58. Edgar

Edgar found Jasmine in the big tent, huddled around a table with Margo, Frankie, Gabi, and Ella. They were all holding steaming cups of tea and had several empty plates between them.

As he approached the table, Jasmine looked up, her eyes widening a little at the sight of him. For a moment, Edgar feared that she would turn away and ignore him. But to his surprise, she nodded her greeting with a guarded expression that was thankfully not hostile.

"Hello, ladies." He forced a smile before putting his hand on Jasmine"s shoulder. "Can I steal Jasmine away for a few minutes?"

Margo regarded him with a knowing smile. "Of course."

Jasmine cast her a baleful look before turning it on him. "I should be the one you ask if it"s okay to steal me for a few minutes."

She was killing him with all that nonsense. "I apologize, but in our culture, asking the entire group"s permission is considered polite."

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes. "I just don"t like it when people talk about me like I"m not there." She set her cup down on the table with a clink and pushed to her feet.

Her rebuttal amused him. "Isn"t that better than people talking about you when you are actually not there?"

Given the headshaking at the table, he had committed another faux pas, but he was tired of walking on eggshells around Jasmine. If he couldn"t speak his mind to her honestly and without weighing every word, then perhaps they shouldn"t be together. It was too much effort.

"Let"s take a walk," Jasmine said as they left the tent. "I assume that the prince is in our room?"

"Correct, but I wish someone else had taken it. I don"t know why he ended up in our room. As the leader of the search team, Aru should have taken him."

She didn"t react and kept walking. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

"I"m sorry for offending you. If anything did happen to speed up your healing, I believe that you were unaware of it." He reached out, tentatively taking her hand in his.

She didn"t pull away to his relief, her fingers curling around his in a gesture of cautious acceptance.

"Can you forgive me?"

Jasmine was silent for a long moment, her eyes searching his face as if looking for some sign of sincerity. And then, to Edgar"s immense relief, she nodded, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "I forgive you, mainly because the same thing had occurred to me. I just don"t know how it"s possible."

"They could thrall you to forget anything they want."

"I know, but that"s not what I meant. First of all, they should have asked for my consent, which is supposed to be such a big deal for you guys. And secondly, aren"t the gods supposed to be incapable of biting any woman other than their mate once they are bonded?"

It was a relief to hear her admit that she suspected the same thing, mainly because she couldn"t be too angry with him for reaching the same conclusions.

"All those things are true for immortals, but perhaps not for the gods."

"They are your ancestors. You got your physiology and customs from them."

He stopped and turned toward her. "That"s also true, but a lot has happened on Anumati since our ancestors were exiled. The gods are masters of genetic manipulation and haven"t been idle for the past seven thousand years. Aru, Negal, and Dagor are made differently. The truth is that we don"t know much about them."

She nodded. "Seven thousand years is just incomprehensible to me. It"s more or less the entire length of human civilization."

Edgar nodded. "Imagine where humans will be in seven thousand years."

"I can"t. I think we will all be replaced by robots."

He laughed. "That"s possible. Or we will all have chips in our brains." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Only I don"t think that will happen. The gods are no smarter than we are and could have easily been made much more intelligent. I bet they have laws against it." He led her back toward the restaurant. "Have you eaten already? I"m starving."

She shook her head. "I had a few momos but not a full meal. I was waiting for you."

His heart leaped at her words. "I"m touched. You waited even though you were angry with me."

Did it mean that she had feelings for him after all?

It didn"t seem likely considering her assertion that she hadn"t promised him anything and her obsession with the prince, but perhaps her emotions were more nuanced, and she could have feelings for him despite all of that.