Chapter 172: Reason to Suspect
Orion woke with a startled gasp of air, his body jerking upright. His chest heaved up and down in rapid succession as he glanced around his surroundings. This was a foreign place, that he was sure of. The room was dark — gloomy, almost — and whatever light that was available had a reddish hue to it.
Instantly, his body tensed with alertness. His limbs felt an awful lot weaker than usual, even bordering numbness. Instinctively, he reached for his ears, only to find his earlobes empty.
His ear studs weren’t there.
Orion tried his best to maintain a straight face as he thought back as far as he could. However, whenever he tried to pull for his memories, a sharp pain would run through his skull as though he was pierced with a spear. He clutched the side of his head, forcing himself to remember.
He remembered being in the infirmary in Vramid’s royal palace. Elowyn was there, and she said a lot of things, most of which Orion couldn’t recall. There was a flash of purple, and all of a sudden, the world felt light and his body no longer felt like it was his.
There was a wedding. Orion could vaguely see the image of Soleia in a beautiful wedding gown that was a hundred times more extravagant than the first one she wore, walking down the aisle towards him. There was a bouquet in her hands and a smile on her face.
But something went wrong.
People died in his hands, and Orion recalled the sight of a scarlet-bathed room and the metallic stench of blood coating his nostrils. His ear studs shattered then.
What else?
He groaned, cupping his head with his hands when his head pulsed with agony. Every memory that he tried to recall was forced away, fighting against him. They refused to resurface, and the more Orion dug for them, the more pain throbbed through his body.
A click sounded, causing Orion to peek up. Then, a woman entered the room.