Free Falling Blind: The Sentinel Wars by Shannon K. Butcher Page A

hit. Cain didn’t even blink. “She made it clear she didn’t need me anymore. She’s a grown woman and has a life of her own now, as it should be.”
    “She’s enjoying her newfound freedom now, but one of these days, she’ll need advice or help, and you need to be alive to give it.”
    “Don’t you think that’s what I want?” Cain bellowed. “I don’t have a death wish. But I’m a realist. I know how slim the chances are that Rory would ever agree to be with a man like me.”
    “Why?”
    “You know why,” growled Cain. “You know why Sibyl left. I failed to protect her. My sole job was to keep her safe, and I let the demons steal her away.”
    “Rory doesn’t know about that. And you don’t have to tell her.”
    “My failure hangs around me like a shroud for all to see. And Rory sees more than most.” Or perhaps he merely felt her gaze more keenly than anyone else.
    “So, you’re not even going to ask Rory to save your life?”
    He had tried with Jackie. It hadn’t worked out for him, but at least his brother’s life had been saved. He was grateful for that. “I’m not going to discuss this with you. Call me when you know if Rory was poisoned or not. And in the meantime, I’m going to go find her and keep her in sight—the way you should have done.”
    “Don’t push her, Cain,” said Hope. “Determination and pride run through her aura as brightly as her fear and pain. She’s not like other women. You push her, and she’ll push back. Hard.”
    “Thanks for the advice, but I think I can handle one small woman.”
    *   *   *
    Maura stayed hidden in the supply closet, waiting for the frantic pounding of her heart to slow. Cain had seen her. She had felt his gaze fall on her, seen it light with recognition. Why he hadn’t come hunting for her, she had no idea.
    But his easy recognition answered at least one of Maura’s questions. Sibyl—Maura’s twin sister and Cain’s ward—must have been released from the prison of her child’s body at the same time Maura had. It was the only thing that Maura could think of that would explain how he’d recognized her so easily.
    Maura cowered in her hiding place, straining to hear some sign that she was alone—that the giant, Cain, was not waiting for her in the hall.
    She’d stayed here too long. These humans who sheltered her believed she was one of them. Even worse, she was starting to feel as if she belonged. She ate beside them, slept beside them. Never once had they questioned her presence among them.
    Not one of them knew the things she’d done to them—to their children. If they had, they would have slit her throat in her sleep, and she would have been powerless to stop them. Now.
    There had been a time when even the most powerful Synestryn lords feared her. One touch from her and they’d die screaming in pain. But those days were gone. Her power, her ability to see the future, her connection to her sister . . . all stripped from her the day her mother had died and freed Maura from her child-sized body.
    She wore the costume of a grown woman, but inside, she was afraid all the time. She belonged nowhere—not among the Sentinels, and certainly not among the humans. She was a twisted, wicked thing who had turned on her own kind out of rebellion, but not even the Synestryn would want her now. With no powers, she’d mean nothing to them. They’d use her for her blood and drain her dry.
    It was better to hide, but she could no longer stay here at this shelter—not when the risk of Cain seeing her was so high. Better to leave now, while she still could, because the only thing she could think of that would be worse than being drained of her blood by demons, would be to face those she’d betrayed and watch them look upon her with pity and disappointment.
    Maura slipped from the closet and hurried to her bed, being careful not to wake the few other women nearby. Underneath her bed was a locked suitcase that held a few items of