Chapter 16
Lina's POV
The iron door burst open with a crash. Through the haze of pain, I saw Selas stride into the interrogation chamber, a rolled parchment bearing the royal seal clutched in his hand. The guard operating the thumbscrews immediately stepped back, and I drew a shuddering breath as the pressure eased fractionally.
Selas's amber eyes swept across the chamber before he unfurled the parchment, his voice resonating off the stone walls. "By order of Dragon King Augustus Ashenwing, I hereby deliver His Majesty's decree."
My heart hammered as I forced myself to focus on his lips, reading them carefully with my damaged hearing.
"The half-blood Lina Valerian stands convicted of theft of the dragon crystal pendant. The evidence is irrefutable. However, in consideration of her ten years of service, His Majesty commutes the sentence of death. Effective immediately, Lina Valerian is sentenced to permanent indentured servitude in the labor quarters. She shall never leave Wyrmspire Citadel. Without royal pardon, she is forbidden from ever seeing daylight beyond these walls."
Permanent servitude. Never leave. Forbidden from daylight. The fragile spark of hope I'd been clinging to guttered and died, extinguished as thoroughly as if someone had poured water over flame.
The guards released my restraints, and my legs buckled immediately. I collapsed onto the cold stone floor, my knees striking hard enough to send fresh jolts of pain through my battered body. I knelt there, fingers scraping uselessly at the mortar between flagstones, my vision blurring with tears that spilled hot down my cheeks.
"Why?" The word tore from my throat, raw and broken. I lifted my head, my bloodshot eyes finding Selas's face. "Why would he do this to me? I am a daughter of House Valerian, yet I've never known privilege! The sins my father and sister committed—why must I bear the punishment? I gave him ten years! I endured everything, suffered every humiliation. And now, when I've finally earned my freedom, he takes even that? What gives him the right?"
The words poured out in a torrent as something fundamental inside me fractured. My shoulders heaved with sobs that wracked my entire body. I had survived by telling myself it would end, that there was a finish line. Now that line had been ripped away, revealing an endless abyss stretching before me with no hope of escape.
Selas gestured sharply, and the other guards filed out. When the door closed, he crouched beside me, producing a clean cloth. I didn't take it, couldn't bring myself to accept even that small kindness. My gaze remained fixed on the stained stones beneath me.
"The fact that His Majesty issued this decree instead of letting the interrogation continue means something," Selas said quietly. "He could have left you here to be broken. But he didn't. He spared your life. As long as you're breathing, there's possibility. You've already survived ten years of what would have broken most people."
I looked up at him, my expression twisted with bitter mockery. "Spared my life? You call condemning me to rot in darkness mercy? How is that different from death?"
"Because you're still alive," he replied evenly, though his jaw tightened. "You've survived ten years. Don't surrender now, not when—"
"Not when what?" I cut him off. "Not when there's still hope? There is no hope, Selas. He's taken everything."
He helped me to my feet despite my legs' protest. My green dress was torn and soaked with blood. I swayed, and he steadied me before guiding me toward the door.
We climbed stairs, ascending from the depths until we emerged into a passage where narrow windows showed the night sky. It was snowing—fat, heavy flakes drifting past the glass, pure and white against the darkness.
Selas murmured, his voice low. "As long as the Dragon King maintains interest in you, you have a chance. Hold on to that."
I looked down the corridor toward where the Storm Gate lay—where he had waited for me through the night, where my freedom had been so close I could taste it. Now I felt only crushing loss.
We finally stopped before a heavy oak door reinforced with iron bands, carved with draconic runes that pulsed faintly. Beyond it, I heard hammers pounding and someone weeping.
This was where I would spend the rest of my life.
He pushed open the door. The smell hit me first—mildew, unwashed bodies, damp straw, and something acrid that burned my nostrils. Through the doorway, I saw a cavernous space lit by sputtering torches, where women in rags bent over stone troughs filled with steaming water, scrubbing endlessly at linens with raw, reddened hands.
Two figures emerged from the shadows—a heavyset woman with a face like curdled milk, her jowls quivering, and a squat, balding man whose yellow teeth gleamed in the torchlight. The woman's small eyes fixed on me with predatory intensity while the man's gaze traveled slowly over my body in a way that made my skin crawl.
Selas pressed something into my palm—the last vial of snow-lotus salve. "Keep this hidden. Use it sparingly," he whispered.
"Brenda. Herman," Selas said coldly. "By order of Dragon King Augustus, I deliver the convicted thief Lina Valerian, sentenced to permanent servitude in the labor quarters."
Brenda and Herman exchanged a glance, and the excitement in their eyes dimmed slightly, replaced by wariness. They both nodded, though calculation flickered in their expressions.
Selas turned back to them, his expression hardening into something truly intimidating. "This woman has been specifically noted by His Majesty. You will assign her duties according to his instructions and treat her according to standard protocol. If anything happens outside those parameters, I will personally hold you accountable. Am I understood?"
"Perfectly, First Guard," Brenda said quickly, though resentment underlay her tone.
Herman simply nodded, his small eyes never leaving my face.
Selas looked at me one last time, and in that brief moment I saw everything he couldn't say—his regret, his limited power to help me, his hope that I would somehow survive this. Then he turned and strode back down the corridor, his footsteps echoing off stone walls until they faded into silence.
I stood before the doorway clutching the vial in my trembling hand, staring into the fetid darkness beyond.
Was this truly where I would be imprisoned for the rest of my life? In this sunless, airless pit, with no hope of ever seeing daylight again?