Chapter 234

• Mooncrest Prison
• The stink of damp stone and old blood clung to the air, thick enough to coat the back of the throat. Pale shafts of winter light slanted through the barred windows high above, but they brought no warmth to the corridor.
• Kael Vale moved through it slowly, each step weighted by the heavy iron shackles that bound his wrists and ankles. The chain dragged between his feet, its links clinking against the stone floor—clink, clink, clink—a hollow, mocking rhythm that echoed down the hall like the beating of a funeral drum.