pointedly avoided his gaze.
Leo couldn’t stand it any longer. He was sick of watching people fight over something that wasn’t even theirs to begin with. “There’s nothing here for you,” he said to his grandmother. “There’s no power you can wield or control. It belongs to Sera and her city. It gives their city life. You can’t own that. Don’t you see? There are bigger things than some stupid plan to raise yourself up, to rule over a handful of islands. Wyllin just told you our planet is dying and all you can think of is Culinnon and your family legacy and keeping power for yourself.”
“I see you inherited your father’s arrogance,” Ambrosine said to him, her voice dripping with disdain. “That does not surprise me. Agnes, however . . .” She looked at her granddaughter and shook her head. “I thought we had an agreement. I thought you and I were going to change the world.”
“I never said I would join you in those plans.” Agnes looked frightened, but stood her ground, her eyes flitting to Vada, still struggling against the Misarro. “I never wanted to change the world. I came here to be my own person, to study science. I thought I came here for you, too, for a connection to my mother, but you can’t give me that, can you? No more than my father can. You both hoard her. You’re both so wrapped up in yourselves.” She jutted out her chin. “I am Alethea’s daughter. She didn’t want what you were offering and neither do I.”
“I told you, Mother,” Hektor said. “She is ungrateful. Let us go, let us leave them here. The shores are filled with gems; we can take the riches and return to Culinnon.”
“I am not returning to Culinnon until I have the power the scrolls promised,” Ambrosine said, turning on her eldest son with an expression of utter contempt. “And I am not leaving Agnes, no matter how many impassioned speeches she makes. Even if your wife were to somehow manage to produce a child, it would have nowhere near the claim Agnes does. Besides,” she said, her nose wrinkling, “Bellamy would probably just have a boy anyway, and then where would we be?”
Leo could not believe how cruel Ambrosine was to her own offspring. There was something perverse about it, like she enjoyed taunting him. He recalled the memory from his father, when Alethea had said, “I think that island has made my family crazy.” Crazy, perhaps, and also cruel.
“There are no riches here,” Wyllin said. “Those jewels you saw on the beaches were illusions. If you were to try to take them off of Braxos, they would turn to dust in your hands. Once the tether is broken, this whole island will crumble into the sea.”
Hektor looked stunned, his spear trembling. Just then there was an enormous boom that made everyone in the courtyard jump.
“The Renalt,” Ambrosine said. “That stubborn bitch. You’d think she’d have given up when we destroyed most of her warships.”
There was another boom and the ground beneath them shook.
“Perhaps we should go, mistress,” one of the Misarros suggested. Ambrosine silenced her with a look. Then she turned to Wyllin.
“This is your island,” she said. “I see it now. What is your price? What do you want? I will give you anything you ask for. You met my ancestor. We have a connection, you and I. I swear to wield this power only for good.”
The lie was so obvious it was almost sad. Wyllin looked at Ambrosine for a long moment, her eyes clear as dawn, revealing nothing. At last, she said, “I will show you. But it will destroy you.”
Ambrosine’s lips curled. “I’d like to see it try.”
Wyllin sighed and waved a hand over the fountain. Ambrosine gasped. She must be able to see the tether, Leo realized with a start. But he couldn’t, and judging by the way Agnes was squinting, she couldn’t either. Wyllin’s words from before came back to him.
I am the tether and the tether is me.
Ambrosine’s eyes grew round and bright—a dark hunger crept across her face and spread throughout her body, making her back hunch and her hands curl like claws.
“Yes,” she hissed. “Yes, I see. I see it now. Oh, it’s beautiful. Magnificent. It’s . . .” She licked her lips. “It belongs to my family. It’s mine. Mine . . .”
One claw reached out and Leo realized what she was going to do a moment too late.
“No!” he