“The blighted incidents appeared only after your arrival,” one of the ministers pointed out. “It is an odd coincidence.”

“You forget that she took down the nanghait for us, Heathrow,” Lord Besserly argued. “And had Lady Tea been the instigator of those blights, then she would have let them happen instead of preventing them. We found the Drychta responsible, in case you weren’t listening.”

“That could have easily been a ploy orchestrated to win our trust.”

“And what did she gain by that trust? She asked for none of our secrets and made no concessions for it. I am a living testament to her loyalty. I owe her my life. The least we can do is give her the benefit of the doubt.”

“If I may speak?” I asked.

“Please do, Lady Tea,” Lord Stefan responded.

“There is reason to believe that the elders have been keeping secrets for years. Several asha and I believe that Kion was built on a lie. Magic was not a privilege we were given to keep, but a means to right an old wrong. Hollow Knife intended to heal a rift in the world with a rare spell, though the consequence would be to end our use of magic once and for all.”

“Those are the same precepts that the Faceless prattle on about!” another minister warned.

“I will never approve of the Faceless’s actions, milord. We have slain Usij and Aenah, and we will slay Druj and anyone else who would try to take their place. The elder asha want to keep the Faceless from their goal, but neither do they want to lose our magic, and so they have been doing their utmost to defy us at every turn. If you are a friend of Lady Mykaela, then you would want her to live, not die slowly from the Dark. We almost lost her. We’ve lost Lady Polaire already.”

“I don’t understand,” Lord Knox said. “To heal the rift sounds like a noble endeavor. Why would you take away your own magic?”

“The rift gives daeva life, milord,” Kalen said. “Without magic, the Faceless would be powerless. I don’t know if the absence of magic can truly bring peace, but it can guarantee the permanent death of those monsters and benefit at least four of your citizens. The elder asha prefer an endless fight against the Faceless and their runes, rather than be deprived of their own magic.”

“So you intend to rid the kingdoms of spells, Lady Tea?”

“I don’t know yet,” I answered honestly. “I’m as selfish as they are. I have too many friends who rely on magic, and I won’t be the one to take it away from them. But for now, I want to keep it away from both the Faceless and from the elder asha, to ensure they won’t misuse their abilities at the cost of anyone else’s.”