The training room was empty except for Elara and Kael, which was exactly how they wanted it. Too many curious eyes followed them everywhere in the castle now. Too many ears listened to their conversations. Here, in the early morning before most of the court awakened, they could work without surveillance.
"Again," Kael commanded, circling around her with a practice knife in his hand.
Elara adjusted her grip on her own blade, trying to remember everything he'd taught her. Weight on the balls of her feet for quick movement. Knife held low and ready, not raised threateningly. Eyes on his center mass, not his weapon, to see his whole body's movement.
He struck fast, a testing slash that she barely deflected. The wooden blades clacked together, the impact jarring her arm.
"Better," Kael said. "But you're still hesitating. In a real fight, hesitation gets you killed."
"In a real fight, I'd be dead already," Elara pointed out, breathing hard. They'd been at this for an hour, and her muscles were screaming. "I've had weeks of training. You've had years."
"Which is why you need to fight smarter, not harder. Use your opponent's strength against them." He demonstrated by letting her attack, then simply stepping aside and using her momentum to unbalance her. She stumbled, catching herself before she fell.
"That's not fair," she protested.
"Neither is life. Neither are the people who want us dead." Kael offered his hand to help her up. "You're improving quickly, but quick isn't enough. We're running out of time."
Elara took his hand but pulled him off balance instead of using him for leverage, a trick he'd taught her last week. He went down, more from surprise than actual force, and she was on him with her practice knife at his throat before he could recover.
"Was that smart enough?" she asked, slightly breathless from exertion and from their sudden proximity. She was straddling his waist, her knife against his neck, and the position was far more intimate than tactical.
"Very smart," Kael said, his voice dropping lower. His hands came to rest on her hips, not pushing her away. "Though it only worked because I let my guard down. Won't happen twice."
"Then I'll have to find other ways to surprise you." Elara was acutely aware of everywhere their bodies touched, of the heat between them, of how his eyes had gone darker as he looked up at her.
The moment stretched, tension building that had nothing to do with combat training. Then Kael's expression shifted, becoming more serious.
"Get off me and look at the door. Carefully. Don't make it obvious."
Elara stood smoothly, as if they'd simply finished a training exercise, and stretched while casually glancing toward the entrance. A shadow moved in the corridor beyond the partially open door. Someone was watching them.
"How long?" she asked quietly, moving to the weapons rack as if selecting a new practice blade.
"I noticed about two minutes ago. They're trying to stay hidden, but the morning light creates shadows they can't avoid." Kael joined her at the rack, his back to the door. "Could be a servant. Could be someone more dangerous."
"Should we confront them?"
"No. Let them think we haven't noticed. See what they do next." Kael selected two real knives this time, not practice blades. He handed one to Elara. "But be ready. Just in case."
They resumed training, but Elara's awareness had sharpened. Every movement, every sound was magnified. She tracked the shadow by its reflection in the polished shield hanging on the wall, watching without seeming to watch.
After another ten minutes, the shadow retreated, footsteps fading down the corridor. Kael immediately moved to the door, looking out carefully.
"Gone. But they were definitely watching us train." He closed the door fully and locked it. "We need to assume everything we do is being observed now."
"Makes it hard to investigate a conspiracy when the conspirators are watching us constantly." Elara wiped sweat from her face with a towel. "We need a way to move without being followed."
"There might be one." Kael moved to the far wall of the training room, running his hands along the stone. "Old castles like this often have secret passages. Ways for servants to move unseen, or escape routes in case of siege. I explored them as a child before my mother died."
"And you think there's one here?"
"I know there is." He pressed something, and a section of the wall swung inward, revealing darkness beyond. "This passage connects to the royal quarters, the archives, and several other key locations. I used to hide in here when I wanted to avoid people."
Elara approached the opening cautiously. The passage smelled of damp stone and stale air. "Does anyone else know about these?"
"My mother did. She showed them to me. My father might know, though he never used them when I was young. Servants who've worked here long enough probably know some of them exist, but I doubt many people remember all the routes."
