The Charmer (38 page)

Ribbons of light reflected off of its smooth
silver surface as it flew in front of the sun, becoming a black
shadow limned by fire. It banked again, returned to the citadel,
and slowed just enough to catch Leo and Jasmine in ribbons of
silver. The ribbons retracted, lacing them to its body as it glided
past. Then they were out over the ocean, the terrified cries of
their bodyguards quickly lost in the rush of wind.

It was scary, but also exhilarating as they
swooped and soared, at one with the sky. The symbiont dived with
dizzying speed, spreading its wings to arch upward again ten feet
from the ocean waves. “Are you controlling this thing?” Jasmine
called over the wind, her stomach somewhere in her throat.

“How could I? I don’t know how to fly!”

Jasmine’s eyes got big at that pronouncement.
“In that case

”

“Done!” Leo answered, and indeed they were
swooping back to the roof of the citadel and a pale bunch of men
and Haunt.

Keilor was one of them.

For long seconds he said nothing, simply
looked her over, seeking injuries. Finding none, he took her arm in
a firm grasp, saying nothing as he ushered her to the lift. His
trembling hand said it all.

Jasmine cringed and drug her heels. Opening
her mouth seemed like a supremely foolish thing to do at that
moment.

She did it anyway. “Would it help if I said I
was sorry?”

“It’s a start.” That was the extent of their
conversation until they entered their rooms. He released her and
paced in a circle, then sat on the arm of an overstuffed chair.

“Where do I even start with you?” he demanded
wearily. He ran his hand through his hair, uncharacteristically
rattled.

Jasmine cringed with guilt. She had this
coming, and she deserved every word. Instead of words, he stood up
and turned his back on her, going over to stare out the window.

He stood there for a long time.

He didn’t come to bed that night or the
next.

Jayems told her that he was working with the
volti, but nothing else. He wouldn’t discuss her problems with her,
either. “Some things should stay between a Haunt and wife. I can do
nothing for you.” He refused to leave the room when she went to
visit Rihlia, effectively blocking that outlet.

Raziel wouldn’t discuss it. “It’s not my
place. Speak with your husband.”

Isfael remained in Haunt, and she didn’t know
enough sign language to bother him. Fallon was typically absent,
Mathin was gone, and Leo was unavailable.

About the only ones who wouldn’t run from her
were Casanova and Keilor’s family.

“I don’t understand him,” Jasmine confessed
miserably to the obelisk from the overturned bucket that she was
using for a stool. It said nothing, but it made her feel better to
talk, even to the long dead and unknowing. “I mean, I wasn’t doing
anything
really
dangerous.”

The column stared back.

“Ok, so maybe it was, a little, but why would
he be so upset about it now? I’ve done stuff like this before.”
Yeah, but nobody cared then, and you weren’t pregnant.
She
winced at that bit of inner wisdom and rubbed her face. This
exploring the self stuff was not fun.

In truth, she didn’t want to think about
being pregnant. She wasn’t ready, and it was scary. A part of her
thought if she put if from her mind and went on like always, there
would be no change, and she could forget, but it wasn’t working.
That morning she’d gotten up and found herself unable to button her
pants and the illusions had shattered. She was pregnant and getting
more so every day.

It was one thing to want a baby in the
nebulous future and another to have one tomorrow. In the future she
had time to become worthy of the task, to become a better person.
Today the poor kid would be stuck with her as she was, and she
wasn’t ready!

She got up to pace, enumerating her failings.
She’d never changed a diaper, and she knew nothing about nursing.
Babies got sick a lot, didn’t they? Needed shots? Clothes? A
college fund? What was she doing out here, moping? There were a
thousand details to see to, things to get ready for the kid’s
arrival, and here she was sitting around, talking to a rock!

With a new sense of purpose, she collected
the bucket she’d brought the jasmine flowers in and hurried from
the garden.

She had a lot to do.

Luck was with her. The first person she
asked, her maid, had grandchildren, and yes, she was willing to let
Jasmine visit them with her.

Her maid lived in a nice little cottage
carved into the arm of the mountain, and her grandsons, aged seven
and nine, adored Raziel and her Haunt escort. It was the
four-day-old baby girl, though, that interested Jasmine the
most.

