Page 3 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

Glancing around to ensure that she was truly alone, Jasmine pulled the deck out of the velvet pouch and began to shuffle. A smile spread over her face as the familiar motions relaxed her better than meditation, yoga, or just about anything else.

Well, save for sex. But that wasn't in the cards until she got off the ship.

Jasmine snorted. Not in the cards—now that was funny.

She closed her eyes, focusing her energy on the question that had been plaguing her since she was brought on board.

Was her prince on this ship?

Was that why the cards had led her to Alberto, so she could end up here where her prince awaited?

With a deep breath, she laid out the first card, The Six of Cups. The image of two children exchanging gifts stared back at her, a symbol of innocence, nostalgia, and the promise of a new beginning. Jasmine's heart skipped a beat. That card hadn't popped up before. Could this mean that her prince was someone from her past? Perhaps it was a guy that she'd met in school and hadn't noticed back then but who had admired her from afar? And who was also secretly a prince?

Jasmine chuckled. Talk about romantic fantasies. She sounded like a character from one of her period romance novels. She'd never really thought that the cards were promising her an actual prince. They must have meant a prince of a man, and she would be more than happy with that.

The next card was The Lovers. The naked figures of Adam and Eve were intertwined beneath the watchful eye of an angel, the image relaying a profound connection and a union blessed by the divine. After pulling that one, she knew what the final card would be even before laying it down, the same way she knew when she was about to get a winning hand.

And there it was—The Knight of Cups, a dashing figure astride a white horse, holding out a golden chalice as if in offering. The embodiment of romance, chivalry, and the arrival of a suitor. And behind him, rising from the horizon like a beacon, was a castle.

Her prince.

The first few times the same sequence had unfolded, Jasmine had been so excited that her hands had trembled, but now, it seemed more like a curse than a blessing.

It was nothing, a fluke, a cruel joke that some malicious spirit was playing on her.

Her father had warned her against relying on the cards, and at the time she thought he was being superstitious, but maybe he'd been right. After all, cartomancy had only been her introduction to the occult. Since then, she had delved into more serious stuff, but she still had a lot to learn about being a proper witch.

The devil's playground, her father called anything he considered witchcraft, but he was wrong. Hellish or divine, it all depended on the practitioner.

2

KIAN

Kian left Margo's cabin and headed toward the elevators, intending to finally have a long overdue chat with Jasmine.

When she'd been brought to the ship, he hadn't paid her much attention because he hadn't deemed it necessary. After all, the woman had just been someone whom Margo had befriended, a magnet for trouble who had gotten Margo entangled with the cartel. But since day one, people around him had been talking about Jasmine as if she was someone special, and that included Syssi and Amanda, whose opinions he valued.

According to his wife and sister, Jasmine had an uncanny ability to read the most minute changes in expression and body language, which allowed her to excel at poker. She'd won against Amanda, who was an excellent player herself. That and her likability led them to believe that Jasmine might be a Dormant.

Given the way the Fates worked, Kian had no problem believing that she had found her way to the ship with their guidance, but the skeptic in him was still very much to the fore, and before he accepted the supernatural explanation, he needed to make sure that Margo's befriending Jasmine in Cabo had indeed been a coincidence, and that the woman wasn't a plant.

Stopping by the elevator, he considered for a moment calling Anandur and Brundar to accompany him. Protocol demanded that they be with him in all meetings outside the village, but since the ship was under his control, it was like an extension of the village, and therefore he didn't need bodyguards to be with him when he visited the woman.

Not that he would have needed protection from the human under any circumstances, but he had vowed to follow his mother's rule in that regard, and even though he used every available loophole to avoid dragging the brothers everywhere with him, he never disregarded it completely unless he had no choice.

Besides, the two were enjoying themselves at Onegus's bachelor party, and Anandur was most likely drunk by now. Not that it would make the Guardian any less effective. Anandur was lethal even when inebriated, but Kian was loath to pull either of the brothers away from the festivities.

As he pressed the button to summon the elevator, it occurred to him that he didn't know where to look for her. He knew where the clinic was located, but other than that, he wasn't familiar with the crew quarters, which was where she was staying.

Kian could call the security office to ask, but it was a little embarrassing to admit that he didn't know his way around his own ship. Syssi would know where Jasmine could be found, but she was in the pool with Allegra and he didn't want to disturb her, which left Amanda.

His sister was at Cassandra's bachelorette party, but that shouldn't prevent her from answering him unless the party was so loud and boisterous that she didn't notice it.

His phone rang a moment after he'd sent her the text.

"Why do you want to know where to find Jasmine?" Amanda asked without much preamble.

"I'm intrigued. Isn't that reason enough?"

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