Thorn Queen (Dark Swan, #2)(78)

That was a thought for another day. For now, it was back to the Thorn Land. I planned on spending the night there since I wanted to get an early start on our demon hunting. Kiyo had said he'd come at sunrise, and I didn't want to miss a moment of being with him.

When I arrived at my castle, I was a bit surprised to see a party going on. Well, not a true party, but Shaya, Rurik, and a few of the other head servants were hanging out in one of the parlors, drinking wine and laughing. Girard was still around and had joined them. Even Ysabel was there, looking happy for a change. None of them seemed to have expected me that night and most leapt up like naughty children. Shaya started to stammer something like an apology, but I silenced her with a gesture.

"No, no. Keep having fun." I somehow always thought of them as utilitarian fixtures around here, but of course, they were only human-well, figuratively speaking-and entitled to their downtime.

After a few uneasy moments, they settled back down, and Rurik offered me a glass of wine. I shook my head. "You know," he said, "that your minion disappeared."

"Yeah, I know. I sent him on a task."

"I doubled the guards on her when I heard."

"Good. Let's hope she's managed to keep her clothes on in this short of time."

"You should have killed her," Ysabel noted darkly.

I ignored that and turned away, leaving them to their party. "I'm going to check on her myself."

The bedroom Shaya had assigned Jasmine was one floor up and very cleverly chosen-not that I'd expect any less from Shaya. It was spacious and furnished but not so large that the guards within couldn't see her most of the time-the bathroom excluded. The room's one window was only a tiny slit, too small for anyone to get out of. Four guards stood on duty outside and four within. To my relief, Jasmine simply lay on her bed, reading one of the books I'd sent. Girard's new cuffs had a longer, thinner chain that gave her much more range of motion but was packed with iron. Those blue-gray eyes looked up at my approach, but the rest of her didn't move.

"Oh. You."

I sat down on a narrow wicker bench and sent the guards outside with a curt nod. "I came to check on you."

"Right. Because you care so much."

"I do. Well, kind of."

"The only things you care about are having the heir yourself and forcing me to get rid of your monsters."

"Demons," I corrected. "And believe me, the last thing I want is to have the heir."

"I heard the guards talking. They said you've been hanging out with Dorian a lot. Why else would you do that? No one else would rather have our father's grandson. Well, except Aeson." A grimace fell over her face at the mention of her old lover.

"Dorian's just my friend, something you'll understand when you're older." Oh, Eugenie, you are such a hypocrite. "And you're better off without Aeson."

Her eyes returned to her book. "I loved Aeson. You have no idea what love is."

"Oh, I do. I know that it's the best high and the worst hurt all at the same time-not to mention confusing as hell."

Jasmine looked back at me, still sullen but with a new sort of consideration. "What do you want? Are you just here to babysit me until that f*cking imp comes back? God, I hate him."

I started to tell her to watch her language and then decided there was no point. "I came to tell you we're going to take out those demons tomorrow."

"At gunpoint."

"I don't have a choice. They're terrorizing people. How can you not understand how serious that is?"

She shrugged with her typical apathy and pushed some of that long blond hair out of her face. "Your problem. Not mine." Self-centered brat. She frowned for a moment, though. "Are they still taking girls?" She sounded almost concerned. Almost.

"I don't know," I admitted. "I don't know if this group's connected or not. I actually think there are humans involved."

The book slipped to her lap, forgotten. "Why would they do that? That doesn't make any sense."

"I'll tell you when you're older," I said dryly, which was silly considering all that she'd been through. "And you're certain...you're certain the group chasing you wasn't human?"

"Yes, for like the hundredth time. They were shining ones."

"You said they were soldiers...." A startling thought came to me. "Leather armor? Red shirts?"

"That's how soldiers dress, isn't it? Well, maybe not the red shirt. Depends on who they work for, I guess. I don't remember the color."

"Does it happen a lot?" I asked, recalling past thoughts about the similarities between the two of us. "Are guys coming after you a lot to...you know..."

"Get me pregnant? Yeah, sometimes." There was a sad look in her eyes, a very vulnerable one.

"But...you don't always give in..."

"Jesus Christ, Eugenie. I won't sleep with anyone. What kind of a slut do you think I am?"

A considerable one, actually. But I didn't say so, and I wondered if she'd ever been raped. "Sorry. You just seem so anxious to have that baby."

"Yeah, well, not with just anyone. And certainly not through rape." She held her head up, a fierce look in her eyes. "No one does that to Storm King's daughter. It's an insult to our father's awesomeness." Try as she might to deny her heritage, only the human part of her could have pulled up "awesomeness" to refer to a tyrannical fairy warlord.