Page 24 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

When she did, he kissed her, his tongue delving into her mouth and scrambling her brain, so when he pulled back, she had no idea which side was up and which was down.

"It's ready for you." He kissed the top of her head.

"Thank you. Kissing me was a great way to distract me from noticing you turning it."

"You're welcome."

Jasmine let her mind wander for a moment, trying to imagine what they might find when they finally reached the mountaintop that Syssi had seen in her vision. It wasn't Mount Kailash itself because it didn't have a crater at its top, but it could be one of the peaks in its vicinity or maybe somewhere else entirely.

Would the royal twins even be alive after all these years? Or would they find only their remains?

In either case, it would be better than not finding them. Their family, if they had any, would at least have closure, knowing where their final resting place was.

It was more than she had.

Jasmine didn't know where her mother was buried, and her father refused to tell her. Sometimes, she fantasized that her mother wasn't dead at all. That she had run away for some reason.

Maybe she'd found love in the arms of another man?

It was painful to think that her mother could have left her behind to pursue her own happiness, but Jasmine preferred that to the finality of death. If her mother was still alive somewhere, there was still a chance that they could be reunited.

Perhaps she could scry for her? Even finding her grave would be better than not knowing for sure what had befallen her.

Shaking off the morbid thoughts, Jasmine took a deep breath and centered herself once more, emptying her mind of all thoughts while passing the scrying stick over the map.

When her hand was drawn to a particular spot, she opened her eyes and was amazed that it had settled on the same spot, even though the map was turned upside down.

She turned to look at Edgar, who was watching her with an amused grin. "My talented witch. Would you like me to get you a map of the Mount Kailash area?" He glanced down at his watch. "If I hurry, we might still have enough time left for a quickie."

She nodded. "Yes, please. To both offers."

18

EDGAR

Edgar strode into the keep's security office with the rolled-up map of Tibet tucked under his arm. He didn't really need it. It would have been just as easy to tell the guys to zoom in on the Mount Kailash area, but he wanted to make sure that they printed the entire area Jasmine had circled.

The place was primarily staffed by humans, but one immortal was on duty at all times, except for the duration of the cruise, when keeping an eye on things had been done remotely through the security feed.

Naturally, the humans had no idea that they were working for a clan of immortals or that the officer in charge was anything more than a highly skilled security operative.

Edgar approached Gavin with a smile. "How are things going?"

They embraced and clapped each other's backs.

"Boring as usual." Gavin stepped back and looked at the map tucked under Edgar's arm. "Problems with the printout?"

"No. It served its intended purpose beautifully, but we must zoom in." He rolled out the map and pointed to the area Jasmine had circled. "Can you get this part enlarged to the size of the original map?"

Gavin nodded. "Shouldn't be a problem." He took it and handed it to one of the humans.

The woman nodded, turning to the computer to generate the new, zoomed-in printout.

"Do you want to grab coffee while we wait?" Gavin asked.

"Sure." Edgar wanted to be back with the new map as soon as possible, but printing it would take time, and it was evident that Gavin wanted to talk out of the humans' earshot.

As they entered the staff's breakroom, the Guardian turned to Edgar with a raised eyebrow. "Did it work?"

---