“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.