Xavier’s mouth twisted. “I promised to get you away from her and I did. I never promised I wouldn’t bring you back. Don’t worry, Ezra. I don’t want her to get her hands on you any more than you do.”

Kiernan wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “I wish I believed that.”

“So now you don’t trust me?” Her father took a long drink of beer, then traced a line on the map with one finger. “She’ll take them to Culinnon. Whichever one she’s got, Leo or Agnes, that’s where she’ll go.” He gave a snort. “How rich, if she only has Leo. She’ll be so disappointed.”

Agnes felt a surge of protectiveness for her brother.

“More bodies are washing up on the northern islands each day,” Kiernan said. “And none of the ships that have left have returned. The last dispatch was from a schooner called the Desperation—such an unfortunate name—and all it said was, Fog too dense. Must turn back.” He swallowed. “They found the captain’s body on the shores of Adereen two days later. No sign of the ship or the rest of the crew.”

“These stories don’t scare me, Ezra.”

Kiernan sighed and popped a sardine in his mouth. “I wish they would,” he grumbled.

“She knows something,” Xavier growled. “You’re right, if she’s confident enough to outright attack the Triumvirate, something’s changed.” He tapped the table with one finger. “Matthias might know.”

Agnes felt she shouldn’t be surprised that her father knew Matthias after all the revelations tonight, but somehow she still was.

“I highly doubt that,” Kiernan said.

Xavier smirked. “Scared of a reunion? Matthias has no bite, Ezra, you don’t have to be afraid of him.”

Kiernan muttered something that made her father laugh, and it sent a chill down Agnes’s spine. Then he drained the last of his mug and set it down. “It’s late,” he said. “And we must get an early start tomorrow.” He scratched his chin. “I need to shave. I stand out far too much with this damned beard.”

He stood and Agnes quickly pressed herself against the wall of the inn. She listened as their footsteps receded and the common room grew quiet. Next to her, Vada let out a low whistle.

“He’s after Ambrosine,” she said.

Agnes wasn’t sure exactly what her father was after, but one thing was certain—he was headed to the same place she was. To Leo and Sera.

“We can’t let him get his hands on Sera again,” she said. She felt so small, stuck between these two imposing forces, her father and her grandmother. “Or on Leo. Or me. We’ve got to leave Ithilia. Tonight, now. We can’t wait for dawn.”

“It is too dark,” Vada protested.

A slow grin spread across Agnes’s face. “Not with Errol it isn’t.”