~Alora~

The sound of footsteps down the corridor towards my cell was so common now that I didn't even look up. Days—or was it weeks now?—had gone by in this underground dungeon so that time itself became irrelevant. The only reminder of its presence was in the form of food pushed through the slit in my door twice a day by guards or servants who would not even meet my eye.

The cell door was open, and two maids entered with a tray of food. Neither of them was known to me—two young women ...