“Her mother stepped out to do some shopping,”
the maid explained when Jasmine arrived. She picked the
blanket-wrapped bundle up out of its crib and pulled back a corner
of the quilt, exposing the sleeping face of the baby girl.

“She’s so small,” Jasmine said in
consternation as she stared at the little one.

Her maid laughed. “She’ll grow. Would you
like to hold her?”

Jasmine’s eyes widened. “Oh, no! I’d probably
break her.”

The woman snorted and handed the baby to her
anyway. “Nonsense. Simply support her head and her little bottom
and you’ll get on just fine. Yes, there. Now have a seat in the
rocker and make yourself comfortable while I go and make certain
the boys aren’t pestering your Haunt.”

A stab of panic flashed through Jasmine at
being left sole caretaker of the child, but in seconds she was
alone with the babe. The little one slept on, unconcerned. Taking
courage from that, Jasmine nudged back the blanket and examined the
infant’s hands, marveling at their small size. Her fingers were
perfect, the nails exact replicas of an adult’s, but so very
tiny!

At that moment, it finally hit her. That was
what her own baby was like, growing inside of her. Wonder blossomed
in her heart, and a fierce protectiveness. Was that what had scared
Keilor so, the thought that she was risking his baby so heedlessly?
Shaken, Jasmine closed her eyes, feeling lower than low. It wasn’t
just her body anymore, was it? She was sharing it with a little one
like this, whether she was ready or not. Everything she did from
here on out was going to affect it.

Near tears, she carefully laid the little one
back in her crib and found her hostess, thanked her for letting her
hold the child and quickly took her leave.

She had a lot of thinking to do.

Keilor came home that night, smelling of
sultry forest and wild air. He showed up just as she was getting
ready for a solitary dinner, striding in with his hair loose and a
volti at his heels.

Jasmine’s eyes got wide and she scrambled up
on her chair, kneeling on the cushion as she peered over the chair
back. Casanova ran under the table, hiding behind her.

A half smile turned up the corner of her
husband’s mouth. “She won’t eat either of you. Terza is here to
protect you.”

Not a bit reassured, Jasmine peered at the
huge creature that watched her with smirking and far
too-intelligent amusement. “Uh, what happened to Raziel and Isfael,
and the rest of the bodyguard?” she croaked through a dry throat.
“They were doing a pretty good job, I thought.”

His eyes cooled. “Terza has offered to take
their place. They will no longer be needed.”

Terza yawned, exposing a mouthful of fangs,
and licked her chops. She closed her jaws shut with a snap and a
small snarl. Her far too-human eyes mocked her new charge’s
fear.

Jasmine swallowed. They understood each
other.

Like some enormous house pet, Terza stretched
out by the fireplace, roasting herself at its heat. A spicy wild
smell wafted from her coat to permeate the room, scenting the air
with exotic danger. The same scent clung to Keilor as he moved
closer with an innately sensual grace.

Jasmine’s eyes dilated, and her body grew
languid and weak, hungry for him. “What did you do?” she whispered
as passion fogged her brain. Was this what he felt around her?

Lightning zinged from his touch, scorching
her. “You’re not the only one who can inspire passion, wife.”

Far into the night, he proved his claim, and
Jasmine reveled in his possession.

Morning came too quickly, and with it,
responsibilities.

“I’m sorry, Keilor.” Jasmine rolled up on one
elbow and regarded her doubtful bedmate. “I have been too reckless
lately, and.…” She gritted her teeth, made herself say it.
“…selfish. You don’t need to sic the volti on me. I’ve already
decided to mend my ways.”

“She stays,” he said, flinging the mussed
covers off and getting up. Sun-lit dust motes danced around his
lean body with distracting glee. “Are you hungry? I haven’t eaten
since yesterday afternoon.”

Expelling a breath of frustration, Jasmine
got up and threw on her clothes. “You’re determined not to trust
me, aren’t you? All right, fine. I’ll just have to prove it to
you.”

“I’ll welcome your efforts,” he said in the
grim tone of a man who was hearing an empty promise. “What would
you like for breakfast?”

