Kaelen remembered the novel then.
In the story, Elara had escaped the kidnappers sent by her family and went home no explanation in between. It was just a sentence 'She emerged from the eastern swamps a month later, hollow-eyed and silent, and she never spoke of what she had endured.'
But when the protagonist group found the cult had been found afterwards, their temples were burned, their leaders executed and their bodies displayed on the walls of the capital as warnings.
But Kaelen had always wondered. He had read the book twice in his old life, looking for clues, looking for the seams in the story. What grudge did Elara have with the cult to make her put aside hunting her family's killers and hunt them instead. Turns out they had captured her.
Now he understood.
He looked at Elara. She was asleep now her hands were clenched into fists even in sleep. Her nails had left crescents in her palms.
