My stomach turns. "Cato. You're telling me Cato, the man who cursed Tenebris, is the Everlasting? That's who the Council worships?"
"I'm glad you know enough about him to be disturbed," Kage says.
"I don't know much." I shake my head. "But I know enough to be horrified by anyone who isn't a god demanding worship."
"That's fair."
"Isn't this enough proof?" Naima presses. "And wouldn't Draven have known? He's been here for years."
She catches my eye, and I see the question she can't ask aloud.Do the Sages know? Have they always known?I give her the smallest nod. They must. I just can't fathom why they would allow it.
"That's complicated," Kage says slowly. "Draven doesn't remember Cato. He remembers everything else we've asked about, every detail of his life before Lunaris, but mention Cato and there's just... nothing. A blank space where the memory should be."
I stare at him. I didn't know that was possible. A single memory, surgically removed, while leaving everything else intact? What kind of power would that require?
"Is there a way to find an older map?" Malachi asks, cutting through my spiraling thoughts.
I nod at the yellowed parchment. "Older than this?"
"One from before the Hall of Gratitude existed."
"I've never seen one that old. But if anyone can find it, it's Draven." I pause. "He's the Keeper of the Vault. If such a map exists, he'd know."
Malachi shakes his head. "He avoids the vault during the festival. Says the Council has been unusually vigilant these past weeks. Watching everything. Everyone."
My stomach twists. What if Draven is the reason Jordi was taken? What if he's connected to the renegades? What if they both are? I shove the thought away before it can take root. One crisis at a time.
"Why does the original matter?" Naima asks.
"Because we need to know what temple stood there before," Malachi says. "What power it held. What the Council might be using it for now."
She frowns. "Why would that change anything?"
"Because the merchants from Lyrionne call Constantine something interesting." Kage's voice drops. "The Keeper of Memories."
"He has nothing to do with the memory collections." The words come out sharper than I intend. "Nothing to do with the stones or the ceremony. The only thing he does is show up and say a few words on behalf of 'the Everlasting' and take the credit. He's a farce.”
Kage raises an eyebrow. "Then who does collect them?"
"No one collects them." I spread my hands. "The Veritas healers conduct the ceremony. The Sages attend. But the memories themselves are stored in individual stones. No one receives them. They're just... kept."
"Each person gets their own stone?"
"Yes. And in exchange, they're given an amulet." I touch my chest where mine usually rests. "The amulets are supposed to protect us. From the Shroud, from our own emotions, from everything we traded away."
Kage exchanges a look with Malachi. "Those are the amulets I mentioned. The ones that supposedly keep the Shroudmaidens at bay and prevent the Shroud from spreading."
"Shroudmaidens?" The word feels strange on my tongue. Wrong.
Malachi's gaze finds mine. "The creatures you encountered on the bridge. That's what they're called outside these walls."
"Where are the stones kept?" Kage asks.
"They call it the Wall of Memories, but no one knows its location. Jordi used to think..." I have to stop and swallow past the sudden tightness in my throat. "He thought they were stored beneath the House of Truth. But there are thousands of stones. Maybe tens of thousands. I can't imagine they're all in one place."
Kage and Malachi exchange a look that makes my pulse stutter.
"What?" I demand. "What is it?"