The rest of the morning didn’t go any better.
Jasmine asked for his opinions regarding the baby crib and gear,
and he politely offered her his thoughts, giving her his full
attention before returning to his paperwork. Until she mentioned
going to see if Leo would like to go shopping.

“She would not,” he answered, not looking up
from the document he was examining.

“I beg your pardon?”

He laid aside his pen. “You are restricted
from seeing her without Jackson or myself present until after your
pregnancy. Then you may do as you wish.”

Jasmine put her hands on her hips. “Are you
telling me I’m grounded?” she asked, almost more amused than
annoyed. “Aren’t I a little old for that?”

“I could lock you in your room.”

Tilting her head, she mocked, “Ah, well, glad
to see you’re not completely lost to reason. I would stay away from
her big symbiont, you know.”

“I know you will,” he answered, implacable.
He stroked the end of his pen against his fingers, waiting for her
to lose her temper.

It was a very close thing, but she mastered
it, stuffing it away until she could deal with it in private. “All
right. I’ll see you later.”

He raised a brow, mildly surprised when she
closed the door without slamming it, and that she only frowned a
little at Terza, who padded after her.

Sitting back in his leather desk chair,
Keilor contemplated the door. His brief absence while he mastered
his temper seemed to have chastened his recalcitrant wife more than
he would have expected. For all he knew, she might even mean her
words of repentance.

Unfortunately, he doubted it. Whatever the
reasons for her carelessness, he’d had enough nerve-wracking
experiences lately that he was taking no more chances. Hence,
Terza. Not only would no one dare to cross a volti in her prime,
but a volti was one creature he never had to worry about Jasmine
charming into complacency.

He had another reason for accepting her offer
of assistance, however. Yesande was on the move, and had even dared
to brush the borders of volti-patrolled forest, tempting death with
reckless presumption. Raziel and Isfael were needed elsewhere, and
since he couldn’t be at Jasmine’s side constantly, Terza was the
next best thing.

Of course, the best thing would be for
Jasmine to exercise some caution and common sense, but since that
was unlikely to happen…

He was a little encouraged by her visit to
see her maid’s grandbaby. Raziel had said she’d looked shaken, so
perhaps she was finally beginning to realize the seriousness of her
responsibilities. Or not.

With an oath, he grabbed another paper and
got back to work. Time would tell him soon enough whether or not
she’d really changed.

Chapter 33

“What is
that
?”

Jasmine glanced sourly at her silent shadow,
who’d followed her into the gardens where Rihlia had been taken to
get some air. Hellish eyes full of golden fire stared back at her
from the shade of a tall hedge. “My newest nanny, Terza the
Terrible. Why, don’t you like her?”

A low, rumbling growl came from the beast,
and Rihlia’s eyes widened. “I don’t think you ought to bait her,
Jas.”

She sniffed. “Keilor should have thought of
that before he sicced her on me. After all, he’s the one so
concerned about me taking risks. It would serve him right if he
found her snacking on me.” Remorse stabbed her the moment she’d
said it, and her friend’s horrified expression didn’t help.

“I didn’t mean that,” she sighed. “Just
ignore me. You know how I get when I’m mad about something, and
this infernal bitchiness I’ve felt ever since I got
pregnant

no offense,” she said, widening
her eyes with arch disrespect at the volti, “is driving me crazy.
And now Keilor’s all but said that he doesn’t trust me to be
careful of the baby…”

“Can you blame him?” Rihlia broke in. “I’d
have killed you if I’d been him.”

Jasmine winced. Close friendships had their
drawbacks.

“You don’t take those kind of risks with a
baby, Jas, ever.”

“I wasn’t thinking of it like that; not then.
It was only yesterday that I finally realized that I wasn’t just
pregnant, I was carrying a baby.”

Rihlia stared at her. “I just know I’m going
to be fascinated by this explanation.”

Jasmine leaned forward. “The day before last
I had a
condition
. Yesterday it finally dawned on me that my
condition was a baby.”

Rihlia blinked. “Sometimes I try to figure
out how your mind works, Jas. Other times I’m a little smarter and
decide to give it up.” She shook her head as if ridding it of a bad
dream. “Have you explained any of this to your poor husband?”