The cell was colder than I remembered.
Stone walls wrapped tight around me, silent and watchful. A single slit in the wall let in a sliver of moonlight, pale and accusing. My wrists still burned from the restraints they'd used, silver-threaded cuffs biting into skin they didn’t trust. They said it was precautionary.
“Precaution,” I muttered, pacing the limited steps I could take. “Right.”
The guards outside didn’t speak much. But they didn’t have to. The silence said it all,I wasn’t just being watched. I was being judged.
Elder Mara had been found dead, the mark on her neck identical to mine. No one said it outright, but the implication coiled like a snake in every sideways glance.
I hadn’t even known Mara personally. But suspicion didn't need logic. It only needed fear.
A scraping
