11. Chapter 11
11
Chapter 11
Violet
I had spent my entire life around the same few people and now I had been pushed into a place where I’d experienced more in the past few days than I ever had.
I had become so used to spending so much time alone that I now was exhausted by the things that had happened in the past few days. I was restless after Calum left so early, but I decided to spend the rest of the day in my room. Bronwen came about midday because a servant told her I didn’t come around breakfast time looking for food.
“The past few days have just been . . . a lot,” I said as I sat at the foot of my bed.
“I understand that all of this might be a lot to take in, but you can’t just stay in your room and skip meals. I’ll have a servant bring you some food,” Bronwen said as she jumped on my bed, making herself comfortable. My day of alone time had come to an end.
“Can it be Yara?”
“Yara?” she asked as she sat up a little straighter, waiting for my answer.
“You know . . . the wanderer.” I paused. “The one without a . . . a mouth.”
“I know which one is Yara. She just wasn’t assigned to you, so I’m not sure how you’ve come across her.”
“She has escorted me to a few meals. Maybe there was a mix-up with assignments?” I asked. I hoped Yara wouldn’t be in trouble because of this.
She looked at me as if she was offended by what I had said to her. “I don’t have mix-ups .”
“Please don’t send a different one. I like her,” I begged. Something about her—even with her disturbing appearance—gave me comfort.
Bronwen let out a sigh before she said, “I won’t, but how do you know her name?”
“I know how to sign. Being stuck in a castle every day with a nursemaid that believed knowledge was power meant I had to learn everything I could.”
“Knowledge. I’m not sure how well that would hold up in a battle against physical power.” Bronwen giggled as if she was picturing it in her head.
“Well, I don’t think my father would ever let me near a battle, so I think I’m good.”
“Oh right, because of your ‘heart condition.’” Bronwen had the same mocking tone that Sebastian had.
“He told you about it?” I asked.
“Are you talking about your father?” Her eyes narrowed.
“You know who I’m talking about.” After she protected me from him yesterday, I felt comfortable enough with her to not hide what I was thinking or feeling. But I didn’t want to say his name. Saying his name would make him more real. I’d rather him stay the evil presence that I was going to attempt to avoid for the remainder of the time that I was here.
“Yes, he did. He asked if I had ever heard of a faerie with a heart condition,” she said as she picked at a loose string on her top.
“Why is he so concerned?” I asked. I shouldn’t even be on his radar.
“I feel like I can’t answer that,” she said, bringing her attention back to me.
I rolled my eyes at her response. She probably didn’t feel right about calling her Sovereign a nosy ass. “Well, have you ever heard of it before?”
“No, but I’ve seen enough things that anything could be possible. Unlikely, but not impossible.”
“Are you and him together?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking. I have been wondering about this since I first saw them together.
“Gods, Violet!” She looked at me as if I had said the most horrible thing anyone had ever said to her. “No. Sebastian is . . . not my type.”
“Oh, I just wasn’t sure because you do so many things that the lady of the house normally does.”
“Is he your type?” She was so blunt with everything.
“Are you really asking me if the shadow king that almost killed me yesterday is my type?”
“He has his flaws,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
“I’m pretty sure that’s a big one,” I said as I crossed my arms.
“Violet, if you were put through everything Sebastian has been through, you’d understand. But don’t take the way he acted yesterday as a sign that he is incapable of emotion. He is just very careful about who he shows it to.”
I didn’t know what to say to Bronwen. Was she so delusional that she saw good in Sebastian? There couldn’t be good in him. There couldn’t be.
Bronwen had a few things to take care of around the castle, so she left me, and shortly after, Yara was at my door with a plate of food and something even better than that: a stack of books. She brought the tray in and sat it on the desk. I thanked her and watched as she faded into nothing, which made me realize how she always left so quickly. She didn’t fly away, she simply disappeared.
All I wanted to do was look through the stack of books, but the ache in my stomach told me I needed to eat first.
There was an assortment of fruits and cheeses on the plate. It wasn’t a mealtime, so I’m sure the kitchen staff threw something together as quickly as they could at Bronwen’s request. I didn’t care. I was starving.
I opened the first book to see a piece of paper tucked between the first few pages.
Strengthen your power.
The friendship I had formed with Bronwen in the short time I had been here was something I had always wanted. I hoped somehow we would be able to stay in touch once I returned home.
The first book was called Book of Healers . It told the history of the healers, their findings, and the methods of curing things from curses to deadly bites from nymphs. I had no doubt that Bronwen sent this book for a reason.
I flipped through the pages to see if there was anything on heart conditions. I trusted my father, and there had never been a reason to doubt him about my condition. I wasn’t looking to find answers. If anything, I was looking to prove that it was possible just to stop the remarks.
There was nothing in the book about heart conditions, but it was only the first volume. Maybe I could find information in a later volume.
I had told myself that I wouldn’t go to the library without explicit permission, but Bronwen bringing me these books was too tempting. I had read every book in the library in our castle and yet the three books Bronwen brought me were ones I had never seen. I had to see what else they had.
I didn’t want to see anyone else today. My visit with Bronwen was enough, but the curiosity about what other books I could find was eating me alive.
The halls were empty, other than a few servants busy carrying boxes. I’m not sure if they were bringing things in or taking things out, but it wasn’t any of my business.
Even though I found the library the other day, I somehow got turned around in the winding halls, and eventually I stopped a servant to ask them to point me in the right direction. He looked at me as if I was stupid before quickly changing his expression and motioning me to follow him. I understood why when we walked to the end of the hall, turned left, and were standing at the large double doors that opened into the two-story library.
Warmth rose on my cheeks as I thanked him before he left me to return to the large painting he had been trying to remove from the wall—the task I had interrupted.
Luckily, the library was empty, so I started on the left wall to see how the books were organized.
After seeing the first few sections were maps, biographies of the first seven Sovereigns, and spell books, I knew finding the next volume of the Book of Healers wasn’t going to be easy. Clearly whoever organized this library didn’t create a system that made sense. If only I could fix this mess.
A small section tucked in the corner of the left and back walls had me stop and take a closer look. The book were of various sizes, all terribly taken care of. Some had water stains, some looked like they were thrown in the dirt and stepped on, and some were so faded that you couldn’t read the title. But the part that had me unable to move on: they were books from a human kingdom.
I had only seen a few in my lifetime because Alentara had little contact with other kingdoms. The one way to travel to human kingdoms was through the Sea of Mavrola, which was nearly impossible between the waves, wind, and creatures that lurked below the surface. Human items were rare in the Mountain Realm but because Calum knew how much I loved to read, he was able to find a few human books on his travels throughout the years and brought them back to me.
I could recognize those colorful book covers anywhere. Even though I wanted to look through every one of those human books, I needed to find what I was looking for first.
“Violet.”