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67
Jasmine scowled and pushed him back. “Are you saying women aren’t taught trades?” she asked, indignant.
Sighing, he propped his head on his arm and answered, “Women may learn whatever they choose and are encouraged to do so. It is only that many marry and begin families of their own, and it’s difficult to care for children and work at a trade, too.”
“Hmm.” She pursed her lips in thought, and Keilor leaned over to take advantage of her momentary quiet, but she beat him to the punch. “If the baby’s a boy, I suppose you’ll want to stick a sword in his hand and throw him up on a stag as soon as he can walk, huh?”
Slightly exaspe
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The Charmer 68
By the time they’d watched a weaver working on a tapestry, seen a glassblower create a rose and green swirled goblet, and witnessed a potter at her wheel, Keilor was looking rather peaked, though he never said a word. Taking pity on him, Jasmine suggested, “Why don’t we take a break? I’m starving.”Visibly relieved, Keilor took her hand and led her through the crowd. He chose a restaurant with wide windows and a pleasant odor of sweetness and steaming seafood. Mouth watering, she surveyed the buffet. Mounds of snowy shellfish, swimming with vegetables, orange crustaceans arranged on leaves of kale, and seafood salads in bright red and white radicchio bowls tempted her as breakfast hadn’t. Avoiding the tentacled dish and what looked suspiciously like jellyfish, Jasmine loaded a plate with moist baked fish sm
The Charmer 69
Keilor sat in the chair next to his wife’s bed with his hands steepled against his chin, his eyes closed. They burned from staring at the slow rise and fall of Jasmine’s chest.There wasn’t anything the Haunt medics could do. The symbiont flowed like water through the fingers and instruments that tried to remove it from Jasmine’s arms, and Jasmine thrashed in delirious panic whenever it had been attempted. Finally Keilor had ordered them to stop trying.Rihlia was not much better. Although Jasmine had managed to save her baby, possibly at the risk of her own, she had been badly beaten, and even the natural resilience and speedy healing of her Haunt body could only do so much against loosened teeth, cracked bones and bleeding organs. Jayems stood
The Charmer 70
Jackson did not hesitate, but his answering nod was noticeably curt. In light of that, Jasmine kept her hands to herself, but her circling inspection was no less thorough.“Nice,” she pronounced with approval and then, “How fast does it go?” with a gleam in her eye.“Don’t even think it,” Keilor growled, taking her by the shoulders and steering her away from temptation. “This is Jackson,” he said, planting her firmly in front of the man she had pushed and ignored in favor of his symbiont. “His symbiont saved your life.”Rattled at her lack of memory, Jasmine frowned and unthinkingly asked, “Why?” Keilor’s fingers
The Charmer 71
“My clan will not ally themselves with a parasite-laden pack of humans!” Tor Maphin, one of the assembled Haunt lords, shouted, rising from his seat.Tilus, who was seated next to him, pulled him firmly back down, but his words were no more encouraging. “There has been peace between us for the past fifty years because of our segregation. The Haunt are strong enough to hold our own lands. If you are not, return to Earth.”The Ronin beside Jackson, Armatris, growled. Jackson quelled him with a look.Keilor, who, like Jayems, had said very little until now, said mildly, “Even Haunt band together against a common enemy, or to trade, Tilus.”
The Charmer 72
What fun!Jasmine shouted with delight as the cycle took the curve of the practice field with dizzying speed. “This thing rocks!” she yelled, relishing the wind tugging at her ponytail. “Rihlia would kill to ride this baby,” she gloated.“Can’t,” Leo shouted back over her shoulder. “It won’t take Haunt.” She slowed to a more sedate pace, conserving the symbiont cycle’s living strength, allowing it to ‘breathe’. Unfortunately, the slower pace brought the glowering male faces of their small audience into focus. Leo dared only two more passes before she slowed the creature down to park directly in front of Keilor.Knowing
The Charmer 73
By the time he’d removed his pants and dragged them over her quivering thighs, she was in a sweat, and fighting not to twist on the fur, knowing its silky caress on her naked skin would be her undoing.He tossed the pants. Dropping to his knees, he crawled over her, straddling her body, but touching very little of it. Then he parted her thighs with one knee and slowly slid down the length of her.She clenched her teeth at the sensual assault, but a long, tortured hiss escaped anyway. “Patience is not always a virtue,” she rasped, and lunged up, trying to capture his lips. The restraints stopped her a hair’s breadth from his mouth.Cool dark hair caressed her as he teased
The Charmer 74
Jasmine commandeered a bench at the side of the training area where Keilor was instructing a group of soldiers in the art of the sword. She’d never watched him at work, and it was a novel experience to see him through the eyes of his students.They worshiped him. He asked the impossible, and they delivered because he asked. He was curt, but never cruel. He didn’t accept excuses, merely worked patiently with a student until that student understood what he wanted of him, demonstrating where necessary. The beauty of it was, his demonstrations were always matter-of-fact and instructional, never an outlet to showcase his own skill.And he was skilled. Every fluid movement and graceful gesture spoke of strength and stamina, both in battle, and...
The Charmer 75
Keilor did not like taking her here, to the interrogation room on the prison level. It went against his every instinct to expose her to this white-walled dungeon, even if, with the exception of Knightin, she’d never see the prisoners.Knightin was already manacled to a chair when they entered the bare room, and before he could register his danger, Jasmine did as she’d been instructed, saying quickly, “Don’t turn to Haunt.”Knightin blinked at her.Flanked by Jayems and her husband, Jasmine sat down in the chair across the table from Knightin and studied him for a moment. His long red h
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