“And you came to Cypress thinking that the Alchemist and his wife may have been Ana and her perfumer?” asked Jasmine.
Ari nodded. “I did. It all fitted together so nicely. The Alchemist of Cypress is talented far beyond any other in the kingdom. And his wife was reclusive, as Ana would be if she didn’t want anyone to recognize her. But Father didn’t want me to go for fear of the plague and we couldn’t trust anyone else to go just in case we were right.”
“So, you went anyway,” she said.
“I did. I had to. I couldn’t sit here another minute wondering what had happened when it would be so easy to find out if I was right.”
“Easy perhaps. And risky too.” She shook her head. “Too risky.”
“What kind of king will I make if I’m not prepared to take a risk? If I’m weak and hide in the palace from the troubles my kingdom is facing, then that only makes my father wrong—maybe Ana would make a far better leader than me after all.”
“Forgive me, but from what you’ve just told me about Ana, she doesn’t sound like she’d make a great leader at all.” Jasmine smiled gently as if trying to take some of the sting out of her words.
Ari sighed, needing to ignore this statement for now, mostly because it was true. Ana was troubled and spiteful and cruel. She would have made a terrible Queen.
“I disguised myself and left the palace without my father’s permission by hiding on the back of a supply wagon until we got to the road. Then I jumped off and walked the rest of the way to Cypress, heading directly for the apothecary.”
“And you met me. It’s hard for me to remember it, even though it only just happened. The last part of my life has been so… hazy.” She rubbed her eyes as if still trying to wake herself from a dream.
“Yes, you were asleep while you were awake.” He dared to reach out and stroke his thumb down her cheek, noticing the faint flush that crept up her neck as he did so. It seemed certain she was feeling exactly what he was here, despite the reservations she still seemed to be holding about him. This was such a nice novelty in a woman. Normally they were desperate to please him at any cost. “However, you didn’t make it easy for me to see the Alchemist or his wife.”
“So, you asked Raph to take you instead.” The warmth in Jasmine’s eyes closed over as she reminded him of the part he’d played in her brother’s fate.
“No, he offered to take me. I know that’s the same thing and for that I apologize. But the offer he made me wasn’t one I could refuse.”
“You didn’t even wait to see the Alchemist,” she said. “If you had, then there’d have been no need for Raph to take you anywhere and he’d be a healthy boy right now.”
“I’m sorry for involving him.” He took her hand again and held it. She didn’t let go this time. “Really, I’m so very sorry. I’m doing my best to make it up to him. And you.”
“I’m sorry too,” she said, squeezing his hand gently. “I keep blaming you, but it’s not really your fault. It’s his. The Alchemist. This is all his fault.”
“Thank you.” He held her gaze, wanting to get the rest of the story out, so he could tell her how he really felt about her. “It means a lot to hear that. And it’s true I didn’t wait for the Alchemist. It was more important for me to find Ana. What if the Alchemist got a message to Ana warning her? I’d miss my only chance to see her for myself. When Raphael offered to take me to her, I had to go, even if that meant forgoing my chance to meet with the Alchemist. And you know the rest of the story.”
“I don’t know about the necklaces you showed your father,” she said, placing her hand on the center of his chest, feeling for the pendants hidden underneath his shirt.
He lifted his pendant out and Jasmine took it in her hand, studying the perfect half of the golden heart-shaped tree.
“When Ana and I were children, Mother gave us a pendant each, telling us we each had one half of her heart,” he said.
“Where’s the other one now?” she asked.
“I gave it to my father.”
“I heard you tell him that Raph had it when you found him,” she said, placing the pendant back on his chest. “I’ve never seen him with it before. He must have found it at the Alchemist’s house. Do you think that means his wife might be Ana as you suspected?”
“I don’t know. Remember I told you that the Alchemist didn’t look like the man I’ve been searching for? He was too young. But who else would have this pendant, if not Ana? Jasmine, did you ever see the Alchemist’s wife? What did she look like? You’ve seen paintings of Ana. Could it have been her?”
Jasmine shook her head. “I never saw her up close. Nobody did. She always kept to herself, scurrying inside if ever anybody came near. Her behavior was very odd.”
“So, how did she have Ana’s necklace? Raph must know something. That has to be the key. If he didn’t see anything important when he crawled inside that window, then the Alchemist would have had no reason to hold him prisoner.”
“I don’t think the Alchemist had much of a reason for anything. He seemed happy to murder our men and keep the women prisoners inside our own heads for nothing more than his pleasure.” Jasmine stepped away and lifted up one of the sheets on the workbench, to see what was underneath.
“He must have had a reason,” said Ari. “Nobody does all of that without cause. I don’t know what it has to do with Ana, but I’m certain there’s a connection. This pendant proves it.”
“Maybe. Although, for now, we have work of our own to do. Raph doesn’t have long. We need to help him.”
Ari nodded. “Thank you for letting me tell you all of that. I hope you understand me better now.”
