ADAD Chapter 18: The choice

 After a long conversation with Darius, the two, Anastasios and he, went to Harvey to tell him the news. Harvey was hunched over his desk, writing new runes. A bottle of beast blood next to him, so he could test them. 

"Hey, Harv," Darius greeted, as he walked in. Harvey turned around, and smiled at the two. 

"Hey Dari, Nastia. What brings you here?" Harvey asked, and Darius took in a deep breath. 

"Mustafa claims that you are his soulmate," Darius said, and the Fey blinked at him. 

"Ah, are you certain?" He asked, and Darius shook his head. 

"I can't get a feel for his scent, so," Darius said, and Harvey's eyes widened. 

"If you can't say for certain, I am not going anywhere near that wizard. What if he uses me in an experiment?" Harvey, as the one who didn't know any combat techniques at all, was the only one who had not met Mustafa. 

"I know you are scared, but if there is a chance that he is your soulmate, you should go and meet him," Anastasios said, and then worried his bottom lip. "I intend to leave Gorgon to him to rule." 

"In exchange for what?" Harvey hissed, getting suspicious. 

"He can fund the rest of the project. If you don't want to meet him, I will say that you are not on the table. But, think, if he is your soulmate, and you miss out on this," Anastasios said, and Harvey gave out a bitter laugh. 

"You sold me," Harvey accused, and Anastasios's eyes widened. 

"That is not true," Darius tried to defend Anastasios, and Harvey rounded on him next. 

"Is it not? Were you there, when the deal was made?" Harvey snapped at him, and Darius shook his head. 

"No, but Anastasios would never do anything like selling his friends for money. Think, Harv, if you give the wizard a chance, he will make you into an immortal," Darius's tail began to twitch, then. Of all the things that he didn't like about his immortality, Harvey's death, when the Fey grew old, was one of them. 

"Do you know what kind of dark magic we are talking about here? I bet it has something to do with human sacrifice. I am just a twenty-three-year-old, and you want me to get together with someone who you told me has lived for at least 1,000 years?" Harvey looked between the two, his disbelief clear to be seen. 

"He also said that he will train Noah," Anastasios said, and Harvey's expression turned grim. 

"And all you have to do, is give him the useless Fey?" Harvey asked, and his hands shook. 

"We never thought about you in such a way," Darius protested, but Harvey gave out a bitter laugh. 

"Yes, well, I have just about enough blood in my veins for myself. I can't make the same runes as you. None of you need my other electives as well. You just took me along because you felt sorry for me!" Harvey accused, and then his shoulders slumped. "And now, you finally have a use for me." 

The accusation hurt the two, and they exchanged worried looks. 

"I will tell him that you don't want to meet him," Anastasios said, and then patted Darius on the back. "Talk to him, he is your friend. Make him understand that our words were not meant in an ill manner." 

"I will," Darius said, and Anastasios left the room. Darius moved to Harvey's bed, and sat on it. "Harv, come over here." 

The Fey looked at him for a while, then sighed, and came to the bed. 

"We have been roommates for how many years?" Darius asked, and Harvey gave him the answer.

"Seventeen. Although, I rather like this new living arrangement where you sleep at Anastasios's house better. You snore like a wood chopper," Harvey said, and Darius's lips turned up. 

"Yes, well, you mumble in your sleep," Darius told the Fey, and then hugged him tight. "You are my best friend, Harv. And by that, I mean you replaced Nastia for the position. You know I would never do anything to hurt you, right? Your happiness means the world to me." 

"You say that, but you were on Nastia's side just a minute before," Harvey protested, and Darius chuckled. 

"He is my soulmate. That doesn't mean that what the two of us share, you and me, is not special," the demon said, and then patted the Fey on the back. "If you don't want to meet Mustafa, then don't. I have to admit that he is shifty. There are plenty of things that don't add up in his story." 

"But the fact is, that he was really a sultan. Just look at the pyramid. I saw it at night, a couple of nights ago. Does it even have an end?" Harvey asked, and Darius nodded. 

"Perhaps he hasn't lied about everything, but he must be lying about something. I don't like the fact that I can't smell him," Darius's nose twitched, and he let go of Harvey long enough to scratch it. "Do you want me to force him to undo the spell on himself, the one that stops me from smelling him, and then tell you if you two are really soulmates?"

"How does he know about me?" Harvey asked, still not understanding how it came to be. "I didn't exit the pocket that day. And he didn't see me any of the nights, when I went for a swim in the oasis." 

"He must have felt your mana from inside the pocket," Darius suggested, and then his brows furrowed. "If he can do something like that..." 

"What else can he do?" Harvey finished for him. "I don't like this, Dari. That wizard is all Nastia talks about, these days." 

"You are safe in the dimensional pocket," Darius assured his friend. "No one that is not keyed in can enter it." 

"I hope you are right," Harvey murmured. 

"You are a badass in your own right, you know?" Darius said, as he patted Harvey on the back again. "You know more rune languages than me, and you can write in a neater handwriting, too." 

"Which is something you should still work on. Just think about the power that your runes could pack, if you could get the writing to be better than that of a six-year-old," Harvey teased, and Darius tugged at the Fey's ear.

Their laughter soon rang in the room, and the two let the bitterness of the news flow through them like water, disappearing into the air like a fine mist in a bright summer morning.