"They called it treason, but all I did was uncover the truth they buried. And the truth, it seems, is what they fear most."
The stone was cold beneath me. Damp. It bit into my skin like the first breath of winter, and for a moment, I did not remember where I was. My body ached shoulders stiff, wrists sore, lips chapped from the stale air that clung to the room like rotting moss. I blinked once and then Twice.
Darkness and then I lifted my head slowly, a copper taste lingering on my tongue. My arms were chained, shackled above me to a rusted ring embedded in the wall. Thick iron cuffs bound my ankles too, heavy and warded, I could feel the hum of suppression magic etched into their grooves. My magic was locked. I was caged. And I was very much alone.
