Warrior (Relentless #4)(164)

Her hand touched mine where it rested on her waist. “Don’t leave me,” she murmured almost incoherently.

“Never,” I vowed, pressing my lips to her temple.

The water continued to glow even after she lost consciousness, and her skin stayed warm to the touch. I remained in the tub with her, afraid to take her away from the magic keeping her warm.

It wasn’t until the healers arrived an hour later that I stood and carried her to one of the bedrooms. As soon as I laid her on the bed, Jordan and the healers shooed me from the room so they could dress her in dry clothes.

I paced outside the bedroom door until Margot opened it and gave me a kind smile. “You can bring her to the couch. It’s a bit warmer in the living room.”

I picked Sara up and brought her to the couch where I covered her in blankets again. Then Margot knelt on the floor beside the couch and checked Sara’s vitals.

“We’ll hook her to an IV to give her some fluids until we can get her home. The medical ward is being prepped for her now.”

“Prepped how?” I asked.

“We’re setting up to run blood panels as soon as she gets there so we can test for venoms. The lab has all the known antidotes on hand, so we’re prepared in that area. We also have a mobile healing bath we can use to keep her core temp up.”

I was reluctant to leave Sara, but I knew I was hovering, and Margot needed space to do her job. I went into the kitchen where Chris and Jordan were talking about the trip home. Seamus and Niall had come with the healers to provide extra security for Sara, and they were outside standing guard now.

Roland and Peter were accompanying us to Westhorne as well because Sara would be distressed if they didn’t come with us. Tristan would arrange to fly them to Maine once Sara was out of danger.

“Sara!” Roland shouted.

I ran into the living room to find Sara curled into a ball on the couch, clutching her head and crying out in pain. Margot lay on the floor six feet away, looking dazed, and the other healer stood across the room.

I moved past them toward Sara and came up against a wall of energy that sent electric shocks through my body. I recognized the same power Sara had used on me back at Westhorne.

“Sara,” I yelled, trying to push past the barrier that burned the longer I touched it. I watched helplessly as she stiffened and let out a small scream.

The air in the room shifted, and out of nowhere, a tall, blond man appeared near the window. Ignoring the rest of us, he started toward Sara.

I moved to intercept him. “Stay away from her,” I snarled.

He kept coming and fixed me with a hard stare. “Let me help her, warrior, if you want her to live.”





Chapter 31





As soon as he got within two feet of me, I knew what he was. The power he emanated was like Sara’s, only much stronger. Faeries couldn’t be trusted, but they had saved Sara’s life once before.

I stepped aside, and the faerie walked through the wall of energy as if it didn’t exist. I tensed as he bent over Sara and laid a hand on her forehead. She let out a gasp and stopped crying. Her hands fell away from her head, and she looked up at the faerie as if she knew him.

“Hello, little cousin. I told you I’d see you again soon.”

She blinked. “H-how did you find me?”

He stroked her face as a lover would, and I bit back a growl.

“Your pain is like a beacon to any Fae within fifty miles of here,” he said. “I was away from the city or I would have come sooner. I’m going to take care of you now.”

“You healed her?” Roland asked hopefully.

“No,” the faerie replied without looking away from Sara. “I merely eased her pain. I will take her to Faerie where we will tend to her.”

I moved to push through the barrier, only to discover it was gone. Standing close to the couch, I glared at the faerie. “She stays with me.”

“Sara needs to be around my kind,” he said casually, as if she hadn’t just been in agonizing pain a minute ago. “She is going through liannan.”

“Liannan?” I repeated.

He smiled. “Think of it as the Fae equivalent of puberty. Her powers are experiencing a growth spurt, and her body cannot handle the sudden changes. If she was full Fae and had grown up among our kind, this would have happened slowly, over months or years, and she would have been better able to deal with it. We were not sure she could even enter liannan since she is half Mohiri and lives outside of Faerie. Only exposure to our kind or a prolonged visit to Faerie should trigger liannan. I did not sense it in her when we met, and our brief encounter was not sufficient to cause it.”

My stomach twisted. If Sara’s Fae power was growing too fast for her body to handle it, what did that mean for her Mori? If her power killed her demon, could she survive without it?

Jordan spoke up. “What about Glaen?”

The faerie raised an eyebrow at her. “What do you know of Glaen?”

Jordan came into the room but kept distance between her and the faerie. “Sara drank a bunch of it at a demon party a few nights ago. She started getting sick a day later.”

“Don’t forget the times she glowed when she was asleep before she drank the Glaen,” Roland added. “No way was that normal.”

“It sounds like she was already approaching liannan,” the faerie said. “Consuming that much of our drink at one time could be a catalyst to someone like her.”