11. Jasmine

11

JASMINE

A s Jasmine walked into the penthouse, her heart was still racing with the adrenaline and emotion of the past few hours. The prince's awakening had been fleeting but still left her shaken.

She couldn't believe that she had been the only one who had thought about the clothing being a problem. It should have made her feel smart, and it did, but only a little. Sometimes, an uninformed outsider saw things more clearly than the experts.

Thankfully, Kian parted with Aru and the other gods at the door and headed back down to the clinic, or rather the kitchen where his bodyguards and Jade's crew were waiting. She needed a respite, and he wasn't an easy guy to relax around.

"You are just in time." Margo waved them over to the massive coffee table that was covered with boxes from their favorite Chinese restaurant. "The delivery arrived a few minutes ago, and everything is still hot. Come and dig in."

"We really should move to the dining room," Jasmine grumbled before finding a spot on the carpet beside Ella. "And I need to shower, but I'm hungry, and I also need to talk to you." She glared at Ella.

"What did I do?"

Frankie lifted a hand. "Before anyone says another word, I need to know what's happening with the twins. Were they revived?"

"Bridget is working on the prince," Aru said. "He opened his eyes briefly, tried to say something, and went under again. Bridget won't start on the princess until she has him stabilized."

Everyone's mood seemed to plummet at the news.

"Is he going to be okay?" Margo asked.

Jasmine's throat felt too tight to answer, so all she could do was shrug and fold in upon herself.

"He will be," Aru said with more conviction than Jasmine felt. "Bridget and Julian are cutting away his clothing so the water can touch all of his skin. Bridget kicked us out to preserve his privacy, and she will let us know when and if he wakes up."

"Jade stayed in the clinic in case she was needed," Jasmine said quietly. "Being a Kra-ell, she would look familiar to him and can speak his language." She cast Ella another baleful look.

"What?" Ella asked.

"Never mind." Jasmine took the paper plate Margo was handing her and a pair of chopsticks. "I'm hungry." She reached for one of the boxes and opened it.

"The doctors might decide to put him in an induced coma to help him heal," Margo said. "When Mia's heart gave out and the doctors were fighting for her life, that was what they did."

"Makes sense," Ella said. "Especially since her heart was probably operating at a fraction of the capacity it should have been."

Frankie nodded. "It was such a horrible period in our lives. It changed me."

"Me too." Margo sighed. "But it changed us in different ways. I lost my naive belief that everything would be okay and that I was invincible because I was young, and you decided to throw caution to the wind and live every day as if it were your last."

"True." Frankie popped a piece of orange chicken into her mouth, chewed it, and swallowed. "My way was better because I was having fun."

Margo waved a dismissive hand at Frankie before turning to Jasmine. "You said that the prince was trying to say something. Did Jade understand any of it?"

Jasmine shook her head. "It was just a croak." She closed her eyes and tried to recall every detail of those precious seconds he'd been awake. "His eyes are the most amazing shade of blue. I've never seen eyes like that. And he looked right at me." She lifted her gaze to Aru. "Did you see that? Or was it my imagination?"

"He looked at you," Aru confirmed. "It was mostly a glazed-over look without seeing, but there was some momentary awareness in his gaze." He smiled at her. "You should be glad that his eyes are shaped like a god's and not like a Kra-ell's."

She hadn't thought of that, but it was a good point, and she was relieved that he looked more human than she had expected. The rest of the physical differences didn't bother her as much, except his dietary preferences.

She turned to Ella. "When you told me about the Kra-ell, you forgot to mention one significant detail."

Ella frowned. "I told you about their huge black eyes, but the prince apparently doesn't have them."

"You told me about that, but you didn't tell me about something much more important than the shape of their eyes. They are freaking vampires! They live on blood, Ella! Don't you think it should have been the first thing to mention?"

Ella didn't even look guilty as she shrugged. "You are making too big of a deal about something that is not all that important. They drink from animals, and they don't kill when they drink. It's all very sustainable."

The chuckle that bubbled up from Jasmine's throat sounded manic. "Sustainable? Are you freaking serious? They drink blood!"

"So what? What's the big deal? You drink milk and eat animal flesh, and they drink its blood. They prefer it fresh, that's true, but they can live on frozen store-bought blood, too." She leaned back and looked at Jasmine down her nose. "You didn't seem to have a problem with Edgar's fangs."

"That's because he doesn't drink blood." It dawned on her that she hadn't seen him or even noticed his absence. "Where is Edgar, by the way? Did he leave?"

Ella shrugged. "I didn't see him when we got here. He must have decided to return to the village."

A pang of unease coursed through Jasmine. "He said he would wait for me to return. He also said that we need to celebrate the successful completion of the mission."

"Maybe he went underground to look for you," Frankie said.

"Maybe." Jasmine lifted a piece of broccoli with her chopsticks. "I hope he will return when he doesn't find me."

The truth was that she missed him and felt a little lost without him.

Well, a lot lost.

What would happen to her now? Would she go back to her apartment and her customer service job? Was she still in danger from the Modanas and their cohorts?

Who would induce her godly genes?

Would it be the prince?

As she remembered what he looked like, a shiver ran down Jasmine's spine, and not the pleasant type. It could be months before he was in any state to be intimate with a woman, and then he might remember that he was a celibate priest and not give her the time of day.

Would she have to find another immortal to do the honors?

Mother of All Life, what a mess. Maybe she shouldn't have ended things with Edgar so soon. She could have waited until they were back in the penthouse and had unprotected sex with him.

It wouldn't have been such a great hardship, but it wouldn't have been fair to him unless he was willing to be just the venom donor and didn't expect anything else.

They ate silently for the next few moments, and then Margo put her plate down. "So, what happens now?" Her voice cut through the haze of Jasmine's thoughts like a beacon in the fog. "I mean, we found the twins, we brought them back to the keep. What's the next step?"

Jasmine shrugged. "I honestly have no idea. I feel like a ship adrift in the ocean. I don't know what I'm supposed to do next."

Gabi put her plate down and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I don't know about you, but I'm glad to be back. I thought we'd be trekking through those mountains for months, freezing our asses off and battling altitude sickness. Thanks to Jasmine, the mission was over much sooner than I expected."