The council chamber emptied slowly, leaving behind the lingering weight of Maeron's threat. The air felt bruised. As the last advisor shuffled out, Kael stood alone with Seraphina and Foret, the three of them forming a quiet triangle in the silent hall.
Foret leaned forward slightly, his voice low. "If Maeron leaves the palace grounds, he will gather allies. Some of them will not hesitate to remove obstacles by force."
Kael studied the closed doors. "He will not act openly. Not yet."
Seraphina stepped closer, her gaze following his. "But he will act. Men like him do not accept losses. They find other doors to open."
Kael let his hand rest against the map table. His pulse still carried the echo of confrontation. "He cannot be allowed near the sealed room again."
Seraphina's eyes shifted, distant for a moment. "The house agrees."
Kael turned to her. "You feel it."
"Everfell is no longer resting," she answered. "Something in it has turned its face toward threat. It is preparing."
Foret rubbed his hands together. "Preparing how?"
"The way an animal does," Seraphina whispered. "By listening. By changing where it keeps its secrets."
Kael exhaled, uncertain. "And what does it want us to do?"
Before Seraphina could answer, the hall trembled.
Not violently. Not enough to shake dust from the ceiling.
But enough to say: Come.
Seraphina lifted her head as if hearing a distant voice. "It wants us in the east wing."
Kael nodded. "Then we go."
The corridors darkened as they walked, lanterns dimming in unison as if guiding them. Shadows lengthened in controlled movements, never obstructing the path, never closing in — simply redirecting their way forward.
Foret's breath grew uneven. "I do not like when the walls behave."
Seraphina looked over her shoulder. "They do not behave. They respond."
Kael kept his gaze fixed ahead. "Tell me if that should comfort me."
"It should not," she said. "But it is honest."
They reached the narrow passage outside the sealed room. But instead of opening that door again, Everfell seemed to draw them past it. The air cooled as if touched by deep water. The stone grew smoother under their steps.
At the end of the passage stood a door Kael had never seen before.
It was plain wood, held together with old nails and carved with nothing. Not a sigil. Not a name. Not a single mark.
Just a silent, waiting door.
Seraphina inhaled softly. "This was not here before."
Foret took a step back. "Then we should turn around."
Kael raised a hand, stopping him. "The house led us here."
"Yes," Foret hissed, "which means we should be worried."
Kael pressed his palm to the door.
It was warm.
A breath escaped the wood, like something inside had leaned close.
The door opened inward.
Inside was a long corridor filled with mirrors.
They stretched from floor to ceiling, each one reflecting the narrow hall but not quite accurately. Some reflections were clearer, others dimmer, as if aged or stained by memory. Some seemed to lag behind movement by a fraction of a second.
Seraphina stepped forward cautiously. "These are not decoration."
Kael followed her gaze. "They are memories."
Foret shook his head. "Mirrors do not remember. People do."
Seraphina answered without turning. "So does Everfell."
She approached the nearest mirror. Her reflection looked back at her, but something in its face was different. A softness. A sadness. A trace of someone else's breath behind her own.
"Kael," she said quietly. "Look."
Kael moved beside her. The reflection of him appeared normal — except for the faint shimmer behind him.
The shimmer took shape.
A woman.
Barely visible, like a figure drawn in water. Long hair. Eyes full of light. A halo of faint glow around her silhouette.
Elira.
Kael froze.
Seraphina pressed a hand against the glass. The reflection shivered.
"She is not trapped," Seraphina whispered. "She is waiting."
Kael stepped closer, breath caught in his throat. "For what?"
The reflection shifted, as if Elira leaned forward. The glow shimmered again.
Then the reflection formed a single word against the glass.
Not written.Not spoken.
But clear.
Remember.
Kael drew a sharp breath.
Seraphina's hand tightened against the mirror. "The vessels are waking. Her memories are gathering. She is reaching through the walls."
Foret backed away. "This is too much. Too close. Men are not meant to stand inside memory."
Kael touched the glass lightly. The reflection blurred under his fingertips.
He felt nothing physical. But he felt something else.A pull.A plea.A fragment.
A voice inside memory that wanted to find its shape again.
Seraphina leaned into the mirror, eyes narrowed. "There is more. It wants to show us something."
"Show us what?" Kael asked.
She looked up at him, expression sharp and sure. "What happened the night she died."
Foret gasped. "No. That is not for the living to see."
Kael hesitated. "If the house allows it, then we should—"
Before he could finish, the mirrors flickered.
All at once.
Every reflection darkened.
Every image warped.
Shapes formed in the glass — torchlight, crowds, fire, shadows of men in robes, the outline of a cliff, the spray of the sea, the glow of a girl kneeling.
Elira.
Her face was blurred, but her posture was unmistakable.
Seraphina pressed closer. Her voice shook for the first time. "This is the storm."
Kael took her arm gently. "Are you certain?"
She nodded once. "The house remembers the night we tried to forget."
Foret clutched the ledger against his chest. "We are not meant to be here. This is a sacred place."
Kael answered without looking away from the mirrors. "Then let it be sacred."
The images in the glass sharpened.
The storm intensified.
The sound of distant water echoed through the corridor. A rumble traveled beneath their feet, not violent but heavy with intent.
Seraphina whispered, "She is coming back together."
Kael turned to her. "What does that mean?"
"It means the truth is no longer content to sleep."
The mirrors trembled once, as if exhaling.
Then all went still.
The glow faded from the glass.
Elira's outline dissolved, leaving only their reflections behind.
Kael exhaled slowly. "Why show us that now?"
Seraphina stepped back, hand trembling faintly before she steadied it. "Because Maeron is moving faster than we thought. And memory wants to reach us before he destroys what remains."
Foret swallowed. "Then what now?"
Kael straightened. The weight of truth settled across his shoulders, familiar now.
"Now," he said, "we prepare for him."
Seraphina lifted her chin. "And for what the house will show us next."
The mirrors behind them flickered once more.
A whisper moved through the corridor, soft as a breath against glass.
Soon.