Page 92 of Keeping Sarah

I couldn’t trust my eyes or my feet when I stood. “Jenny? Elizabeth?” I gasped, my voice cracking.

My sisters ran to me, and I ran to them, and we collided in the middle of my throne room. My vision clouded with tears, and they cried too. Between our sobs and hugs, they tried to speak and so did I, until we all gave up and just held each other,soaking up all the love between us that made my heart and soul whole again.

Then, something else happened that I did not expect.

Rex walked out of my body. I hadn’t released him like every other time, but he was able to walk out of his own volition. I felt it happen, but Jenny and Elizabethwatchedit happen.

They gasped and stared at him over my shoulder. He stepped behind me and, with clipped words, said, “A pleasure to meet your family, Sarah.”

Jenny looked both horrified and fascinated by what she’d just witnessed. “That’s…that’s the guy they said you’re tangled up with?”

I nodded and smiled, until I looked back at Rex. When I saw him this time, it was like looking at a stain. Not a friend. A flood of images flashed in my mind. All at once, I remembered all of the terrible things he had done. Each of the memories he had been blocking from me of all his cruelty and diabolical plans. Every malicious thing he had forced me to forget about him saturated every part of my being, and my skin crawled due to our proximity.

I no longer had his memories, either. It wasn’tmymother who had told me she preferred my brother—it washismother who had said that tohim. All of the crossed lines between us were suddenly stick straight. My memories were my own, and he could no longer shield me from any of them.

I scowled at him for all his deceit. All the wayshe’dtried to control my mind, memories, and emotions.

He glared at me too. There was no fondness in his eyes this time, which I now realized was all fabricated. I was not the woman he had affection for as he’d professed over and over again, but I was the woman who had trapped him against his will...and had finally bested him.

He growled angrily, “You—your remnant…it’s gone, I think.”

“I think you’re right,” I said, relief pouring through me. “I feel different now.Whole.I actually feel whole again.”

Ode stepped up to me. “Are you sure you feel better? Let me check your vitals.”

She moved behind me, starting her exam with her fingers on my neck. Once more, she asked, “You’re certain you have your remnant back? That you’re whole again?”

I nodded happily. “I’m sure of it, Ode. I feel better than I have since all of this started. My sisters,” I smiled at them, still unable to believe they were there, “they were what I needed.”

“I’m glad your family helped you, Sarah,” Ode said in a soft, sweet tone. “Family iseverything.”

“Yes, they are.” I took my sisters hands in mine and smiled at the doctor, then at Deacon, who stood off to the side watching us reunite with a pleased look on his face.

I wondered what would happen now, since Rex and I were no longer on good terms. Now that I was aware of his evil tendencies once again. The negotiations would be tough because he was, well, an asshole, but I was confident we would come to an arrangement about the conduits. And now that my sisters were on Halla, the possibilities were endless.

“Wouldn’t you agree?” Ode asked Rex, as she moved closer to him.

Rex flicked something off his sleeve, looking cold and indifferent. “With what?” he asked impatiently.

“That family is everything.”

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, “Sadly, I think that’s true for most people.”

She nodded. “It was true for me.”

Then she rammed a bone knife into his throat and gave it a sharp twist. I gasped while Rex’s ghostly blood poured over her hand. As he struggled to grab the knife, she snarled, “It was true for me a long time ago, but you murdered my family, Rex. Youwanted to murder me, too, and then Deacon put you down like the rabid animal you are. Now, I’m going to finish the job.”

Rex’s eyes bulged in realization, and he tried to hiss, “You?”

“Yes,me.” She shoved the bone knife upward into his skull, killing him.

CHAPTER 26

Jacaranda

Tantalus returned after a while and leered into my cell. “Have you thought about your bad behavior?”

“I’ve thought about the dozens of ways I’d like to kill you, so it hasn’t given me much time to consider anything else.” I stood and walked to the barred door for a place to casually lean.

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