Page 12 of Keeping Sarah

I had never been so happy to be on solid ground in my life. “Thank you for that.”

“You’re fortunate that me staying alive required your survival.”

When we had been high in the trees, the wreckage looked so small. On the ground, everything was far bigger. The ship’s pieces, those on fire and those that weren’t, some were four times my height. Bodies were everywhere. All dead—it seemed my birds preferred dead meat to living, so they had finished off anyone who was still alive, before they had started their meal.

“Scavenge the area for food and water,” Rex instructed. “The jem’hora haven’t eaten everything of value, I’m sure of it.”

I slowly nodded and looked around for a variety of supplies. There wasn’t much. Some bandages and a flask of something inedible, even by my standards. There were many comparable and similar things between Ladrians and humans, and I was not sure how many, but I hoped for one more.

“Is there a little black box in your ship?”

“A what?” Rex asked, confused.

“Something that sends out a signal, if there’s trouble,” I explained. “So rescuers can find the ship and survivors.”

“No, though that sounds like a useful idea,” he said thoughtfully. “Something from Earth?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “So, no chance of rescue?”

“No. We’ll have to rescue ourselves. The Ladrian way of things.”

“Your people are a bunch of prideful bastards.”

He laughed loudly but did not disagree. I surveyed the damage my murder birds were doing and had done. The wreck had been enough to kill Rex’s men—I was sure they would have died eventually from their injuries. But the jem’hora made sure of it. Their beaks glimmered in the moonslight, flashes of red blood and silver feathers, of bones and entrails.

I was pleased to see them eat so well. The flock had more than earned their dinner. At the thought, part of me wondered what I was becoming. To relish in the carnage the way I was. Far from the simpering socialite I once tried to pretend to be for my ex. Coming to Halla had awoken some part of me—the same part of me that had stolen groceries for my hungry sisters during our childhood. The same part of me that did anything to survive.

“It didn’t have to be this way, you know,” Rex grumbled.

I had often thought the same of my impoverished childhood. My mother had worked two jobs to support myself and my two sisters, but it was almost never enough to keep us from being hungry or cold. With no education, there was little she could do about it. Though she had tried. But I grew up thinking that life didn’t have to be like that, and I had glommed onto the first wealthy man who showed me attention.

I turned inward to my passenger and said without guilt or contrition, “This is what you get when you fuck with me, Rex. Do not forget it.”

“Very well, then.” A hint of respect tainted his voice. “Time to head to Faithless.”

“Why not go back to Valor’s property?” I asked.

“If you would like, then I suppose we can. But we are a six day walk from his location, or a two-day walk to Faithless. Either way, you’ll start the journey by walking at night, through this forest, and while your birds are the helpful sort, I do not believeeven they could shield you from all that could happen here. Particularly with no weapons, no shelter, no food, and no water.”

He has a point, I admitted to myself. I didn’t like it, but he was not wrong.

“I know I have a point,” Rex said, reading my thoughts. “For that matter, I know a shortcut that will take us directly to my manor in under four hours, but if you would prefer to take your chances with the drecks and other animals of the forest—"

“I don’t know.” Something about the shortcut made me nervous.

“I only bring up the shortcut out of concern for the vessel holding me captive,” he said, his tone wry.

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You were not able to scavenge much from the wreckage. Your body requires food and water and rest. Think about it this way. Would you rather travel four hours on foot ortwo dayson foot, with no supplies?”

I closed my eyes and huffed. Then I tried to brighten my mood and smile, but it came out flat. “So, which way to your shortcut?”

CHAPTER 5

Jacaranda

Four gray flashes of light on the forest floor told me where they were. Omen and the conduits had made it farther than I had expected on their journey to Faithless. When I landed my ship,Sovereign, in a meadow just ahead of them, Omen’s first words to me were, “Well, it’s about damned time.”

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