Moonlight slanted through narrow slits in the fortress keep, casting pale bars across Marin Ashveil's cell. The iron door clanged open and Captain Rowan slipped inside. His lantern beam danced over damp stone walls.
“Marin," he whispered, gesturing to follow. “Elias waits."
Marin rose, wrists aching from the manacles. Beyond the cell lay a hidden passage lined with crates of wolfsbane and alchemical apparatus. At its end, a heavy hatch led below.
They crept down stone stairs, the air growing colder with each step. Marin's grey eyes darted to half-open barrels of mercury and bundles of saint-ash. Rowan paused before the hatch.
“Here," he said, unhooking the latch. “He said you must see this." He pushed the hatch open.
A spiral staircase descended into darkness. Marin clenched her cloak
