Did he know I was gone? Had he already found the letter I’d left in his apartment? He was going to be furious. He wouldn’t agree with my reasons, but I’d had to try to explain them anyway, and to make sure he knew my leaving had nothing to do with our bond. If I’d believed I could have convinced him to work with me on this, I would have chosen that option in a heartbeat. But I’d seen his face when he said he was going to take me away, and there would be no compromising with him. Not on this.

“Ah, hell!”

“What is it?” My head whipped around, expecting to see a pair of headlights closing in on us.

“I forgot my damn sword.”

I stared at Jordan, willing my heart to settle back into a normal rhythm. “Your sword?”

“Yeah.” She let out a mournful sigh. “I’ll never find one as good as mine.”

“Jordan, we barely snuck away as it is. If anyone had seen you carrying a sword, they would have known something was up.”

“I know, but I still hate leaving it behind.”

“We’ll find you a new one.” I looked around. “How close are we?”

“About twenty minutes. I may have broken the speed limit a little.”

Soon the lights of Boise appeared in the distance, and before I knew it, Jordan was maneuvering the car through the busy city streets. She handled the car well for someone who had spent most of her life at a Mohiri stronghold. When I mentioned it, she smiled and said it was easy to get the boys in Butler Falls to let you drive their cars.

After half a dozen wrong turns and a stop at a 7-Eleven for gas and directions, we finally reached our destination. Jordan pulled up in front of St. John’s Cathedral, and I waved wildly at the two figures standing by the large door at the top of the steps. They jogged over to the car, and Jordan popped the trunk so they could stow away their large backpacks.

Roland climbed in behind me and rubbed his hands against his thighs. “What took you so long? We nearly froze our asses off.”

I turned in my seat to face them. “Why didn’t you go inside to get warm?”

Peter made a face. “We did, but sitting through one long mass is enough. We’ve been here for hours.”

“You poor things.” Jordan scoffed. “At least you didn’t have to climb out of a river, and then hike miles in this cold.”

Roland leaned forward. “What are you talking about?”

Jordan groaned. “Before we wow and amaze you guys, can someone tell me where we are going?”

“Salt Lake City,” I said.

The three of them stared at me.

“David has a friend there who is holding a laptop and some cell phones for me. We can stop over there on our way to Albuquerque.”

Jordan spoke first. “That has to be six hours away.”

“Almost five. I looked it up.”

“Sara, don’t you think it would be better to stay in Boise tonight and leave in the morning?” Roland asked.

“Boise is going to be crawling with Mohiri in an hour... if it isn’t already. I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather not be here when that happens.”

“She’s right.” Jordan said. “They probably have a team here already, and the rest will come when they find out we’re gone.”

Roland rested his chin on the back of my seat. “He’s gonna lose it, isn’t he?”

I didn’t have to ask who “he” was. “Probably.”

His hand touched my shoulder. “It’s not too late to turn back.”

“No. I have to do this, but I understand if any of you have changed your mind.”

“We go where you go,” Roland stated with finality, and Jordan and Peter agreed.

“Salt Lake City, here we come.” Jordan put the car in drive and pulled away from the church.

Roland settled back in his seat. “So how did you girls manage to sneak away?”

Jordan and I exchanged smiles. Then she glanced over her shoulder at Roland. “It wasn’t easy. After you guys left, Sara acquired two personal bodyguards who wouldn’t let her out of their sight. Not hard to guess who gave them that job.”

“I’m surprised Nikolas was willing to let someone else watch you,” Roland said.

I looked down at my hands. “We weren’t exactly talking before I left.”

“Since when has that ever stopped him?”

Peter snorted. “You girls are here, so your bodyguards couldn’t have been that good.”

“You don’t know Seamus and Niall,” I said.

“Once we realized they were going to follow Sara everywhere, we had to get a little creative. Actually, it was all Sara’s idea.” Jordan chuckled. “She set a little trap for them, and they fell right into it.”

I took up the story. “Sahir takes care of the menagerie, but he was hurt during the attack and he has to stay in the medical ward for a few days. I went to the menagerie during dinner to feed Hugo, Woolf, and Minuet, and Jordan came along to help.”

“Of course. I’m such a good friend.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Seamus and Niall waited by the door while I fed everyone, and Jordan went into Sahir’s office where she could see us on the security monitors. I gave her a signal and she turned out the lights.”

“But can’t warriors see pretty well in the dark?” Roland asked.

“Yep. And the twins went right for Sara, which is what we wanted them to do.” Jordan snickered. “Then she zapped their Irish asses.”