~Riya~

The chains around my wrists were heavier than they looked. I had stopped trying to move hours ago, or maybe days. Since the wedding, time didn’t exist in this prison, only silence and darkness.

I was given one meal a day: sometimes overly baked bread, dried steak, or even overripe fruit. But a prisoner could not object.

When the door creaked open, the light nearly blinded me. My eyes flinched, adjusting slowly until I saw a guard step in. “Get up,” he said curtly.

“Why?” I ...