Page 65 of Dark Princess Ascending

"No." More shuffling. "Just me and Ray. You can use it after that if you want. Just leave it clean."

"Will you be staying the whole week?" she asked.

"What's with all the questions?" His voice sharpened. "Since when do you care about my hunting trips?"

"I just want to make sure we don't overlap," she said quickly. "And you know, catch up. We haven't talked in so long..."

"You're the one who stopped coming for the holidays."

Why come when everyone was going to treat her like an unwanted orphan girl?

She decided to change the subject. "How's Ray doing? Still with the same insurance company?"

"Retired last year." His tone suggested she should have known this. "Listen, Jasmine, I have a client calling on the other line. The cabin's yours any weekend except the first week of next month. Just text me when you're heading out there."

"Thanks, Dad." She hesitated. "It was good talking to you."

"Mmhmm." The line went dead.

Jasmine let the phone drop and fell back on the bed, throwing an arm over her eyes. "Well, that was awful."

Ell-rom joined her. "You did great. You got the information we needed." He brushed her hair back from her face. "Are you okay?"

"No." She let out a shaky laugh. "But I will be. That was actually one of our better conversations. At least he didn't bring up how I'm wasting my life or compare me to his precious boys who aren't even his."

"He doesn't deserve you," Ell-rom said.

Jasmine curled into his side, letting his warmth chase away the chill of the conversation. "Jasmine, the greatest disappointment of his life, who chose to become an actress instead of getting a broker's license and working in insurance."

"His loss." Ell-rom pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You made the call, got the information, and managed to keep your cover story intact. I'm proud of you."

38

KIAN

Monday mornings were usually busy at the office and taking even a few hours off was a bad idea. Kian didn't want to think about the pile of work waiting for him when he accompanied Amanda and Syssi to Brandon's house. But he wanted to witness the testing and see what Morelle could do when she was not reacting to an emergency.

Syssi and Amanda had taken a day off from the university to conduct Morelle's testing in the village, so he could sacrifice a few hours as well to satisfy his curiosity.

He'd spent half the night awake thinking about the broader implications of what Morelle could do, and it was quite unsettling, but at the same time the possibilities were exciting.

The Eternal King had been right to fear the twins, even without knowing their specificpowers. Kian's mother had mentioned a prophecy her grandfather received about his own blood bringing him down, which had led him to fear all of his children and their descendants.

His one legitimate heir had rebelled and lost, but his children still posed a risk. El didn't know about Annani's existence, but the truth was that she couldn't topple him from his throne even if there was a way to get her to Anumati. The twins, on the other hand, possessed abilities that should terrify any tyrant who feared for his throne.

Hell, they should terrify any reasonable person as well.

Ell-rom could potentially kill the Eternal King just by willing it, and now they knew that Morelle could theoretically drain power from a large group of immortals or gods and possibly channel it to boost her brother's abilities or to do some serious damage of her own, like send a spear flying into the king's heart.

Had their mother known how dangerous they were?

Had she hidden them away not just to protect them but to protect others from what they could do?

"You're thinking very loudly." Syssi squeezed his hand. "What's on your mind?"

Kian pulled himself from his dark thoughts and smiled at his mate. "Just thinking about Morelle's power and its potential applications."

"Oh, I have several ideas about that," Amanda said over her shoulder as she approached Brandon's front door and rang the bell.