CHAPTER 26: BLOOD OF FREEDOM
The iron gate clanged shut behind her.
A shriek echoed in the distance. Not hers—but it could have been.
Catleya crouched in the filth of the slave pens, heart pounding like a war drum against her ribs. The dim torches flickered along the crumbling stone walls, casting grotesque shadows of chained wolves and broken souls. She was nothing but another body in a sea of the forgotten.
But tonight… she would not die here.
Not in Lucio’s market.
Not under Kaya’s betrayal.
Not while their child stirred inside her.
She clutched her belly protectively, her other hand curled around the shard of rusted metal she'd stolen hours ago. A broken nail from the auction rack—jagged, dirty, deadly in the right hands. It was her only chance. Her only friend.
She waited in
