Night settled over the King's castle like a living thing.
I could feel it through the walls—thick, heavy, ancient. The kind of darkness that had watched empires rise and rot and had learned patience from their bones.
The room they had locked me in was high up, one narrow window cut into stone so thick it swallowed sound. Iron bars crossed the opening, etched with runes that hummed faintly when I drew too close, probably to make sure nobody would be able to shift inside, grab me, and save me by getting back out. Because that would just be too easy.
The bed in the room was massive and carved from dark wood, draped in fabrics that were meant to look luxurious but felt like chains all the same. A fireplace burned low, its warmth carefully controlled—never enough to comfort, never enough to
