After their encounter with the Sleeper, Kestrel led Seraphina to a small chamber hidden behind a wall of what appeared to be solid rock. The entrance was disguised so cleverly that she never would have found it on her own—but when Kestrel pressed his palm against a specific spot, the stone shimmered and faded away, revealing a door of black iron.
"This is the safest place in the Citadel," he said as he pushed the door open. "The Sleeper's Chamber is protected, but this... this is hidden. No one knows about it except the Queen and her most trusted advisors."
"And you," Seraphina added.
"And me." He stepped inside, and she followed.
The chamber beyond was small but comfortable—a bed, a desk, a washbasin. Bookshelves lined the walls, filled with volumes that looked ancient beyond measure. And in one corner, a second entrance led to what appeared to be a small cave where Pyre could rest.
"It's not much," Kestrel said, "but it will keep you alive while we hunt for the traitor."
"How long will I have to stay here?"
"Until we know who we're dealing with. Could be days, could be weeks." He moved to the bookshelf and pulled out a slim volume bound in what looked like dragon leather. "In the meantime, I brought you something."
He handed her the book, and she opened it to find pages filled with dense, cramped handwriting. The language was unfamiliar—not the common tongue she had grown up speaking, but something older, stranger.
"What is this?"
"The journal of Valdren. The last Dragonbound." Kestrel's voice was quiet. "She wrote it in the months leading up to the sealing of the barrier. It contains everything she knew about the Voidwalkers, the Conjunction, and the sacrifice that had to be made."
Seraphina ran her fingers over the pages, feeling a strange connection to this woman who had lived and died three hundred years ago. "Why are you giving this to me?"
"Because you need to understand what you're facing. The history books tell one version of events, but this..." He gestured to the journal. "This is the truth, as she experienced it."
"Can you read it? The language, I mean?"
"I can. And I'll teach you." He pulled a chair up to the desk and sat beside her. "Consider it part of your training."
They spent the next several hours poring over the journal, with Kestrel translating and Seraphina struggling to make sense of the ancient words. The text was dense, filled with observations about dragon magic and the nature of the barrier, but one passage stood out:
"The Voidwalkers are not merely enemies. They are the shadow cast by our own light—the darkness that exists because light must have its opposite. To destroy them would be to destroy ourselves. But to seal them away... that is a different matter. A barrier built of sacrifice, of love given freely, can hold back even the darkest tide."
"Sacrifice," Seraphina repeated. "The Sleeper mentioned that too. What sacrifice is it talking about?"
Kestrel was quiet for a moment. "To seal the barrier, Valdren had to give up something precious. Something she could never get back."
"What?"
"Her bond with her dragon." His voice was flat, carefully controlled. "She severed the connection—the very thing that made her Dragonbound—to create a seal strong enough to hold the Voidwalkers at bay. Her dragon... didn't survive the process."
Seraphina felt a chill run through her. Through the bond, she felt Pyre's distress—a mirror of her own horror.
"If I have to seal the barrier," she said slowly, "I would have to sever my bond with Pyre?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not." Kestrel's expression was unreadable. "Valdren's situation was unique. Yours may be different."
"But you don't know."
"No. I don't."
Seraphina looked down at the journal, at the words written by a woman who had faced the same choice three hundred years ago. A woman who had chosen to sacrifice everything to save the world.
What would she choose when the time came?
She pushed the thought away. There would be time for that later—time to consider the impossible choice that waited in her future. For now, she needed to focus on survival.
"Tell me more about the Ash Covenant," she said. "Everything you know."
Kestrel nodded, and they bent their heads over the journal once more.
The hours passed in a blur of translation and discussion, and by the time Kestrel finally rose to leave, Seraphina's head was spinning with information. She felt like she had learned more in one afternoon than in all her previous weeks at the Citadel combined.
"Rest," Kestrel said as he moved toward the door. "Tomorrow we continue. And the day after, and the day after that, until you know everything you need to know."
"Kestrel." She stopped him before he could leave. "The Sleeper said something else. Something about you."
He went very still. "What did she say?"
"She said I should ask you about the last Dragonbound. About what really happened the night the barrier was sealed." Seraphina met his eyes, refusing to look away. "What was she talking about?"
For a long moment, Kestrel didn't speak. Then, slowly, he turned to face her fully.
"Valdren was my ancestor," he said quietly. "Fourteen generations removed, but still blood. And the night the barrier was sealed..." He paused, something flickering in his golden eyes. "The histories say she gave her life willingly. But the truth is more complicated."
"What truth?"
"My family has carried a secret for three hundred years. A secret that could destroy the trust between dragons and humans forever." His jaw tightened. "Valdren didn't seal the barrier alone. She had help—from a dragon who wasn't supposed to exist."
"What do you mean, wasn't supposed to exist?"
"I mean that the dragon who helped her was one of them. A Voidwalker in dragon form. A creature who should have been our enemy, but who chose love over loyalty." Kestrel's voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "That dragon was my ancestor too. And its blood runs in my veins, alongside the blood of Dragon Lords."
Seraphina stared at him, trying to process what he had just told him. "You're part Voidwalker?"
"A quarter, technically. The blood has been diluted over generations." He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "It's why I can do things other Dragon Lords can't. Why my connection to dragons is stronger than it should be. And why the Ash Covenant would very much like to capture me and use my blood for their own purposes."
"Why are you telling me this?"
"Because you asked for the truth." He met her eyes. "And because if we're going to face what's coming together, you deserve to know who you're facing it with."
He left without another word, and Seraphina sat in silence for a long time afterward, turning over everything she had learned.
Kestrel was part Voidwalker. The barrier had been sealed with the help of an enemy. And somewhere in the Citadel, a traitor was plotting to bring it all crashing down.
The web of secrets was more tangled than she had ever imagined. And she was caught right in the middle of it.