Chapter 31. Bars and Bindings

The hallway was silent but not empty.

Two guards flanked her as she walked, though they never touched her. They didn’t need to. The presence of steel at their hips was enough. One moved half a step behind, the other ahead. It was a subtle formation—one meant not for prisoners but predators. They were escorting something dangerous, not wounded.

Her bare feet echoed on the stone floor. The castle stretched upward around her, dimly lit by torches flickering in sconces. The ceilings arched high and heavy, draped in shadow. Walls bled moisture, and the faint scent of wet iron clung to everything. She didn’t ask where they were taking her. She kept her silence as armor.

At a tall set of doors, they stopped.

The guard in front knocked once. A low thud. Then he pushed the door open and stepped aside.

She stepped into the room.

It was… warm.

That was the first thing she registered.

The walls were still stone, but tapestries hung along them—reds