“You make it sound like it’s a living thing,” Agnes said.

“Like I said, you must see it for yourself. Culinnon possesses greatness, but it is not enough for my mother. There is an even older story, from the earliest days of Pelago, one that my family does not like to tell. One that the Triumvirate would like to forget too.” He glanced at Vada, as if uncertain that he should continue.

“You can trust us,” Agnes said quickly.

Vada touched the fang that hung at her throat. “On my honor as a smuggler, I will not say a word.”

Matthias inclined his head, and Agnes saw that Vada had given him a secret in exchange. A clever move, Agnes thought as her uncle turned back to her.

“Do you know the three ruling families?”

“The Aerins, the Renalts, and the Lekkes,” Agnes said.

“Correct. But the Renalts weren’t an original Triumvirate family. There was another, called the Shawnens.”

“Shawnens?” Vada said. “I have never heard of them.”

“No, you wouldn’t have,” Matthias said. “This was centuries ago. It has been forgotten why the Byrnes hated the Shawnens so much—a failed marriage contract or a broken deal or some other betrayal of trust. But whatever it was, the Byrnes and Shawnens fought until one side was completely decimated. There are no Shawnens left in Pelago.” A shiver ran down Agnes’s spine. “The Byrnes had hoped to be inducted as the third ruling family, but the Aerin and the Lekke were not wild about the precedent that would set. So they told the Byrne matriarch that if she wanted to be a part of the Triumvirate, she must give up Culinnon.” Matthias took off his glasses and cleaned them on his sleeve. “Needless to say, she declined. And the Lekke and the Aerin had joined their forces together—the Byrnes could not fight two families at once. They retreated back to the north and the Renalts were inducted into the Triumvirate, and the matriarchs of my family have brooded over this slight for generations. It is often said there is a streak of insanity in the Byrne family. But that is not the word I would use.”

“What would you call it?” Agnes asked.

“And insatiable lust for power,” Matthias said. “My mother was furious when Alethea left. She’d had a plan, my sister told me. She wouldn’t give me details but she swore she was never going back to Culinnon again. I was excommunicated soon after, so to speak. I wasn’t Byrne quality, even for a boy. Too soft, Mother said. Too weak. Always with my nose in a book.” Matthias rubbed the back of his neck. “It was drilled into us since we were children how important family was, how necessary our traditions were. But Alethea wanted to live her own life on her own terms. Mother could never forgive her for that.”