Kael led me down.
Not through the great hall, not through the corridors I had walked yesterday with Oryn but down, through a narrow stairwell behind the war room that spiralled into the dark like a corkscrew into the body of the kingdom. The stones got colder as we descended. The torchlight on the walls thinned. The air took on the dry, mineral smell of a place that did not see the sun.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"The training vault."
"You have a vault for training."
"We have a vault for many things." His voice was quiet ahead of me, his hand still warm in mine. "Some of them, I will show you tomorrow. Today we only need one."
The stairs ended at an iron door.
Kael pushed it open with one hand.
The room beyond was round, low-ceilinged, lit by oil lamps set into the stone walls.
