Chapter 25
CHAPTER 25
Sarah
“ I still don’t understand what happened, Rex,” I said, unable to stop my distressed pacing in his bedroom as I desperately tried to make sense of things.
“Jac tried to poison you, Sarah, what’s not to understand?” Rex said inside my mind. “He tried to poison you and then he was going to stab and kill me, when I tried to leave your dying body. You saw the knife at his feet!”
My mind had raced for the past two hours, trying to piece those last events with Jac together. Having Rex in my head, trying to convince me of the worst, wasn’t helping matters. “Would that have even worked?”
I could feel Rex’s agitation inside of my body. “If a host body dies, it can kill the ghost possessing it, so as plans go, I would say this was pretty solid, with the exception of the fact that he was going to kill you, too! ”
No, no, no, this doesn’t make any sense. “Jac’s not…he loves me—"
Rex scoffed. “Has love ever stopped a jealous man? In the history of men, when has that ever happened?”
I finally stopped my pacing and sat down on the bed. “You think he’s jealous?”
“Of course, he is,” Rex insisted. “You and I are closer than two living people can ever be.”
That much was currently true… “But he said he didn’t care if we were a packaged deal from now on. That’s why he came here, why he didn’t care that you watched us. He accepts you, Rex. So why would he have tried to kill you by separating you from me, when he could have used the bone knife to stab me and kill us both at the same time?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted to kill us separately for revenge. Force us apart, before he kills us both, because he wanted us apart in the first place. This way, he gets everything he wanted. Us separated and dead.”
“I just…” I pulled my knees up to my chin and rocked on the bed. “I can’t believe any of this is happening.”
“You saw the vial on the nightstand next to your water, the bone knife at his feet,” Rex insisted. “You searched my memory and saw when he poured the vial into your water. I don’t know what else you need to see to make you believe Jac is a jealous monster!”
Tears fell down my cheeks. “No, I…I need to see him. Need to hear it from him. I can’t—"
“You think I’m going to let you talk to that bastard?” Rex asked incredulously. “I care too much for you to let that happen.”
“I thought he was locked up.”
“He is, but—"
“Then, I’m safe to see him, right?”
Rex sighed. “I don’t want him getting into your head, Sarah. I cannot believe you would want to talk to someone who tried to poison you. The disrespect—"
“Well, believe it,” I snapped, at the end of my mental rope. “Because I need to see him. Where is he?”
“In the dungeon. I’ll take you—"
“No,” I insisted firmly. “I need to see him on my own. To make my own call. You stay here for me, okay? I’ll need your support when I come back.”
“Okay,” Rex agreed solemnly.
I released him from my body, and he laid on the bed next to me. “You’re sure I can’t talk you out of this?”
“I’m sure.” I stood up and put my robe and silk slippers on. “I have to see him, on my own.”
“I will be here for you when you return. Just make sure to stay behind the green line on the floor, so he can’t reach you, alright? Promise me.”
I exhaled a deep breath. “I promise.”
“And put another robe on. It’s very cold down there.”
I took one of his and put it on over mine, then I ordered one of the guards to take me to the dungeon, but he checked with Rex first. After he got the go-ahead, we went down to the scariest level of the manor. Every step felt colder than the last.
“It’s so dark and wet down here,” I murmured, pulling the edges of Rex’s robe tighter around my body.
The guard chuckled. “It’s a prison, princess, what did you expect?”
“I’m a queen and you will mind your tone,” I reminded him haughtily.
He cleared his throat. “Of course. My apologies, highness.”
He flipped a switch at the bottom of the stairs and illuminated a long line of cells with barred doors on both sides of the hall. “He’s back there, fifth one on the left.”
I glanced at the guard. “Why so far back, if there’s no one else here?”
“It’s the nastiest cell we have,” he said, sounding pleased about that. “Hasn’t been cleaned in years.”
My stomach rolled and I rubbed my arms for warmth as I walked down the middle of the corridor between parallel green lines. It seemed to be the safety zone from either side of the cells. The fifth cell was in a shadowy space between the scant overhead lights, so I couldn’t quite see him in the back of the cell, but I saw a lump back there.
