Page 31 of Claiming Sarah

But Leda smiled and shook her head. “No, Contra. I am given toyou. The second most important person of Halla. There is no greater honor for someone like me.”

“I can’t. I just can’t with this.” Sarah shook her head, frustrated. “Leda, what would happen if I were to take you back to your master?”

“Out of the question,” Deacon immediately said. “We are not going anywhere near Rex Terian.”

Sarah shot him a perturbed look. “I didn’t ask a question, Deacon.”

Leda frowned, and actually seemed sad. “I do not know. No one has ever returned a gift to my former master.”

Sarah straightened her spine in resolve. “Then, he’s due for a surprise.”

CHAPTER 9

Deacon

Iwas not ready to see Rex, for various reasons. I could not allow Sarah to see him either. “Sarah, we need to speak privately on this matter. Now.”

Her expression was disgruntled until she saw mine. Then she became weary. “Leda, you stay here. We’ll be right back.”

“I will go nowhere until you tell me,” the girl promised.

Catching Jac’s eye as I turned around, he joined Sarah and me as we went back aboardAllegiantfor privacy. Once ensconced in my quarters with the door shut, I told her, “There is no way we are going to Faithless to see Rex Terian.”

“Then, I’ll go without you.” She crossed her arms defiantly.

I exhaled a slow, deep breath. It was all I could do to keep my temper under control. “Why are you being stubborn about this?”

“I don’t own slaves, Deacon! Period,” she said heatedly. “Is slavery some kind of common thing for Ladrians?”

“No,” Jac jumped in, clearly seeing my own growing ire over the situation. “It’s usually reserved for royals or the very wealthy, and most have only a handful of personal slaves for their own use. It’s not like how slavery is on Earth—not people in a garment factory or used in farming. It’s more akin to how ladies-in-waiting were in Europe a few hundred years ago, but it’s how the unclassed, the poor, orphans, or any otherundesirableperson can lift themselves out of poverty.”

“Did you have to put such a tone on undesirable?” I asked, knowing he was referencing himself and hating it.

He shrugged. “Blame the classed, Deacon. That’s how they talk about it.”

“Yes, but still.”

Sarah’s forehead bunched up around her brow. “So, Rexdidn’tsend me a slave? He sent me a lady-in-waiting?”

“Here on Halla, there are slaves,” Jac said simply. “The kind you likely think of when you hear that word. There are very few rules on Halla, and no centralized governing body, so most of the rules are based on whoever owns the land you’re on at the time.”

“But howyoutreat her is up to you,” I added. “You can treat her like a lady-in-waiting, you can treat her poorly, that’s your call. You own her—”

“Nope. I do not,” Sarah insisted, waving a hand in the air. “I am not a slave owner. Out of the question.”

“Then treat her like a lady-in-waiting—”

“I don’t like it,” Jac cut me off. “I don’t trust that girl. There is something off about her. When she walked up, she wore this fake smile, something she had practiced. She might be here to get close to Sarah and kill her, or spy on you and your father for Rex, or something else. But she’s more than what she says she is. I know it.”

“I trust Jac on this,” Sarah said before I could respond. “And I don’t understand why you’re so avoidy about Rex Terian, Deacon. I know you both seem to think he’s repugnant—”

“He is all that and more,” I insisted.

“But what is the harm in taking Leda back to him, since she speaks so highly of him? Then I can judge the man’s character for myself.”

My throat seemed to close up, and my chest grew tight. I could not let myself tap into the memory that would explain it to her. I never wanted to say the words out loud. It was my greatest shame. I could never tell it to anyone. Not my father, not Jac, not Sarah. There was only one other living Ladrian who knew my secret, and they would never tell for their own safety. Otherwise, death would come for us both.

Before I could speak, Jac said, “If Leda is some kind of Trojan Horse, then Rex could have a surprise waiting for us when we get to Faithless.”

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