Raine's POV

After a call from Marku, the dead guards had been carted away. I glanced down at the five people kneeling – three girls and two young men – all visibly trembling. Some more than others. Their shoulders hunched. Their heads hung low. Their sallow skin pulled too tightly against their gaunt frames. Bones protruding from malnutrition. When had they eaten last?

One man's hands sporadically twitched, as though he were resisting his body's urge to clench them into fists. On any other male, I would have presumed his posturing signaled anger. A way to keep himself from attacking. But given my knowledge, limited as it was, of Seraphine's...