Aveline swallowed hard.
She could let them go.
The thought came to her so clearly that it made her chest ache.
She could open the cages. She could break the runes. She could release them all and leave the dungeon with the knowledge that they were no longer suffering under these walls.
But then what?
Where would they go?
Who would take them?
Would they survive outside, or would they simply be hunted by the same world that had locked them away in the first place?
Aveline did not know.
And because she did not know, she could not move.
She lowered her eyes and felt guilt settle over her like a weight. She hated that she could not fix it. She hated that kindness was not always enough to make suffering disappear. She hated that wanting to save something was not the same as being able to save it.
So instead, she did the only thing she could.
She turned the creature gently around and led it back toward its cage.
