Page 88 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

These two could have been a perfect couple. They were both naturally flirtatious and outgoing and competed over who was more charming. Then again, they might have been too similar to make it work.

Not that it was anything but hypothetical. Kalugal was happily mated.

"Hello, beautiful." Yamanu leaned to kiss her on the cheek. "How have you been holding up here?"

Jasmine looked a little surprised by his display of familiarity, but she didn't seem put off by it. "I'm doing fine. I miss having a proper shower and a comfortable bed." She glanced at the stasis chamber. "And I'm worried about him. Julian says he and his sister are barely hanging on, but he's afraid of reviving or moving them out of the chambers in these conditions. He wants to do it back in the keep's clinic."

Kalugal leaned over the stasis chamber, where the glass was more transparent. "Yeah. That doesn't look good." He straightened up. "Is Julian positive that they are alive?"

Aru nodded. "He checked their vitals. They are very weak, but they are there."

The next one to look was Yamanu. "They look more like us than them," he murmured, his voice soft with wonder.

Kalugal frowned. "How can you tell? It's impossible to say for sure. Not without opening the pods and getting a closer look." He turned to Aru. "Can we do that?"

Aru looked at Jasmine and shook his head. "I wouldn't do that without Julian's permission. Let's go to his room, and you can ask him yourself."

If not for her being present, he might have allowed Kalugal to take a quick look, but he didn't want her to see what her prince looked like.

After they visited the princess, Julian allowed Kalugal and Yamanu a quick look. Aru opened the door and motioned for them to step out. "We're losing daylight," he said. "We need to get moving if we want to have any hope of extracting at least some of the other chambers before nightfall. There are eighteen of them, and every round trip takes an hour and a half. Edgar is at the site with his helicopter, but we can fly out there with the other pilot."

Kalugal grinned. "I can't wait to see that pod."

"We took a lot of the components out," Aru said. "But even with the big pile we made, you couldn't tell by just looking at the pod. We also need to fly that pile out, which means more trips."

Yamanu nodded. "I'll fly with Edgar and shroud the helicopter to make it look like we're just surveying the area or not even there."

"Not there at all is better," Aru said.

After collecting Dagor, the four of them headed to where Norbu was waiting with the other helicopter.

Kalugal grimaced when he saw the chopper. "We are flying in this?"

"It's old, but it seems to be okay." Aru climbed in.

Kalugal followed him inside. "It's going to be cramped here with the four of us and the pilot."

Norbu turned around and smiled at Kalugal, who smiled back and waved.

67

JASMINE

Jasmine sat on the edge of the bed, her gaze fixed on the stasis chamber that dominated the cramped hotel room. She'd removed the blanket that Edgar had draped over it before Kalugal and Yamanu's visit, and now she was staring at the inert metal cocoon that seemed to pulse with strange, otherworldly energy as if the being inside was exerting some magnetic pull on her very soul.

She knew that she must be imagining it. The stasis chamber was broken. It didn't work, and it couldn't sustain life. The only living thing that could exude any energy was the barely alive prince, who definitely couldn't spare any.

He was helpless in that thing, so fragile that Julian was afraid to move him, and she needed to keep him safe.

Jasmine couldn't explain it; this feeling of protectiveness had washed over her the moment the others had left. It was irrational since she couldn't do anything to protect him. She was just a human with some paranormal abilities that didn't include anything that could be used as a weapon.

It would have been so cool to be a battle witch if such a thing existed. But without magical powers, she would have settled for a handgun. Not that she knew how to use one, but hypothetically speaking.

Violence was abhorrent, and she hated it, but she had no moral qualms about using lethal force to protect the people she loved and those who couldn't defend themselves.

Like her poor, barely alive prince.

She chuckled at the absurdity of the thought. Who would want to harm a mummy, a being so fragile and desiccated that a stiff breeze might crumble it to dust?

---