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.”
I had no idea how to answer her and felt relieved when Simon joined us. He gave Rosaleen a quick hug before she made an excuse to leave us alone. When she did, he took my hand in his. “Are you ready?”
“I doubt I’ll ever be ready,” I replied.
“Can you do this?”
“I must.”
He gave my hand a squeeze. “Yes, but can you do this?”
I wished he would stop asking and try to understand. “Simon, I must. Let that be enough.”
“Is it so difficult? I suppose the blade has great meaning for you, because of what you accomplished with it.”
“If it were only that, tonight would be a simple end to an object of great evil. But I’ve been thinking about who I was when I used this. I was becoming an object of great evil myself. And the more I embraced the decay inside me, the easier it became to hold this dagger. I felt nothing for Endrick when I stabbed him, nor for Joth when I attacked him. But it’s different now, because I’m different now. When this blade is destroyed, Joth will lose every power that was once Endrick’s. This is another step in Joth’s destruction.” I looked up at Simon. “I feel it this time. How awful it is what we have to do.”
“There is courage in facing one’s enemy,” he said. “But it takes greater courage to feel for that enemy.”
Simon put an arm around me, and I leaned on his shoulder until we were informed that the fire was as hot as it would get. It was time to act.
A platform had been built near the fire. Simon would speak first, explaining to everyone why this destruction was necessary. Then I would throw the blade into the fire, destroying the weapon, but also destroying all of Endrick’s magic, so that no one could ever take hold of it again.
Simon kissed the top of my head and walked onto the platform, holding up his arms for silence. Then he began, “This ceremony marks the end of one battle, and the gateway to the second. Do not deceive yourselves—this is not over, we have not yet won. But we will, and it begins here. I wish to add …”
Simon’s voice trailed off as he looked sharply upward at the dark skies, then gestured in front of him and said, “Everyone move away, hurry!”
I ran to my left, and others who had been near me scattered as well, in time for Simon’s dragon to swoop down to the ground. His roar sounded like an alarm and Simon instantly took a running leap off the platform, and as the dragon prepared to launch back into the air, Simon called out, “Prepare yourselves for battle!”
Simon had no sooner taken flight before something whistled as it fell from the dark skies above, landing somewhere on the opposite side of the fire. After three seconds of absolute silence, an explosion rattled the ground beneath us. The building where Woodcourt’s gardener had once worked came down in pieces around us, followed by pleas for help and cries for the various armies to assemble. These were the Dominion fire pellets, and in this darkness it’d be nearly impossible to defend ourselves. With the Olden Blade in hand, I ran to help the injured, but Trina reached me first.
“Kestra, we have to get you inside.”