Maya's POV
The dungeon cell they'd put me in was different from the one I'd lived in as a servant. This one was smaller, darker, with silver bars instead of iron ones. Every breath I took filled my lungs with the metallic tang of the poison that would kill me at dawn. They weren't taking any chances with my escape.
I sat on the stone floor with my back against the cold wall, my wrists still raw and blistered from the silver chains they'd finally removed. My body was shutting down slowly - I could feel it in the way my heart struggled to beat steadily, in the way my vision kept blurring at the edges. The constant exposure to silver was already doing its work.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor, multiple sets walking in formation. I didn't bother to look up until I heard Elde
