11. Jasmine

11

JASMINE

J asmine didn't need to be a mind reader to recognize the embarrassment in Ell-rom's expression, and her heart went out to him. She should have thought about buying him shoes, and she would do that at the first opportunity.

Once he fell asleep again, which would no doubt happen after his therapy session, she would go online and order him shoes.

They could be delivered as early as tomorrow.

First, though, she needed to get the address, and second, she needed to measure his foot to know what size to order.

Using the credit card Kian had given her to buy things for Ell-rom didn't feel right. Even though she knew Kian would be okay with it, she still couldn't use her own cards because he had told her not to.

In a way, she was only slightly better off than Ell-rom.

Everything she owned had been collected from her apartment and put in storage, and her car was supposedly in the clan's private parking level. She hadn't gone to check, but she had no reason to doubt that it had been done. Jasmine had some money in her savings account, but it wasn't enough to keep making payments on her car and also put a deposit on a new place. Rents had gone up so much that if she had to fend for herself, she wouldn't be able to afford to live on her own, not even in a tiny studio apartment like the one she'd been renting for the past five years. She would have to share a place with a couple of roommates, and who wanted to do that at her age?

Kian had promised her an allowance until she started working for Perfect Match, but Jasmine didn't know if he'd made good on his promise, and if he had, how she could access the money. Maybe he would deduct what she bought with his card from that?

"It's probably better if you walk barefoot for now," Bridget said. "Just make sure you wash your feet before getting back into bed." She patted him on the back.

"Yes, definitely." He was still looking down. "I wouldn't want to dirty the bed."

"You have very nice feet," Jasmine said, hoping to defuse the tense moment. "People don't appreciate the beauty of feet enough."

Bridget's lips twitched. "I have to admit that I have a weakness for shoes. Stilettos, in particular." She waggled her brows. "And before you say anything about the lack of practicality of such footwear for a physician, let me remind you that as an immortal, I don't get calluses."

Ell-rom's expression changed from embarrassed to confused. "The translator did not know the Kra-ell word for the kind of shoes you mentioned."

Jasmine opened the door. "Let's start walking, and I will give you a crash course on the different styles of shoes that are popular on Earth and why."

As they headed out of the room, Ell-rom's grip on the walker was tight, his knuckles white with the effort, but he pressed on, one shaky step at a time.

Jasmine kept a watchful eye on Ell-rom. "Ready to hear about the different kinds of shoes?"

"How many are there?"

She laughed. "A lot, but I will only mention a few. The ones Bridget likes have a very tall and thin heel. They make a short female look taller, and since they elongate the legs, they make them look shapelier. They are considered sexy."

Ell-rom frowned. "They sound very uncomfortable and impractical. I can't reconcile a no-nonsense female like Bridget with that sort of footwear."

Jasmine laughed. "Didn't you hear her explanation? She doesn't get calluses."

"But she can feel pain. Why put herself through this?"

"Not everything we wear is practical and comfortable. People are willing to suffer in constrictive clothing to look desirable."

He shook his head. "I don't understand this."

"You will, once you learn a little more about human culture." She shook her head. "Looking at it through an outsider's eyes, the picture is not flattering. But enough about that. Let's get back to shoes. Males are lucky to be spared the fashion torture females endure, and I can get you very comfortable shoes with rubber soles that are not slippery. After I measure your feet, I can order them for you." She stopped and looked at him. "In fact, we can do it together. We can shop online."

"What's that?"

"I'll show you when we get back to your room." She cast him a warm smile. "I'm so excited about introducing you to my world. You are like a blank page that needs to be filled."

He grimaced. "I don't even know what that means."

"Right." She needed to remember to stop using idioms.

They didn't translate well.

Showing and not telling applied to Ell-rom's situation even more strongly than it did to fiction.

Jasmine gestured towards the double doors they were approaching. "That's the kitchen." She pushed one side open and held it for him to enter.

Ell-rom's eyes widened with interest as he took in the gleaming stainless-steel appliances and the enormous prep counter that ran in the middle of the space.

"This is where food is prepared, but it's way bigger than what people have in their homes. This is a commercial kitchen, which makes me think that there must be an event hall somewhere down here."

Another possibility was that it had been used to feed an army of Guardians before they had all moved to their new location.

How many Guardians were there?

There couldn't be too many if most of the clan could fit onboard the Silver Swan, which was a mid-sized cruise ship that could house a thousand people at the most.

Edgar had told her that in the past, the keep was the center where most of them lived. That's why Kian and his sister had penthouses there. Then, everyone moved to a new location, and most of the apartments aboveground had been leased. The clan still used the underground facility for training and other things. They also had a catacomb level, which she hadn't seen and didn't want to visit. It gave her the creeps, and she preferred not to think about it.

"What else is down here?" Ell-rom asked.

"I haven't had much chance to explore. But maybe we can find out on these walks." She led him out of the kitchen. "There are many levels in this underground, and we can explore all of them, a little bit at a time."

Jasmine hoped that Kian would be okay with that. No one had told her that there were places she wasn't allowed in, and so far, her thumbprint had allowed her access to all the levels she had wanted to get to, but she had tried only three, so there might be others that were restricted.

A smile spread across Ell-rom's handsome face. "I would like that. I'm curious about this world, and this structure is a good place to start learning about it."

As they continued their slow progress down the hallway, Jasmine peeked into the various rooms they were passing by through the small square window at the top of each door.

"What are you looking for?" Ell-rom asked.

"Somewhere down here, the gods are working on the equipment they salvaged from your pod."

His eyebrows rose with interest. "I didn't know they did that. I also don't know what they did with the pod itself. Is it hidden?"

"Yes. They toppled half a mountain on top of it." She peeked into the next room. "These all look like classrooms, which makes them perfect for spreading out the equipment, but maybe they are on one of the other levels. I would love to surprise them with a visit. I'm sure they'd be happy to see you up and about."

A shadow crossed Ell-rom's face. "I doubt it. It's not like I can be of any help to them. Even if more of my memories returned, I probably wouldn't know the first thing about Anumatian technology. I was raised in a temple, remember? My education was most likely limited to spiritual matters."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." She cast him a sidelong glance, making sure that he didn't look like he was about to keel over. "In human history, monks and priests were often the most educated people. They were the ones who learned how to read and write, so they kept historical records. Your education might be more comprehensive than you suspect."