The room beyond the narrow doorway was colder than the corridor behind it, so cold that Kael wondered if the walls had been carved from winter itself. A faint breeze stirred the air, though there were no windows. The space stretched farther than it had any right to, as if the house had grown this part of itself in secret, adding chambers only it could navigate.
Seraphina stepped inside with the calm of someone returning to a familiar place. Her gown swept over the floor and raised a thin whisper of dust. Kael noticed that her breathing did not frost the air the way his own did. She reached for a candle on a low table and lit it with a small spark from a flint she carried. The flame rose weakly, then gained color as if it had been waiting for her.
The candlelight revealed a series of shelves carved into the stone walls. Most were empty, but a few held objects arranged with deliberate care. A book wrapped in cloth. A broken mirror shard. A cracked bowl made of clay. A quill with its feather burned away. Memory fragments. Kael realized it without knowing how.
At the center of the room sat a heavy wooden table. On it rested a single ledger bound in pale leather that had darkened unevenly over time. He felt a heaviness in his chest when he saw it. The ledger was familiar in a way he could not explain. A shiver passed through him, quiet as a thought.
Seraphina moved to the table and ran her fingertips along the edge. The house responded with a soft creak, as if stretching after a long sleep.
"This ledger belonged to someone important," she said. "Someone who believed in writing truth even when no one wished to read it."
Kael approached slowly, almost afraid of what the pages might hold. "Whose was it?"
"I do not know," Seraphina replied. "But the house does. It has been guarding this book for years."
He lifted the cover. The first page carried a name written in ink that had faded into a warm brown. The handwriting was careful, every letter shaped with intention.
Alaris Dorne.
Kael blinked. "The Duke's father."
Seraphina nodded. "He was a meticulous man. He recorded everything, even things the council wanted erased."
Kael turned the next few pages. They were filled with lists of shipments, donations, and expenditures. Nothing unusual until he reached a section marked with a thin line under each entry. A symbol appeared beside several names, a small circle with three short lines radiating from it. A sun, perhaps. Or an eye.
He pointed at it. "This symbol. Do you know its meaning?"
Seraphina hesitated before answering. "It was used by a group connected to the old rituals. They called themselves the Circle of the Dawn. They believed the Saint's power came from more than divine blessing. They believed it was inherited."
Kael stared at her. "Inherited from what?"
Seraphina did not look away. "From the sea."
He felt the weight of her words settle over him like a net. "You speak as if you saw this yourself."
She let out a slow breath. "Some memories are too vivid to come from imagination. The shore was important to her. The house remembers that. And if the house remembers, I do too."
Kael returned his attention to the ledger. The entries grew stranger the deeper he read. Donations labeled as prayer offerings. Payments made under the names of priests he had never heard of. Items listed without description, only the symbol of the sun beside them.
Then he found an entry marked with that same symbol followed by a note in sharper handwriting.
For the chosen vessel. The ceremony will proceed at Everfell.
The date was two weeks before the death of the Saint.
Kael felt his throat tighten. "A ceremony. Here. At Everfell. What kind of ceremony?"
Seraphina placed her hand on his arm. The touch was light, almost careful. "The kind that binds a person to more than their own fate. The kind that requires power to be contained."
He stared at her hand before looking up. Her expression held no malice. Only a quiet understanding that came from a place deeper than memory.
"You think she was part of this," he murmured. "Elira. The Saint."
Seraphina looked toward the far wall where the shadows pooled. "I think she was more than a Saint. And I think the council knew it."
Kael closed the ledger. The candle flame flickered, sending shadows climbing up the walls like fingers. He felt the room pressing closer, watching him, urging him to continue.
"Why would your father hide this?" he asked.
Seraphina shook her head. "Not mine. The Duke's father. He may have been part of it, or he may have tried to protect her. The ledger does not tell us his intentions."
Kael pressed his hand to the cover again. The leather was cool, almost damp. "There is more in here. I can feel it."
He opened to the final pages. Many were torn out, leaving ragged edges like teeth. But one page remained intact. It held a list of names written carefully, each with the same symbol beside it.
Kael read them aloud.
"Elaria Dorne.Kael Rhyven.Lysa Venor.Tiren Dal.A name obscured by ink.And finally... Seraphina Dorne."
He stopped.
She did not react.
He looked at her. Her face was calm, but something flickered in her eyes. An emotion he could not name. Not fear. Not surprise. Something quieter.
"Why is your name here?" he asked.
She walked toward the far wall and placed her hand on it. The stone beneath her palm pulsed faintly.
"I was a child when the Saint died," she said. "I knew nothing of rituals. Nothing of the Circle. But I was there when she prayed at the old well by the cliffs. She smiled at me. She gave me a ribbon. My mother was furious and burned it."
Kael felt a shiver slip down his spine. "So you were chosen."
"Perhaps," she said softly. "Or perhaps the house chose me later."
The candle flickered violently. A rumble echoed from somewhere below them. Kael took a step back, but Seraphina stood still, listening.
"The house is waking," she said. "It wants you to see another truth."
Before he could ask what she meant, the wall beneath her hand shifted. Stone gave way like softened wax. A narrow gap opened, revealing a dark passage beyond.
Seraphina stepped aside and looked at him.
"You asked why your name was in the ledger," she said. "This passage holds the answer."
He stared at the darkness, feeling something cold and ancient curl around him.
"Come with me," she said quietly.
He nodded.
She walked first, and he followed. The candlelight faded behind them as the stone closed once again.
Kael felt the house watching him, patient and unblinking.
Waiting for him to understand what he had set in motion years ago.