They did not bind my hands.
That was the only mercy afforded to me.
Two guards walked at my sides, not touching me, but close enough that the message was clear. I was not free. The estate corridors that I had walked a thousand times as Luna now seemed narrower, colder, stripped of warmth. Servants disappeared into alcoves as we passed. No one met my eyes.
Confined to the estate, Clay had said.
But we were not heading toward my chambers.
We were descending.
The air grew damp as we moved through the lower corridor beneath the main wing. The stone here was older, rougher, carved when Silvercrest had been less polished and more brutal. Torches sputtered in iron brackets, smoke staining the ceiling black.
“Where are you taking me?” I asked evenly.
The guard on my right swallowed. “The h
