54. Edgar

Edgar adjusted his grip on the controls as the wind whipped at the helicopter. Scanning the horizon where the Himalayan peaks cut sharply into the gray sky, he took a moment to admire the landscape of jagged peaks and deep ravines.

Julian stayed behind in town to watch over the stasis chamber containing the princess, so Edgar made the journey back to the mountaintop alone, enjoying the solitude but not the disturbing thoughts swirling in his mind.

They had maneuvered the princess"s stasis chamber into Julian and Ella"s room, which meant that the prince was going to Edgar and Jasmine"s, which did not make Edgar happy.

He didn"t want to be stuck with the mummy in their room, especially since the prince wasn"t really dead. Was he aware of anything happening around him while in stasis?

The only time Edgar had experienced losing consciousness had been during his induction ceremony at the age of thirteen, and he remembered being completely out. Then again, he had been unconscious only for a few minutes and not thousands of years.

Who knew if the twins" brains had remained intact after all that time? He didn"t wish them ill, but if that happened, Jasmine wouldn"t be interested in the prince, so Edgar wouldn"t be too upset if that was the case. After all, it was a dog-eat-dog world, and he had already done his fair share of altruism.

Even the Fates couldn"t hold his lack of compassion for the hybrid twins against him.

As the gusts of wind became even more violent, buffeting the aircraft, Edgar adjusted the cyclic and pedal, anticipating and counteracting the worst of their shifts and swirls and stabilizing the craft as he kept a steady course.

It was a challenge to land, and as he touched down on the rocky plateau, the rotors kicked up a cloud of dust and debris that, thanks to the wind, took flight.

He climbed out of the helicopter, his boots crunching on the loose gravel as he made his way over to where Aru and the others were waiting.

"When the wind picked up, I was worried," Aru said. "I didn"t know if you could make it back."

"It"s not as bad as it looks." Edgar shifted his gaze to Jasmine, who was sitting on the same rock he"d left her on, but instead of using the sleeping bag as a cushion for her bottom, she had it wrapped around her. "But it"s getting worse. I"m not even sure I can take the other stasis chamber in these conditions. If it could fit inside, I wouldn"t be concerned, but given that it overhangs out the doors, is rounded without a secure purchase, and we"re using ropes to keep it from slipping out, I"m worried about losing it in a nasty gust. Because of the mountains, these gusts just come out of nowhere and slap the chopper." He clapped his hands to demonstrate.

He hoped Aru would see reason and leave the prince on the mountaintop for the night. It would give Edgar and Jasmine one more night alone with each other, and they both needed it.

"We have to transport them both." Aru"s gaze swept over the mostly barren landscape. "We can wait with the rest for Yamanu to arrive and shroud the operation, but this one needs to be where Julian can keep an eye on him." He turned around to look at the crater. "From the air, this looks like just another natural formation, but if someone comes snooping around on foot, we"ll have to be ready to shroud the pod or thrall them into forgetting what they"ve seen. Dagor and I will guard the pod, Negal will go back with the other pilot, and Jasmine will return with you."

Dagor nodded. "I"m sure Jasmine"s had enough of sitting on that rock and freezing."

She lifted her head and looked their way, but not directly at Edgar, which rankled. "A shower and a bed sound like a dream," she said.

"I bet." He smiled, forcing her to smile back. "You can sit up front while Negal and I load up the stasis chamber and secure it."

"I"ll wait for you to be done." Jasmine tightened the sleeping bag around herself. "I don"t want to be in the way."

She was right, of course. Tying the chamber also required looping the ropes around the front seats.

"We"ll do it fast." He turned to Aru. "Do you want Negal and me to swap guard duty with you tomorrow?"

"We shall see," Aru said. "In any case, the two of you should return tomorrow morning to bring us fresh supplies and help dismantle what we can from the pod."

"Of course." Edgar walked over to the stasis chamber. "Let"s do it."

Once the chamber was secured, Edgar was sure it wouldn"t slip out of the ropes no matter what the weather threw at him. As much as he didn"t want the prince to come between him and Jasmine, he wouldn"t intentionally harm the dude. Besides, losing the chamber would stain his exceptional reputation as a pilot, and even Jasmine wasn"t worth that.

He returned to where her backpack lay on the grass and lifted it onto his back.

"Ready to go?" he asked her.

"I am." She removed the sleeping bag from her shoulders, rolled it up, and rose.

He was about to hug her when something about how she stood up made him pause.

Jasmine stood tall and straight, her weight balanced evenly on both feet as if she had never been injured. There was no sign of the pain or stiffness that had plagued her since she"d twisted her ankle, and no hint of the limp that had made each step a struggle before.

If she were an immortal, her recovery wouldn"t have surprised him. But she was still human, and he hadn"t bitten her since her injury, so it wasn"t his venom that had contributed to her fast recovery.

A sudden, horrible thought occurred to him that made his blood run cold. The gods" venom was even more potent than that of immortals, and if one of them had bitten her, that could explain her miraculous healing.

All three were mated to their truelove mates, though, so it should be physically impossible for them to bite a female who was not their mate. Then again, they were gods and might not be the same as immortals.

Edgar had heard the stories about the gods of old and their promiscuity. They had not been known for being loyal to their mates, but he had always assumed the reason was that most of them had not mated for love but rather for politics and convenience. But what if the reason was a different physiology?

What if they could love their mates and still be unfaithful to them?

Only fated truelove mates bonded so powerfully that they were incapable of feeling attraction for anyone but their one and only.

It was also possible that the trait had been genetically removed from the new generations of gods, and Aru and his friends were more like humans in that regard.

"I see that your ankle is much better," he said as he walked toward the helicopter. "It seems to have healed remarkably fast."

"I know." Jasmine cast him a smile and lifted her boot-clad leg to show him how easily she could move it. "It has just gotten better and better, and now the pain is gone. Maybe it"s the fresh mountain air, or maybe it"s magical." She smiled and leaned toward him. "Or maybe my witchy abilities are getting stronger, and I healed myself with a spell." She winked.

Edgar didn"t find that amusing. "I doubt magic had anything to do with it." He turned to look at the three gods who were standing close to each other and speaking in hushed voices. "I heard that a god"s venom is even more potent than an immortal"s. Perhaps one of them offered his assistance."

Jasmine"s eyes widened, a flash of hurt and anger passing over her features as she realized what he was implying, and then her eyes narrowed. "What are you trying to say, Edgar?"

Shrugging, he put her backpack over the stasis chamber and secured it with a rope. "I"m not trying to say anything."

He offered her a hand up, but she refused and climbed into the craft without his aid. "I can"t believe you, Edgar."

"Same here," he murmured as he climbed in. "They are all mated."

She shook her head. "How you can even suggest such a thing is beyond me. What kind of a woman do you think I am?"