Page 66 of The Orc's Captive Bride
She couldn’t think about Khorrek’s broken conditioning right now. Couldn’t focus on what had happened last night or what it meant.
She had work to do.
She finished dressing and braided her hair with quick, efficient movements. Then she made her way to the door.
It opened before she could touch it. Khorrek stood in the corridor, his expression carefully neutral.
“You’re awake.”
“Good morning to you too.” She kept her voice light. Friendly. Normal.
If he wanted to pretend last night hadn’t happened, she could play along. For now.
His jaw tightened. “I’ll escort you to the library.”
“Of course.”
They walked in silence through the stone corridors. Thea was painfully aware of the space between them. The careful way he avoided touching her.
One step at a time.
Vorlag was already in the library when they arrived, reading a scroll with his usual absorbed expression.
“Ah, Dr. Monroe.” He looked up with a smile. “Good morning. I’ve pulled several more texts that might be relevant.”
“Thank you.”
She joined him at their work table, grateful for the distraction, while Khorrek took up his usual position by the door, silent and watchful.
Focus,she reminded herself, and concentrated on the book in front of her. The ancient script swam across the pages, intricate and beautiful. She’d made a lot of progress over the past few days, but although she could read most of the passages and recognize key symbols, the deeper meaning behind the text remained frustratingly out of reach.
“I’ve been thinking,” Vorlag said, settling into the chair across from her. “About the structure of the text. It’s written in layers.”
“Layers?”
“The surface meaning is straightforward. A historical account of the Beast Curse’s creation. But underneath…” He traced a line of symbols with one long finger. “There are patterns. Repetitions. Deliberate irregularities that suggest something hidden.”
“A cipher within a cipher.”
“Precisely. The key question is: what were they hiding? And from whom?”
“From future High Kings,” she said slowly. “If Lasseran is looking for a way to control the Curse, but the original creators wanted to prevent that…”
“They would have hidden the true mechanism. Make it appear to say one thing while actually revealing something quite different to those who know how to read it properly.”
“Which means we need to find the key.” She pulled another scroll toward her. “A framework to tell us how to decode the hidden layer.”
They worked in comfortable silence for a while. Behind them, Khorrek remained motionless, but she could feel the weight of his presence.
An hour passed, then two, and her eyes were starting to blur from the close work when he finally spoke.
“I need to report to the High King.”
Her heart leapt into her throat. “Now?”
“He sent word. I’m already late.”
“Oh.” She tried to keep the worry out of her voice and failed, but his expression didn’t change.
