Page 61 of Keeping Sarah

Knowing we had little choice, I stood up and patted Deacon’s shoulder. “Come on.”

“Oh, one more thing,” Sarah said, then she reached behind her, grabbed a hand cannon, and shot a hole through Helios’ head.

Both Deacon and I jumped back in shock as his body slumped to the floor. Unable to believe our Sarah could kill someone in cold blood like that, I looked back at her but sawRex’s head springing from her neck, which explained the violent attack.

“He should have never let you in here, and I do not tolerate incompetence,” Rex spat, just as the guards ran in due to the loud hand cannon blast. “Burn Helios’ body,” he ordered them. “And execute his ghost if he comes back to my city.”

“Right away, master,” the biggest man said.

“And those two menthere.” Rex pointed to us with Sarah’s body, his evil, gloating eyes narrowed on both of us. “Escort them back to their ship and see to it that they leave Faithless immediately. They are not allowed to come back here, under penalty of death.”

CHAPTER 18

Deacon

If Jac could have punched a hole through the hull ofAllegianthe would have, and it was not for a lack of trying as soon as we boarded. His hard, brutal blows echoed through the hall. I tried to stop him before he hurt himself, but every time I put my hands on him, he shook me off.

So, I let him work out his aggression as needed, and rejoined Drift. “Back to my father’s home, please, Drift.”

“Sarah?” he asked.

I shook my head, my stomach in knots. “It is more complicated than I had imagined.”

“But she’s alive, right?”

“Yes. Alive, but not alone.” I glanced out the cockpit windows to see the dozens of guards just waiting for us to try anything untoward so they could execute us at Rex’s decree. “We are persona non grata here. We must leave straight away.”

He nodded once and set a course for Halla and I returned to Jac.

I found him in a heap against the wall he’d been using as a punching bag. His hand was bloodied, and anguish filled his eyes as he looked up at me.

I sighed and asked, “Better?”

“Not even close,” he gritted out.

I helped him to his feet and escorted him to the infirmary. As I started to clean up and patch up his hand, I met his gaze and quietly asked, “What are we to do?”

“Go back to the manor,” he said, as if he had a death wish. “Get our asses handed to us.”

I chuckled, even though I knew our return for Sarah would likely end with us murdered. “That does not sound productive.”

“I want to fight Rex,” he growled, the sound filled with rage.

“You cannot fight him without harming Sarah,” I reminded him, trying to be the voice of reason.

He huffed. “I know. I’m not telling you what weshoulddo. I’m just telling you what Iwantto do.”

“Understandable.” After cleaning his cuts, I dabbed the wound with a healing ointment. “However, there is another facet of this which troubles me.”

“What’s that?”

I hesitated, grabbing a roll of gauze before giving him my thoughts. “When Rex said we cannot kill him in a way that matters…I have a sneaking suspicion about that statement, and I can no longer keep it to myself.”

“Out with it.”

I finished wrapping the gauze around his hand and knuckles, then met his gaze. “What if Rex meant that if we kill him, there will always be a part of him that will live on in Sarah?”

“Fuck,” Jac hissed, his entire body tensing up all over again.

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