Page 107 of Ruthless Scoundrel
Jasper’s head snaps toward me and he looks about three shades of fury, but we haven’t secured our travel yet and it needs to be done. Avina seems like someone who knows people.
“You mean to court the king of La Sina?” She says the name of the island like a curse.
“I mean to catch the king’s eye,” I say.
Her eyebrow comes up to a sharp point, and then she looks at Jasper where his hand is still resting on his pistol. She says something in Illyan I don’t catch a word of. Jasper glances at me, then back at Avina and nods.
She takes a deep breath. “The dress will be three gold, then, and there’s shoes to go with it.”
Chapter thirty-one
Jasper
“One, two, three, one, two, three—ouch!” Reina yelps as I step on her toes. “Concentrate, Jasper!”
“I am. These stupid human feet are so inelegant!”
“Well, you can’t attend the ball as a selkie,” she snaps, pulling our hands back into place. She looks up at me with a determined glare. “Again.”
“I would rather make you come,” I say, tugging her arms around my neck.
“Be serious, Jasper,” she growls. “I know you know how to dance. What’s going on with you?”
I pull away as the enormity of what’s to come yawns before me. I want more than anything to not put her in this situation, but I need her if I’m ever going to see my family again.
But what if I fuck this up? Or what if they’re already dead?
What if all of this is in vain and I’m risking Reina for nothing?
“Jasper,” she says softly as she cups my cheek. “Everything is going to be okay. Look at me.”
She nudges me and I turn. She’s gentle, loving even. She has the look of a woman who would go anywhere, do anything…for me.
“It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get them. I swear to you on my life,” she says, her blue magic curling around her arm to my face.
I grasp her hand and pull it away. “You don’t have to make a pact with me. I believe you.”
“I want to. I want you to know how dedicated I am to this. Toyou.”
My heart breaks and yet somehow soars. I turn her hand and kiss her palm. “No pact required, my love.”
She folds against me and wraps her arms around my neck. A wash of warmth fills up my chest and I sigh into her golden wildflower hair.
“I’m scared.” The secret slips through my trembling lips.
“I know.” She scrapes her fingers along my scalp and tugs in the comforting way I’ve come to love.
We hold one another for a long time as the sound machine in the corner runs down. When the melody slows to a stop, Reina pulls back and looks me in the eyes.
“Do not think for one second that we won’t win. We will. Look at us. Nothing will shake us,” she says, her voice so full of confidence that I can’t help but share it.
Wearestrong. What was once a bond of necessity has become one of love, and caring. One built from the mate bond of the selkie. How will she feel when she knows her affections were ordained by the gods and not born from her own mind?
A trouble for another time.
I lean in close. “I bet I can make something of yours shake.”
“Jasper,” she admonishes with a smirk.
