Theo gave her a shrewd look. She’d never once referred to him by name, preferring his title, as she was a servant of the manor.
She brushed off his look. “Hold her arm steady.”
He took Amaris’s hand in his own, holding her puffy fingers and forearm as if they were made of glass. Pricilla began wrapping the linen around it.
“Have you ever heard the phraseaslorn per de eclahard?”
“I thought you were taught Gorrin by your fancy tutors?” Pricilla smiled and tied off the end of the bandage. As her adoptive mother was the head librarian, Pricilla had run around the library as a child and had often thrown folded paper at him when he’d been at a desk studying. “Brace for her something, but I don’t know whateclahardmeans. It sounds like one of the older Gorrin terms. It probably died before the language itself was put to rest.”
At the dead end, Theo sighed and returned his attention to Amaris. She slept with her lips slightly parted, and the air whistled as it swept through them. His fingers hovered over the scab on her cheekbone and the ugly bruise tainting it. Something didn’t sit right, and he doubted the injury was from Freville.
“From the same incident?” Pricilla asked, standing and striding for the worktable.
“If I were to guess.” He refrained from further questioning aloud the possible origins of such an injury. Amaris hadn’t said anything about another altercation. With the freshness of the bruise and her hand, though, they couldn’t have been that far apart.
His eyes slid down her arm to where her left hand draped across the bed. A ring sparkled off the flames. Theo kneeled beside her and examined it.She’s married?Amaris’s story was certainly growing more perplexing. Why hadn’t she come forward with that information? His father could’ve sent for her husband to speak on her behalf.Unless he’s the one she’s running from.
“I’ll look after her,” Pricilla said, turning a page in her large book.
“Are you sure?” Theo glanced at the small clock resting upon the mantel. It was growing rather late, and exhaustion was setting in. Amaris would sleep through the night, and hopefully well into tomorrow. A guard wouldn’t be necessary.
“See to your duties. I’m sure you’re busy.”
His headache flared between his eyes. Amaris had known from the few interactions what had been ailing him, whatever she called it.
He turned back to Pricilla. “Do you have a remedy for headaches?”
She inclined a brow, and her eyes wandered to where the cut was likely peeking through his parted hair. Her smile was a friendly reminder that not everything within the walls would add to his aching mind. She rifled through a cabinet, pulling out a vial with a dark-blue tonic.
“Take this when you feel it begin to start up again.”
“What if it’s never gone away?” Theo took the vial and smelled the contents. It was potent and smelled of soil.
“Then I’d be concerned, depending on how long you’ve had it. Try this, and if it doesn’t work, I’m sure Amaris will have a better option.”
“Thank you, Pricilla.” He offered her what he could of a smile and turned down the stairs.
Hopefully, it would work, and he wouldn’t be asking Amaris for any assistance. With her skills, she’d have a remedy for the pounding in his head, but he feared she’d be the top contributor to any future pains his mind was to endure.
Once he was back within the library, he couldn’t help himself as he passed several intriguing titles. He collected several books and pulled others out, so as to easily spot them later when he finished the first few. Most of the librarians knew to leave them sticking out, as he was bound to grab them within a day or two.
With his small stack, he grabbed a lantern off a table and set himself up in the back corner behind an empty cart. He sneezed and dust flew uparound him. Squeezing his nose, he waited for it to settle before cracking the first spine.
He slid his finger across the page and whispered the Gorrin words, testing them on his tongue. Even if he couldn’t find the meaning ofeclahard, he’d derive it from its root. He couldn’t put to words why he needed to know, but something within him craved to decipher Isabel’s secret. Besides, it kept his mind from wandering to the twist of his stomach at the idea of who Amaris could’ve been running from.
Chapter 15
Theo
Two days Theohad sat by Amaris’s side while she slept. He’d read through several books, attempting to decipher Isabel’s message, but came up short. Amaris hadn’t woken since Pricilla bandaged her hand. She checked on her morning and night to confirm she wasn’t developing a fever. Theo was thankful for the recess from her foul language and irritating personality, but he was beginning to worry for her wellbeing. Not that he should have. The confusion was unsettling, but without further knowledge of who she was and what had happened, it only grew.
Solace had always found him on Luana’s beach. He trudged through the sand and dropped down beside the largest rock, which had never once been a terrible companion, and slid his book across his lap. He gave himself a break from the Gorrin texts. The stray piece of parchment he’d grabbed as a placeholder for his novel slipped from the page. It had a few scribbles of an old battle plan.
He leaned back and tried to read the first few lines of the chapter using the light of his lantern. He spent every spare moment devouring any book he could get his hands on, but as his eyes shifted over the text, nothingimprinted in his mind. He’d come out here to allow the sound of the surf to calm the ever-growing need for a breath. For a moment, he didn’t want to think about Amaris, his nightmares, or his discussion before supper with his stepmother.
Genevieve was adamant about assisting him in selecting an escort for the Conjugation. Theo had managed to spare himself for now, but she’d handed him a list of eligible women and demanded he picked one within the coming weeks.
“Pondering life’s greatest mysteries or hiding?” Adelaide’s voice drifted from up the path.
