“You have no idea how strong it was, Gabe. How it filled me, how its weight tried to push out every good part of me. But there was always a piece of me that it could not touch. This fraction of my heart showed mercy to Harlyn in the throne room, tried to warn you in Highwyn of the condors overhead. That piece of my heart could not be touched because it loved so much. I loved Simon with a power greater than magic … I still do.”
Gabe glanced down, doubting me. But finally, he said, “Well, we have one thing in common. Simon is—or was—my best friend. And you were the girl he once loved. For his sake, we may have to learn to work together.”
My smile quickly faded into something far more serious. “We must work together, Gabe. Whatever our disagreements, I am not your enemy, nor are you mine. We have one common enemy now sitting on the Scarlet Throne. If we spend all our energy fighting each other, that only benefits him.”
“Agreed.”
Gabe shrugged and looked as if he were about to walk on, then said, “When I said you were the girl he once loved, that wasn’t the full truth. He still loves you, Kestra.”
My face flushed, though not for the reasons Gabe might have thought. I shook my head, trying to push down the emotions that were rising in me. Hope was a dangerous thing, and I couldn’t allow Gabe to threaten me with it. “Simon cares for me, and perhaps he always will, but I know the love is gone. He and Harlyn will marry; that’s the plan.”
Gabe stepped closer to me. “When Harlyn entered Simon’s life, she should have been the most obvious decision. Even though you weren’t there, you still stood between them. I went on patrols with her, saw her after she’d leave meals with Simon. I talked with her hour after hour some evenings, trying to explain Simon to her, trying to explain you. Simon loves you, Kestra, and if you don’t know it, then you are the only one.”
I smiled, not only because I believed him, which sent a rush of joy into my heart. But also because I finally understood Gabe as well. I said, “That must be the way you love Harlyn. I hear it in your voice when you say her name.”
Gabe opened his mouth to object, then let out a heavy sigh
and nodded. “I have learned to love her in silence. She never sees me—”
“I see you now.”
Gabe turned and saw Harlyn approaching us in the corridor. She shrugged with some shyness and stepped forward. “I came out to be sure everything was all right. I didn’t expect …” She glanced up at Gabe. “I didn’t know.”
Gabe merely stared at her, possibly struck dumb.
I smiled at Gabe. “From now on, you and I will fight together, and on the same side. We will defeat Joth Tarquin.”
He stuck out a hand, barely aware of me anymore. “Agreed.”
I shook it, then with a backward grin at Harlyn, said, “I suspect you two want to be left alone now.”
Simon was waiting around the first corner after I left Gabe and Harlyn behind. I startled at first to see him, but his smile was wide and the warm expression of his eyes pulled me toward him. I glanced back briefly, then said, “Did you hear—”
“Everything.” He cradled my face in his hands and kissed me, sending warmth throughout my body, the kind of beautiful heat no magic could ever imitate.
A ceremony was held that night for the destruction of the Olden Blade. The full Alliance was in attendance, with two notable exceptions: Loelle, who said that while she did not support the actions of her son, she could not strike against him either. Nor was Imri Stout there, although most of the Brill were. She sent an excuse that she preferred to work toward improving the growing technologies of her people rather than to see the dying magic of another people.
A fire was built in the center of the courtyard, stoked with oils to intensify the heat, and indeed, by the time the ceremony began, the fire could be felt from the farthest corners of the courtyard.
As others talked of the battles they’d seen already and tried to anticipate the challenges yet to come, I only stood in front of the fire, staring at the flames. The Olden Blade was in my hands. How comfortable it had become there, like it was part of me. For a while, it had been part of me—its magic was my magic, its purpose was mine as well.
Indeed, the Olden Blade had become the one part of my identity that I could be proud of. It was the one thing I could do for Antora, and I had done it. I was the Infidante no longer.
Which meant I no longer had an identity.
Rosaleen walked up to me. “I never did thank you.”
It was difficult to look at her, to think that after every offense I had caused her and her family, she had come to thank me. I only said, “Nothing I’ve done deserves any thanks.”
“You set me free as an Ironheart. I never expected that.”
“I didn’t expect you would be one of the people who came when I called for help.”
Rosaleen smiled. “I’d heard of my brother’s interest in you, so I figured I ought to see for myself the kind of person you were.”
“I’m sorry that was our first introduction.”
“It wasn’t.” I glanced at her again, and Rosaleen said, “Actually our first introduction was outside All Spirits Forest. I saw what it did to you when Celia died. That’s when I began to understand you.”