Torture

Violet had heard voices—voices that had given her hope as she squirmed on the floor with her hands still bound behind her back.

It was already bad enough that she woke up with a pounding headache that threatened to split her head open with pain. The stench around her made her want to throw up right where she lay on the ground. The smell was a vile combination of decayed straw, feces, and damp wood, suffocating her senses and heightening her panic.

But it was at that moment she heard voices, voices that didn't belong to the two servants that had kidnapped her, and that gave her a flicker of hope. Her heart leaped at the thought of someone else being nearby, someone who might help her.