The journey from the Castle of Dreams was grueling but couldn't compare to the torture I'd endured trapped in the dungeons. And I could hardly complain. Not when my traveling companions had lost some of their allies in rescuing me, not when they had saved me from the pits of hell. Yet, I was nothing more than a hindrance to them as we rode day and night to escape across the border back into Etherea.
In the month and a half that passed since my rescue, I had not moved of my own accord, had not spoken a word. No matter the barrage of questions the second prince asked, nothing changed. I remained in silence, unblinking and unmoving. Eventually he had given up. Whether that was his own will or Rylan's, I wasn't sure. But he stopped paying me any mind. Most of them did. After all, what coul
