Page 51 of Obsession

The only time? “What about the months inside of Henry?”

He rolls his eyes. “I said ‘outright.’”

As I frown, he watches me and waits for me to challenge him, but I’m not here to argue the semantics of words; he deceived me, plain and simple. I won’t debate that. And I won’t let my emotions get in the way of answers.

“So you’re just going to kill everyone because you’re mad at Jaegen.”

“I would say I am more than a little mad,” he replies. His lips quirk into another smirk, but the edges of his lips are sharper now. “Jaegen messed with the balance of things, and I must dance the steps I have been assigned. He wants to stay on Earth, so I will destroy it.”

To his surprise, I scoff.

“What?” he demands.

“Oh, you just have to destroy the world. It’s such a terrible task, and Jaegen’s forced your hand. Is that really what you’re going with?”

Aris makes an impatient gesture with his hands. Yes, and?

“You like it.” I lean forward, so far that my sleeve gets caught in my dinner and I have to tug out of potatoes and sauce, disgust twisting my features when I look back at Aris. “This isn’t some assignment. What you’re doing, you enjoy. You made a goddamn smiley face today!”

His smile stays, but the look in his eyes tells me he isn’t amused.

Careful, Mary. He is omnipotent and evil and knows that you’re working against him. Be a little less argumentative.

Again, my inner voice. Sometimes she can be very wise.

I’m about to apologize—never mind that I’m not sorry—when Aris surprises me for the hundredth time tonight by saying, “I know that you are attached to this planet. It isn’t… uninteresting.”

My eyes narrow at the concession.

He pauses to pick up his glass, raising the wine to his lips to take a whiff before setting it back on the table. “There are fascinating inventions here,” he continues wistfully. “Certain ways of life. I understand your sense of loyalty and desire to preserve this world. But, Mary, your anger toward me is misplaced.”

“Misplaced,” I repeat, an edge to my voice.

“Jaegen has doomed this world. He is the catalyst, and I am but a tool. Whether I accept this task with enthusiasm or reluctance is irrelevant. There is no use dwelling in the past; it’s time to look forward.”

We study each other across the long table for a few seconds, his eyes penetrating, and I consider my path forward. He’s been so unpredictable lately. Pushing him could have serious consequences. But this is one of the only times he’s given me answers.

“I don’t get it,” I finally say, taking the leap, and his lips straighten. “In our cell, you told me that you wanted to rule the world, not end it.”

He runs two long, pale fingers across his chin in consideration. “I was deliberating,” he admits. “I thought that being this planet’s ruler would bother Jaegen more, but I realized the necessity of destruction.”

Necessity.

I rub my eyes, uncaring of the black liner Elizabeth put on. Answers are great, but I hate hearing him talk like this. It just sounds so inevitable, as if he’s truly indifferent. And I guess he is.

“You’ll destroy the world and all the people in it… what, to make a point that what Jaegen did was wrong?” I ask. “What will that fix? Order won’t be restored. Sem will still be gone.”

Aris says nothing, and I lean forward as something else occurs to me. “Unless you think he cares about Earth so much that he’ll relinquish himself and Sem to you…”

“That’s certainly a possibility.”

I barely stop myself from scoffing, recalling how Jaegen compared humans to ants. He stopped my heart by accident; he doesn’t care about people. We are toys to Aris; we are toys to Jaegen. Break these humans, and he will find others.

There is a whole universe out there. And if Jaegen can’t find any, he’ll make his own. We mean nothing.

Still, at least Jaegen isn’t actively destroying us.

“Why tell me any of this?”

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