Ava’s POV
The next day he came to the dungeon again. “Come,” he said, his voice smooth and deep. “You don’t belong in a cage.”
I didn’t move. “You put me here.”
His lips curved in something that wasn’t quite a smile. “I had to make sure you understood where you were but you’re more than a prisoner, Ava. You’re… a prize.”
The way he said it made my skin crawl. “I’m no one’s prize.”
He unlocked the gate with a heavy key and stepped back, giving me room. “Then walk out on your own, you’ll see what I mean.”
My legs trembled as I stood. The wolfsbane still burned in my veins but Ella growled faintly in the back of my mind, urging me to move, to survive. I stepped forward.
The hall outside the dungeon opened into a cavernous space that led upward, torches lining rough stone walls. Two rog
