Athena’s POV
The cold slapped me awake.
Not like I’d really slept. You don’t sleep in places like this. You wait. You stall. You let time bleed out around you and pretend that’s rest.
But when the maid came back—just a shadow slipping through the stone dark—I knew it was real.
She didn’t say a word.
Just set the folded cloth down beside me. A wrap for my feet. A whisper of kindness. Then she was gone again, fast and silent, like she’d never existed.
I wrapped the cloth around my heels. Clumsy fingers. Clumsier knots. They didn’t hold. I did it again. It didn’t matter if it worked. It just had to get me far enough.
I moved slowly. Quiet. Like the walls were listening.
The hall outside the cellar was empty. Always is, around this hour. The guards sleep heavily after their drink. I co
