Blood-Bound [ Lore of Penrua: Book I ]

47

Before they left the longhouse, Matei went over to the bookshelf to peruse the collection. Mhera followed him, folding her arms around herself. She felt a vague sense of familiarity. She took a few steps closer and bent down to examine the books. Most of them seemed old, and they reminded her of the lorekeeper's collection.

Matei selected a thin red volume. He began to turn the first few pages of his selection, his brow knit as he skimmed the text. "Do you like to read?" he asked without looking at her.

"I used to," Mhera said. It had been a very long time since she had read anything except for the holy texts, she realized.

"Well, there are books here that might benefit you," Matei said, "but you'll like none of them." He tucked the red book beneath his arm and started searching the shelf again. Finding what he was seeking, he selected a volume bound in dark leather. As he handed it to Mhera, the gold embossing on the front gleamed.

Mhera turned the book over in her hands and, with a jolt, she realized he had seen this book before. This copy was more worn around the edges, but the leaves and vines and the four-pointed star embossed on the cover of it were the same as the designs on the book she had seen in Master Eovin's hidden library.

Matei was walking now; when she looked up, he was several strides away and still moving. She swallowed her questions and hurried after him through the crowded tables.

"I think you have two choices," Matei said as they stepped out of the longhouse. "Regarding your lodgings, I mean."

Mhera took the change in subject in stride. "Okay ... what are they?"

"One: you can stay there, with me." He pointed to a building not far from the longhouse, similar in shape but smaller in size. "We call it the 'council house,' I suppose because it's where the leaders of Hanpe do most of their arguing and, occasionally, make a decision or two. It's where we sleep, too."

"So you are not the only one who lives there," Mhera said. She had a few guesses as to whom else she might find within the council house. Tryn and Uachi seemed like obvious leaders, having presided over the deliberations about whether or not to execute her the day before. Matei had mentioned other names, too, when deciding whom to involve in the decision about moving their encampment. Though she had not met Sashta and Talen, Mhera thought them unlikely to be kindly disposed toward her.

"No, there are usually four or five of us, not all at the same time. But when our beds are in the same place, it makes it easier for us to cross paths."

"Uachi stays there?"

"He does."

Mhera hoped she would like her second option at least a little more. "What is my other choice?"

"I haven't asked her, but I think Aun could be convinced to let you stay in the infirmary," Matei said.

A wave of relief washed over Mhera, surprising her. She nodded her head. "Please. I would like to stay with Aun, if she'll have me." She could keep busy in the infirmary. There would probably be plenty to do—cooking, washing, tidying. Work would distract her from ... well, from everything else.

Matei raised a cautionary hand. "We can try it, Mhera, as long as things are ... better between us. But I must stay in the council house. If we cannot separate, you will need to stay there with me. Okay?"

Resentment coiled in Mhera's heart as she remembered the binding and its physical hold over her. But she also remembered her intent not to snap, not to argue. "Okay."

Matei smiled. "Very well," he said. "Let's try. We can go and ask her now. I did think you might have found a friend in Aun."

Mhera was not sure she would use the word "friend" for Aun. For anyone. It had been a very long time since she'd been close enough to someone to call him or her a friend, and now that her life had taken such a dramatic turn, she did not think she would ever have a friend again. But she wasn't afraid of Aun, and Aun didn't seem to be afraid of her. That seemed to be the most she could reasonably hope for in this place.