Stolen by the Rebel King
Chapter 369: The Case of the Missing Eye

Chapter 369: The Case of the Missing Eye

After sending a very reluctant Prince Nathaniel back to their old makeshift laboratory, Sirona made Nereus accompany her for another important task. Namely, they had to find Zephyr and check on his condition. Silas claimed that he had drained a lot of his blood, and Sirona had no idea about his condition.

Nereus was there as an added layer of protection. Weakened he might be after she had removed one of his eyes, it was still better than her going alone. Together, they stalked the halls for any sign of his feathers. She had been too preoccupied with the fact that Silas’s head was talking than to ask him for Zephyr’s last seen location.

Meanwhile, Nereus still had the same look of patented skepticism on his face from when he first heard that Silas could talk even with his head separated from his body.

"I’m not pulling your leg," Sirona said, "I wouldn’t make a joke like that."

"You would if you wanted to scare Prince Nathaniel," Nereus said with disapproval. "You would, if King Atticus told you too."

"If I wanted to scare him, I’d simply cover myself in blood and charge at him," Sirona retorted. "It’s not my fault that man scares easily. And Atticus wouldn’t waste time ordering me to do senseless things."

Nereus pursed his lips, wordlessly conceding the point. Yet, there was something he had to ask, especially after he had an illuminating discussion with Prince Nathaniel as he cowered in the cupboard, with Nereus guarding the door. Prince Nathaniel had helped to treat him and Daphne, and he was very surprised to see that Nereus was missing an eye when he escorted him to his new hiding place.

Especially when Prince Nathaniel personally ran the diagnostics for his care. According to him, both of Nereus’s eyes were unhurt. There should be no reason for anyone to remove one of them, especially when he overheard Sirona saying that kelpies drew power from their eyes.

It would be actively sabotaging his recovery!

Nereus did not like the thought of being played a fool. Daphne could be trusted, but now he doubted her husband and the rest of his people. His mistrust of humanity had served him well― if Daphne’s husband was responsible for the unnecessary removal of his eye, he would inform Daphne and help her deal with her soon-to-be ex-husband.

"Healer Sirona, may I know why my eye had to be removed? It has crippled my power," Nereus asked cautiously. He couldn’t go around accusing people without proof. "Surely there had to be other ways of saving me."

"Because it got infected, and that was the fastest way to ensure your recovery," Sirona replied immediately, as though she had rehearsed the response. Nereus realized that she wasn’t looking at him.

Instead, she was looking straight ahead, possibly because she wanted to keep an eye out for Zephyr, or possibly because she was lying. Her strides widened, as though she wanted to increase the distance between them. Strange for someone who wanted him as a bodyguard.

Nereus caught up and continued to speak. "I see. Thank you for saving my life," he said, making sure to sound grateful enough. "Do you have any idea how to regrow it?"

"Damned if I know," Sirona said, giving him a wary, warning glance. "Just promise you won’t be ingesting any weird substances from dubious sources. We can’t afford to deal with another monster."

"Fair enough. I think I can sense Zephyr upstairs," Nereus said, easily changing the subject to allay her suspicions, even as his mind whirled with the possibilities.

After all, it was Zephyr who first mentioned that he was surprised that Nereus had to lose his eye back when they were forced to share a room.

He recalled their past conversation.

"Man, I can’t believe you lost an eye. They seemed perfectly fine to me before!" Zephyr had said.

"What do you mean?"

"All the blood was elsewhere. Like your wrists― man, it looked rough. I thought they might need to chop off your hands. Your eyes were fine, other than the fact that they were closed nearly the whole time because you couldn’t keep yourself awake while I had to carry your sorry ass and get you out! But I suppose you can be forgiven since you got tortured."

"Thank you then," Nereus recalled saying with gritted teeth. Back then, he was too irritated with Zephyr’s blase attitude to focus on his words.

Now though, he realized that Zephyr actually remembered his injuries. He had mentioned the gory wounds on his limbs and neck, but there was no mention of his eyes.

In addition, Nereus had mostly recovered, sans eye, hence he could remember what went on in that dungeon. From what he could recall, Alistair’s tortures never went anywhere near his eyes, because they wanted to see them filled with tears and despair.

So why did he wake up missing an eye?

And where did his eye go? Surely they wouldn’t dump such a precious magical resource just like that.

Who took it? And for what purpose?

Nereus vowed to find out after they found Zephyr and rescued him from blood loss.

Sirona and Nereus raced up the stairs to find Zephyr huddled in one of the rooms, with a stack of blankets so thick he must have stolen from the other rooms to make his nest.

"Zephyr, are you alright?" Sirona asked, making sure to keep her voice low and even. Meanwhile, Nereus stood in front to shield Sirona from a possible attack. He could not trust her completely, but if she got hurt now, Daphne would be upset.

"Go away!" Zephyr’s voice came out from the blanket pile, but it sounded strangely croaky.

Sirona and Nereus exchanged a worried glance.

"We just want to check up on you," Sirona cajoled. "I heard that you lost a lot of blood. Have you eaten since then? Do you want anything to eat?"

"No. I have no appetite, so go away," came Zephyr’s huffy reply. His words stunned Sirona and Nereus.

"That is impossible," Nereus declared. "Your stomach is a bottomless pit and your mouth never stops moving. You eat a minimum of six meals a day. How can you possibly have no appetite? Are you dying, or simply craving human flesh now?"

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