The dowager shook her head and put her hand on my shoulder. “I know this must be hard for you to accept, Aurora. But the Dawnstar is not behind that door. We will find a way to release Elayna from the Dagger. But first we have to get it back. That should be your first priority.”
“But the door—”
“Is out of bounds,” said the dowager, ending our conversation. “Do not speak about it to anyone.”
I nodded, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it and the symbol of Illaria’s house. The dowager said the Dawnstar was not behind the door. However, I knew there was something else down there, and I had to find another way to discover what it was.
Secrets
From then on I took the dowager’s advice and stayed away from the catacombs. I began waking up before the sun rose and running down to the training field to practice my sword moves before the others started.
Tristan was so impressed with my glamour he increased my training sessions. In addition to creating a sword of silver fire, he showed me how to create flaming magical arrows, which was great. This way I would never run out of ammunition. He also made me practice creating daggers of silver fire that I could throw at an enemy. I spent hours every day alternately shooting flaming arrows and daggers at targets he had set up. I practiced until my arms were sore, sometimes not taking a break for hours on end.
There were times, late at night when I was practicing, I would see Erik, the leader of the Elite, standing at a distance watching me as I trained, but he never approached me or acknowledged me when he passed by.
One night after a hard training session, as I reached the door to my room, I lost my footing and slipped, thumping halfway back down the steep stone steps. I groaned, bruised and battered in places I didn’t want to think about. I gathered my magic and healed myself. Bracing my hand on the wall, I pushed myself up.
The wall gave way.
A rough white stone block moved inward, revealing what looked like an age-worn doorknob. I twisted it slightly to see if it moved. It did. And the whole wall groaned as I pushed against it, revealing a dark passage leading into the mountain.
A secret passage! I called forth my magic and a dense ball of light glowed in my outstretched palm. I walked forward but didn’t close the door behind me completely. I wanted to see where it would lead. I knew I shouldn’t, but the lure was too much for me to resist. If I couldn’t find my way back, I could just create a portal to my room. That thought gave me courage as I rounded a corner into another dark corridor. It was musty, and cobwebs lined the smooth stone walls.
This passage was old, older than the rest of the castle, and I shivered as I felt a cool breeze coming from the left. I walked toward it when I heard murmuring voices—two people having a conversation. There was a light at the end where the passage veered off to the left. A gap in the stone looked out into another part of the palace. I put my eye to the space, peering through.
It was the throne room. I was high above, looking down on it.
“I hear my granddaughter has been fighting werewraiths in the catacombs, Rhiannon,” the queen was saying. “I thought the wards deterred anyone from using those tunnels.”
The dowager paced in front of the throne. “I don’t know how she got through them; she shouldn’t have been able to do that. I’ve already had Erik inspect them, and I went into the catacombs myself to reinforce the wards.”
“Yes, I know that.” The fae queen’s tone was sharp. “You should have told me about this immediately. I had to wait for Erik to inform me.”
“I took care of it, Izadora,” said the dowager.
My grandmother gave the dowager a long look. “What was she doing down there anyway?”
I held my breath, and my shoulders tensed.
“She’s been looking for the Dawnstar.”
To my surprise the queen laughed. “That old legend? Where did she dig it up?”
“A mastermage told her it is the only thing that can release her mother from the Dagger.”
“It probably could, if it actually existed,” said the queen gravely. “Did she find the door?”
The dowager nodded. “Yes, and she thinks we are hiding the Dawnstar there.”
“Foolish girl,” said my grandmother. “If we had the Dawnstar we wouldn’t be in this predicament. In five thousand years no one has ever found this supposedly ancient weapon, and no one ever will because it doesn’t exist. Even the codex can be wrong on occasion.”
“That is exactly what I told her,” said the dowager. “And it is better she believes that or she will be distracted from her true purpose.” She gave my grandmother a hard look. “But we both know the codex is never wrong, Izadora.”
“It may as well be, for all the good it’s done us,” snapped my grandmother. “Has she spoken to anyone else about it?”
The dowager shook her head. “No, I told her to keep it to herself.”
“Good. No one else must find that door. Or all our plans will be for nothing.”
The dowager’s eyes narrowed. “I know that. But we have a bigger problem. Those werewraiths were not down there by accident. Only a powerful spirit-fae could have broken the wards and let the werewraiths into the castle. Someone who knows Aurora goes down to the library practically every night.”
Izadora gave the dowager a pointed look. “Make sure Tristan stays close to Aurora. Morgana is cunning. I wouldn’t put it past her to find a way into Elfi. We may not have the Dawnstar, but we have something
