Collapsed World [MxM, Non-Con, Mpreg]

Part 37 [Iris]

The syllables that rolled off of Lykaios' tongue to form the name of his former sounded alien to him, and for a moment he wasn't sure that he'd heard him correctly. Iris' turned his head, his teal eyes tilting up to gaze at Lykaios with an expression of doubt and confusion about what he was being told. The Avaen truly didn't believe that he would ever hear that name spoken by another person, least of all someone like Lykaios, the one who'd physically ripped the mark away the mark that had bonded him to Julian. Though it might of seemed like it didn't make much of a difference in Iris' case, since he still seemed rather tore up over the mention of his former lover, the fact of the matter was that already his reactions would have been far worse if he was still marked with Julius.

Most Avaen's who lost their mate, or their mate mark, quickly forgot the name and face of their former lover, it was a biological reaction to the loss, so that the surviving mate could continue living without suffering, so it was something out of the ordinary that Iris still felt the way he did about Julius. He felt numb, and yet he was sickened by himself because of that numb feeling, while his brain was still telling him that he belonged with Julius, yet he could feel the threads of romantic love separating away from his thoughts about Julius. He didn't want Lykaios to know that though, it was the last thing that he wanted Lykaios to become aware of, the thought actually terrified him. It was worse when Lykaios spoke about him, verses when Iris remembered him. It was far more painful in the form of conversation. It was wrong for Lykaios to know about Julius, and it was blasphemous to their entire life together for Lykaios to actually speak of him.

Iris had never liked politics, he never cared for the bickering back and forth about this issue or another or the word and mind games that went along with them, but he was intelligent enough to recognize them when he heard them. Even though Iris didn't really want to hear a single word that Lykaios had to say, he couldn't help but listen from finish until end, and he'd started off with thoughts of worry about doubt about Julius' safety, but by the end he was trying to piece together the pieces of the puzzle. Lykaios had something to gain from telling him all of that, and there were holes within the logic that Lykaios seemed to be using. For one, why would Lykaios need or desire protection from Julius,especially from someone as powerless as Iris, if he indeed had him exactly where he wanted him? Iris didn't believe that Julius was in as much danger as Lykaios tried to convince him, however, this new information was enough to give Iris some shiny little piece of hope that he might be able to do some small thing to help his people, and he needed to survive to do even that much. Hesitantly, Iris picked up a small piece of pinkish-orange fruit and put it in his mouth, his eyes locked on Lykaios.

Lykaios acted like he knew so much about Iris, but really there were many things that he had wrong, like the fact that he seemed to think Iris' number one desire was to be free and back with Julius. Though that was a nice thought, it wasn't one that Iris indulged in, even before he'd been caught. He cared more about the freedom of his people, and the restoration of his home and it's history more than his own happy ending, it was so important to him that even saving Julius wasn't as important. Nor was it important for him to 'pay Julius back' for Iris' own personality traits, a statement that confused Iris to no end, nor did he care if Julius was loyal to him, as long as Julius was loyal to the people that he was supposed to serve.

Despite that, it was obvious to Iris that going along with Lykaios was most likely the smartest move that he could make right now, even if Lykaios was playing him into some kind of trap.

Feeling sad and thoughtful, though still somewhat calm from the drug Lykaios injected him with, Iris sighed. "I will comply... "