"So we could use them to move around without being seen." Elara's mind was already working through possibilities. "To reach places we need to investigate without anyone knowing we're there."
"Exactly. But we need to be careful. If someone else knows about the passages, we could end up trapped." Kael pulled the door closed, and the wall section swung back into place, seamless once more. "Still, it's better than being followed everywhere."
A knock at the training room door interrupted them. Captain Thorne's voice came from outside. "Your Highness, Princess. You have a visitor."
Kael unlocked and opened the door. "Who?"
"A woman named Elena Silvermoon. She claims to have information about Lady Morgana's investigation into Queen Arianna's death. She says Morgana sent her a letter the night before she died."
Elara and Kael exchanged glances. Elena Silvermoon. The same name had been on the letter they'd found in Morgana's chambers, the one she'd been writing when she was murdered.
"Where is she?" Kael asked.
"I have her waiting in a secure room. She came alone, unarmed, and requested audience specifically with you and Princess Elara. She also requested privacy."
"It could be a trap," Elara said quietly.
"Most likely is," Kael agreed. "But if she actually has information from Morgana, we can't ignore it. We go, but we stay alert and we don't trust anything she says without verification."
They followed Captain Thorne through the castle, taking a route that avoided the most populated corridors. The secure room he'd mentioned was actually a small sitting room near the guards' quarters, one with only a single entrance and no windows. A good place for a private conversation or a good place for an ambush, depending on perspective.
The woman waiting inside was perhaps sixty years old, with silver-streaked hair and eyes that reminded Elara uncomfortably of Kael's. Storm gray, intense, missing nothing. She stood when they entered, offering a formal curtsy.
"Your Highness. Princess. Thank you for agreeing to see me." Her voice was cultured, educated. Noble-born, Elara guessed, or at least raised among nobility.
"You claim to have information about my mother's death," Kael said without preamble. "Talk quickly. We have reasons not to trust strangers who appear suddenly with convenient information."
"Fair enough." Elena settled back into her chair with grace. "I'll be direct. Lady Morgana and I were friends for many years. She was investigating Queen Arianna's death privately because she never believed the suicide story. Three days before she died, she sent me a letter saying she'd discovered proof that the Queen was murdered and that she knew who was responsible."
"Why didn't she go to the King with this information?" Elara asked.
"Because the proof implicated someone the King would never believe capable of murder. Someone supposedly dead." Elena's eyes fixed on Kael. "Your uncle, Prince Daemon."
The name hung in the air like a poison cloud. Kael's face went very still, the way it did when he was fighting for control over his emotions and his curse.
"My uncle Daemon died when he was sixteen. Before I was born."
"That's what everyone was told. But Morgana discovered records showing his death was falsified. He was exiled instead because his curse made him dangerous and uncontrollable." Elena leaned forward. "The same curse you carry. Shadow magic, the shade that responds to emotion and can kill when angry."
"How do you know about my curse?" Kael's voice was dangerously quiet.
"Because I carry old magic myself. Memory magic, from the bloodlines your grandfather tried to exterminate during the Purge." Elena held up her hand, and for a moment Elara saw images flickering around her fingers like ghost pictures. "I'm one of the old family survivors. And Queen Arianna was my cousin."
Elara felt the pieces clicking into place. "You're from the magical families that were killed or exiled. The ones the current dynasty took power from."
"Yes. Arianna was one of the few who married into the royal family rather than being killed or driven into hiding. She thought she could bridge the gap between old and new, bring peace between the families." Elena's expression turned sad. "She was wrong. But she tried. She always tried."
"If this is true, if Daemon is alive and killed my mother, why reveal it now?" Kael demanded. "Why not fifteen years ago?"
"Because fifteen years ago, I had no proof and telling anyone would have endangered what's left of my family. Because I was afraid. Because I failed Arianna just like everyone else did." Elena's composure cracked slightly. "But Morgana's death and the attacks on you both tell me that Daemon is moving again. Whatever he's planning, it's entering its final phase. If I don't act now, more innocent people will die."
"You said Morgana knew who killed my mother. That she had proof." Kael moved closer, his intensity almost frightening. "What proof? Where is it?"
