The Opelux and Other Monsters || Book One

CHAPTER 23 (PART 2) - UNKNOWN

For several minutes, there was only a long, satisfying silence, broken momentarily by Tritteon's grunts as he stuffed my thrown pillow beneath his left arm. Thunder shook the windows, drowning out the heavy storm, and Colleena came in once to check Tritteon's bandages, her eyes flitting between us briefly.

As soon as the door to her office closed again, I sighed and looked at him.

"This...this isn't only about them killing you," I said, pulling the letter from beneath my pillow. "Is it about staying with him for as long as you can? Or getting home?"

He didn't look at me. He stared straight ahead, his brows knit.

I thought back to Gauwin. "Why are you so loyal to someone who bought you and is forcing you to protect them?"

Tritteon turned to me then, his eyes blackening. "He saved me from far worse and has given me everything. He has been a father and mentor to me and deserves every respect."

"I'm sorry. I—I didn't mean it disrespectfully."

"And it is not a purchase he made. It is called a Sponsorship."

"And what is that?" I asked, urging Lexicon to be quiet. I wanted his answer.

He was staring at the letter I was smoothing out in my hands. "A FengDohrn serves his or her charge until the age of nineteen. And in return, their charge provides them with the means to start a free life wherever they choose."

"Is that the same with all FengDohrn?"

"Generally." He frowned. "You are wondering about Gauwin. I could not tell you why she did what she did. I did not think she was capable of such a thing. Her mind was blocked from me, as was Seth's. That is why my reaction time was slow."

"You know, she—she seemed conflicted when she was fighting me. The only reaction that made sense was her fury when I injured her charge. What if she didn't know what she was doing?"

"It would not matter."

"Why not?"

"It cannot be proven."

"At all?"

"No."

"There isn't some kind of truth telling Veehm or something? We could drug her up with all the pain killers Colleena put in you."

Tritteon rolled his eyes. "No one would take the word of a FengDohrn under the influence of some unproven concoction." He paused. "There is a truth drug. But it is very costly and there is no way the Investigative Issuer, Lord Paxton Dawith, would issue it to a seemingly, guilty FengDohrn unless there was irrefutable proof they were innocent."

"Who?"

"He is a Creea Official whose sole job is that of administering the drug and issuing the interrogation. For further clarification, the drug has never once been administered to a FengDohrn."

"Why?"

"A FengDohrn who loses control is rarely innocent. We are not allotted second chances."

"But that's—what kind of rule is that?"

He frowned. "It is not a rule. It is law."

The thought was nauseating. "That's horrible."

He tilted his head a little. "You really do not know what a FengDohrn is, do you?"

I stared at him. Lexicon had given me a brief description from The Hawk's Nest and I had just fought him and seen what he was capable of. I'd even seen that mosaic and still felt relieved I hadn't had to witness that kind of transformation in person. Yes, he was intense and could be terrifying and that otherworldly sense still hovered about him like some lingering essence. But he was still a person.