ORIA

d, I would have laughed in their face. But after spending four days in the dungeon, I

it. Other times, they deliberately dropped my food onto the dirty floor and laughed as I struggled to pick it up. I hated giving them the satisfaction of watching

deliberately stopped to remind me of what I had supposedly done to their Queen. One of them was particularly cruel. Every

ing, laughing as he pushed my plate through the bars. "It wou

point in defending myself. I had tried that enough times to know they wouldn't listen. Besides, I had already was

or walk. Under normal circumstances, my wolf would have helped my body recover within days, but the black choker around my neck had made that impossible. I had tried removing it

ised to make me his breeder if I survived the trial, and I had done exactly that. Yet four days had passed without a single word from him. I c

my injured legs without putting pressure on my burned feet, when I heard footsteps approaching. I didn't bother look

topped directly outside my cell

ars. One was the same man who had spent the past four days telling me

et

ever opened my cell at this hour before

ng me?" I asked as I

sty wants

Four days ago, Lennox had promised to spare my life, but the last thin

sked, hoping I h

patient look. "Do you kn

gged me out of the cell. I stumbled when I tried to put weig

se, my

r," he snapped, t

moving. The other guard followed behind us, and I co

g four days surrounded by damp walls and filthy floors, the clean corridors almost seemed unfamilia

cross during the trial. I had survived that night because I had refused to die for a crime I hadn't committed. But as the guards contin

ight to him, but they stopped outsid

," one of the g

ed with what she saw. I couldn't blame her. My dress was covered in dirt and dried blood, my hair was ta

ith us,"

leave. Whatever Lennox had planned for me, it seemed I wa

e wall, already filled with steaming water. Clean towels and several bottles of scented oil had been arranged on a nearby table. For a moment, I forgot

d impatiently. "Are you goin

urned toward

those c

badly burned, and I had to move slowly to avoid putting too much pr

ped. "His Majesty doe

time, but I kept my mouth shut. After everything I had endured in the dung

urns on my feet and the cuts on my body, but I was so relieved to finally be clean that I barely cared. I

t, I almost felt human again. Unfo

g, the older maid hande

this

lding out. It was beautiful, certainly, but I couldn't understand why the King would summ

lly requested it," she

obe again, and sud

order my execution. Somehow, in all that time, I had barely allowed myse

his breeder, but was it