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“Rett was determined to help us,” Esta reminded Harte, even as she scanned the crowded hall.
“He’s not the one I’m worried about.”
She glanced at him. “You think North would get in the way?”
“You and I both know that North has a family full of reasons to walk away from all this and to take his oldest son with him.” Harte had seen the fear in the cowboy’s eyes. His own father might never have looked at him with that same kind of concern, but after losing Sammie, Harte had at least a little understanding of what North might be feeling. “One good dose of one of Maggie’s concoctions, and Everett wouldn’t have much choice.”
Esta’s mouth went tight. “I don’t think North would do that to Everett. Besides, if North was going to run, he would have last night.”
“Maybe…” Harte hadn’t forgotten the cowboy’s reluctance to allow Everett to stay. “But if they left instead of heading to the tower, we’d never know. We’re just assuming they’re up there.” He jerked his head toward the ceiling.
“If you were this worried, you should have let me go with Everett,” Esta reminded him.
“We already went through this,” Harte told her. “You can’t be in two places at once.”
“With my affinity, it would have been easy to—”
“Not with all these medallions. Besides, it’s more important that we focus on getting the Book and the dagger from Jack,” Harte said, cutting off the discussion. It hardly mattered that with her affinity, Esta practically could be in two places at once. He wanted her with him, though, because at least when she was near him, he knew she was safe. “Whatever happens with the tower, getting the Book and the dagger is more important anyway.”
Esta frowned as though maybe she didn’t agree.
“We cannot allow Jack or Thoth to keep that Book, Esta.” Harte took her hand, tangling their fingers. He hated the Quellant and how empty it made him feel, but at least it allowed him to touch Esta while he still could. The Book was the best chance he had of saving Esta from herself—of maybe even saving them both—but if they couldn’t get it back, he’d take whatever time he had left with her. “We need the secrets contained in those pages.”
“You’re right,” Esta admitted. “I think we can trust North and Everett, though. This is going to work, Harte. It has to.” She gave his hand a soft squeeze and then lowered her voice. “How is she?”
“Quiet,” he said, knowing that Esta was talking about Seshat.
So far the power inside of him felt as absent and empty as his own. Still, he couldn’t forget what had happened at the Nitemarket. Whatever those men had done during the attack had made the effects of the Quellant all but evaporate. Harte knew that he had to prepare for the possibility that it might happen again. As long as Seshat’s power still lived inside him, he would continue to be a liability.
“Esta…” He wasn’t exactly sure how he could make her understand.
She turned to him with a question in her eyes, her expression serious and guarded. There was so much he wanted to tell her, so much he wanted from her—with her—but he settled for the only thing he could do for her.
“If anything goes wrong tonight and you have a chance to escape, even if it’s without me, I want you to promise that you will,” he told her.
“We’ve been over this, Harte.” Her eyes flashed with impatience, and she started to pull her hand away from him, but he caught it before she could pull away completely.
“Too many times,” he admitted. Her fingers felt delicate entwined with his, but he knew they were strong and capable—just like Esta herself. “I still want your promise. If something happens, and it becomes too dangerous for you to take me with you, I need to know you won’t hesitate. I need you to go on without me.”
“And what about stopping Seshat?” Esta asked.
“I’ll take care of her.” He couldn’t meet her eyes. “I’ve told you where you can find the ring—”
“No. Absolutely not,” Esta told him with a determined tightness in her jaw.
“Think about what happened at the Nitemarket, Esta.”
“I can fight off Seshat. I have before,” she argued.
Harte hated everything about the conversation. “Maybe… But at what cost? The earthquakes we caused were all Jack needed to build the first tower. We can’t risk something like that happening again, especially not here, where everyone is already scared and angry. Even if we are able to get away, the mess we leave behind could be devastating.”
She shook her head, stubborn as she’d ever been. “I’m not going through all of this again with you, Harte. We will find Jack. We will get the Book. We will leave. Together. That’s the plan, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Harte could feel himself clenching his teeth. He’d thought long and hard about this through the small hours of the night as they’d plotted and planned. If push came to shove, he’d do whatever he had to in order to give her a chance to go on—to survive.
“And what if there’s no way to leave together?” Harte asked. “What if the choice is you going or both of us dying?”
Esta only stared at him. “It won’t be.”
