A Court of Wind and Song

45: Heart

Azriel

"Where do you keep all of the old records?" Rhys asked.

He walked through the Palace of Light like he walked through most places, like he owned the place.

"In the library." I answered him, turning down the hall towards it, all silver and gold arches and open curtains swirling with the cool late autumn breeze, "The oldest ones are in the catacombs though."

"There's catacombs under this place?" Rhys frowned over at me.

"They're the only thing that's left of the Golden Palace. We knocked down the building, but kept everything underground." I answered, "There's archives down there, the original hiding place of the Apenati, some walled off parts that we never bothered to open up."

Rhys's brows furrowed at that, "Show me."

I led him down to the stairwell hidden in one of the back corners of a storage room. A nondescript metal door, a closet or something of the like to anyone who didn't know what they were looking for. The stairs were just stones and a handrail, nothing extraordinary about them. Still, there was a clear devide between the newly built ones at the top and the old, scratched up ones at the bottom.

The catacombs were a labyrinth of tunnels and hidden rooms. They were built that way on purpose, meant to confuse anyone who would try to break in and steal back the Apenati, or to break out prisoners from the cells that existed down here.

"I'm getting real sick and tired of exploring secret tunnels." Rhys grumbled under his breath.

I snorted out a laugh, my shadows leading me to the main archives, golden faelights sparking to life as we walked down the dark pathway. We passed doorways I had never bothered to look behind, old relics of Cylos's rule locked behind them.

Stop. My shadows commanded out of the blue.

I halted to a stop, Rhys nearly walking into my back from where I stood in front of him.

"Mother above, Az. Can you give me a warning next time?" He hissed.

The Cave. Go to the Cave. My shadows hissed.

Why? I asked them.

"Wanna tell me why we are standing here?" Rhys frowned.

"Shut up." I hissed.

The Cave. They only repeated, Go to the Cave.

Rhys stepped around the side of me, "What do you hear?"

"I don't know." I frowned, "They want me to go to the Cave."

"You're going to have to explain to me what that is."

"It's where the Apenati was hidden for thousands of years. The original Golden Palace was built over this spot millennia ago to fortify it." I shook my head, "I've only seen it from a distance."

"Why?"

I let out a breath, "There's lots of legends about it. Stories about Ciatnens going mad from entering, things like that. They're just rumors, probably to keep people from attempting to steal the Apenati. Still, there were enough of them that Leur never went in, and I didn't either."

"So, how did she get the Apenati then?" Rhys frowned.

I blinked at him, "The Apenati is powered by our star Rhys, the one in our chests. She had the ability to take it at any time, just by summoning it. That's why Cylos tried to keep it a secret that the blade even existed."

"And this is a different star than the one from the Dusk Court lineage?" He asked, following as I turned right and started heading for the Cave.

"Leur understands all of that better than me, but yes." I answered, "Our star is the Holy Star, created by the first eclipse of the Sun and the Moon in the sky. The Dusk Star was created during the second eclipse, when Liyana and Amaris reunited after being born from either side of the Ingysi."