Between the Veil and Crown

Arvek 45

The room went so still it was as though everyone had been frozen. Only the fires from the lights made any kind of movement, uncaring and unbothered as they were of Rasinod's declaration of Selim's status.

Rasinod was the first to break the stillness. He gathered up the bowl of black liquid and stepped away from the unmoving brothers, as though he had cast some kind of spell on them.

Selim shook his head, slowly at first, but then a little more violently, as though he were attempting to shake off something that had a tight hold on him. "No. No, that can't be. I know it's not true," he said angrily. He made to stand up, which caused Cor to come back to reality next. Cor grabbed his arm and made him stay in the bed.

"You're still concussed," Cor reminded him. "You still need to take it easy."

Selim scowled at him. "How can I take it easy when he's telling me that I've been permanently sealed?"

This made Arvek slowly turn on his heel to look at Rasinod. "How do you even know it's the obsession potion that's been sealed? Can't it have been another?"

"Can you honestly say he's been acting himself?" Rasinod said in a patient way. But not so much patient in that he understood the difficulty of accepting reality, but rather patient in the way someone had to repeat a certain lesson over and over to a child who just would not learn.

"In some respects, I would say he is," Arvek argued.

Rasinod gave him a pitying look, which Arvek despised. "An obsession potion does not take everything of who he is away." He turned his attention to Selim. "Selim, perhaps if you could say one bad thing about Amelia?"

Selim sputtered, trying to think of something quickly to throw at Rasinod.

"If you have nothing to say," Rasinod said. He turned back to Arvek. "I rest my case."

"No- I- that's not it! It's not what you think!" Selim snapped. He wrenched his arm out of Cor's grasp and jumped to his feet. He swayed slightly, but amazingly enough, he remained balanced. "I swear- I'm under no influence of an obsession potion!"

"Sir, not all hope is gone," Rasinod said, gently resting a hand on Arvek's arm. It took everything within Arvek not to step away. "There is a possibility of returning him to his former state of mind. But I will need to start the treatment soon, and we will need to return to the capitol. I do not have enough ingredients to continue the treatment."

"I don't need treatment!"

"Can drunk say when he's had too much to drink?" Rasinod answered smoothly without even looking in Selim's direction. He instead kept steady eye contact with Arvek. "He will become more difficult the longer he's kept away from Amelia."

"What does this treatment entail?" Arvek demanded to know, returning the steady eye contact.

Rasinod sighed slowly. "It will not be an easy treatment," he confessed. "Unfortunately, I cannot even guarantee success. Removing a seal is difficult work as, well, a seal is supposed to make the effect permanent."

"Success is not a guarantee?" Arvek said. "Again, what does this treatment entail?"

"I possibly would have to employ several different methods," Rasinod said, "depending on how stubborn the seal is. But I would start off with a seal dissolver, which he would have to take twice daily. If there is no change, then removing from the diet things that would strengthen the seal."