The first thing I felt was pain.
It started in my wrists where the suppression cuffs bit into skin, then spread like ice through my veins, feeding the curse already coiled in my chest. Every heartbeat sent black fire racing along my arms. I could see the veins darkening under my skin, spreading like ink in water.
I was chained to a cold stone wall in a tower cell, hood finally gone. Dim torchlight flickered through a narrow slit high above. The air smelled of damp rot and old blood. My head throbbed from whatever they'd used to knock me out during the drag here.
Across the narrow corridor, through rusted bars, another cell. Someone sat in the shadows there—tall, still, watching me with eyes that caught the torchlight like polished Gold.
I knew that face.
