“Yes. And my girls hated him for it. I never lied to them about who their father was. Totsi was angry. She worked her way up through Designation and never told her father who she was for fear he’d kill her if he found out that his daughters had lived and they knew his dirty secret. Taavi didn’t get Bound. The Macazi Designation gutted her. To be his own blood and not be suitable to be given magic cut deep. Even if he didn’t know. She’d even tried to tell someone that she was his bastard by starting a rumor, but it was taken as no more than gossip. She never quite got over that. It still pains her, I think. But she’s so closed off, there’s no telling what’s going on in that head and heart of hers.”

I don’t know what to say. It’s her fault. It’s all her fault. But not really.

“I want to be there. The moment you face him, I want to see his face as he crumbles.” She squeezes my hand. “You owe me nothing. Not even a clean death. But it would mean the world if you would do that for me.”

I still can’t find words. Shock is stamped on Julius’s face too. He looks at the Seer and back at me. Then back to her.

“It’s almost dark. I should be leaving in a little bit.” I need to sit with this. Digest it. Chew it up some, then spit it out. I don’t know how to feel. “One more question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know how he got magic in the first place? How he filled the onyx pressed into his wrist?”

“I don’t know for sure, Jelani. But I do believe he took some of those lovely people, your people, and forced them to Imbue onyx and fuse it to him. And maybe not just on his wrists? He had piles of it even then. I don’t know what he promised them in exchange or how he made them agree to it. But I can guarantee you, once he got what he wanted from them, he got rid of them. That’s what he does.”

My stomach is in knots. I twist on my feet and walk as fast as I can. I need air. I’m outside and somehow, I can’t breathe.

“Rue, wait up,” Jue says.

“Just gimme a minute.”

I keep walking and he hangs back, which I appreciate.

I’m going to rip the onyx out of the Chancellor’s skin with my fingernails. I bite down and see red.

“Oh, there you are.” Bri heads my way, arms full, glass tinkling with each step. “The Plinor River runs through here, did you know?”

“No, I… huh?” I blink, trying to make sense of her randomness.