"I don't know. She was going to tell me, but she died before she could. The letter I received was the one you found in her chambers, the incomplete one. But she mentioned she'd hidden evidence somewhere safe, somewhere only someone who knew the old ways would think to look." Elena stood, meeting Kael's eyes without flinching despite the danger in them. "I'm here to help you find it. To help you stop Daemon before he completes whatever he's planning."
"Why should we trust you?" Elara asked. "You're from the old families who have every reason to want revenge against the current dynasty. You could be working with Daemon, trying to gain our confidence so you can betray us at a crucial moment."
"I could be," Elena admitted. "But I'm not. Daemon may have been born royal, but he found and manipulated my people. He offered us hope of restoration while actually using us for his own revenge. When we discovered he killed Arianna, one of our own, we wanted nothing more to do with him. But by then he had too much leverage, too many of our people compromised." She looked at Elara directly. "I'm here because I owe Arianna justice. Because I owe her son the truth about what happened. And because if Daemon succeeds in whatever he's planning, it won't just be the royal family who suffers. It will be everyone."
Kael turned away, pacing to the far wall. Elara could see the tension in his shoulders, the struggle between desperate need to know the truth and wariness about trusting someone who could easily be enemy.
"Tell us everything," Elara decided. "Everything you know about Daemon, about what happened to Queen Arianna, about the old families and their involvement. Then we'll decide if we believe you."
Elena nodded and began to talk. She spoke of the Purge, of families destroyed and scattered. Of survivors hiding in the deep forests and mountains, maintaining their magical traditions in secret. Of Daemon finding them, offering alliance. Of slow realization that he was using them for his own purposes.
She spoke of Arianna trying to bridge the worlds, conducting research into old magic to understand and potentially cure Kael's curse. Of her discovering documents that proved Daemon lived. Of her planning to reveal everything to King Aldric.
"I was there the night she died," Elena said, her voice dropping to almost a whisper. "I'd snuck into the castle to meet with her, to discuss what she'd found. I watched from a hidden alcove as Daemon confronted her in her tower. Watched him kill her when she refused to stay silent. Watched him use his shade to throw her body from the window, making it look like suicide."
"You saw him murder her and did nothing?" Kael's voice was shaking with barely controlled rage.
"I saw him murder her and knew that if I revealed myself, he would kill me too and nothing would change. Arianna would still be dead, you would still be left alone with your curse, and the truth would die with both of us." Elena's eyes filled with tears. "I've carried that guilt for fifteen years. Every day, knowing I could have done something, should have done something. But I was afraid and I was alone and I couldn't save her."
Silence filled the room. Elara didn't know what to say, couldn't imagine the weight of carrying that knowledge and guilt for so long.
Finally, Kael spoke. "Prove it. Show me. Use your memory magic. Let me see what you saw that night."
"That's dangerous," Elena warned. "Memory magic can be overwhelming, especially memories of trauma. And there's always a price. For me to share the memory clearly enough for you to truly see it, to feel it, you'll experience it as if you were there. You'll feel my fear, my helplessness. It could break your control over your shade."
"I don't care. Show me." Kael extended his hand.
"Kael," Elara protested. "Maybe we should think about this. If you lose control here, in the castle with so many people around..."
"I need to know," Kael said. "I need to see the truth with my own eyes, even if they're borrowed eyes. Show me, Elena. Show me what happened to my mother."
Elena took his hand, and Elara watched as both their eyes turned silver, glowing with old magic that made the air itself feel thick and strange. Kael's body went rigid, his hand clenching around Elena's.
And then his shade began to manifest, darkness bleeding from his form into the room, responding to whatever he was experiencing in the shared memory. It grew larger, more aggressive, filling the space with palpable threat.
"Kael!" Elara moved forward, grabbing his free hand. "Stay with me. Stay in control. Whatever you're seeing, remember where you are. Remember you're safe."
She didn't know if he could hear her, didn't know if her touch was helping, but she held on anyway. Because that's what partners did. They anchored each other when the darkness threatened to overwhelm.