Page 90 of Dark Witch: Twin Destinies

Now, that would be a cruel joke. The cards had promised her a prince, but he was a monk.

Ella reached out, laying a comforting hand on Jasmine's arm. "The truth is that I don't know much about the Kra-ell. I don't really have much contact with them."

Jasmine frowned. "Am I going to meet them?"

"I don't know. I assume Jade will be there when we arrive at the keep, and she won't be alone, so you'll get to see a few of them. Once you get used to them, they no longer look so weird. The too-big eyes are the hardest to get used to."

"I wonder what the prince will look like." Jasmine took another sip of the lukewarm tea. "More Kra-ell than god or more god than Kra-ell?"

"We have one hybrid in the village who is half immortal and half a hybrid Kra-ell. He's very tall and skinny and has raven black hair like all of them, but his eyes are shaped like a human's; one is blue while the other is green. He's handsome in his own way and the sweetest guy you'll ever meet. Vlad is proof that the gods and the Kra-ell were both wrong. Instead of an abomination, the union produced an angel."

"How did his parents even meet?"

Ella laughed. "Now, that story will require another cup of tea. Do you want to get a fresh one in the restaurant?"

Jasmine glanced at the somber stasis chamber. "I'm afraid to leave him alone in here."

"Don't be silly," Ella said, pushing to her feet. "We will lock the door and activate the alarm. No one will be able to get to him without us knowing."

When Jasmine still didn't move to get up, Ella put a hand on her hip and struck a pose. "You can't stay here all day. You need to eat and hang out with your friends."

"You are right." Jasmine pushed to her feet and looked at the sleek stasis chamber. "He's safe in there."

68

ARU

As Norbu navigated the helicopter over the mountainous terrain, Aru was glad that the winds had subsided and that the flight was less eventful than the one he and Dagor had experienced the day before.

Thankfully, they had transported only some of the equipment they had removed, so he hadn't had to worry about a stasis chamber getting loose when they were hit with one of the more forceful gusts.

Still, that had worried him much less than what the queen might order him to do today. He would have no trouble thralling the immortals and Jasmine to forget that they had found the twins alive, but he couldn't do that to those in the know in the village. If the queen ordered him to get rid of the twins, he would have to somehow engineer an accident without implicating himself, so he would suffer no repercussions other than a permanent stain on his soul.

He was not a murderer.

There was a big difference between killing defenseless people in cold blood and killing in battle. Both left a mark on the soul, but the former introduced a rot that could not be redeemed on either side of the veil.

Or at least that was how it should be. Coldblooded murderers should not be allowed redemption, not even by forfeiting their own lives. The problem was that aside from the Supreme Oracle, no one got to glimpse the afterlife, and since she wasn't sharing what she'd seen, he needed substantiation for his belief. Nevertheless, he had to stick to it to keep his sanity and moral compass.

As they touched down, Aru saw Negal and Edgar sitting on the two boulders to which the ropes were tied.

Kalugal was out of the helicopter as soon as the skids touched the ground, and Aru was forced to do the same.

The guy was a council member and an important figure in the clan, but he probably knew nothing about rappelling and would injure himself going down.

"Hello, gentlemen," Kalugal said as he reached Edgar and Negal, offering each his hand. "I would very much like to see the pod."

Negal lifted a brow. "Do you know how to rappel?"

Aru was glad that Negal had saved him the need to ask the same question.

Yamanu, who had been leaning over the edge of the chasm and trying to get a glimpse of the pod, turned and lifted his hand. "All Guardians train to do that."

Aru had assumed as much, but Kalugal wasn't a Guardian.

Kalugal lifted a brow. "Of course. I'm not some soft technocrat." He chuckled. "Well, lately, that's precisely what I've become, but once upon a time, I was a well-trained warrior, and I haven't forgotten what was instilled in me since I turned thirteen. Besides, the pod is the main reason I volunteered to come here." He smiled. "And also, because my compulsion ability might be needed with that Chinese military base over there."

Aru felt unease at the reminder that Kalugal was the son of Annani's archenemy and a powerful compeller. Kian trusted him not to betray the clan, and so did his mother, but that trust didn't extend to Kalugal's thirst for knowledge and how far he was willing to go to gain it.

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