And what I see beyond makes my blood turn to ice.
Oh God. Oh no. This is so much worse than I imagined.
The smell hits me first—a nauseating mixture of unwashed bodies, blood, and something else I can’t identify but instinctively know I don’t want to.
My torch’s dying light reveals enough to make me stagger backward.
This isn’t a storage room or wine cellar.
This is exactly what I feared it would be.
A dungeon. A real, functioning dungeon.
And I’m not alone down here.
Something moves in the shadows beyond, and a low, pained sound emerges from the darkness—not quite human, not quite animal.
My torch gutters lower, the light fading just when I need it most.
But I’ve seen enough to know that whatever’s happening here, whatever he’s been doing when he reappears with blood on his hands...
It’s not something any reasonable person would call civilized.
The question now is whether I’m brave enough to step inside and face the full truth.
Or smart enough to run while I still can.
TWENTY-THREE
HANNAH
Oh God,the smell.
That’s what hits me first as I pull the door open.
If I thought the castle upstairs needed cleaning, I had absolutely no clue what filth actually looked like.
It’s murky and dark except for the dying light I brought with me, and that’s burning dangerously low.
I pinch my nose and remain on the threshold, too terrified to step inside initially.
“H-hello?” My voice trembles embarrassingly. “Is anyone there?”
A metallic rattling answers my question.Oh hell.There’s definitely something down here. Maybe I’m completely wrong. Maybe this is just where he keeps... livestock or something.
But theneyesreflect my torchlight. Startling white in the encompassing darkness.
I stumble backward.
I’m more shocked than I can express when an electric light suddenly illuminates overhead. I don’t look up at it, though, because there’s far too much else demanding my attention.
Mainly, the figure who apparently activated the lamp.
Those eyes blinking at me from the shadows.
I’m so confused.
He appears?—
