Hope

The screaming won’t stop.

Even when the palace is quiet, even when the wind outside howls against the high stone towers, I can still hear her. That woman — whoever she was — her voice slicing through the corridors like a blade.

Sometimes it comes in flashes.

A cry.

A gasp.

The dull thud of something heavy hitting the floor.

I wake in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, my pulse racing, my hands clutched around the sheets as if I could wring the sound out of the air.

I know something’s happening in this castle. Something dark.

Something all the maids and guards are ignoring.

But...