Chapter Ninety Six

I woke up gasping, everything that happened rushing back all at once like some horrible nightmare.

It took minutes for my eyes to adjust to the dim light.

Where was I?

Barricades, a single bed, and a stainless-steel toilet bolted to the wall—this was a cell.

A cell in the dungeons.

I tried lifting my hands when I felt the ache.

The gunshot.

I’d faintly remembered the healers working on me, but I’d thought it a dream.

“Wraith?” I called, but there was no response.

gods, I was tasty, my throat so dry it hurt to speak.

Outside the cell, all there was was a walkway that seemed to stretch on and on. The dim bulb flickered, then went off, plunging me into darkness. And I panicked, but it came back on after a few minutes.

The cell was too small—too tight. A claustrophobic feeling settled over me, and suddenly it felt too hard to breathe. I staggered to the cell door, banging on it.

“Let me out!” I scream at the top of my lungs, ignoring the pain. “Please… let me out!” “I’m sorry!”

My throa