Eli’s room was further down the hallway from the dining room than Kit’s own chambers, and around a corner. He also had a room in the guard’s quarters, but this one was closer, and she assumed it is where Cassius had brought him. When she arrived, she knocked lightly. There was no answer. The door wasn’t locked, so she let herself in.

He was lying on his stomach on his bed, his shirt off with some sort of poultice on his back. Kit gasped at the sight of multiple welts and bruises and felt the same rage from earlier welling up inside of her. She took a few deep breaths,...