Mr Remeo You Promise Me Chapter 28

Posted by admind, ? Views, Released on February 3, 2025

Chapter 28

“What?” I exclaim, nearly choking on the word, “Peter’s in a coma?”

“A medically induced one, yes. Your siren did a number on him; two ruptured eardrums, a minor brain bleed, internal contusions consistent with a trip down a flight of stairs…”

My eyes widen as guilt begins to tug at me. “Wake did all of that with just his voice?”

“Fascinating, isn’t it? It’ll be a shame to have Peter benched during the coming days, though. Without him, that leaves only you and Wilcox to head the siren study,” Director St. Cloud states.

“The both of us?” I ask warily.

*Crypto–marine biologists are notoriously hard to come by,” her tone has an edge of finality that tells me the matter isn’t up for debate.

Putting up with Stan for the sake of my career has always been the plan, I don’t know why I expected things to be any different here. Assholes like Stan are a dime a dozen. I can handle him. Still, disappointment stings like a sonofabitch.

“How many people work here?” I ask.

*One hundred and thirty. We recruit the best of the best from across the globe, gather them together and let the sparks fly, as it were.”

“Does anyone ever leave?” I ask, only half–joking.

*Of course. Anyone here is free to leave whenever they like,” she lifts one shoulder daintily, “Right after they sign a rather… comprehensive NDA, of course. You, better than most, understand the sensitive nature of the work we do here.”

*Business is business,” I mutter. “There is one thing I don’t understand, though. A facility of this size, the Marble, that all must have taken decades to build. But no one even began theorizing about merfolk until five years ago.

I gesture to the lab around me dubiously, “You mean to tell me that you built all of this just to study dolphins?”

Director St. Cloud hums introspectively as we enter an elevator. She scans her badge and the elevator begins to descend without needing to press a button. “Now, that would be curious, wouldn’t it? Tell me, Phoebe, how would you explain something like that?”

I blink, retreating into my own theories as the elevator smoothly descends. There’s one answer that keeps coming to me, but it isn’t a simple explanation by any means. In fact, it would complicate things considerably. Still… it’s the only thing that makes sense.

“Wake isn’t the first siren you’ve captured.”

The elevator comes to a stop, the doors opening into another, much more advanced laboratory. At the center of which is a cryogenic stasis chamber containing a sleeping, female siren.

A mermaid.

Director St. Cloud steps from the elevator. “Phoebe, meet Marina.”

As if in a daze, I make my way over to Marina’s chamber, slowly walking around the cylindrical pod. “She’s beautiful,” I whisper.

The mermaid is significantly smaller than Wake but would still tower over me. Where Wake’s scales have an ombre effect, fading from the darkest black to a deep crimson, Marina’s scales are teal, morphing between blue and green depending on the viewing angle.

The fins lining her hips and thighs are long, flowing tendrils instead of Wake’s sharp ridges. Her hair is long, brushing her hips, and shares the same phthalo green hue as Wake.

Both merfolk share the same semi–translucent skin, although Marina’s is much paler, making the translucence more apparent. A web of bright green veins is clearly visible through her skin.

I reach out to touch the cryo–chamber, my palm hovering just over the frigid glass.

“How long has she been down here?” I ask.

“Enigma found her in 1883. But she’s only been in this lab for about thirty years. This facility was built with her in mind, obviously. She’s inspired some of the world’s most remarkable inventions, including the one keeping her alive,” The Director answers.

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Chapter 28

I nod. “The healing properties in their saliva?”

“A very curious enzymatic compound that we found could be isolated and repurposed in a number of interesting ways,” the Director confirms

“As in stasis chambers?” I ask dubiously. The science is astounding, to be sure, but not the most practical.

She cocks a brow. “As in penicillin. The story about the mold? That was us.”

I study the sleeping mermaid’s delicate features and am filled with an uncanny sadness. “Why, though? Why keep her alive all this time if you don’t plan on letting her go? I’m sure you learned all you could decades ago,”

“We learned all we could at the time, And that’s the key, isn’t it? Time,” The Director gazes at Marina, a wistful look on her face. “It truly is the one thing we can’t control. Not yet, anyway.”

“What do you plan on doing with her?” I ask.

“Now that Wake is here, it opens an entire area of research that was previously unavailable to us,” she says vaguely, I just stare at her, refusing to engage until she finishes being coy.

The Director sighs. “We’re going to breed them. Eventually. We’ll need to observe his mannerisms in a more controlled case study before proceeding to that step.”

“I’m guessing I’m the case study?” I ask dryly.

“Naturally. We only get one shot to create a proper breeding pair. I plan to extract all the information I can first,”

I frown. “So, you want me to be a test run. I help Wake through his mating rut while you take notes?” The Director gives an affirmative nod, and I let out a testy huff, “Sure. That’s not at all invasive.”

“Are you having second thoughts?” The Director asks, her tone hardening.

I answer quickly. “No. More like…I’m wrapping my head around the idea.”

“Good. You know, I don’t only want you for the physical effect you have on the siren, Phoebe, I’ve read your published work; you’re a brilliant theoretician, you’ve got passion in spades.” She turns to face me, “I want you to lead the breeding study.”

My jaw drops. “Me? But…but I only just got here. I don’t even have a doctorate yet.”

“Pedigree is secondary here. I told you, what I care about is results, and I believe that you’re the best person to get them. No one knows the siren like you do. He doesn’t trust anyone else.”

It’s an offer that feels too good to be true, I can’t completely silence my doubts–I want to trust Lily and Enigma, but there’s still so much about them I’m

not privy to.

Hell, the thought of breeding Wake like livestock makes me deeply uncomfortable by itself.

Do I trust these people to have Wake’s best interest at heart?

I look at Marina, taken from her home and frozen in time for nearly two hundred years, just…waiting to be of use.

No, I don’t trust them to consider Wake the way he deserves. The only person that can do that is me.

“I’ll do it,” I say.

The Director grins. “Excellent. Then we can move on to the next phase of the study.” She taps on her watch and makes a call. “Prepare Marina for defrost and move her to the Marble.”

Moments later, we’re surrounded by lab techs, who gather around Marina, preparing her to greet the world for the first time in decades.

“What’s happening?” I ask.

“I am in possession of the only two merfolk known to mankind, and my life’s work depends on them getting along. Do you know what that means, Ms. Addison?”