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.”
Joth’s face reddened, but he asked, “What details are those?”
“Obviously, I cannot allow you to take the throne without a challenge.”
He frowned. “Obviously.”
“So my first option is to bring the full power of the Alliance against you and your army of fifty civilians, stripped of their magic. I know you still have some half-lives to help you in the fight, but there are more of us than them. Based solely on the numbers, I will prevail.”
Joth didn’t flinch. “And your second option?”
“Tomorrow at noon, I challenge you to a duel, though you must agree to fight without the use of magic—nothing else is fair. The winner cedes his throne to the other.”
Joth smiled. “Ah, so if you defeat me, you expect that I will surrender the Scarlet Throne?”
“If the battle is only between you and me, we each preserve the lives of our people.”
“And when I defeat you,” Joth continued, “what is my reward?”
“The Halderian throne, with all our lands and our people.” I let the offer dangle in front of him for a moment, tempting him.
“I could kill you here,” Joth said.
“Which would mean I am no longer a problem for you, but that will not give you the loyalty and service of my people.”
Darrow turned and began addressing the others in the room. “I know that many of you here feel a loyalty to Joth because of all he has done for us. I also know that many of you are Halderian. Your king, Simon Hatch, is before you now. You may be grateful to Joth for making your lives possible. But it is time to bring your loyalties back home. You will serve your Halderian king.”
Silence fell in the room for a moment, until I saw the same white-haired man who had escorted us here go to his knees. Another woman at his side did the same, then three or four more people, then another ten. Another fifteen or twenty crossed one arm over their hearts and stared at Joth, their king. Just like that, I had taken almost half of Joth’s followers.
“Meet me in the courtyard at noon tomorrow,” I said to Joth. “Or you’ll never have the respect of those you claim to lead.”
“Sooner or later, they’ll all come
crawling to me,” he said. “Noon tomorrow.”
“Until then, where is my daughter?” Darrow asked. “I insist on taking her away with me.”
“Who was the other girl you brought here before … Harlyn? I am told that she was last seen in pursuit of your daughter with a disk bow ready to fire. I expect that by now, one or the other is still alive. Not both.”
“Where did they go?” Anxious as I had been to confront Joth, that was nothing compared to thinking about any confrontation between Harlyn and Kestra. I added, “We want to find them.”