EMMA
I bit back a cry of pain as I was shoved headfirst into the wall while one of the guards fumbled with his belt for the key to my cell. But the pain didn't hurt as much as Xerxes' silence did.
How could he remain quiet when he knew I hadn't poisoned his mother? Was his hatred for me so deep that he would let the real culprit go free?
Rough hands grabbed me from behind. The collar of my dress tightened around my neck like a noose, and then I was shoved into the cell.
I stumbled and fell to my knees.
Almost immediately, I began to sweat. The dungeon was a foul-smelling place with no windows, only a tiny vertical crack in the wall letting in a sliver of daylight.
"Your new home now," one of the guards laughed as I began to pant.
"This one..." the second guard said, shaking his head. "This one has some nerve. What were you thinking when you poisoned the Luna? That you'd get away with it? Even your traitor mother wasn't that bold."
I slowly got to my feet.
