"Let me show you," she said. "Then you won't have to believe me. You'll know."
A long pause. Then Noah's hand came up, and the great gate ground open just wide enough for one body.
"The woman comes in. Alone." His voice dropped to the men below. "The rest stay. Watch them."
They took her down to the cages.
Same rotting-mind stench, same endless keening, except this time we had company. A throne had been hauled into the stone hall, and on it sat the King from the memory before, older now, ringed by guards in full plate with their hands already on their weapons. Suspicion came off the whole room like heat off a road.
I caught myself holding my breath. Vane's hand found the back of my neck, steady, grounding, and I leaned into it without taking my eyes off her.
She walked to the cage at
