The Deceiver's Heart (The Traitor's Game 2)

“No, sir, I will not claim the throne. And if I did, my first order would not be to send Halderian armies into a hopeless battle. Because as long as Endrick reigns, the battle is hopeless, and you know it!”

“Everyone knows it,” Tenger snapped. “But I had to make an agreement with Basil, and those were his terms.”

“Because otherwise, he won’t say where the Olden Blade is.”

“Even if Kestra’s memory came back, he claims that she doesn’t know where it is. She instructed him to hide it so that if things went badly with Endrick in that final meeting—which they clearly did—he wouldn’t get the information from her. But Basil won’t reveal where it is until we’re fully committed to Reddengrad’s defense. That’s why I need you, Simon. To get the Halderians involved until Basil reveals to us the Olden Blade.”

“Which does us no good while Kestra’s memories are gone. As she is now, I doubt she even knows which end of the dagger to aim at Endrick.”

“Loelle gave her a medicinal tea that may help to recover some memories. And she’s got an Endrean mind, which we hope will heal quickly against Endrick’s magic. But that’s only part of the problem.” He drew in a deep breath. “What do you know about that necklace Kestra is wearing?”

I’d seen it, but it looked like nothing more than Dominion jewelry. The way Tenger asked the question concerned me though, and probably for good reason.

“Endrick gave it to her?”

“The stone set into the pendant isn’t natural. He must have created it. Endrick doesn’t give gifts—it’s there for a reason.”

I agreed, but with Endrick, anything was possible. Did the necklace affect her memories, or control her behavior? Could it read her thoughts or did it have some other malicious intent? I said, “We’ve got to get rid of it.”

“Unless that harms her,” Tenger said. “We can’t touch the necklace until we understand it.”

“And we won’t understand if we can’t touch it,” I mused, batting a fist against my thigh.

Tenger continued, “Loelle confirmed something else to me: Kestra is an Ironheart now.”

My gut twisted, and I took a slow breath to absorb that before mumbling, “He’s controlling her?”

“Not exactly. But he has some awareness of her and can kill her if he senses any disloyalty in her words or actions. But he hasn’t yet, so he still has a use for her.”

I knew what the Ironhearts were, but when we fought them, it was always them or us to fall in battle. We’d never tried reclaiming an Ironheart. I didn’t even know if it was possible.

Tenger must have sensed my thoughts. “An Ironheart is created through magic. You cannot heal her with anything less.”

The tension in my muscles worsened, as if I’d been kicking against a brick wall for weeks, and in some ways, I obviously had. “What are we supposed to do? Endrick will never give up control of her, and we have no means to force him.”

“No, we don’t. Nor can we fully restore her memories. Endrick has corrupted them too much for Loelle to rebuild everything.” Tenger clasped his hands together and lowered his voice. “But we have a plan.”

My eyes narrowed, sensing the cure was worse than the cause. “No, Tenger.”

“We think the only way to fully heal her is to give her magic. We’ve got to take her to the Blue Caves.”

The anger that had been festering beneath the surface now exploded. “Are you insane?”

Tenger arched a brow. “What was that?”

I straightened my posture and took a deep breath to calm myself. “Are you insane … sir? You’ll risk her whole future simply because you think it will help?”

“We know that nothing else will, and maybe magic will be good for her.” Tenger’s voice remained calmer than I could pretend to be. “Loelle has magic. That’s how she’s healed hundreds of Coracks over the years.”

This wasn’t a surprise, but I also knew that over time, any Endrean with magic would turn bad. Loelle was no different. The instant she began to show signs of corruption, her fate was already decided.

“What about your orders to kill any living Endreans?” I asked.

“Obviously Kestra must be an exception.” Tenger hesitated again, longer than he should have. “At least until she completes her quest.”

I did a double take, certain I could not have heard him correctly. “And after Endrick is dead? Then what?”

Tenger sank back into his chair. If he wanted to appear a reasonable leader who acted solely for the good of the country, he wouldn’t get far with me. He couldn’t justify such thoughts in his mind without being every bit the villain that Endrick was.