Page 70 of Keeping Sarah

“Jac. You’re being ridiculous. Deacon Ladrang knows how to take care of himself. What are you so worried about?”

“He’s never even left the quadrant.”

To my surprise, she patted my shoulder. “He will be fine. Trust your companion.”

“I trust him. I don’t trust other people.”

“Your own crew went with him. Are you saying you don’t trust them?”

“Withmylife. Nothis.”

She was losing her patience with me. I could see it in her eyes. “Come on. We should get going. We’ve got our own plans to carry out.”

Needing the distraction, I followed her onto my ship. “The temple first, right?”

She nodded. “If the people of Orhon are still praying to conduits, that’s where I’ll find the strength for what I need to do.”

We went straight to the cockpit and took off. My fingers were tight on the controls, and I couldn’t hold back the feeling that something was wrong.

“Your knuckles are white,” Omen commented.

I gave her a quick, annoyed look. “You could stop staring at them.”

“Why are you so grouchy with me?” she huffed indignantly. “What did I ever do to you?”

I exhaled a long, deep sigh. “I’m sorry, Omen. It is bad enough being without Sarah for the past few days and all the drama that came before it, and now…with Deacon gone—"

“He just left!” She tossed her hands up in the air in exasperation. “You’re being dramatic.”

“It’s not a matter of how long he’s gone. It’s thefactthat he is gone,” I tried to explain to her. “You wouldn’t understand. You’ve never been in love with—"

“Don’t finish that sentence, Jac,” she snapped, cutting me off. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” Her voice sank deeper with every word.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, meaning it. “I shouldn’t assume.”

“No, you shouldn’t,” she whispered, but then she cleared her throat and said, “I’m sorry I was dismissive about how you feel. I guess I’m trying to keep some sort of perspective on everything, soIdon’t get lost in the noise of all this. The loss of a loved one, even if only a matter of days, it’s hard. ‘An absence that freezes, as well as burns’.”

I glanced at her in surprise. “Was that Chaucer?”

“Who?”

I smiled. “A human poet.”

She grinned back and shook her head. “Tulliaire, I believe.”

“Well, whoever that is, they were right,” I said quietly. “And I won’t feel whole again until Deacon and Sarah are with me, and whole again themselves.”

Omen glanced out the cockpit’s windows. “Do you know the way to the temple?”

“I can find it.”

“Okay. I need to rest, if you don’t mind.”

“My bunk is your bunk.”

Omen left without another word. I wasn’t sure why ghosts needed sleep, but they all did it. The flight to the temple was only a few hours, but every minute away from my union felt like eternity. We had been separated before, but now there was so much at stake. If one thing went wrong, then the whole plan could be for naught.

I parked at the temple and woke Omen. “We’re here.”

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