The Alcazar (The Cerulean Duology #2) - Amy Ewing Page 0,110

now. It’s better than never knowing at all.”

Leo nodded. “But why risk coming here with Matthias?” he asked. “Won’t Ambrosine be furious if she finds out you’ve returned to Culinnon?”

“Ah,” Eneas said, a clever smile spreading across his face. “But this is not the end of my journey. Or should I say, our journey.”

“What do you mean?” Agnes asked.

He gestured around at the cabin. “Matthias and I have brought you a ship.” He leaned forward, candlelight shining in his eyes. “We are going to get you to Braxos.”

30

Agnes

AGNES CREPT INTO VADA’S ROOM AFTER SHE AND LEO returned from the ship.

“Mmph?” Vada mumbled, rubbing her eyes. But she became alert once Agnes began whispering all that Eneas had said on the clipper. When she told Vada about Braxos, she sat straight up in bed.

“When are we leaving?” she asked.

“Soon,” Agnes said. “Matthias will let us know.”

“Sera will be much relieved.”

“Yes,” Agnes agreed, even as her heart sank at the thought of losing her Cerulean friend. It would be harder for Leo, though. She’d never seen her brother so content or relaxed as he had been these past few days on Culinnon.

She wondered how Sera would feel, leaving him behind.

Agnes slept in Vada’s bed that night—she’d grown accustomed to sleeping beside her on the Palma so it had felt strange to sleep alone. But it was a restless night. Braxos was so close now and Agnes didn’t want to wait a second more than necessary to start the journey there. She felt a little guilty at the thought of deceiving her grandmother, but Ambrosine wasn’t really the person Agnes had been dreaming of her whole life. And after the way she’d spoken to Matthias, and how she’d thrown her father into a terrifying cavern, and all that Eneas had told her . . . Agnes knew she would never be what Ambrosine wanted her to be. And Ambrosine wasn’t the connection to her mother Agnes had hoped for.

But Matthias was. And Eneas was here. There was more to her mother’s family than just Ambrosine.

The next afternoon, the four of them gathered in one of the sitting rooms. Vada was teaching Leo how to play dice while Sera sat listlessly braiding and unbraiding her hair, her eyes fixed on the glass walls that looked out over the ocean. Agnes was skimming a book on one of the past Byrne matriarchs, but her mind kept wandering to the fact that her father had actually loved her mother. She simply couldn’t fathom it and now that she knew, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. It made her happy to know her mother had been happy, but it also made her resent her father even more for acting all these years as if he hated her.

There was a light tap on the door and Agnes sat up. Bellamy hovered in the doorway, her shoulders hunched as if expecting someone to strike her.

“Ambrosine wishes to see you,” she said. “All of you.”

Agnes hadn’t spoken much to Hektor’s shy, skittish wife, but Sera had told her how she’d seen into Bellamy’s memories and that the woman had been devoted to her ever since. Agnes wished more people on this planet felt that way, instead of trying to control or trap or manipulate Sera for their own purposes.

They followed Bellamy down through the halls until they came to a large circular room Agnes hadn’t seen before. The ceiling was glass but the walls were marble, pristine white with narrow, arched windows cut along them at intervals. There was an enormous chair that was more of a throne, upholstered in velvet with gilded wings, and two benches on either side. Matthias and Hektor were already there, seated on the right-hand bench. Bellamy scurried to sit beside her husband. Ambrosine, of course, was on the throne.

“Come,” she said. “Sit.”

The foursome dutifully took their seats on the left-hand bench, exchanging confused glances with each other. They heard footsteps down the hall and Agnes’s pulse thrummed in her ears.

When her father and Kiernan were marched in, they looked awful: dark circles under their eyes, their hair wild, their faces gaunt. Kiernan’s whole body was shaking.

“I trust you had an unpleasant evening,” Ambrosine said to Xavier, who stared at her with a steely expression despite his unruly appearance.

“Mother, please—” Kiernan began, but Ambrosine held up a hand and he fell silent.

“Be quiet, Ezra, the adults are talking.” She turned her focus back to Xavier. “Now. What judgment should be made on the