Malachi's brow arches. "Can you blame us? Lunaris was part of Tenebris before the curse. It's been lost for three hundred years." His gaze sweeps over the room, the maps, the windows overlooking the dark street beyond. "Even if that weren't the case, this place is … "
"Strange," Kage finishes, sliding an old map toward us. "It's my understanding that as part of the treaty, the Council banished any mention of all the gods and repurposed the temples." He places a newer map beside the first. "If this oldermap was truly drawn before the treaty, this building shouldn't exist on it."
I lean forward to see what he's pointing at. "The Hall of Gratitude?"
"Why wouldn't it be there?" Naima frowns.
"Because that's where the Shadow Guild meets," Malachi says quietly.
"You think the Council is part of the Shadow Guild?" I stare at the map as if it might rearrange itself into something that makes sense.
Malachi nods. "Specifically, the faction that worships the Everlasting."
I sink back in my chair. Naima looks as stunned as I feel.
The Shadow Guild and the Veritas Order have been enemies for as long as either has existed. The atrocities the Guild committed against the Sages were the reason our Order was created in the first place. The idea that the Council could be aligned with them, that we've been living alongside our oldest enemy for decades without knowing …
It shouldn't be possible. And yet.
"Do you know how the Shadow Guild formed?" Kage asks.
"The basics." I fold my arms. "Ignata chose three Sages per kingdom. For balance, Noktelum was supposed to choose three Mages. But Ignata had a vision, something terrible enough to stop them after the first three were already selected. Those three Mages didn't take kindly to being abandoned by their god." I shrug. "So they founded their own order. The Shadow Guild."
Kage nods. "The Mages needed a place to meet, so they sought out a cave rumored to hold strange power." His voice takes on the cadence of an old story, well-worn and often told. "There were tales of a dead man left in that cave who walked out alive three days later. Another of a man who sheltered there andwished for wings. A week later, he emerged with them growing from his back."
Naima leans over to bump my shoulder. "Like those romance books you used to devour about the winged hero who?—"
"Naima." I bump her shoulder hard enough to send her rocking back in her chair.
She cackles, head thrown back, the gold clasps on her braids tinkling like bells. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing. If I encourage her, she'll never stop, and my face is already burning.
I turn back to Kage. "Ignore her. Continue."
"I have to admit," Malachi says, and I can hear the smirk in his voice, "I'm very curious what this winged hero did to earn such a reaction."
I glare at him. His amusement pulses through the bond, warm and infuriating.
Kage grins. "I'm also curious."
"Just tell us what happened in the cave."
"They found a stone," he says. "Amber, like many in those caves, but larger. The resin had trapped twigs in the shape of a heart, and at the center of that heart … " He pauses. "An eye. Perfectly preserved. And it blinked."
A chill traces down my spine. "That's..."
"Impossible?" Kage shrugs. "I've never seen it myself. But enough people have, across enough centuries, that I believe the accounts. They called the stone the Everlasting."
"The Everlasting," I repeat slowly. "The Council's symbol. The mantra they chant. It's all about a stone?"
"Not just any stone."
"The Mage who found it mounted the stone in a scepter," Kage continues. "The other two Mages were furious. They saw it as blasphemy against Noktelum."
"Because only gods are supposed to have scepters," Naima says.
"Exactly. That's what split the Guild. One faction stayed loyal to Noktelum. The other followed the Mage with the Everlasting, worshipping the stone like a deity."
"Back then, people still referred to the stone as the Everlasting," Malachi says, his voice low. "But one of the Mage's followers murdered him and took the scepter. That man eventually became king of Arusha." His jaw tightens. "And he took the name for himself. The Everlasting."
