Crow nodded. “I can see how it happened. So much energy—everything I had—was put into that barrier. I was determined to stay out of the Bayars’ reach—to frustrate them in that, at least.”

“The Breaking,” Han whispered, stunned. “The Bayars caused it? Not you?”

“Why are you surprised?” Crow turned his blue eyes on Han. “Your own experience should tell you—they are masters at shifting blame.”

Han thought of how it must have been for Alger Waterlow—trapped in an amulet for a thousand years—victim of so many lies and unable to make himself heard.

“The world is still here,” Crow pointed out. “How did they stop it?”

“Even the Bayars were scared,” Lucas said, “so they finally allowed Hanalea to go to the clans for help.”

“The clans? Oh, you mean the copperheads?” Crow wrinkled his nose. “Really? They were very…marginal…as I recall.”

“Marginalized by wizards,” Han said. “They regained power because of the Breaking. They stopped it with earth magic—they’ve always had a closer connection to the natural world than we do. Their price was to rein in the Wizard Council. Hanalea and the Spirit clans hammered out an agreement—what we call the Nǽming. Wizards are no longer in charge.”

“But they want to be,” Lucius said. “They still want to be, in the worst way.”

“You haven’t said—how did you come to marry Hana?” Crow asked him. “Why didn’t she marry Kinley?”

“Hanalea despised Kinley Bayar,” Lucius said. “Though she blamed herself for your death, she knew that Bayar was really the one responsible. And she knew she was expecting your child. She realized that Bayar would never allow Waterlow offspring to live, and she was determined to save her child—children, as it turned out. I’d been your best friend, and she did not know what I’d done to you. So she came to me and asked me to kill Kinley Bayar.”

“Hana did that?” Crow said.

Lucius nodded. “She was strong—stronger than anybody knew. I immediately agreed, on one condition—that she marry me. I would raise your child as my own and protect her secret. The best part was, if I killed Kinley, Hanalea need never know the truth.”

“But—you were no longer gifted,” Crow said. “How did you manage it?”

“It wasn’t all that hard. Wizards tend to overfocus on magical attacks. Kinley wasn’t thinking about poison at all.” Lucius shook his head regretfully. “It was too easy a death, but I had to make it seem natural. The clans made great poisons even in those days.

“So. Hanalea and the clans stopped the Breaking. She didn’t know about the amulet, and she didn’t know that you were not the cause. The Bayars were in charge of that history, and all of the blame was laid on you. I never defended you.