undress myself so quickly that I forget about the stain on my sleeve. In my rush, I end up splattering it on the front of the gown, the brown juice blotting the satin like mold. A vintage, expensive piece—ruined just like that. I stare at it for a moment before crumpling the garment and tossing it into the corner of the room.

I sit in bed half-naked, a little drunk, and unsure what to do with myself. I now know about gods and the creation of the universe. The origins, the reasons for everything.

And so what?

Aris is going to end the world soon. The memory spell isn’t working. What if it doesn’t, in time?

Without it, could I even change Aris’ mind? He was created to be evil, but Jaegen was a construct of neutrality, and he killed his sister—absorbed her, whatever the proper term is. If he can change, could Aris, too?

It feels impossible to imagine, and hopeless to attempt. Aris has embraced his nature, and he is not simple in the way that he likes to hurt and ruin. He has a cruel streak; he could gush a billion brains in an instant if he wished, yet he toys with world leaders. Destroys cities one by one, allowing dread to build.

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