CHP34

Midmorning light flickered through a gilded window, throwing shadows over Sael’s brooding form. Leaning on one elbow, he slowly dragged the dry edge of a fountain pen down a page of paper. The gentle scratch across the page made his hairs stand on end and left him with nothing but sensation. His thoughts drifted and fell upon Sai, upon Seneya.

“Black prince.” Vrahiel’s voice whispered from within him. Sael’s pen paused halfway down the page and fell with a loud click to its side.

“You speak?” Sael said as he drew his eyes to a gentle close

“At times,” Vrahiel spoke within his head.

“It’s been a while,” Sael sighed.

“You see the sadness that created her, do you not?” Vrahiel asked as silence suffused the room, the ticking of a clock broke the emptiness.

“I do.”

“Do you want her?” the voice asked, throwing Sael off guard, his pen clattering to the desktop.

“I do, but I do not know if it is because of you and your draw to Sai or her sweetness.” Sael placed a hand on his chest and closed his eyes. “I would certainly court her when she is of age if she were not meant for someone else.”

“Fight for her hand. She should belong to you.” Vrahiel pleaded, not demanding, not angry as it could be, but supplicative. “She is made for us.”

“No. That is not for me. That is for Acryan.” Sael dug his nails into the surface of his desk.

“Have you met Acryan before?” the seraphim’s spirit asked.

“When he was Tuval. Whoever he is now, no.” Sael toyed with the pen on his desk, trying to get the image of Seneya’s green fires from his mind.

“You should take the time to go visit the Anael palace unannounced.” The voice of the seraphim spoke, coy.

“I wouldn’t be so rude.” Sael’s eyes creased into a slowly angering expression.

“You were once,” Said Vrahiel.

Sael slammed his fists to his desk with an echoing crack. The spirit didn’t flinch, just quieted in his mind.

“December fifteenth, nineteen eighty-four, you remember that day very well.”

The anger went rancid as his sharp teeth bared. “Could I destroy you, I would right now. Be that I see Seneya again, I’ll ask her kindly to keep her distance!”

Dark storm clouds wavered in his mind behind the acid response. “And here I came bearing a gift.”

“Then lead with that now. I grow weary of you.”

“Briel Lightwing, born of Afryth,” Vrahiel spoke the name in solemn tones.

“DO NOT SAY THE NAME OF MY BROTHER. DO NOT TAINT MY MOTHER’S MEMORY!” Sael stood, and mana coursed over his fingers. His eyes went dark as night.

“Memory? Praytell, how can a living child be a memory?”

“He does not live. You said you couldn’t interfere.”

“Maybe… maybe not as you would have hoped, as such, but he lives. Tuval saw to that. The creator intervened.” Vrahiel mused.

Sael’s aura of longing swam about him. His fires flickered over his skin and dissipated before he gathered himself up and prepared for coarselight.

“If what you say is true, then someone shall die this night for all my pain and suffering.”

A flash of light subsided, and scattered papers flitted slowly to the floor.