Page 64 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

Edgar glanced over at her, his expression softening as he met her gaze. "Aru said the chances of anyone surviving in there were slim. The pod was damaged, and the stasis chambers were not working. Without proper life support..." He trailed off, letting the implication hang heavy between them.

Jasmine swallowed, her heart clenching at the thought. She hadn't admitted to herself how much hope she'd pinned on this moment, allowing herself to believe that the prince would be waiting for her, alive and whole and just sleeping like in a fairy tale, waiting for her to wake him up with a kiss.

Thinking that they might have come all this way only to find a tomb was sad.

"But Aru asked for Julian to come along," Edgar said, probably sensing her plummeting mood. "That means that there's a chance they might find some survivors. He wouldn't have requested a doctor if he didn't think there was at least a possibility."

Jasmine nodded, clinging to that slender thread of hope like a lifeline. "You're right," she said, forcing a smile that felt brittle and false on her lips. "I hope that they'll find someone alive down there."

Edgar reached out and took her hand, his fingers lacing through hers. Then he leaned and kissed her.

She smiled. "So that's why you got rid of Norbu? You wanted to kiss me?"

"Of course."

The kiss was a nice distraction.

As they waited for news from below, the wind picked up, whipping Jasmine's hair around her face and sending a shiver down her spine. "It's getting cold."

"Do you want me to bring you your coat?"

She nodded. "That would be nice. And if it's not too much trouble, can you bring my sleeping bag? I need to put it under my butt before it goes numb."

Edgar smiled. "We wouldn't want that. I have plans for that butt tonight."

Usually, she would have felt a twinge of arousal at the prospect of fun times, but she wasn't feeling it now.

When he returned with both items, she tucked the sleeping bag under her and put on the puffer coat. "This is much better." She smiled at him. "If you could also get me a warm cup of coffee, you'd be a prince."

She wanted to take the words back as soon as they escaped her throat, but Edgar didn't seem bothered by her mentioning the prince.

"Let me see what I can do. I bet Aru and the others packed something to make coffee with."

"They did, but we used it this morning and left the pot and cups dirty because we didn't want to waste our water." She grimaced. "We ate cold rations and energy bars. It was pretty miserable."

"My poor baby." He patted her shoulder. "I brought plenty of water with me. I'll wash everything and make you coffee and something warm to eat." He returned to where the backpacks lay discarded on a patch of grass.

Jasmine was glad Edgar had something to keep himself occupied, so she didn't have to pretend everything between them was peachy.

It wasn't his fault she was confused and didn't know what she wanted. She felt guilty for stringing him along but wasn't willing to give him up yet, either. Maybe she was tired, hungry, and stressed, and everything looked bleak.

She didn't know whether her prince was dead or alive or, if he was alive, whether he was someone she could feel attracted to. Maybe her job ended with bringing the team to this spot, and there was nothing further for her to do.

Would it be so bad to settle for Edgar?

Compared to her other boyfriends, he was a catch, and not just because he was immortal, he could induce her dormant immortal genes and could give her multiple orgasms.

She enjoyed being with him, at least most of the time.

49

ARU

Aru lifted his gaze to the mouth of the cavern, searching for an angle that would provide him with the widest patch of view of the sky above. The satellite phone the clan had provided for him was state of the art, but it still needed a clear line of sight to the sky to connect with satellites in orbit, providing they were in the slice of space visible from his location. The surrounding rock and earth interfered with the signal, making it difficult to establish a connection, but if he could find a spot where the opening on the top was large enough, he could get a signal.

It was early afternoon in Tibet and nearly midnight in Los Angeles, but calling Kian this late shouldn't be a problem. After all, they had been having nightly meetings for a while, starting at one o'clock in the morning. That was when the queen of Anumati was available to take his telepathic call and talk to her granddaughter through him and his twin sister.

Regrettably, it wasn't possible every day now that they were out in the field.

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