Chapter 57
****Elara's Pov****
The dungeon beneath the stronghold was not meant for comfort—it was meant for silence.
And silence, Elara realized as she descended into the shadows, had a sound of its own.
The torches hissed against the cold air, their orange light shivering along the stone walls. Each step echoed, steady but cautious, as if her boots were treading on the bones of forgotten ghosts.
Lucien’s warnings still echoed in her mind. Don’t go alone. Don’t engage until we know what he wants.
But she couldn’t wait. Not when the messenger they’d captured claimed to have known her mother.
Queen Seraphine still lives.
That was what the rider had whispered before collapsing from blood loss. His words had rippled through the camp like wildfire, igniting fear, disbelief, and desper
