“These won’t do,” I said to Joth. “You could always restore someone from a white disk’s effects. And the black disk will work too fast. If you wish for me to prove my loyalty, then give me a red one.”
“Creating a wound that cannot be stopped up?” Joth said. “Is that because you still have magic and hope to save your victim?”
I must’ve hesitated a second too long, because he grabbed my hand and suddenly his even tone became a snarl. “How are you alive, Kestra?” When I hesitated again, he said, “There’s a rumor from one of my half-lives, about a disk that contained a power to restore life.” He showed me the two disks that Darrow had given him. “Which of these is capable of that?”
“These disks will kill, nothing more.” I tried to squirm away from him but failed. “You’re hurting my arm, Joth.”
He released my arm, then threw both disks against the wall of the throne room, shattering them. Then he looked up at Amala as she was reentering the room. “We will take no chances. Bring me another black disk.”
Amala bowed and left the room, and while we waited, Loelle said, “My son, do you remember our time in All Spirits Forest?”
His mood seemed to soften. “Of course.”
Loelle stepped forward, subtly motioning to me to move away from him, which I did. “Do you remember the way you cared for the half-lives, watched out for them?”
“I remember.”
Her eyes filled with tears. “I care for you too, more than you can imagine. It is a mother’s love, and the power of it is greater than the corruption within you.”
“Love is weakness!” he shouted, then with an eye on me added, “A soft heart is a pierced heart. Didn’t you teach me that once?”
I stared back at him, surprised to be feeling sympathy for what he had become. “A pierced heart can be shared. One that is hardened remains alone.”
Loelle finally reached his side, placing a hand on his arm. “Release the Ironhearts at Woodcourt. Give them a chance to kneel to you, even as we do.”
She knelt at his feet and motioned for Darrow and me to do the same.
Darrow said, “If we kneel, will you release those still at Woodcourt?”
“I have loosened my grip on their hearts enough that they can come here to bargain for their lives.” Joth reached out his hand to summon me to him, but I pretended not to see it. “Together we will build a kingdom with the Alliance as the first of our servants. At least, those who are allowed to live.”
At that moment, Amala returned to the throne room holding a black disk. She dipped her head at Joth, who held out his hand for the disk. Once he received it, he passed it to me.
“Now get the disk bow for her,” Joth ordered.
Amala obeyed, placing it in my hands.
I took the bow but asked, “Is there no other way to prove my loyalty?”
Joth turned to me. “Reconnect with me. We are stronger when we are together.”
“I have no magic,” I said. “There is nothing to connect.”
But he held out his hands, inviting me again to repeat with him the process of connecting. The thought of what this might mean made my stomach roll, but I had to do it. Taking his hand in mine might provide the very opportunity I needed to switch the black disk in my hand with the magic disk in my satchel. But I feared it would come at a terrible price.
I placed the disk bow over my shoulder and the black disk from Amala into the satchel, then forced a smile to my face and walked to him. He was only a few steps away, but I worked for every single one.
Joth took my hands in his and pulled me close. He studied my face, seeking any possible sign of my disloyalty. Here I was, on an errand to kill him. Disloyalty was the least of the crimes he might find in me.
He pushed his fingers through my hair, then let one hand slide from the back of my head down to my neck. “This was a place of power for Lord Endrick, was it not?”
I tried to keep my breaths even, tried to hide the shaking of my legs, the tremor in my voice. “For his enemies, it was.”
“And are you my enemy?” He brought me even closer to him, and in his eyes, I saw anger and a thirst for revenge. “Let down your defenses. Let me into your heart, into your mind.”
At first, the magic coming from him had merely pressed in on me, but within seconds, it began to crush me and I had no defense against it. His magic took hold of my heart, not to control it but to dissect the emotions I was guarding most carefully there. Then he found what he was looking for, what I had been terrified he would find.
“Ah, I see that your feelings for Simon are more than simply caring. You love him.”
“Please don’t harm him.” A tear fell from one eye. “Please, Joth.”
“I think that I must.” Joth cupped the side of my face. I wanted to push away, but feared if I did, his hand would go to my neck again. He added, “Otherwise, I think it quite likely that your love for one king will interfere with loyalty to another. The black disk must be saved for him.”
“I will connect with you right now,” I said. “Then you know you will have my loyalty. Let that be enough.”
I hoped that would be enough. If I was the only sacrifice today, I could live with that.
Indeed, Joth smiled at me, and I felt the tendrils of his magic reaching for me again, but then his smile faded into a thin, cold line. “That is not nearly enough, my dear.”
I shuddered. My dear was the term Endrick had used on me. Hearing it echoed once more, in this room, sent waves of fear through me.
Joth released me and added, “Do you still have the black disk I gave you?” I nodded, and he said, “Good, because your banished king has arrived.”
At that very moment, Rawk flew into the throne room, his full wingspan easily fitting within the wall that had once been all windows. Joth and I each backed up to avoid his fiery breath, though in this dampened room, it quickly extinguished. As Joth’s attention shifted to Simon, Darrow ran forward to pull me away from Joth.
Still on the dragon, Simon held up his sword and said, “We never finished our duel. Little surprise from a coward, a false king. You are an embarrassment to your people. Or all people, for that matter.”
Simon stopped there, clutching his chest as Joth squeezed on his heart, but put his eyes on me. I quietly pulled the disk bow off my shoulder. This was my chance.
“How dare you?” Joth shouted. “Kneel to me!”
“Finish our duel,” Simon said through clenched teeth. “The loser will kneel … to me.”
I reached into the satchel to find the disk I would need to complete my task. I had placed the black disk from Joth in front. The one I had brought was behind it. I withdrew the one I wanted and placed it in the pocket of the bow. My heart pounded. If this went badly, all was lost.
“I will gladly finish our duel,” Joth said, still watching Simon. “But I will use all of my magic, for it is as much a part of me now as your skills with a sword are to you.”
Simon dismounted, keeping his sword ready. “I suppose that’s all you can do. Obviously, before you had Endrick’s magic, you were rather insignificant.”
Joth straightened up taller, and I quietly took aim as he said, “I have always had magic. What I have now is simply more.”