“I had hoped I was wrong. That someone else had contaminated the herbs when you were unaware of it. But you gave us a fresh batch back at the Odalian camp, and the rune was just as strong there. I could have explained away the first, but not the second. Surely you wouldn’t have been so careless.”

“I had no intentions of hiding any longer, Tea, and hoped you would discover it once you had left the Odalians and Yadoshans. I encouraged you to leave quickly, as you’ll recall. After learning you had gone to Stranger’s Peak and endured the Gorvekan trials, I knew it was time for us to join strengths.”

“You could have killed Likh!” Kalen all but snarled.

“We needed collateral, a contingency for occasions like these. Tea was our priority, but another asha would do. I trusted that you would find a means to stay Likh’s condition, and I was right. I could not have taught you so much of what I knew only to see you fail.”

“And what can you offer me that Aenah could not?” I asked bitterly. “Did you think our previous friendship would be enough for me to accept your offer when I rejected hers?”

“This is not a betrayal, Tea. I do this to save your life. I was complicit long before you were asha, almost twenty years now, in fact. I was too late for Mykkie—I had no idea where her heartsglass had gone, you see. That was Aenah and Telemaine’s doing, and the elder asha exacerbated the matter by refusing to investigate. I would not have been complicit in something that would so affect her health that way.

“I raged when Polaire died—if there was a way to bring her back, I would’ve done so. It was always about her, about Mykkie, and, then later, about you. I knew the Dark would claim your lives as it has everyone it was unfortunate enough to touch. But shadowglass would ensure your survival. We have no need for magic, child. I would destroy every rune to keep you both safe.”

“How? By Blighting everyone else? By putting Likh in danger? By corrupting Aadil and starting a war among the kingdoms? That’s your idea of helping?”

“Yes. What better evidence to show how easily spells are abused than by demonstrating them in all their corrupted glory? Runic magic was not made for us mortals. No person should hold this much power. It will be used to destroy people as much as help them, as you have already seen. We must start anew—in a world without magic, with nothing but our own will.”

“I can’t. Fox—”