Then Wyllin gasped, staring over Sera’s shoulder.
Leo turned and saw Ambrosine striding into the courtyard, Hektor and a group of Misarros at her heels. Hektor had a spear pointed at Matthias; one Misarro had a blade pressed to Eneas’s throat, and another held Vada, sporting a freshly blackened eye, in a chokehold. Ambrosine herself looked slightly worse for wear after the climb, her hair lank and sticking to her face, her clothes torn and stained with sweat and dirt.
“What are you doing?” Agnes cried, as Leo instinctively moved to stand in front of Sera. “Let them go, don’t hurt them!”
Ambrosine ignored her. She looked from Sera, to Leela, to Wyllin, her face gaunt and greedy. Then she turned to the fountain. Though neither she, nor Agnes, nor Leo himself could see the tether, he was certain she could feel the energy humming from it the way he could. It made the back of his teeth ache, it made his mouth water and his toes itch and his spine crackle. It spoke in a wordless whisper that made him think of green fields and warm summer days and the flapping of a butterfly’s wings.
“The power here is tied to Culinnon,” Ambrosine said, moving forward with a crazed gleam in her eyes. “I can feel it in my veins.” She inhaled deeply through her nose. “It declares itself for me.”
“Who are you?” Leela said, and Leo could not help but be impressed at her fearlessness as she stared down the most powerful woman in Pelago. But then, what was Pelago to Leela?
“Ambrosine Byrne,” Sera growled. “She is related to Agnes and Leo.”
“Byrne?” Wyllin asked. “Did you say Byrne?”
Ambrosine tore herself away from the tether she could not see, ignoring Leela and focusing her attention on Wyllin.
“I am Ambrosine Byrne, matriarch of—”
“But I met a Byrne,” Wyllin said. “Soon after I fell. She found this island; she came to the Alcazar and I gave her gifts.”
“Errol and Boris,” Sera gasped, and Leo felt another ripple of shock run through him. It all made sense. The Arboreals called Sera “Mother.” The mertags were devoted to her.
“I do not know those names,” Wyllin said to Sera. “But I planted a strand of my hair and a tree grew out of it, a tree with silvery bark and turquoise leaves. A tree that could multiply and help replenish what the tether took from the earth. And then I cried a single tear into this fountain and a fishlike creature appeared, similar to the fish I had loved on Orial and yet different. And he was meant to keep the waters pure and healthy. The Byrne promised me she would spread this wealth throughout the planet.”
“She lied,” Leo said.
“I spoke to the Arboreals on the island of Culinnon,” Sera told her. “They have been kept there, imprisoned, ever since that day. The Byrne family has coveted your gifts instead of sharing them.”
Wyllin put a hand over her mouth. “But that is not how it was meant to happen,” she said. “This planet must be dying.”
Leo thought about all the droughts in Kaolin, the wildfires and the poisoned waters and the desiccated farms. The planet was dying. And it made sense now, why Pelago was always so fruitful when Kaolin was not—they had a concentration of Cerulean magic in this country, and regardless of whether it was being shared properly or not, it was certainly giving Pelago an environmental advantage over Kaolin.
“How do we fix it?” Agnes asked just as Ambrosine said, “Share? The people of this planet wouldn’t know what to do with them if they ever got their hands on them. They need to be safe, they need to be tended by someone who knows, who respects them.”
“No, they don’t, Mother,” Matthias said, speaking for the first time. “Alethea was right all along. Their power was meant for everyone, not just Byrnes.”
“That is exactly the sort of traitorous comment I would expect from a man who abandoned his family,” Ambrosine said, and Hektor jammed the butt of his spear into Matthias’s back, forcing him to his knees. “Weak and a coward, just like your father.”
“Are you really going to hurt me, Hektor?” Matthias asked. Hektor pointedly avoided his gaze.
Leo couldn’t stand it any longer. He was sick of watching people fight over something that wasn’t even theirs to begin with. “There’s nothing here for you,” he said to his grandmother. “There’s no power you can wield or control. It belongs to Sera and her city. It gives their city life. You can’t own that. Don’t you see? There are bigger things than some stupid plan to raise yourself up, to rule over a handful of islands. Wyllin just told you our planet is dying and all you can think of is Culinnon and your family legacy and keeping power for yourself.”
“I see you inherited your father’s arrogance,” Ambrosine said to him, her voice dripping with disdain. “That does not surprise me. Agnes, however . . .” She looked at her granddaughter and shook her head. “I thought we had an agreement. I thought you and I were going to change the world.”
“I never said I would join you in those plans.” Agnes looked frightened, but stood her ground, her eyes flitting to Vada, still struggling against the Misarro. “I never wanted to change the world. I came here to be my own person, to study science. I thought I came here for you, too, for a connection to my mother, but you can’t give me that, can you? No more than my father can. You both hoard her. You’re both so wrapped up in yourselves.” She jutted out her chin. “I am Alethea’s daughter. She didn’t want what you were offering and neither do I.”
“I told you, Mother,” Hektor said. “She is ungrateful. Let us go, let us leave them here. The shores are filled with gems; we can take the riches and return to Culinnon.”
“I am not returning to Culinnon until I have the power the scrolls promised,” Ambrosine said, turning on her eldest son with an expression of utter contempt. “And I am not leaving Agnes, no matter how many impassioned speeches she makes. Even if your wife were to somehow manage to produce a child, it would have nowhere near the claim Agnes does. Besides,” she said, her nose wrinkling, “Bellamy would probably just have a boy anyway, and then where would we be?”
Leo could not believe how cruel Ambrosine was to her own offspring. There was something perverse about it, like she enjoyed taunting him. He recalled the memory from his father, when Alethea had said, “I think that island has made my family crazy.” Crazy, perhaps, and also cruel.
“There are no riches here,” Wyllin said. “Those jewels you saw on the beaches were illusions. If you were to try to take them off of Braxos, they would turn to dust in your hands. Once the tether is broken, this whole island will crumble into the sea.”
Hektor looked stunned, his spear trembling. Just then there was an enormous boom that made everyone in the courtyard jump.
“The Renalt,” Ambrosine said. “That stubborn bitch. You’d think she’d have given up when we destroyed most of her warships.”
There was another boom and the ground beneath them shook.
“Perhaps we should go, mistress,” one of the Misarros suggested. Ambrosine silenced her with a look. Then she turned to Wyllin.
“This is your island,” she said. “I see it now. What is your price? What do you want? I will give you anything you ask for. You met my ancestor. We have a connection, you and I. I swear to wield this power only for good.”