53. Jasmine

53

JASMINE

J asmine tensed as Jade walked into the kitchen with a grimace twisting her mouth.

"Is the prince okay?"

"He's fine." Jade's gaze swept over the array of open takeout boxes on the counter. "Your food stinks."

"I beg to differ," Edgar said. "It smells delicious."

"I believe it does to you, but the smell of cooked meat is repulsive to me." She shivered in disgust. "Anyway, I came to tell you that you can return to the clinic. He's asleep and will probably stay asleep for a while after all the excitement, so there is no rush." She gave them both a two-fingered mock salute, pivoted on the heel of her combat boots, and strode out.

"The nerve of her criticizing what we eat," Edgar murmured. "As if drinking blood from a live animal's vein is not repulsive."

Jasmine winced. "That's gross. I hope the prince does not like drinking blood. Bridget says his digestive system is like ours, but he also seemed disgusted when she mentioned meat. I guess it's a cultural thing."

Edgar shrugged. "So, what do we do with all the leftovers? Put them in the fridge, or call Bridget and the others to come and eat now that the guests are gone and her patient is sleeping?"

"Let's call her so she can eat it while it's still warm. Reheating Chinese food ruins the taste." Jasmine started closing the boxes and arranging them in a neat row.

"I don't have anything scheduled for today." Edgar finished closing the last of the boxes. "I can come and sit with you, keep you company while he sleeps." He gave her a lopsided smile. "So you won't be bored."

"I'm not bored," Jasmine said. "I've been singing to him, reading him stories. It helps pass the time."

Edgar frowned. "You can't do that anymore, remember? He is no longer unconscious, and you should let him rest."

"You're right." She canted her head. "It's strange how fast habits form and how difficult it is to change them. It's like I've spent my entire life, not just a few days, sitting in that chair in the clinic, talking and singing to an alien prince who I wasn't sure could even hear me." She smiled. "But he did. He told me that my voice soothed him."

Edgar nodded, but she wasn't sure whether it indicated that he understood or agreed or both.

"I'm curious to see what he looks like now," he said. "That's another motive for me to get Bridget out of there. She might not allow me to see him." He started toward the door.

"Why wouldn't she?" Jasmine followed him out of the kitchen. Edgar shrugged. "I have no reason to be there other than curiosity."

That was true of all the visitors, but Edgar was the only one who might not have the prince's best interests at heart.

Jasmine hated even to think that, but she should encourage at least one medical staff member to remain so Edgar wouldn't have free rein to do as he pleased. She could not physically protect the prince from the immortal and had no defenses against his mind manipulation. If he was planning to harm the prince, he could thrall her to do it for him.

Then again, Edgar didn't need to be in the clinic with her to do that. At any time, he could have thralled her to put a pillow over the prince's face and smother him or do something else to him that was less obvious.

He didn't, though, and she felt awful for even thinking that. Edgar might have a mile-long jealous streak, but he wasn't a bad guy.

The door to Bridget's office was open as they entered the clinic, and Edgar knocked on it before walking in. "We didn't put the food in the fridge. We left it on the kitchen counter. If you hurry, you might still eat it warm."

"Don't mind if I do." The doctor rose to her feet. "I'll ask Julian and Gertrude to join me."

Jasmine tensed despite her earlier rationalization that if Edgar meant the prince harm, he could have used her to do that already.

"Shouldn't at least one of you stay here in case of an emergency?"

Bridget smiled. "The kitchen is seconds away, and if anything out of the ordinary is registered on the monitoring equipment, our phones will sound the alarm."

"Oh, okay." Jasmine hid her embarrassment by turning to look at the slightly open door to the prince's room. "I didn't know that. I should check on him."

"I'll come with you." Edgar followed her.

When she walked up to the prince and gazed at him, Edgar walked around to the other side of the bed.

"He looks good." He lifted his eyes to her and smiled. "He's handsome. I was afraid he would look like the Kra-ell. Jade is pretty, but she's a bit too alien-looking for my taste, and the males look too feminine with their long hair and narrow waists. They are strong bastards and fierce warriors, so their looks are misleading, but still. If I were a female, I wouldn't have been interested. Then there are their strange mating rituals. No thank you."

"What strange mating rituals?" Ella hadn't said anything about that.

"They are violent, and they fight for dominance." He grimaced. "Did you

watch Star Trek: The Next Generation?"

"I did. I loved it."

"Remember the Klingon matings? It's something like that."

Jasmine shivered. "I'm glad that the twins were celibate and were not exposed to such barbaric practices."

"Yeah, me too." He smiled sheepishly. "Let's go see the princess."

Jasmine was also curious, but mostly, she wanted to get Edgar out of the prince's room. "Let's do it."

As they slipped inside the other room, Jasmine sucked in a breath. "Oh, wow, she looks much better as well."

The princess was beautiful; her features were delicate and finely wrought beneath the fragile skin, and her body was long, lean, and graceful. The few strands of hair still attached to her head were stringy and the same color as the prince's. A warm chestnut brown that would be gorgeous once it was restored to health.

"She's beautiful," Edgar murmured, his voice soft and filled with a quiet reverence as he studied the princess's face. "Regal, even. But it's a shame that her hair is in such bad shape. It would be better to shave it all off, let it grow back evenly." He looked up at Jasmine. "She'd look good bald. She has the bone structure for it."

Jasmine snorted. "Are you smitten, Edgar?"

He shrugged. "A princess is probably out of my league."

She laughed. "The prince is out of my league as well, but that's not stopping me. Why should it stop you?"

Edgar was silent for a long moment, and his brow furrowed as he considered her words. And then, slowly, a small, rueful smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth. "Would it be a little creepy for us, as former lovers, to be involved with the twins?"

She winced. "Yeah, it is a little creepy. But given that we are dealing with ancient aliens who are royals from another world, I think we're allowed a certain level of weirdness. As long as we don't mind and they don't, what's the harm?"

"Fair enough."