The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure - By Storm Constantine Page 0,166

that nest of snakes.’

‘Oh, will you just stop being the voice of reason?’ Seel said angrily. ‘I’ll take Flick to the city, then bring him right back. Give him gifts, adorn the Kakkahaar with jewels, or whatever it is they like. Make amends in whatever way you see fit, but I won’t be swayed on this.’

‘He will hate you for it, as if he doesn’t already have enough reasons. Don’t go back to that bad place you used to live in. Don’t revive the worst aspects of the past.’

‘Do you know,’ Seel said, his eyes narrow, ‘I get sick to death of having to be nice, gentle, compliant Seel. Sometimes, I just want to be the absolute bitch I really am. I’m sick of pretending.’

‘You are not a bitch,’ Swift said. ‘You’re the same as anyhar else: some things bring out the worst in you.’

‘Yeah, like the har you love so much, the archangel Cal. I sometimes wonder: what is the point of having any relationships, because at the end of the day, we are all obsessed with that bastard. All of us. We are all his chesnari, helpless, pathetic and sick. You are probably the worst of us, because you’re always so damn nice!’

Swift’s eyes looked completely black, in the way that Cobweb’s did when he was so angry he could unmake the universe with a glance. ‘Fine. Go then. Go to Immanion. I hope it makes you feel better.’ With these words, he marched out of the room and slammed the door so hard all the pictures shook on the walls.

Seel threw himself on the bed. He wanted to go to Flick and unlock the door that constrained him. He wanted to unsay the words he’d said to Flick, undo the past. He wanted to go back in time, take Flick by the arms and say, ‘You’re not going to leave Saltrock. I won’t let you go, because I love you.’ That would have changed everything and he might never have met Swift, and that wasn’t what he wanted either. They shouldn’t have argued tonight. Seel didn’t mean the harsh words, not really. What obsessed him, more than Cal himself, was exactly why he had killed Orien. Seel wanted to know what Cal might have said to Flick on that terrible night, and whether there was any justification in it. However hard Seel might be on himself for his lapses, the real reason he was looking for some kind of light in Cal was because he wondered if, somehow and in some way, Cal could be redeemed. Seel knew he should have questioned Cal, in a reasonable and controlled manner, when he’d had the chance in Imbrilim, but instead he’d just fired dart after poisoned dart into Cal, while he was weak and helpless. Lies, terrible lies. What kind of friend am I to Pell, really? Seel thought. He knew that if Pell ever found out about Seel’s meeting with Cal, it would ruin their friendship.

Seel had private motives in wanting to question Flick, but he also wanted to take Flick to the Tigron. Whenever Pellaz was good to him, Seel felt guilty about the things he’d said to Cal. He couldn’t change that, but he wanted Pellaz to be pleased to see a familiar face from the past. Since Cal had been taken from Imbrilim, Thiede had hidden him away. He was unreachable. What Thiede’s plans were for him, nohar knew, but Seel was sure they didn’t include a reunion with Pellaz.

Seel’s heart was full of love: for Pellaz, for Swift, for Flick. So many mistakes.

Because Swift and Seel had gone upstairs to argue almost immediately after Flick had been escorted from the room, they did not know how events had turned out downstairs.

Ulaume was standing near the fire, still talking with Tel-an-Kaa, when a Parsic guard came up to him and said, ‘You’re to come with me, tiahaar.’

‘Why?’ Ulaume asked.

‘You must leave the premises.’

‘What? Where’s Flick?’

The Parsic took hold of Ulaume’s arm. ‘Please don’t make a fuss. Come this way.’

There might have been an almighty and unseemly struggle, but at that point Cobweb suddenly appeared, as if from nowhere, and said, ‘Take your hands off that har at once, Oriel. What is going on?’

The guard bowed. ‘Seel has ordered that the Kakkahaar is to be escorted from the estate.’

‘Kakkahaar?’ said Cobweb lightly.

‘Yes,’ Ulaume said. ‘And no. I lived with them for a while.’

‘I see,’ Cobweb said and then addressed the guard. ‘Well, Ulaume is also a