Charles walked beside a soldier and followed Chloe into the depths of the palace where the jail cells were located. As they descended, the age of hundreds of years revealed itself more nakedly than the levels above. Down here, the halls were made of unfinished rock—the interior belly of Mount Aeon—carved, domelike, into tunnels, as opposed to the exquisitely crafted marbles and granites above. No sounds echoed through the dimness.

Charles’s hands were tied behind his ...