“The Triumvirate needs a good reminder of who they’re dealing with,” Ambrosine said. “Braxos is of the north and belongs to the north. They’ve sat too long on their western thrones. They cannot claim what is not rightfully theirs.”

Leo didn’t see how Braxos was rightfully Ambrosine’s either, regardless of geography, but felt it best not to say that out loud. For now, she was promising to help them, and that was all he could have hoped for.

“The Renalt won’t like that you attacked her daughter’s ship,” Leo said.

Ambrosine finally tore her eyes from the painting. “Did I give the impression that I care what the Renalt likes or dislikes?”

Leo’s face went hot. Talking to his grandmother felt like walking in a murky stream barefoot—he never knew when he might step on a jagged rock.

“Where are we going?” he asked, changing the subject.

She raised an eyebrow. “Why, to Culinnon, of course. Aren’t you excited to see your true home?”

Leo wasn’t sure he’d phrase it that way. As far as he could tell, at the moment he had no home. Not the brownstone on Creekwater Row or the mysterious island in the north of Pelago. He didn’t seem to belong anywhere.

“I didn’t know Culinnon existed until we came here,” he said. “My father never told us anything about you, or my mother, or Pelago. We weren’t even allowed to mention your name in our house.”

Ambrosine slammed her cup down onto its saucer. “That beastly man,” she muttered. “I should not be surprised that Xavier kept her from you. He kept her from me as well. He wasn’t fit to shine her shoes, much less father the next heir to Culinnon.” She pursed her lips and examined his face again. Leo wished she wouldn’t. It made him feel like she was giving him a test and he was coming up short.

“You know,” she said, “Alethea was my greatest love. I loved her more than my husband or my sons or any of the lovers I have taken over the years. And she was ripped from me, violently and completely. The unfairness of it has been difficult to bear at times, I admit. The pain of her loss. I can still remember the night she was born, on the estates of Culinnon where all Byrnes are brought into this world.” She gave him a look he didn’t quite understand and continued. “It was one of the worst blizzards in recent memory and the doctor was delayed. My husband couldn’t stand the screaming and the blood, but then, he was always a weak man.” She sighed and adjusted the conch in her hair. “Excellent family stock but spineless.”

As little as Leo had thought over the years about his mother and grandmother, he’d never once thought at all about his Pelagan grandfather.