Ashes to Ashes | ✓

9.1 || The Ember Core

The light at the end of the hallway brightened as they drew closer. Soon, Felix could easily make out the shape of Cinere's back, lit by the warm firelight that drifted through the open doorway. She kept her head held high, her empty wrist clamped in her other hand behind her back. The constant rhythmic tap of her steps was what had guided him through the dark. Now, it was simply a melody that faded to the background as his vision took control once more. Perhaps it was simply part of her blank, but she always walked as if she was in a dance. Each step was purposeful, flowing easily into the next. It was entrancing and entirely too easy to follow.

Warm light finally swallowed the darkness completely as he and Cinere stepped through the open doorway in front of them. The long hall opened up into a small kitchen area. A group of candles sat on the table in the center of the tiny room, giving off the dancing yellow light that drew them toward the room. Aside from that, the kitchen was devoid of life. A musty scent lingered in the air, and dust covered the tables and countertops. Cobwebs hung from the corners up against the ceiling; one still housed a large spider, but the other on the opposite side of the room was vacant. All pots, pans, and other cookware had been cleaned out, leaving the room bare. All that gave it away as a kitchen was the oven at the far wall, which was even empty of wood for the fire. What remained was only the ashes.

Felix ran his fingers across the table, wincing as the dust gathered with his touch. Looking down at the dirt clinging to his skin, he turned to Cinere, who was walking along an empty wall to his left. She trailed her hand across it, her ring catching the light of the candles. As her touch collected the same dirt from the walls, it left a streak in the shape of her fingertips behind.

"Are you going to tell me this is the Core?" he asked, his voice flat with sarcasm.

She chuckled but kept her gaze to the wall. "It's a servant's kitchen, dear Kou." Pulling back her fingers, she wrinkled her nose at the black stain on her fingers. "Though it's no longer in use."

"I would hope not."

"The castle was expanded—long before I came here, mind you, so I don't know all the details—and this kitchen fell to disuse. As you can see, the whole corridor is awkward and out of place now."

Felix glanced back down the hall. Now in the light, he could see just how bare it was. There were no doors that led off into other rooms, it was simply a hallway that led to the kitchen. Similar to the hallway, there were no doors or windows in the kitchen either.

Only a single empty wall, which Cinere continued to glide her hand across, searching for something.

"A passageway," he murmured. Swiping the dust off his hand, he joined her beside the wall. Pressing his ear to the wall, he could hear the faint echo of a chamber beyond. He lifted his head and glanced at Cinere again. "Did this turn into a passage as a means of escape?"

"The palace has an underground escape route for the royal family—most castles do," Cinere said. Her hand came to a stop on a particular stone that jutted out ever so slightly more than the others. With a proud smile, she pushed on the stone.

The stone sank into the wall with a click, and a mechanism on the other side began to whir. A few seconds passed before the wall shuddered and slowly began to slide open. It groaned with disuse, scraping painfully on the old mechanism. The process was slow—and by no means quiet, as the whole room echoed with the sound of the wall's screeching—but it did move.

Cinere turned to him with that same smirk, her eyes alight. "I hear this was built so that the prince at one point could sneak out and meet his lover. Isn't that romantic?"

Felix frowned, ensuring his blank was still in place. Something about her smile twisted his gut into knots. "You think they rearranged the whole lower section of the palace so that a prince could meet his secret lover?"