“And Kestra became afraid.”
Harlyn frowned. “Yes. And although I had the opportunity, I couldn’t harm her when she was like that.” She shrugged. “Then, when I finally worked up the courage to do it, I literally couldn’t. The disk that I had intended for her backfired, and I shot myself instead.”
My brow wrinkled. “How did that happen?”
“Half-lives. They would’ve done worse, but Kestra tried to persuade them to give loyalty to her instead. I don’t know if it worked, but they didn’t bother us after that. And then she did something that caused my wound to begin healing. She saved my life in there.”
“But I thought—”
“I think in her weakened state, the corruption itself was weakened and she was … like the old Kestra, or the Kestra that I think she must have been once.”
Hope filled me. Perhaps Loelle was wrong and there was a way to heal Kestra. But in Harlyn’s very next words, all hope vanished, leaving me emptier than if she had never spoken.
She said, “By this morning, Kestra’s strength had returned and, with it, every bit of corruption I’d seen before.” Harlyn looked up at me. “I saw it for myself, Simon. When she is weak, the corruption fades. But it’s always there inside her.”
“Where is she now?”
“I don’t know. I last saw her as she was leaving the tunnels. Her strength had returned, she had taken all my weapons, and she was going back with them to face Joth.”
Alarms rang in my mind. “She went alone?”
Harlyn drew in a slow breath. “Not alone. Kestra called two Ironhearts to help her get out of the tunnel. One of them was Rosaleen.”
My heart stopped. “You saw Rosaleen yourself?”
“Briefly, but yes, it was her.”
“She and this other Ironheart are going with Kestra to face Joth?” Pressure began to build inside my chest. She could have a hundred Ironhearts with her, and Joth would cut through them in a minute to get to Kestra.
Harlyn took my hands in hers. “I followed her to the end of the tunnel. I don’t think she knew I was there. Simon, she released the two Ironhearts, gave them their freedom.”
“So where is Rosaleen?” Again, a spark of hope lit within me. And again, Harlyn snuffed it out.
“Kestra sent Rosaleen to find Darrow; then she planned to face Joth alone.”
I pulled my hands free and backed up, pushing my fingers through my hair, trying to sort my thoughts as they flew apart in every direction.
Harlyn said, “Kestra is strong, and she is smart. We have to trust her to do to Joth what she did to Endrick.”
She was right about that, but it didn’t make me feel any better, not if this was about trust. “She’s still corrupt. What is the difference between Joth on the throne, or Kestra?”
“It makes every difference.” Harlyn closed her eyes and seemed to be deep in thought. Finally, she opened them and said, “Do you remember when I told you that before Kestra killed Endrick, he made her kneel? Darrow asked me how he was able to get Kestra to her knees.”
“You told him that you didn’t know.” I tilted my head. “Is that true?”
“No.” Her eyes darted. “Endrick gave her a choice. Either she would kneel, or he would use his magic on me. She chose to kneel, for my sake. She saved me again in the tunnels, even after knowing I was there to kill her. Kestra is different from Joth. She is fighting the poison inside her, fighting harder than I could have imagined until I had to watch her try to resist its hold on her. It’s like an infection that comes back again and again and again, each time a little stronger, and yet she still fights. Joth never has fought it.”
“She cannot fight it forever,” I said.
Harlyn stepped closer and put one hand on my cheek. “Simon, she fights because she loves you. And as long as she loves you, she will never give up.”
I shook my head. I wanted to believe Harlyn. More than anything, I wanted some bit of hope to latch on to, even the thinnest evidence that a future with Kestra still remained. But every time I dared to hope, it was ripped away and I broke a little further.
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “Whatever you think you saw to have told me this—”
Harlyn sighed and gave me a slight smile. “Do you have any idea how much I wanted to return with a report that Kestra deserved to die, or to say anything to finally separate you from her? Once I was trapped with Kestra in that tunnel, my plan was to learn the truth about her.” She took another breath. “The problem is that I did learn the truth. I know that she loves you because those were her own words. She believes that she lost you months ago, but we both know that is not true.”
I looked at Harlyn again, really looked at her, and this time I noticed a tear in the crease of one eye, and the way she was attempting to control her breathing.
“I’m so sorry,” I told her. “Harlyn, in any other time or place, I would have chosen you from a million others.”
She forced a smile to her face. “Only if Kestra was not also one of those million, no?” Now her smile became more sincere. “I always knew that you still loved her, even when you denied it, maybe especially when you denied it. But I believed that you would eventually come to see who she really is. The problem is that last night, I was the one who saw who she really is. Kestra is worth fighting for, Simon, worth saving. If she survives this morning’s battle with Joth, then I will do everything I can to help you protect her until a way can be found to bring her back.”
“Do you believe that?” I asked. “That she can come back from this?”
Harlyn smiled. “No, I don’t simply believe it. The Kestra I met last night will find a way. I know it.”
Along with acquiring Endrick’s powers, I had also inherited a sense for the number of Ironheart soldiers here in Highwyn, and their general location. Which meant I also knew that they had wasted no time in attempting to leave Highwyn as quickly as possible, hoping that with enough distance, they might finally escape their servitude.
Only two had responded to my call for help in the tunnels, and of those, only one remained: Simon’s sister. I doubted she had obeyed my order to find Darrow. More likely, she had scattered with the others as soon as she was outside the palace walls.
I strode toward the throne room, hoping a show of confidence would mask the reality that I was completely alone in this fight. Or … perhaps not.
Directly in front of the throne room doors, a dozen half-lives stood with their eyes on me. I saw them clearly enough, but had not seen them before. If these had been in the group down in the tunnel, I hoped they were here to offer their loyalty once again.
If not, then I was in serious trouble.
Until I was sure, I braced myself, wondering if their intent was to stop me from entering the room, but that didn’t seem to be their purpose. As I stepped forward, so did they.
“You are coming with me?” I asked, more incredulous than not.
I couldn’t hear their words, and I didn’t know if they were even speaking, but I did see distinct nods, and I returned them with gratitude. So I would not be going in alone after all.
“Stay close.” I hoped that would be enough.