t is dark here, and the floor leaches the heat from my body. My shoes have been taken, and my torn robe gives me little warmth. My manacles are heavy and the metal jagged with rust and long age. I share my cell with scraps of bone, and the nests and refuse of rats.

I never should have brought Fina to my father’s grave. That night, I ran until I was exhausted, and still pushed myself. Temilla gave me a potion and a salve, which I took to Fina. I waited by her side until morning, but even with the medicines, she did not wake from her slumber. Oh, how terrible was that waiting. But it was not as bad as here, where I not only worry over Fina’s fate, but my own as well.

It was shortly after sunrise that the duke’s men found us. They accused me of defiling her, both with magic, and by raping her. Spirits, I know how it must have looked. They beat me and dragged me back to the castle.

It is not easy to sleep. As soon as my eyes close, a touch on my foot or a rustle by my ear wakes me. I felt pinching teeth on my leg, as if one of the rats was teasing me. I kicked it, and felt the kick connect. It scrabbled, but my kick sent it out of my cubby and tumbling down the vertical shaft of the catacombs. It gained me a short respite.