Page 4 of Dark Witch: Entangled Fates

She chuckled. "It is. I'll come with you."

Kian frowned, glancing at his watch once more. "Are you sure? I don't want to pull you away from Cassandra's celebration. It would be rude for you to leave in the middle of the party."

Amanda laughed, the sound light and breezy. "Don't worry about that. Cassandra is indulging in a bubble bath, and her mother and sister have everything under control. Geraldine and Darlene are getting ready to attack Cassandra's hair, and Eva has her bag of tricks with her, although I doubt Cassandra will let her touch her face. The female is gorgeous, and she knows how to use makeup to her advantage. She doesn't need Eva's help."

Kian stifled the urge to roll his eyes. "I'll take your word for it."

Amanda laughed again. "Too much information?"

"You could say so. Makeup is not my field of expertise."

"I get it. Where are you now?"

"Outside the elevators on Margo and Frankie's deck."

"What are you doing there?"

He'd just finished updating Margo about the successful evacuation of her parents and her brother and his fiancée from their homes, but Amanda wasn't aware of the latest crisis, and he didn't want to tell her about it while waiting for the elevator.

"I'll tell you on the way to the crew quarters. Meet me next to the staircase on the promenade deck."

"See you in a few," Amanda said before ending the call.

As Kian made his way to their designated meeting spot, his thoughts drifted back to Margo. He hoped that her transition symptoms were not a false alarm and that she was indeed turning immortal. He also hoped that no Doomers would show up at her parents' and brother's houses so her family could return to their homes.

Right now, they were on their way to the clan's mountain cabin with Turner's team to keep watch over them.

Kian didn't like that the cabin's location had to be compromised for Margo's family and that there was no one there to thrall away the memory of where it was from all the humans involved, but he'd had to come up with a location on the spot, and the cabin was his go-to safe house.

Lost in his musings, Kian didn't notice Amanda approaching him until he heard the clicking of her high heels on the marble floor. She looked fantastic in an elegant cocktail dress reminiscent of the fifties. If he wasn't mistaken, Audrey Hepburn had worn something similar in one of her iconic films.

"You look distracted." She leaned toward him and kissed his cheek. "Everything okay?"

Kian started down the stairs, which were thankfully deserted. "Margo may be transitioning, and we had a close call with her family." He proceeded to tell Amanda about Carlos Modana showing up with two Doomers at his brother's mansion and then the two talking about Margo. "We got her family out and installed cameras to monitor both houses. I hope no one shows up so they can return home, and we don't need to relocate them permanently."

"What a mess." Amanda sighed. "It's like the Fates are constantly throwing challenges at us. Couldn't they have given us a break during this ten-day cruise?"

"My thoughts exactly, but then we have been gifted two new Dormants during this vacation, so perhaps it could be called a good trade. Maybe three if Jasmine proves to be one as well."

"True." Amanda slowed down her pace and stopped on the landing. "But Frankie and Margo are mated to gods, and they are not part of our clan. I don't see why we all had to suffer so the gods would get a boon."

Kian turned to his sister. "I don't know, but I'm sure the Fates had a good reason."

Amanda smiled. "What a transformation you have gone through. My jaded, skeptical brother has faith now."

"I do, and I don't. It depends on my mood on any given day." He continued down the stairs.

Amanda followed. "And what is it today?"

"That still remains to be seen."

3

JASMINE

As Amanda entered the lounge with a man who could only be described as a god, Jasmine got a little lightheaded.

Was that what swooning meant? She'd always wondered about that word when it appeared in the historical romances she favored.

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