Page 63 of Claiming Sarah

We broke apart and looked around to find the source of the voice, not finding anyone until a tan hand waved at us over the top of some flowered bushes.

“It’s me. Helios Vestig,” he said in a haughty tone. “With some of Rex’s guests. For a business meeting. As a matter of decorum, I think it best…eh, if you could go and clean yourselves up? Hmm?”

“What are you upset about now?” I snapped.

“You are naked, sir,” he said, looking down his nose at us. “And while I’m sure no one minds that where you’re from,hereclothing in public areas shows respect.”

I looked down and I was, indeed, naked. I had opened the balcony door without dressing and in all the commotion, forgotten about my own nudity.

Embarrassment warmed my cheeks. “Ah,” I covered my cock as best I could, “well, um, yes, I—”

A woman’s voice behind the bush said, “He’s using both hands and I can still see it!”

“Wonderful,” I muttered, before I turned tail and ran into the manor, with Jac right behind me.

CHAPTER 19

Sarah

“If you don’t mind, I must see to one more thing before your companions join us, Sarah,” Rex said as he left me in the doorway to the dining room.

I gave him a curt nod. “Of course, whatever you need.”

He raced away, leaving me alone, and I was grateful for the reprieve after that odd encounter between us in the garden. After that slap across his face, Rex had backed off with his flirtations, realizing that I wasn’t to be trifled with. Still, the fact that he’d even had the audacity to try and seduce me in that manner didn’t sit well with me.

It also didn’t sit well with me that I’d felt his kiss so thoroughly, considering he was a ghost.

But after that incident, our conversation had taken an interesting turn. One I was eager to share with Deacon and Jac.

I exhaled a deep breath, and since this was really the first moment I’d had to myself in a while, I relished the quietand solitude. I strolled around the dining room, studying the tapestries, and marveling at the fact that I was in a house that was fancy enough that tapestries felt appropriate to the house. I hadn’t taken that into account the night before—I was alittledrunk.

One tapestry depicted some kind of bright green garden with flowers, but in it, were men chasing a scary creature. The creature had horns where components of a face should have been, but there were no obvious eyes, nose, or mouth. Only horns. I wondered whether they had hunted the creature, or the creature had hunted them, but they had turned the tables.

The next one was mostly blue and featured a battle at sea. It was a stormy day with choppy water—like the first time I had gone kayaking. A small fishing boat had two men, one to operate the boat, the other to use a spear on some half-seen animal in the water. A spear protruded out of it already and the water around the animal was red.

Both tapestries haunted me in a way I couldn’t explain at first. But I came to realize both were about people overcoming the odds against nature, and the thought was unsettling.We should be living with nature, not against it.I wondered whether that was why Rex was so adamant about the conduits. According to Omen, they were close to nature—many used elements of nature in their abilities or lived within nature instead of the cities, back when they were alive on Orhon.

But Rex’s art spoke volumes about him. Going against the natural. Fighting until there was no fight left. The fishermen in particular—they looked haggard and rough.There is a kind of honor in that, I suppose. Never giving up, no matter the odds.

“Do you like my tapestries?” Rex’s deep voice rumbled closely behind me.

I jumped from the surprise of him, not caring for the easy way in which he could sneak up on me. “I’m not sure.”

“I believe the best art can be described that way,” he said, glancing up at the tapestry I’d just been admiring. “When it makes you think…that’s when an artist has you in the palm of their hand.”

“I guess that’s true,” I said, because I’d just done exactly that.

“Your companions will arrive shortly,” he said, then waved toward the dining table. “Care to take a seat?”

I smiled and followed him to the head of the table. “Thank you for this, Rex,” I said, once we were both settled in our seats.

“For what?”

I thought back to our conversation in the garden, the one that happenedafterthe slap. “I did not believe you were a man who could compromise.”

He chuckled. “Life, and as it turns out,death, is a series of compromises, Sarah. The same is true of power, as well."

I tipped my head curiously. “How do you mean?”

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