The palace dungeons reeked of despair and rotting straw. Iron chains bit into my wrists as I hung suspended from the stone wall, my feet barely touching the ground. The princes were chained across from me in separate cells, each one battered and bloodied from the rough treatment of Celeste's soldiers.

My violet eyes had stopped glowing hours ago, leaving us in near-total darkness. Only a few sputtering torches provided any light in this forgotten corner of the palace.

"How long have we been ...