Nethissis.”
“You sure picked a fine moment for this revelation,” I said. “I’m dead anyway. Right?”
“It’s not about that, dammit. We’ve been through a lot together, I told you. I just want to be honest. I don’t want any more secrets between us,” he replied.
I scoffed, as Lumi and Sidyan walked with us, the ghouls right behind them. “Don’t worry about a thing, Seeley. There is absolutely nothing left between us,” I hissed. I was letting my temper get the better of me and I knew it, but I couldn’t let him off the hook that easily. Seeley deserved to stew in his own juices over this. There had to be repercussions for helping to tip the scales in my favor.
“What do you mean?” he asked.
“I mean let’s just focus on the mission, and that’s all,” I said. “Consider me informed with regards to Acantha, but don’t expect me to just accept it as a fact of life or whatever. You influenced her decision, Seeley. That wasn’t fair to either of us. If it had been my time to die back then, you should’ve let it happen. I thought there were strict rules about Reaper interference in the affairs of the living. Rules you were always keen on respecting—until it didn’t suit you anymore, it seems.”
Seeley didn’t argue, and I wasn’t sure what to think of that. Had he given up already?
Lumi joined me, while Sidyan stayed behind with him. Neither of us said anything for a while. Speaking of stewing in one’s own juices, I was already boiling. I struggled to accept that there was nothing I could do to change the past. I even tried to understand that Seeley had just confessed that he’d had feelings for me for quite some time—and those feelings had helped my friend die… It was a difficult truth to accept, especially since I had also become attached to Seeley.
Had it not been for this morsel of uncomfortable truth, I probably would’ve jumped in his arms as soon as he said he liked me. Worst of all, I wanted to hug him. I wondered what kissing him might feel like. But his confession and my own reaction to it loomed over us like a storm cloud waiting to split open and ruin a perfectly good picnic.
My heart drummed in my ears, and my hands balled into fists at my sides.
No one said anything for a while. Not Lumi. Not Sidyan. And especially not Seeley. I wanted to be thankful for the silence, but it left me alone with my thoughts, and I wasn’t making any progress in my resolve.
“…the Whip.” Veliko’s voice traveled back to us. My ears were trained to pick up on that particular word, given the scope of our mission. Veliko was speaking with one of the Darklings.
Frowning, I ran ahead to hear them better.
“Nethi—” Lumi tried to stop me, but I shushed her. I needed something to focus on.
Veliko walked alongside one of his lieutenants, each holding the end of a ghoul’s chain. “We have to get back into the imperial city,” he said to the Darkling. “I’ll only need a few people. The rest of you head to Laramis, like we agreed. We need to protect what’s left of our crew, along with the ghouls.”
“Yes, Scholar, but what will you do? What do you hope to achieve by talking to the Whip? I hear she’s not so easy to approach these days,” the lieutenant replied.
“Well, first of all, I need her to… you know, approve my promotion to Scholar,” Veliko said, pursing his lips for a moment. “Second, I have to see what plans she has for these foreigners and their interference, especially with two Reapers and the bitchy spirit on the loose. Not to mention that witch lady and the ghouls we lost. Ugh, we’ve got our hands full, and the rest of our faction has to pitch in. We shouldn’t be the only ones carrying this load while Valaine Crimson is still alive.”
I slowed down until Sidyan, Lumi, and Seeley reached me again, and told them what I’d just heard. Sidyan was quick to plan our next move. “There isn’t much we can do with the Darkling horde,” he said. “We’re better off staying with Veliko.”
“I agree. He’ll lead us to the Whip,” Lumi replied.
Seeley nodded, looking almost thankful that the subject of our conversation had changed. “Sounds like a plan. We’ll have to be careful once we reach the imperial city, given our ghoulish load,” he