Warrior (Relentless #4)(214)

I swore silently as the meaning of her words sank in. Sara was going to be devastated when she realized it, too. We’d chased Madeline for months, and she would never be able to tell us who the Master was.

“Orias is trying to find a way to break the Master’s compulsion, isn’t he?” Sara asked her.

“He’s been working on it for ten years, but nothing can break it.”

“The only thing that can break a Master’s compulsion is his death,” I said.

Sara paled as realization set in. “She can’t tell us where he is unless she can break the compulsion, but in order to break it he has to die?”

“Yes.”

Her shoulders sagged, and she looked away. It killed me to see her disappointment after all she’d been through to find Madeline.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

She made a brave attempt at a smile.

“We’ll find him,” I promised. “It’ll just take a little longer than we thought.”

“So you are Mohiri after all,” Madeline said, reminding me of her presence. “I’m glad you found our people, Sara.”

Sara’s smile was real this time. “Actually, it was Nikolas who found me.”

She placed her hand between us on the couch, and I covered it with mine. I gave her hand a light squeeze, and she laced our fingers together.

Madeline stared at our joined hands and gave us a questioning look. When neither of us spoke, she said, “What will you do now?”

I smiled at Sara. “We’ll keep looking. Keep fighting.”

“We found you. We’ll find him, too,” Sara said. She let go of my hand as she stood. “We should be going.”

Madeline nodded and walked us to the door.

“Sara, for what it’s worth, I really did love your father. And I loved you, too. I still do.”

Despite her anger at Madeline and her terrible disappointment, Sara raised her hand graciously to her mother, reminding me again why I loved her so much.

“Thank you for talking to us. I hope Orias can find a way to help you,” she said sincerely.

Madeline took the offered hand, her voice cracking. “Thank you.”

“Good-bye, Madeline,” Sara said then walked out.

I nodded at Madeline as I followed Sara, and I felt a surge of pity for the woman. She’d given up everyone she loved in her life because of her selfishness: the father who adored her, the husband who had worshiped her, and the daughter who would have loved her unconditionally.

Not getting to know her daughter was her greatest loss. Sara had such a capacity for love and a light within her that made the world a brighter place. Madeline could have had that love freely, but she’d thrown it away.

I would never take the love I’d been given for granted, and every day God gave me with Sara, I’d make sure she knew it.

Jordan came up to us as soon as the door closed. “What did she say?”

“Not here,” I said, seeing how tired Sara looked. “We’ll talk outside.”

We dashed through the rain and climbed into the SUV. Sara was subdued on the seat beside me, so I filled the others in as Geoffrey drove us back to the hangar at the airport. When we got there, Sara went directly into the plane, and I went to talk to our pilot.

“The tower said there are some big storms coming through, backing up air traffic,” the pilot said apologetically. “We probably won’t get clearance to leave for three or four hours.”

“Come back to the safe house for the night,” Geoffrey suggested. “It’s better than hanging around here.”

I told the others about the change in plans and went to find Sara. She was reclined in a seat in the last row with her eyes closed. I was loath to disturb her, but she couldn’t stay here all night.

I said her name as I sat beside her. She opened her eyes and gave me a questioning look.

“We’ve got some bad electrical storms moving through the area, so we’re grounded for a few hours, at least. Geoffrey’s team has a safe house nearby, and we’re going to wait out the storm there. It’s more comfortable than an airport hangar.”

“Okay.”

“You did well tonight.” I brushed damp hair from her face. “I know that was harder for you than you’re letting on.”

“It was,” she whispered.

I didn’t think I’d ever seen her this disheartened, and I wasn’t sure what to say to help her feel better. Her reticence told me she didn’t want to talk about it yet, so I’d wait until she was ready.

“Come on.”

I stood and held out my hand to her. She let me help her out of the seat and quietly followed me to the SUV. Jordan gave her a worried look, and I smiled at the other girl to let her know Sara was okay.

The safe house was the same one Chris and I had stayed at in the fall. The rain was coming down in heavy sheets so Geoffrey pulled into the garage. Normally, he wouldn’t bother, but I think even he was worried about Sara, who hadn’t spoken since we left the plane.

“How is she?” Chris asked in a low voice as Sara entered the house ahead of us.

“It wasn’t easy for her. She needs some time.”

“So what now?”

I shrugged. “Now we start over. Madeline said she was grabbed by the Master in New York City. He could be long gone by now, but it’s as good a place to start as any.”