Page 87 of Abducting Sarah

“She’s fine. Physically,” I assured him. “But what happened with Mother Portend, and the battle with the conduits, it was all too much for her to manage. I…I made a mistake, Father. I never should have taken her. Not here or anywhere else. It was wrong of me. And I should not have forced her to unite with me before I knew more about her. I was a fool.” I shook my head in disgust.

He walked straight to me and glared. “Do not ever speak of my son that way in my presence.”

I almost smiled at the correction. “But it’s true. Father, I stole her from her home on Earth to bring her here to help our cause—”

“We used to steal humans all the time,” he said, shrugging a ghostly shoulder. “It was our way.”

“It is notmyway. Not anymore. Uniting with her was foolish—”

“Deacon,” my father said sternly. “You are not a fool. You do not do things for foolish reasons. You did what you did because you thought you were doing the right thing for your family. I understand that, and I am sure she does, too.”

I rubbed my fingers across my forehead. “She seemed to understand why I did what I did. At the end.”

“Did you mistreat her, Son?”

I straightened at the question. “Outside of taking her from Earth against her will, I tried to treat her with the utmost respect.”

He nodded along. “I was impressed by Sarah. She was very brave to offer to take Jac’s place knowing that it would most likely cost her her life. And she was quick-witted enough to upset Mother Portend by cutting her off when she was about to makeher big speech.” Father chuckled at that. “I will not forget the look on the crone’s face when Sarah did that. It was good to see that old woman put in her place, even if just by a little.”

As a ghost himself, my father’s words and praise surprised me. “You did not respect Mother Portend before the fight?”

He looked aghast. “She was a self-important manipulator who used the conduits like her own militia. Halla is safer without her. Once the remainder of the conduits are hunted down and disposed of, we will all be safer for the time being.”

I frowned, suspecting there was more that my father was not telling me. “I know they have not been the only threat here, but I do not know much more than that. Who else has caused you troubles?”

“I am fortunate to live where I do—far away from Faithless,” he said, mentioning a name I’d never heard before. “No one else has caused me trouble, though Idoexpect trouble down the road.”

“Faithless?” I asked as I sat down wearily on the stone bench outside his house. “What is that?”

“I don’t want to trouble you, Son, you have enough to—”

“Father,” I demanded. “Speak the truth.”

He huffed. “Do you remember Rex Terian?”

That name was a cold knife in my chest. “Yes.”

“Faithless is a territory on the other side of Halla,” he explained. “It is eight days’ walk from here, thankfully. Faithless is as described—without the faith. It is a decrepit, corrupt city. There are no temples there, and when the conduits tried to assert their authority in the area, they were brutally rebuffed. Of all the Ladrians to run it—

“Rex?” I guessed, still feeling a chill at the name.

Father nodded once. “He has fallen from a life as the favored son of a classed family to something of a power hungry bastard warlord, if the rumors are true. He is ruthless and cruel andsadistic and it’s only a matter of time before he will wreak havoc on planets outside of Faithless, including ours.”

I shuddered at the thought. As much as it had crushed me to watch Sarah leave, a part of me was relieved she was no longer on Halla and in harm’s way. “Then Sarah will be safer on Earth.” Because if Rex Terian ever found out who Sarah was and what she was truly capable of—

“It was the fight with the conduits that sent her back, right?” Father asked.

“I believe so, yes.”

His eyes crinkled with his smile. “You did right by her, as much as your circumstances would allow, and you have nothing to regret,” he said in an attempt to soothe my conscience. “And now, you are no longer united and single.”

“I may be no longer united, but there are many things I regret.”Rex Terian being a major one.

“Regret is something we have in common. The fight with the conduits was a messy thing, and considering Sarah’s injuries and what could have happened to her, it makes sense for her to leave. I do not like that she left you behind, but I understand why she did it. Mortal fear is a powerful motivation.”

My jaw clenched. “I can’t help but feel like all of this is my fault.”

“You were bold, Son. Your plan was brave. You want to raise an army and defeat the most powerful family on Orhon, the Bateens—there are many kilometers yet to go. Your steps forward will not be without some stumbles along the way. No war ever started easily. I trust you in all things. You will win this conflict, one way or another.”

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