Revik shook his head. “I don’t remember.”
Rocking his weight back to rest on his heels, Terian cocked his head. “You know, I can’t even tell if I believe you. You so clearly want to believe yourself.”
He rested his arms on his thighs, his voice serious.
“You know, don’t you, Revi’...I have only the purest of motives in bringing you here. You are sick, you see...you have lost your way. I want my friend back. Back on the side of non-hypocrisy, of fun, of ideals with practical application...” He smiled wider, glancing at Cass before he looked back at Revik. “...Barring that, I might have to peel your skin off in little strips like one of those ingenious devices we used in Prague...do you remember, Revi'? Just to deal with my disappointment, you see.”
Revik swallowed, not looking up.
Terian grabbed his wet hair. “Are you telling me to flay the girl instead? Or maybe the pretty young boy?”
Revik’s eyes found Cass and Jon without his willing it. The seer was pushing him to focus there, but he thought about them anyway.
Maybe he could make it quick. If Terian tried to fulfill one of those fantasies, it would be the easiest thing in the world to break Cass’s neck. The thought made the sickness worse, enough that he lowered his face.
He wondered how much of it was his, and how much Allie’s.
Laughing, Terian released him. “Oh, Rolf. You are the clever one. I suppose I may have to wait on my fun, then...at least until you learn it’s bad manners to break the nice toys I give you.”
Still squatting beside him, he studied Revik’s eyes.
“Tell me honestly,” he said softly. “Tell me the truth, Revi’, and I’ll leave the girl alone. For today, at least...I won’t touch her. Are my chances with your wife better or worse wearing this beat up body of yours?”
Revik closed his eyes, wiping his jaw with his hand. He glanced up, feeling the sickness lodge somewhere in his chest.
“I don’t know,” he said.
Terian just looked at him for a moment. Then his smile hardened.
“You really don’t. And you may not believe this, Revi’, but I find that sad.” He straightened, regarding the man lying at his feet. “The Dehgoies I knew wouldn’t have played those games with someone he was courting, much less his wife. Your first wife seemed to think you were a good husband...when you weren’t off gassing your own kind, that is.”
Prodding him with a foot, he sighed then, hands on his hips.
“Enough. Just looking at you is making me tired.” He glanced around the green tile room, the splashes of bloody water on the walls and floor. “For your touching display of loyalty to Alyson’s childhood friends, you have sustained a break.”
Stepping back, he wiped his hands on his pants, grinning at him.
“I’d like to reward you, though. Your humans, too...once I’ve washed the shit smell off me from you. So expect another visit today, all right, brother?”
Without another word, he walked to the mirrored wall.
Touching a panel, he disappeared through the opening that formed in the organic metal.
Once the hole melted shut, Revik slumped to the floor. He pressed his mouth to the wet tile, trying to inhale blood-tasting water, but the floor sloped in the wrong direction, leaving it slick but almost dry. The attempt only frustrated him, made his thirst desperate.
Jon’s voice came at him jaggedly from the nearer cage.
“Revik.” His English was hoarse. “Revik! Listen to me, goddamn it.”
Revik turned, fighting his eyes clear, his voice. “What, Jon?”
“Keep pushing him like that and he’s going to kill you. Stop it, alright? Just stop! I mean it, man...stop.”
“Yeah.” Cass’s voice slurred. “Stop it.”
Revik said, “It’s okay. We’re fine, Jon...Cass.”
“Don’t give me that shit!” Jon said. “You can’t go suicidal on us, man! You can’t! We need you...”
“We’re okay,” Revik repeated. “We’re okay, Jon...”
He lay there, willing his mind blank, wishing more than anything he could go back to where Allie slept. She didn’t always find him. There were gaps that went for days. Eventually she’d stop looking. At the thought, pain blinded him briefly. He rolled over onto his stomach.
His eyes closed when Jon’s voice jerked them open again.
“God.” Jon stared at him, eyes hollow. He licked his lips, staring still, as if examining the damage. “Thanks...okay?” He clutched a bar with his mutilated hand, twisting on the metal. “Thanks. I mean it. Just take it easy. Don’t provoke him any more. Don’t let him kill you. We need you, man. We need you...”