Chapter 9

Leticia couldn’t understand how these people survived this long underground. She wasn’t complaining or anything, but the whole place was perpetually dark save for the torches. But the air was clean, cleaner than Blakewood’s, and at night, you could hear the breeze whistling a note as it blew into the cave. 

Leticia knew from the moment the king and prince left her that she was unwelcome here. The maids were brief and unsmiling, and the interpreter she was assigned refused to speak to her until it was time to translate. 

The physician wasn’t an exception. When he checked on her, one would think he was touching a leper with how pinched and harried his expression got. 

This was her second routine checkup, and she sat upright on the bed with her legs splayed out in front of her. The plain brown gown she wore was bunched around her upper thigh, baring her long legs to the tight-faced man.

The interpreter stood at