7. Jasmine

Jasmine stirred awake, her eyelids fluttering open to the soft morning light filtering through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse guest bedroom. For a moment, she simply savored the plush comfort of the mattress beneath her and the warm, solid presence of Edgar at her side, but then her mind shifted into gear, and she marveled at the turn of events that had brought her to this beautiful, professionally decorated bedroom in a multimillion-dollar penthouse.

But that was the small stuff.

Could things get more surreal than a boyfriend who was the immortal descendant of gods?

Yeah, they could. There was a possibility that she possessed godly genes and could turn immortal with his help. Edgar had explained what was needed, and it was as simple as having sex with him without a condom.

Given that she was about to travel to Tibet, they needed to stock up on many boxes of those. She had no wish to start transitioning while on a trek through the Himalayas, and she also had no intention of abstaining for longer than was essential.

Sex with Edgar was literally out of this world.

Lifting her hand to the spot that he"d bitten last night, she felt her core tighten and her nipples harden at the memory.

Rolling over, she propped herself on one elbow and studied Edgar"s sleeping face with a smile. He looked so peaceful, his puffy lips parted and his dark lashes fanning against his sculpted cheekbones. It was hard to reconcile the innocent-looking young man with the vampire he turned into every night.

Well, every night they had sex, and every morning, if she had her way. The fangs didn"t scare her, and the glowing eyes were kind of cool.

Now that she knew who and what he was, he didn"t need to hide them from her like he had done before.

Sensing her gaze on him, Edgar stirred, his eyes blinking open and a sleepy smile curving his lips. "Good morning, beautiful," he murmured, his voice husky.

"Good morning, handsome." Jasmine leaned down to brush a soft kiss against his mouth. "Did you sleep well?"

"Like the dead." Edgar grinned and pulled her down on top of him for a more thorough kiss.

She laughed against his lips, her body molding to his as she lost herself in the heady rush of desire. They were both naked, and he was already hard beneath her, but she was no longer on vacation and had a mission to accomplish this morning.

Regrettably, sex would have to wait.

She pulled back, ignoring Edgar"s groan of protest as she sat up and ran a hand through her tousled hair. "I need to borrow your phone."

"What for?"

She tilted her head. "I need to make a scrying stick, and I need instructions on how to make it. Since I don"t have a phone or a laptop, I need to borrow yours."

"I thought that you knew how to make one." He grimaced. "And to be perfectly honest, the idea of a stick pointing us in the direction of the pod sounds absurd."

Jasmine shrugged. "I don"t have any better ideas, and if I"m going to be useful in finding the royal twins, I need to sharpen my abilities one way or another. A scrying stick, a crystal ball, or divining from coffee grinds, it doesn"t really matter what I use, as long as it helps me channel my innate ability."

Edgar looked skeptical, but he reached for his phone and took it off its charger. "Let"s browse together. I"m curious about what we can find."

Jasmine didn"t think that he was motivated by curiosity.

Despite the compulsion that Kevin had put on her to keep the existence of immortals a secret, Edgar didn"t trust her even though she couldn"t tell anyone about them if she wanted to.

It hurt, but she wasn"t going to make a big deal out of it. Edgar was probably so used to protecting this enormous secret that it was second nature to him.

Huddling together over the phone, they scrolled through pages of search results on the lore. Most of the information on scrying was related to crystal balls, water basins, polished round stones, and other methods, and there was very little about sticks. The only two references they found claimed that a branch of a willow tree was the best material for that purpose, and both said that it needed to be imbued with the energy of the witch who wielded it.

"Here, take it." Edgar handed her the phone. "My eyes are getting crossed from reading this."

He hadn"t added "nonsense," but she knew it had been on the tip of his tongue.

Jasmine spent the next half an hour making a mental list of all the items she needed to prep the stick so it would do what it was supposed to.

She handed Edgar his phone back. "Looks like we"re going on a walk." She tossed back the covers and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

Edgar groaned, flopping back against the pillows with a sigh. "Can"t it wait until after coffee?"

Jasmine laughed, leaning over to kiss his pouting lips quickly. "Nope. The early witch gets the willow or something like that. We can get coffee after we find a stick. There are several other items I need to buy as well, so we will need to find a store that sells them."

"Like what?"

"I"ll tell you on the way."

Grumbling about needing coffee to function, Edgar hauled himself out of bed.