Page 51 of Dragon His Heels
“Hey,” she said when Talia stepped into her bedroom. She sat on her bed, cross-legged, with a laptop parked on the comforter in front of her. “You finally came by.”
Talia scratched her nose. “I’ve been busy. Recovering. Taking care of the PR nightmare that little skirmish was.”Hating myself. Wishing for something I can’t have. Blaming you for taking it all away from me.
“You look good.”
“Thanks.”So do youwould have been appropriate, but Talia wasn’t in a complimentary mood.
“You just missed Petra.”
Talia’s former bestie was sticking to her promise to take care of Jasmine. Good to know. Talia missed her, but not enough to extend an olive branch. Not yet.
“He’s letting me see Ruby,” Jasmine added.
“Of course he is. You’re her mother.”
Jasmine shook her head. “I still have a long road to recover from my addiction. And he’s claimed her. It’s the way of dragons. It’s our way.”
“Yes, but—”
“She’s happy with him. And he loves her. She’s missed out on five years of having a father. Now she’ll have two parents. She’s going to live with him, but I can see her any time I want. He even brought her by yesterday.”
One more thing to resent her sister for. Talia hadn’t seen Ruby in two weeks.
“You can ask why I left, you know. I know you want to,” Jasmine said.
“Why don’t you just tell me? Why do I have to ask? In fact, why haven’t you sought me out to tell me?”
Jasmine winced and closed the computer. “I knew you would still be mad. You are good at holding a grudge, you know.”
“A grudge? This isn’t some stupid childhood prank, Jasmine. I lied to Gabe. To protect you and your child. And now he won’t even speak to me.”
Jasmine cocked her head. “You’re in love with our reeve.”
“No.”Yes.
“This is blowing my mind a bit right now. Out of all the men in this colony, you chose him?”
“It wasn’t exactly a choice,” Talia grumbled. “I’m not sure what it really is, but he seems to think we’re fated mates.”
Jasmine gasped. “How is that possible? With the curse?”
Talia shrugged. “No idea.”
“I’m so sorry,” Jasmine said. “I wish…”
“You wish what?”
“I wish I hadn’t ever left.”
“Why did you?” Talia asked the question she’d wondered about since the day she’d woke up and realized her sister was gone and wasn’t coming home again.
Jasmine dropped her gaze to her lap and toyed with a loose thread on the quilt. “I was jealous of you. And insanely insecure. God, I was such a moron.”
“What are you talking about?”
She shook her head. “You were so perfect. Everybody loved you. Our parents, the reeve, anyone who met you loved you. And no one even noticed me. I started acting out just to draw attention, and all our parents and the schoolmistress would say was, ‘Why don’t you act more like your sister?’”
“Oh, Jasmine.”
