The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure - By Storm Constantine Page 0,126

snatched from some heavenly realm and the reality of him was disorientating. Seel still wasn’t sure whether a knife to his throat would not be the best option.

‘Pell,’ Thiede said. ‘You have a visitor.’

Pellaz raised his head and those luminous dark eyes stared right into Seel’s gaze. Pellaz froze.

Seel inclined his head. ‘Hello Pellaz. You look well.’

‘Seel,’ Pellaz said in a bewildered voice. ‘I knew you were coming but…’

‘I managed to get away early.’

Pellaz nodded. ‘Yes…’ He smiled, head enchantingly tilted to one side. ‘Oh, Seel. It’s wonderful you’re here.’ He ran across the short distance between them and wrapped Seel in a tight embrace.

Seel staggered a little, felt winded. He could smell clean hair and exotic perfume. He could feel the warmth of a living body. After a moment, he thought he’d better return the embrace and did so. ‘Well,’ he said awkwardly, ‘whoever would have thought it would come to this.’

‘Thank you for coming,’ Pellaz said, drawing away from him. ‘I’m so glad to see you.’

‘I’m rather amazed to see you, but…’

‘I know,’ Pellaz said. ‘I understand.’ He led Seel to a chair and pressed him into it, then sat on the wide arm of it. ‘You must tell me all about Saltrock. How is everyhar there? Thiede told me Orien is dead. It’s terrible. What happened?’ He gestured at the rather haughty red haired har who was his aide. ‘Vaysh, bring us some refreshments.’

Seel couldn’t speak.

‘Later,’ Thiede said smoothly. ‘I think Seel is rather more interested in hearing about you.’

‘Yes,’ Seel said. ‘I am. You look incredible, Pell. I can’t take this in.’

‘I’m going to be king – Tigron,’ Pellaz said. He sounded like an excited child.

‘I know,’ Seel said. He wondered how long it would take for the responsibility of that to knock all vestiges of innocence from this radiant har. Pellaz was reborn in every sense. He was like an unmarked page. Seel couldn’t dispel discomforting images of the way Pellaz had appeared in the pod at Thiede’s ice palace. He found himself wondering whether this was just a beautiful shell, and the real Pellaz was all rotten and black inside.

‘I need friends,’ Pellaz said. ‘Hara here are suspicious of me.’

‘Hmm,’ Seel murmured. ‘Well, here I am.’

‘I don’t have an inception scar any more.’

‘No, I don’t suppose you do.’ Seel glanced at Thiede darkly. This was hideous. Pellaz had no idea how uncomfortable Seel felt.

‘There’s this har called Ashmael,’ Pellaz said. ‘You must meet him. He hated me, but I don’t think he does as much now. He’s quite scary.’

Seel had spent two exhausting nights with Ashmael before leaving for Thaine. He wished Thiede had told Pellaz the truth, that Seel had been part of the Gelaming administration for some time. He foresaw future difficulties.

Thiede rolled his eyes in their sockets behind Pell’s back. He was grinning. Seel grimaced at him. Pellaz was such an innocent. Seel felt sorry for him. He was completely ignorant of everything, a condition in which Thiede most likely preferred to keep him.

‘We’ll all dine together later at my apartment here in the palace,’ Thiede said. ‘I think you should let Seel leave now, Pell. I just wanted him to drop in and see you. He no doubt wishes to refresh himself after his journey here.’

‘Of course,’ Pellaz said, rising from his seat.

Seel stood up and Pellaz held out his hand to him. His expression was kind, but there was a hint of arrogance about it. Not self-aggrandising, but merely that of a har who knew in his blood he was born to be served. Seel took the hand, pressed it to his lips and his brow. It was an involuntary gesture of respect. He bowed his head. Without doubt, Thiede had created a king.

For some time, Seel managed to hold off Pell’s incessant questions about Saltrock and Orien, which was difficult because Pellaz wanted Seel to be near him most of the time. Seel did not want to be the one to tell Pellaz about Cal, because he knew the information would hurt Pellaz very much. The potential Tigron talked about Cal as if they would be together again one day. ‘He goes to Saltrock sometimes, doesn’t he?’ he asked Seel. ‘Thiede doesn’t want me to see him again, I’m sure, but you could get a message to him for me. Perhaps we could even meet at Saltrock.’

Comments of this kind were excruciating to Seel. But it was when Pellaz finally mentioned Flick that the dam broke and Seel