STEAM AND SORCERY
Book Three of the Blood and Gold Trilogy
Time stood still in my gilded cage. Without windows or access to outside light, I had no idea how many days passed, or if, in fact, many turns of the clock occurred at all.
Occasionally I would sleep. And dream. Disturbing dreams, filled with fire and shining gold. A whispering voice called my name, summoning me closer. Though if I tried to hear what else it had to say I would wake with a start, bathed in sweat only to collapse into dream again.
And when I woke for real, it was to offerings of food or drink, neatly laid out for me. I began to wonder if, perhaps, I was being gassed or drugged somehow at exactly the proper moment.
I wanted for nothing aside from my freedom. A well-appointed lavatory with a marvelous stone washin
