MALAKAI’S POV

Shouting bounced off walls I couldn't see, the voices warped and distorted, pressing down on my chest until the air left my lungs. Shadows stretched and twisted across the edges of my vision, suffocating every thought. Inside these walls, I wasn't in my quarters. I wasn't the king.

I was small. My knees dug into the dirt behind a stack of storage crates, my hands pressed hard over my ears to block out the roaring voices outside the partition.

"She is dirty!" An elder's voice thundered, the hatred in the tone rattling through the wooden structures. "She slept with another!"

"She should be executed!" Another roared, followed by...