We moved so fast for me to discern where we were going, but the city disappeared behind us and nothing but large mountains in the distance, vast hilly fields, and the scent of sea warped the road ahead.
The tip of an entirely black-tinted edifice came to view, growing the closer we went through a special lane of trees. Tendrils of anticipation and threat burrowed in me, telling me to get as far away from that structure as possible.
“Is this where the insentient volyrs are kept?” I said in a small curious voice.
A hard, stony glaze formed over Ausmane’s eyes, as if plagued by a bad memory. “Insentient or not, any volyr who violates the criminal code goes in there. Anyone who f***s up at someone else’s—a human’s expense.”
“Keep your mouth shut,” Lilja barked from the front. “Once we f
