Which made me wonder if Harlyn felt the same way about him. I knew they had spent a lot of time together and become good friends, if they were only friends. Maybe she didn’t feel she could say anything either.
Loud, angry voices suddenly echoed down the hall from the throne room, bringing me back to the moment. I could think about Gabe later. For now, I needed to think of Harlyn and Kestra.
I lifted my sword and ventured deeper into the palace, toward the throne room. Perhaps it was pointless to have my sword out—it would be worthless if the half-lives attacked—but I felt better with it in my hand.
Only a few steps later, someone reached out and grabbed my arm. I twisted around and began to swipe at my attacker, but stopped at the last minute, realizing it was no attacker at all. Or at least, I didn’t think it was.
Darrow put a finger to his lips and motioned for me to join him. He had stationed himself in a darkened alcove directly beneath the grand staircase. I crouched near him but said nothing. He looked deflated, as if the world had caved in around him.
“You were right about her,” he said. “Kestra is worse than I had anticipated. Even if she recognizes what she has become, she has no wish to change anything. She cares only for the throne.”
“Harlyn was with you. Where is she?” I asked.
“Harlyn entered the throne room with me, and when I failed, she challenged Kestra to a fight. Kestra used some sort of magic to sweep Harlyn out of the room, but I couldn’t find her. I don’t know what has happened to her since then.”
“Was Joth in the room with you as well?”
Darrow nodded. “He entered as I left, though he greeted Kestra as a queen and seemed warm enough to her. But he has me worried. When I was … like his people, and banished to All Spirits Forest, Joth was the person everyone looked to. They consider him their ruler and respect him because for all these years, he was the only one they could communicate with. They served him, and for it, he promised to find a way to free them one day.”
“Or to find someone who could,” I breathed.
“Loelle is Joth’s mother. They used Kestra to fulfill the promise, but their plans made sense. There was no other hope for us, and Loelle’s motives seemed good. In exchange for Kestra’s work, we would help her fight Endrick, in a way that no fully human army could. I need you to understand this, Simon. Joth is a good person, or he was. But he has become—”
“Like Kestra,” I finished.
“Yes, but worse, because I don’t think he has fought it the way she did. I’ve stayed close enough to the throne room to know that she is finishing what she started with his people, restoring them to full life. But I think this time he is forcing her to do it.”
A pit formed in my stomach. “Do any half-lives remain?”
Darrow shrugged. “There were a great many of them, but most of them were originally Halderians … your people, not Joth’s. Is there any chance of you bringing them to your side?”
“Maybe I could. But Harlyn would do better,” I said. “We’ve got to find her.”
“If it’s the only way of persuading the Halderian half-lives to join you, then I will help you find Harlyn. But in exchange, you must help me find Kestra. There’s got to be a way to reach her, to help her.”
I drew in a deep breath. “What if there isn’t? Loelle told me she’s searched for weeks for a way to heal her, and has not found any way to do it. What if it cannot be done?”
“I will never stop hoping for a solution,” Darrow said. “I’m her father!”
“And I’m in l—!” I paused, to better select my words. In a quieter voice, I added, “I’m her friend, Darrow. Tell me what to do, because I genuinely don’t know.”
Darrow stared at me before softly nodding, then said, “Kestra must be in the throne room still. As she was, I cannot imagine that she will abandon the throne as long as a breath of life remains in her.”
“There might not be anything more than that,” I said, feeling the weight inside me grow heavier. “If Joth intends to replace her on that throne, there is only one way to do it.”
Darrow nodded again. “And what about you, King of the Halderians? Do you intend to replace them both on that throne?”
“I intend to remove anyone from the throne who is ruled by corruption,” I said. “But what I told you before is true: The last of my intentions is to harm Kestra.”
Darrow grunted. “I really do hate you Coracks, and perhaps you most of all. But I’ll choose to believe you because I have no other choice. Let’s go in and try to talk our way toward that throne, or fight our way there if we must.”
I shook his hand and together we emerged from the alcove, rounding toward the grand staircase, only to find ourselves surrounded by a dozen people who I assumed had been half-lives an hour ago. They were dressed in clothing that might have been in fashion a generation ago, and looked uncomfortable in their surroundings. Most were lightly armed, if at all, but I had no doubt that if they were here, so were several half-lives who would assure we followed whatever orders we were about to receive.
“The king of Antora, and prince of the Navanese people, requests an audience with you in his throne room,” a woman near us said.
Darrow squinted at her. “Do you mean Joth?”
“Where is Kestra?” I asked. “The queen?”
The woman shrugged. “She betrayed the king. Upon his orders she restored us, then harmed us in the same moment.”
Darrow’s eyes narrowed. “How?”
The woman held out her hands, palms up. “Before Endrick cursed us, I had the power to produce heat from my hands. Kestra Dallisor has that power now, my power! She stole from me, stole from every one of us. When we find Kestra, she will have to answer for her crimes.”
“When you find her?” I repeated. “She’s no longer in the throne room?”
“No, as you will see for yourself.” A white-haired man stepped forward from the group, widening his arm to show us the way. “If you will, please.”
Darrow and I nodded, and the group closed in around us. However, just before we entered the throne room, the man leaned in a little closer to me and whispered, “I know who you are, Simon Hatch, and no matter what happens in there, I consider you my king.”
I gave him a brief nod, then the doors opened and we were led inside. Joth sat on the Scarlet Throne now, casually leaning against one arm of the throne as if to give the impression of being unruffled and confident, but it wasn’t working. Something had clearly rattled him since the last time we had met.
Scattered about the room were more of the people Kestra had restored, but it wasn’t even forty or fifty. Certainly it was not the army that I had expected to see, based on the force of their initial attack. When Joth leaned into the light, I noticed he had a long scratch down his face. I hoped Kestra had done that.
He let out a heavy sigh. “I warned you to leave, I warned you to stay away, and yet here you are again. My hope is that you have reentered my palace with the intention of bowing to me now, saving yourself the humiliation of doing so tomorrow at noon, in front of all the armies you have brought into the courtyard.”
“That is half-correct,” I said. “As you suggest, I do not want to be humiliated tomorrow at noon. But I have come here to discuss the details of your surrender. Because I will not bow to you now, or ever.”