Page 108 of The Orc's Captive Bride
The acolyte pushed the door open and gestured them inside before melting back into the shadows of the corridor without another word.
She entered with Khorrek close enough that she could feel his body heat—and his readiness to fight if the situation turned dangerous.
The room was small and simple with a single desk and a narrow bed. A candle burning on the desk illuminated Vorlag’sweathered face as he looked up from whatever text he’d been reading and smiled.
“Dr. Monroe. Khorrek. I wondered when you would come.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected. Your discovery was too important. Too dangerous. Lasseran would never let you simply walk away with that knowledge.”
“Then you know what we found.”
“I know what you were meant to find. The key to completing Lasseran’s ritual. The final piece of the theft that his bloodline has been working toward for generations.” Vorlag closed his book. “But I also know you’re far too intelligent to miss the other truth hidden in those texts. The one that reveals what has been stolen and must be restored.”
Relief flooded through her. “You did know. All along. You knew what was in those texts.”
“It’s more accurate to say I suspected, but I could never prove it. The knowledge was too well hidden. Too deeply buried in layers of obfuscation and deliberate mistranslation. It took someone from outside our world, someone without preconceived notions about how the covenant should work.” His smile deepened. “It took you.”
“We need your help,” Khorrek said, his voice hard. “We need to leave the city. Tonight.”
“Yes. I imagine you do.” Vorlag moved to a cabinet and retrieved a small leather pouch. “You’ll need supplies. Safe passage.”
He handed the pouch to Thea. She opened it and gasped. Gold coins. Silver. Enough to?—
“This is a fortune.”
“It’s what you’ll need to reach Norhaven. To buy supplies. To bribe guards if necessary. To survive while you complete your research.”
“I can’t accept?—”
“You can. You must.” Vorlag’s expression was grave. “The Veilborn have been waiting for this moment. For someone brave enough to stand against the corruption. We’ve been preparing for years, gathering resources and building networks, waiting for the right forces to align.”
“Why didn’t you act yourselves?” Khorrek asked suspiciously. “If you knew what was happening, why let it continue?”
“Because we didn’t know, not for certain. We had suspicions, and a growing sense that the balance we were meant to preserve had been corrupted beyond recognition. But we had no proof, no evidence that would convince anyone.” He looked at Thea. “Until you.”
“I’m just a linguist.”
“You’re the key. The outsider who could see what we couldn’t. The scholar who had no loyalty to Lasseran or his bloodline. The one who would follow the truth wherever it led. The one who was chosen.”
Tears stung her eyes. “I don’t know if I can do this. What if I fail? What if I can’t figure out how to reverse the ritual? What if?—”
“Then you will have tried, and that is more than anyone else has done in five hundred years.” He placed a hand on her shoulder. “The Veilborn stand with you, Dr. Monroe. All of us. We will do what we can to protect you and to ensure Lasseran doesn’t find you before you’re ready.”
“Thank you.” The words were inadequate, but they were all she had.
Vorlag squeezed her shoulder, then handed her another pouch, this one containing a carved wooden bowl, the wood dark with age.
“You will need this as well.”
“For what?”
“You’ll know when the time comes.”
Before she could ask any more questions, he turned to a door half-hidden in the shadows of the far wall.
“This leads to a different tunnel system—one the palace guards don’t know about. Ancient passages that date back to before the palace was built, before even the Veilborn claimed this temple as our own.” He produced a key and unlocked the door. “It will take you beneath the city and out to the base of the cliffs. From there, you’ll need to make your way on foot, but you’ll be beyond Lasseran’s immediate reach.”