"Jac?" I asked quietly.
The lump moved, uncurling from what appeared to be a fetal position. “Sarah, is that you?”
A knot formed in my throat at seeing Jac like this. I wanted to run to him, but I fought the urge. “Yes, it’s me.”
He ran to the barred door, reaching out for me. When I didn’t come to him, his hands slowly dropped back to his sides. He looked gutted and miserable.
It broke my heart, but I stayed where I was. I wasn’t afraid of him, but I knew the guard would report everything I did to Rex. In the shadows, I realized something. “Are you naked?”
“Yeah.” He visibly shivered and his teeth chattered lightly as he tried to shrug off my concern. “I was naked when they took me.”
“Get him some clothes!” I barked at the guard.
“Not allowed,” the man said without a care. “I’ve got orders.”
“Asshole,” I growled at him, then shrugged off Rex’s robe and tossed it to Jac through the bars. He caught it and put it on. The cold seeped into me fast, and I could only imagine what Jac had been through.
“Tell me what happened back in Rex’s bedroom,” I said to him, crossing my arms over my chest to keep as much warmth in as I could. “All of it. I’ve seen Rex’s memory of it—"
“ All of his memory?” Jac asked pointedly.
“What do you mean?”
Jac came up to the bars again, his gaze meeting and holding mine. “Did Rex show you when he held a knife to your throat to get me to not attack him? Or when he threw that knife next to me as he called the guards and woke you up, to make me look like I was trying to attack him?”
I swallowed and it was loud in my head. That makes much more sense. But I had to play like I didn’t believe him, or the guard would report my doubt. And until I could figure a way to get Jac out of this situation, I had to play along.
“Why should I believe any of that?” I asked him. “You tried to poison me.”
A pained look flashed through his eyes. “The vial…it’s not a poison, just a strong sedative. It would have knocked you out long enough for us to get Rex out of you by force. Omen found some way to do it—"
“Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place? Why do it behind my back?”
Anger and frustration distorted Jac’s normally handsome features. “I didn’t know if I could trust you to take the drug of your own volition, because that bastard has you so twisted up!”
I gasped at those hurtful words. “What?”
“You’ve got a throne and you’ve been running this awful city and you’re addicted to Rex!” he all but roared. “I don’t even know who you are anymore!”
A stabbing pain ripped up my insides, and I could barely breathe. He meant every awful word. He didn’t trust me anymore. I was in a state of shock and words burbled from me, “I have no idea who you are anymore, either, Jac.”
His voice tightened. “What are you saying?”
Tears tumbled down my cheeks again. “You’re jealous of Rex, aren’t you?”
He growled and clung to the bars, giving them a mighty shake. “I am not jealous of Rex, I am worried about you !” he yelled.
“Right.” I jutted out my chin. “You’re so worried that you thought you had to knock me out for the second time , I might add, all so I can go back to being your scared little consort, right? Someone you can control—"
He shook his head incredulously. “Sarah, you’re not hearing me—"
“That sounds like a good idea, because I am done listening to you.” I stomped back to the stairs, my heart shattering while he shouted my name.
When I returned to the bedroom, Rex was dressed for the day, looking very dapper. He saw the despair on my face and immediately said, “I’m sorry.”
“For what?” I wiped away the last remnants of tears from my cheeks. “You didn’t do this.”
“You look very upset.”
I gulped and tried once again to figure everything out. Jac said Rex threatened me with a bone knife to my throat. Rex said Jac tried to poison me. The evidence leaned toward Rex’s side, but I didn’t want to trust him. I needed more time to make sense of everything. With Jac not trusting me to take the drug myself—for the second time—I was hurt. No, not hurt. I was angry he didn’t trust me to do what I needed to do.
“The visit…it didn’t go well,” I told Rex, who looked on with sympathy. “Can we just…can we pretend this didn’t happen? I want to work today.”
He half-smirked. “There you go again. Ignoring your problems and focusing on work.”
I almost smiled at his teasing. “Work is preferable, please.”
He inclined his head. “Of course, Sarah. Anything for you.”
I sighed and prepared for the day. Once I was showered and dressed, we combined once more.
