The Way Back (Champions of the Crystal Book 4)

Chapter 4.2

"Okay. This is where we split up," Sabrina said, as the group came to a halt. She looked at Tirqwin's half-dazed expression; it tore at her heart. "Major...."

Ilyanan said briskly, "We'll be fine, my lady. I'll return as soon as I can."

"So will I," Tirqwin said. "Khediva will soon set me to rights."

Sabrina saw the glint of steel in his gray eyes and smiled, even as she shook her head. "I've heard that one before. I don't want you back down here unless you're a hundred percent, Tirqwin. We haven't got time for mistakes."

Tirqwin looked as though he were trying, and failing, to become angry. "You persist in this fantasy that you have some kind of authority over me, Sabrina."

"I do," she said, looking at him levelly. "I've shed my blood, sacrificed my happiness, and put my life on the line so that you could live. That gives me a stake in your life. Either you promise me solemnly not to come back down here until Khediva pronounces you fit to do so, or I'll have you stunned and sedated."

Tirqwin's expression was somber. "You don't need to remind me that every moment of the last ninety-two years has been your gift to me."

Sabrina shook her head, her eyes suddenly filling with tears. She stepped forward and kissed his cheek. "No. It was my gift to myself," she whispered. "I've held your dead body in my arms once already, Tirqwin. Don't ever do that to me again. I couldn't bear it. Promise me you'll let Khediva decide if you're well enough to come down."

"I promise," he said. "Good luck, Sabrina." He looked past her to where Ford watched curiously. "Son, be careful. You must not fall into Varla's hands. And," he added, with the merest hint of a grin, "try to frustrate Sabrina's long-standing ambition to martyr herself for one of us, if you can."

Ford grinned. "I'll do my best, Father. And I'll fetch Mother home safely while I'm at it."

"I have no doubt of that," Tirqwin replied.

Sabrina nodded to Ilyanan, who led Tirqwin and Lndor off toward the room where the capsule was hidden. Then Sabrina turned briskly to Ford. "Let's go. We still have a couple more rescues to pull off."

He fell into step beside her, keeping a close eye on Netros, who was nervously leading the way. After a moment, he said, "I had no idea you and my father were so close."

"Didn't you," Sabrina replied, as repellingly as she could. She didn't want to talk about Tirqwin while she had so many other things to focus on. It was hard enough to push aside her feelings at seeing him again, in such a helpless state, without Ford questioning her.

"I've never seen anyone bend him to their will before. Not even Mother, not in that way."

There was a strange note in his voice that made her look at him. "We have a...unique relationship."

"Obviously."

Sabrina suddenly remembered the rumors that Malvarak had spread before Tirqwin's marriage to Mara, meant to discredit them all. Could some echo of those lies have reached Ford through the years? Surely not, and yet he was looking at her warily, uncertain whether she posed a serious threat to his vision of his parents.

She sighed. "I have a hard time classifying it. It's not a father-daughter thing, though I do look at him as a father figure in some respects. And it most certainly was never romantic. I think...it's really closer to being best friends. You have to understand how completely out of his depth he was with Mara in the beginning. And even later. In the end he was holding onto the vague hope that was all I could give him, because it was all there was. I don't think he had ever trusted so blindly in anyone. I mean, he trusts Khediva and Mara absolutely, but he knows exactly what they can do. I made him all kinds of horrific promises that I had no idea how I was going to fulfill. But I did. Or rather, we all did." She waved her hand as if to dismiss the line of thought. "I'm not explaining this well at all."