Valen no longer knew how many hours had passed since she had been dragged into the damp stone chamber beneath the palace.
There were no windows here, no light to mark the passage of day or night. Only the single lantern above her cast a dull, wavering glow that made the shadows pulse slowly across the walls like silent witnesses to suffering.
Her body throbbed with pain that had long since spread beyond individual injuries. The ropes binding her wrists had cut deep into the skin from hours of struggling, and her shoulders burned from being forced into the unnatural position behind the chair.
Her ribs ached sharply every time she breathed too deeply, a reminder of Damien's merciless strikes that had landed there repeatedly with deliberate precision.
Blood had dried along the corner of her mouth, her right eye had swollen enough that her vision through it had become nothing more than a blurred haze of dark shapes and shifting light.
