The Opelux and Other Monsters || Book One

CHAPTER 8 - UNKNOWN

Over the next three days, Colleena managed to sneak me off to the library twice. Both times I came back with armfuls of books she was kind enough to carry back for me.

I didn't see Tritteon for the rest of the time, but the prickling on the back of my neck only happened when she and I sat beneath the tree for a meal or when I searched for new titles, so I guessed he was nearby. Asis didn't show himself once, though. I wondered, hatefully, if Tritteon had warned him away. But the ass never gave me the chance to find out.

I read through every book I could get my hands on. Colleena told me she was from a small town called Van Gor in the southern half of Fairudin, so I found books on that. She talked about a large, extended family she'd left there to pursue her field and briefly mentioned a husband but wouldn't go into detail. I guessed, wherever he was, it wasn't here, and something about the situation was sensitive.

It became more and more enjoyable to not have to ask questions I should already know the answers to. But on the flipside, it became more and more frustrating to be reminded of the fact that there wasn't a single book in that entire haven that would give me an insight into my own lost memories.

When the Emperor decided I was well enough to do more than sit in my room and sneak to the library, I was going to find a way to convince him to tell me what he knew. Because he undoubtably knew something. Neither he, nor Pharro, nor Tritteon had been surprised to see me.

I set my newest read down—a particularly dry tome about Asoiri and where and how it was mined on this continent, and how mining overseas was illegal because the properties were sometimes different, and the majority of locations were far too dangerous to reach.

I wasn't sure how long I'd been sitting on the couch reading, but I was pretty sure the dark clouds outside had lightened a bit. I stood and stretched my legs and back, a chorus of popping sounds relieving pressure all over my body, and contemplated another excursion to the library when Colleena brought up breakfast.

"Look at you, all stable and no wobble," Colleena said from the doorway, shutting the door behind her, a canvas bag in her hand. I hadn't heard her open it.

"You're early," I frowned, the smell of breakfast that usually accompanied her in the morning nonexistent. She had only the large, black, canvas bag slung over her shoulder she always brought a new change of clothes for me in.

"You're the early one," she laughed. "Did you sleep at all? Those are the same clothes you were wearing when I left you after dinner."

"I napped." I scanned her appearance, the fancier clothes, her hair done a little more than usual, makeup even. "What's going on?"

She crossed to my bed and dropped the bag onto it. "His Highness gave me permission to take you down to breakfast this morning."

I was glad I'd set the book down because I would have dropped it. "What? Why now?"

"I told him of the progress you've made, that you're getting stronger and a bit of color has returned to your face, that you and I have been going stir-crazy—"

"And he just agreed?"

She canted her head back and forth. "Well, I think it had more to do with the fact that the majority of his guests will be in a long meeting with him this morning, and the rest will sleep in, so no one will be there this early."

I nodded. "While meeting other people doesn't sound like fun, I still don't understand why I'm being hid."

"You're not being hid," she assured me. "You're vulnerable right now, so they just want you protected until you've recovered enough to hold your own."