“He’s… alive?”
His hand falls, and I feel like I’ve said something wrong. “Not anymore.”
I hesitate, confused by what that means. “I don’t understand.”
“My power kept him alive. Without my power, he is… like this.”
“So if you get your power back, he… will come back to life?” I ask.
“Perhaps. Or perhaps not. Let’s go.”
I trail after him, but since Kit is busy staring at the beast, I don’t notice the step up, so I end up catching my foot on it. Torin catches me before I bash my face into the beautiful marble-looking stairs and bleed all over them.
“Careful.Enough blood has been shed on these steps.”
“Sounds… menacing.”
“Better than your land where balls and virgins need to be sacrificed just to run your stairs,” he says.
I grin, pleased by my tales. “Right?”
He leads me down a different hallway and through a door into the most beautiful library I’ve ever seen.
“Holy shit, our library looks like a baby compared to this,” I say.
“Yes, but my library doesn’t have as many books with porn in it as yours does in your home.”
“I’m never going to live that down, am I?”
Torin beams at me. “It’s not likely. I am looking for a book, but I don’t know where it is in here. I… didn’t organize it.”
“That’s concerning. What kind of book?”
“Do not get your hopes up, but I’m hoping it’s a book that can help you,” he says as he picks up my hands and examines them.
I freeze when I comprehend what he’s saying. “You… think there’s a cure for this?”
“Cure? I don’t know, but I feel like I’ve seen something about the affliction at some point in my life, though it’s been a very long time since I have. Even if we find it, we’d have to find someone capable of helping you.”
“There are thousands of books here.”
“I’ve already made it through that shelf,” he says as he points at one shelf of many. “We should have brought pizza with us.”
“Can’t any of your servants or… friends or whatever they are help? If we get a large group of people each combing a row, we could get done in a couple of hours, maybe?”
He gives me a small smile. “They cannot.This is down to you and me.”
“Fun… how do I know if I find it?”
“Riley… I love how you think I remember something I read about two hundred years ago.What I do recall is there was an image of an affliction similar to yours.”
“What the hell? Two hundred years ago? Who knows if it’s even here or has possibly fallen apart!”
“Of course not. None of my books deteriorate.Let’s work side by side. That sounds enjoyable,” he says, and then he plops down next to a stack and begins flipping through them. I grab a book and realize that it’s good that my ability to translate spoken words includes written words because I can at least see what I’m doing.
“This place is beautiful. Why would you ever build a Door to go anywhere else?” I ask curiously.
“I am a god; even beauty can grow boring,” he says.