“I’d like to work from the throne room today, if you don’t mind,” I told Rex as we finished breakfast.
“There aren’t any fights for hours. How come?”
I shrugged. “The city feels restless, and I think it’s important for us to show our faces there. People seem to respond to us better when we work there, instead of holing up here or at the municipal building. I think it gives them a modicum of comfort when we’re present.”
He nodded in my mind. “The throne room it is.”
Once we were in the throne room, I felt better about things. He’d let me decorate it to my tastes and the fresh flowers always brightened my mood.
“Has Justice said anything about this room yet?” I asked Rex curiously.
“Came in the morning messages while you were… indisposed with Jac. Justice is interested in seeing the throne room we created in his honor and would like to schedule a visit.”
I frowned as I looked around. “The message we sent him didn’t say anything about creating this room in his honor.”
He chuckled. “No, it did not. It’s his way of reasserting dominance over his arena—pretending we did this for him.”
My smile returned. “I think that means we ruffled his feathers.”
“Oh, I would say so,” Rex agreed. “Justice Bateen does not leave Orhon without a big reason to do so.”
“Let’s get on with our day,” I said, needing the distraction. “We can schedule Justice for next week. Nothing to say we can’t make him wait, right?”
Rex laughed and pride flourished through our body. “You want to make our supreme ruler wait? You’ve got bigger balls than anyone I have ever known, Sarah Hollinger.”
I preened a little at his praise. “Yes, well, he deserves it for paying his bills late.”
“I cannot wait to introduce you to him,” Rex said, almost gleefully. “He’ll love you or hate you, I’m not sure which.”
A servant knocked on the door, and I said, “Enter.”
Atalanta walked in. She smiled in that sultry way about her and said, “Rex, I’m glad you’re here.”
“It’s me, Atalanta,” I said to the girl. I could only imagine how confusing it was for outsiders—for one body to share two separate people and personalities and not know who was present at any given time.
She bowed her head. “Oh, well, you’re almost just as good, Queen.”
“Gee, thanks.”
She grinned. “There is a Deacon Ladrang at the gates to see you. He says he has a gift for you, but since he is on the banned list—"
My heart sped up. “What?”
“He was banned by Rex,” Atalanta said. “I thought you knew.”
I checked in with Rex. “You banned Deacon? What the hell? When did you do that?”
“That day when we met with Jac and Deacon in my office,” he told me, when he’d clearly taken over my body and mind and had made decisions of his own without me present . “He was causing trouble, Sarah. Faithless does not need more trouble.”
I ignored Rex and glanced back at Atalanta. “Take Deacon off the banned list and bring him here immediately.”
She looked confused, but said, “Right away, Queen,” and left.
I scowled at Rex. “I can’t believe you did that and kept it from me!”
“And I can’t believe you want him here,” he groused. “What’s his gift for you? More poison?”
His sarcasm grated on my nerves. “We are going to have a serious talk later. Establish some boundaries.”
“I believe you meant to snap that at Jac, not me,” Rex said facetiously.
My hands balled into fists at my sides at his dig. “You’re very lucky I can’t smack you right now.”
He chuckled. “Go ahead, Sarah. I like it rough.”
I grit my teeth. “No need to remind me, Rex. I remember the chains. And the S&M room next to yours. What the hell is that about?”
“You liked it well enough,” he said in a seductive purr. “You tell me.”
I couldn’t stop the blush that swept across my cheeks at the reminder of what I had done in that room. “Pipe down.”
He laughed, dirty and low. “You’re just as kinky as I am, admit it.”
“I have some kinks,” I admitted. “But not a whole room for them.”
“Sounds to me like you need more rooms.”
I rolled my eyes, and Atalanta knocked again.
“Enter,” I said.
The door opened wide, and Deacon strolled in, looking so gorgeous and commanding and classed . My aching heart immediately lifted and I smiled instantly. Ode and Tiger flanked him. I was so happy to see my friends. Then they stepped away from each other as they walked in, and between them…my breath stopped in my lungs.
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 Elizabeth watched it 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’t my mother who had told me she preferred my brother—it was his mother who had said that to him . 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 ways he’d tried 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 is everything .”
“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. You wanted 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.