REMI
Hotaru’s screams tear through him as if they were nails raking down his spine. Remi can feel them as surely as he can feel her body shifting beneath his grip, skin and bone stretching into something else with each panicked breath. There’s a violence in it—trembling, erratic—and it seeps into his own muscles as he struggles to keep hold of her. Every press of her body, every bite of her nails, comes wrapped in the violet-tinted surge of her emotions. They wash over him like an undertow, full of terror, of devotion, of a fierce, ragged love that’s shredding them both to pieces. He dares to breathe “I know” against her, though it’s swallowed by the snarl in his throat, the predator in him roused and furious at what he now fully suspects she might have done if left unchecked.
Then Flora’s voice cuts through the chaos, and the Knight’s presence is sudden and startling. Ronin’s arrival should be a balm, but before Remi can take strength from it, Hotaru’s voice lashes out with a word that sends the world tilting wildly beneath his feet. He should have bound her mouth, not just her body. He chances a helpless glance at Ronin, a plea tucked in his eyes as his husband lifts Flora from the bed. In those silent heartbeats, Remi’s mind crackles with an urgency he can't give voice to, but can send just the same: Keep her safe. I’ll come back to you as soon as I can. How long would it take to fly a mountain lion to Halo? How much more difficult would it be with a falcon scoring at his throat with its talons? How much weaker would the bite of a komodo dragon render him?
Clenching his jaw until it sings with tension, Remi wrestles harder, tentacles coiling around her waist and legs as his arms try to trap her own. Having no idea of the layout of the little houseboat but only knowing that the stairs on the other side of the open door likely lead toward a deck that he can fly from, he angles her face toward her shoulder, pressing her close to his chest, desperate to still the storm and the screaming and the threat thrumming between them. Her magic prickles at his senses, and he knows nothing he says will soothe her now, but he speaks anyway. “You’re going to be healed, just like Sunjata was.” The words come out hollow and urgent, a fragile attempt at justifying the brutality of his actions.
Then Flora’s voice cuts through the chaos, and the Knight’s presence is sudden and startling. Ronin’s arrival should be a balm, but before Remi can take strength from it, Hotaru’s voice lashes out with a word that sends the world tilting wildly beneath his feet. He should have bound her mouth, not just her body. He chances a helpless glance at Ronin, a plea tucked in his eyes as his husband lifts Flora from the bed. In those silent heartbeats, Remi’s mind crackles with an urgency he can't give voice to, but can send just the same: Keep her safe. I’ll come back to you as soon as I can. How long would it take to fly a mountain lion to Halo? How much more difficult would it be with a falcon scoring at his throat with its talons? How much weaker would the bite of a komodo dragon render him?
Clenching his jaw until it sings with tension, Remi wrestles harder, tentacles coiling around her waist and legs as his arms try to trap her own. Having no idea of the layout of the little houseboat but only knowing that the stairs on the other side of the open door likely lead toward a deck that he can fly from, he angles her face toward her shoulder, pressing her close to his chest, desperate to still the storm and the screaming and the threat thrumming between them. Her magic prickles at his senses, and he knows nothing he says will soothe her now, but he speaks anyway. “You’re going to be healed, just like Sunjata was.” The words come out hollow and urgent, a fragile attempt at justifying the brutality of his actions.
Who are you? They ask. Death?
Sometimes... I say. But not today
Sometimes... I say. But not today
Speaks with a thick Italian accent.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
Force and magic can be used against Remi without permission.
