Trina stepped forward to test her hand against the blade and withdrew it as fast as I had done. She said to Kestra, “Not so long ago, the only thing I wanted was to be the Infidante. How foolish that was. I understand better now what it means to carry such a burden. I’m sorry, Kestra. I know you don’t want this.”
Kestra looked over at me with tears welling in her eyes. “I can’t do it. I can’t go through that again.”
“We made mistakes before,” I said. “We fought magic with magic, corruption with corruption. But we know how to fight Joth now, as we are.” Then louder, to be certain everyone heard me, I added, “We were a divided people, and no one was truly on the side of the Infidante. But that will not happen this time. So listen carefully. When we attack, it will be with one purpose only, and that is to remove Joth Tarquin from the Scarlet Throne. There will be one strategy alone, and that is to follow the lead of the Infidante. You will accept these conditions without contest or you will withdraw now. There is no other way for us to succeed. As king of the Halderians and leader of the Alliance, these are my orders.”
Silence followed my words as each person passed a look from one to another, making their guesses as to who might be the first to leave, if anyone. After several seconds without a single person withdrawing from the room, I thought we might have a truly united group.
I hoped so. Kestra had been betrayed enough for a thousand lifetimes.
Then Loelle walked forward, the crowd parting for her until she stood before me and Kestra. She looked as empty as I had felt after the death of my mother, but with a pleading in her eyes that bored straight into my heart. With clear respect and humility, she nodded first at Kestra, then at me. “Give me one more chance with Joth. If anyone can reach him, I can.”
I shook my head. “You’ve tried, Loelle. And he will be more volatile once he begins to absorb the magic within the Olden Blade. I won’t risk your safety.”
“Your mother gave her life for you. Would I do less for the hope of saving my son?” I didn’t answer right away, and she said, “That is the plan, correct? To kill him?”
I glanced over at Kestra and was about to respond, when Darrow stepped forward. “I’ll go with her. I’ve been a half-life before, and he knows me.”
“That won’t matter to him,” Kestra said. “I’ve been exactly where he is now, and I know what is happening in his mind. His every instinct will be to protect his power. He won’t care that you were a half-life; he won’t even care for his own mother if she threatens his power. He won’t see any difference between you coming to him with open arms and me coming at him with a disk bow in my arms.”
Loelle huffed and was about to reply, when a cry came from the far corner of the room. I couldn’t see who it was or what had happened, but heard a body fall to the floor, then two words emerge from the screams around him: “He’s dead!”
Kestra and I locked eyes. Horror filled me as I understood what she had not spoken. That had to have been Joth’s work, and he would have done it for only one reason: to warn us to back down.
I leaned toward her and whispered, “How was Joth able to do that?”
She began scanning the room. “He must have half-lives here. They’re here, Simon.”
“I am going to him!” Loelle said. “Give me one hour, and if I do not return, then you may do whatever you must do.”
Darrow frowned at Kestra. “I cannot let her go alone.” He finished with a glare at me. “See that nothing happens to my daughter.”
He asked for a promise I would give my own life to keep, but before I reached for Kestra’s hand, she was already following her father, still protesting his going.
Loelle opened the ballroom door, then drew back, seeing Amala Fingray standing there, the young cavalry woman who had briefly been my commander a few nights ago. I hadn’t noticed she was missing from our meeting earlier.
But something was different about her now. She stood stiffly at attention, except for one hand pressed against her chest and pain evident in her eyes.
Joth had made her an Ironheart and taken her for a servant.
Amala focused on Kestra, clearly resisting every word she was being forced to speak, and gritting her teeth against the pain it caused her to fight. “My master has the Olden Blade, ensuring him immortality and all powers once belonging to Lord Endrick. Surrender now, or every person in this room will die.”
Kestra looked over to me, and my mind raced for an answer. Joth had proven he was capable of killing remotely, and that he was willing to do it. He might target anyone without notice, and we had no way to save ourselves.
Blinking hard, Amala’s attention shifted to me. “Will you surrender?”
“Allow me to send a delegation to your master for formal negotiations,” I said.
“Send Kestra Dallisor,” Amala said. “The king of Antora has unfinished business with her.”
“No, Amala.” I stepped forward. “He has unfinished business with me.”
Amala shook her head, like a warning that I had gone too far, and indeed, immediately a slight wind brushed over me, bringing a pinch to my chest, fierce enough that I collapsed to my knees. Several others in the room did the same, including Trina and Huge and Gabe.
“I’ll go with you!” Kestra cried. “But your king must stop this!”
The pressure on my chest lightened, though it was still there. At least I could breathe again.
Kestra glanced over at me and sadly shook her head, then said, “I will bring with me Darrow and your master’s mother.”