When the rickety sway of the prison wagon came to a halt, Rían’s eyes swept from Chaz to Alpha Wynn. After passing through the main portcullis gate of Tereswin’s stone curtain wall, the smells of the city and its raucous din intensified as they hobbled over the rutted dirt roads toward the palace. The trip didn’t take too long, yet also felt endless, as his mind worked through the various scenarios of what would happen once they were finally there. It probably didn’t help that he had caught himself holding his breath either, making his nerves tie in all sorts of knots. It wasn’t that he was afraid of the humans nor did the twisted king worry him. Initially, that creeping anxiety hadn’t shuddered down his spine until he had smelled them. The Karanlık. They all seemed to hemorrhage the same
