The Mist and the Lightning. Part 19

“And you’re whining about humiliation?! Am I humiliating you?! I’ve never hit you with words the way you do! Never! And you lied to me! You knew from the beginning that you would never introduce me to the world of true blacks. Because I’m finished for you, and such a son can never be shown to noble friends! You knew it from the start! You fed me with empty promises!”

“No, no…”

“And you haven’t told me anything about your true black world! You thought I didn’t need it! Of course, why, if I’m a jerk! You haven’t revealed any of your fucking secrets! You didn’t tell me about your secret language of communication, your phrases, gestures, which, like a password, open doors only for the elite, immediately make it clear whether you are yours or the dirt under your feet! I have told you much more about the Demon world than you have told me about the true black world! And then I’m a liar to you?! I’m a liar, right? Not you?”

Kors froze, but caught himself quickly.

“What secrets? Prince Arel is a true black, why don’tyou reproach him? Why don’t you demand from him the discovery of a secret behind seven seals?”

“Arel got kicked out, thanks to you too!”

“He had to behave normally!”

“Yes, he is an apostate, and he put a dick on all your pretentious rules! He ignored them!”

“Whatever the prince, Arel was in the system and knows a lot. I don’t understand what you want from me now? I pulled you up as best I could! And, you might think, you don’t know everything yourself, Demon, all the secrets. Are you looking for an excuse to hit me? What are you accusing me of now? You pretend as if you believed my words!”

“I trusted you and your opinion,” Nik replied softly and resentfully.

“Fuck it, what a show!” Kors shouted in annoyance. “You were just playing with me! You already know everything about true blacks!”

“I wanted my daddy master to tell me about it.

“Enough! What kind of daddy master am I to you?!”

“Why not?”

“I am the physical father of a human, that’s all.”

“You said you were the Demon’s father too.”

“But you laughed at it! You just played along with me.”

“No! And when you say that now, you hurt me! I really feel like an orphan!”

“Okay, okay,” Kors held out his hands with open palms slightly forward and towards Nik in a conciliatory gesture. “If you want me to be your Demon father, I’m only too happy about it. But then I’m higher than you in the hierarchy, why don’t you obey me?!”

“I obeyed you!”

“You didn’t fucking listen at all!”

“I obeyed as best I could! Just because I am like this!”

“Incorrigible?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, I’m sorry if I didn’t believe you and didn’t understand that you weren’t a liar and I… I honestly worry about your physical condition,” Kors tried to turn an unpleasant and dangerous (as he decided) conversation for him into another direction.

“It’s fine with me, and I don’t want them staring at my bandages anyway,” Nik bought into his ruse, changing the subject to one that Kors had carefully directed him to. “I don’t like it when people stare at me. And everyone got used to me in a mask.”

“And that’s sad,” Kors breathed in relief.

“I’ll be right back,” Nik said.

They left, and Arel took Valentin with him. Kors was left alone. For a while, he just sat on the floor and drank wine from a bottle, trying not to think about anything. But it was hard for him to sit like that. Moving a little closer to the bed, since the chain allowed him to do this, and the pillar was close, Kors pulled the fluffy coverlet of the silvery fur of northern foxes. He pulled it off the bed, folded it into two layers, and lay down on top of it. It became softer, but not more comfortable. Soft fur tickled the body, and it was hot. Kors felt himself sweating and the fur sticking to his damp body. He stood up and folded the coverlet with the fur on the inside and the silky quilted lining on the outside. So it was much more comfortable, but there was not enough pillow. Kors pulled the pillow off the bed and lay down. “Are they coming soon?” He tried to see them, but he couldn’t. Nik closed him not only in the room, but also from being able to hear and see them.

“Nik said they weren’t going to party. Okay, they’reprobably just handing out some housekeeping instructions. In the end, Arel is the owner of a large Estate, and he needs to check what happened here without him. What was the harvest. Arel has huge areas planted with grapes, and he will surely take care of the wine. Or did they still go to the party? To the unclean ones? Hardly, though…” Kors tried to stop guessing and torment himself. In order not to think about anything and not to panic, he simply recited in his head all sorts of verses and passages of texts that he remembered by heart. Over and over again, he repeated the same thing, eventually sliding down to several lines and just stupidly repeating them like a clockwork:

"Every night and every morn

Some to misery are born

Every morn and every night

Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to sweet delight

Some are born to endless night"