“Oh, Ari.” Jasmine put down the sheet and returned to his side. “Thank you for trusting me. You know I won’t tell a soul what you’ve confided in me. But ever since Raph woke me from my sleep and…”
“And what?” Ari was desperate for the end of that sentence.
“Nothing. It’s just that my mother used to tell me a story about a princess who had a curse put on her that sent her into a deep sleep. She stayed asleep for one hundred years until a prince woke her with true love’s kiss. I feel… I feel like that princess somehow.”
Ari needed no further encouragement than this and he brought his face to Jasmine’s and kissed her. Her lips were warm and soft and he slid his hands to the back of her head and tangled his fingers in her dark hair as a jolt of energy shot through to his core.
She pulled away, her fingers fluttering to her lips and shock and confusion spilling into her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” said Ari. Damn! It had been too soon. Why had he rushed her like that? He wasn’t the sort of man who forced himself on a woman.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You just took me by surprise.”
“But you said you felt like the princess being woken by true love’s kiss. I thought you wanted me to kiss you?”
She smiled, as if suppressing a laugh. “When I said I was woken by true love’s kiss, I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Oh.” He wondered who else had kissed her? Surely not that vile Alchemist.
“It was Raph,” she said. “Switching my sachets was his true love’s kiss. He woke me and now I can see everything for what it is. Including you…”
“And you don’t like what you see?” He hung his head. All his life, women had thrown themselves at him and he’d never been interested. The first time he felt that spark of interest and… well, she couldn’t be less interested.
“I do like you,” she said, placing her hand on his arm. “But I don’t know you. I don’t even know myself. Let me wake up first.”
He nodded, wondering how she could feel like she didn’t know him when he felt like he’d known her his whole life.
“Let’s get to work,” he said. Maybe if he helped her cure Raphael, her feelings for him would soften. At the very least, it would be a distraction from what had just happened here.
Because she may not be interested in him,
but he couldn’t deny his interest in her. Jasmine was without question the most interesting woman he’d ever encountered.
JASMINE
THE NOW
Jasmine set to work getting the perfumery clean and functioning again. Ari was doing his best to help, but in truth, he was fairly hopeless. It didn’t seem that cleaning had been one of the lessons he’d had to take to learn to be King.
Raph’s health was holding steady. He was no better, but no worse. It was still early days. She must be patient.
Jasmine bit back the urge to sing her song of luck as she wiped down a bench. Some habits were hard to break, but she didn’t want any reminders of the Alchemist’s brainwashing right now.
Being in the perfumery was a good distraction from her troubles, although working in such close proximity to Ari presented her with a whole new set of problems.
Things between them were complicated. When they’d arrived at the palace, she’d wondered if he desired her. But her question had been answered when he’d kissed her. He most definitely desired her. But how did she feel in return?
She couldn’t deny that she was attracted to him, making her wonder if somehow there was yet more alchemy at play here. It was impossible to trust her own feelings when they’d been out of her control for so long. She’d thought she wanted to kiss the Alchemist, only she knew now that her true self hadn’t wanted that. So how could she trust that kissing Ari was what she wanted now?
She was still wearing the sachet around her neck that Raph had switched over. She lifted it to her nose and inhaled, wondering if this energizing scent was what was responsible for her feelings. Had Raph spiked it with some kind of love potion? Perhaps when Ari had been talking to her at such close proximity, he’d also caught the scent of it and been affected? That would explain why he’d kissed her so suddenly, when she’d seen no sign of his feelings beforehand. It was only when he’d stood right in front of her that he’d seemed to have been overcome with passion. Why else would the future King want her, when he could have any woman in Wintergreen?
Jasmine put down the sponge and lifted a sheet from another workbench, sneezing as more dust billowed up at her. Just when she thought she’d made progress in here. Her eyes watered as she sneezed again.
“Let’s go for a walk,” said Ari. “You need some fresh air. And there’s something I want to check out.”
She wasn’t used to his clean-shaven face yet, although confessed to liking it. It’d felt nice pressed up against her own face… despite the fact she’d pushed him away. Maybe next time she wouldn’t.
Jasmine sneezed three times in quick succession. Getting out of here for a little while was a good idea. A walk would help to clear the air between them. In more ways than one.
They went to the garden and Ari led the way, pointing out various plants and asking her questions about them. Her father had taught her well. There weren’t many plants she couldn’t identify. She wished her father were still alive to see this garden. He’d love it. She could just imagine him wandering from plant to plant, stroking the leaves and smelling the flowers.
She soon noticed they were getting quite far away from the palace buildings and questioned if she was foolish to allow a man she barely knew to lead her into such a remote part of the garden? Especially a man who’d tried to kiss her. But as much as she didn’t fully trust her mind, she trusted her gut. Ari wouldn’t hurt her.
“Where are we going?” she asked, spotting the palace wall in the distance.
“When I was a boy, I used to follow Ana around. She didn’t know, of course, or she’d probably have tied me to a tree and left me there, but I was fascinated with her. Sometimes she’d go to a particular part of the wall and disappear into the bushes. When I eventually got the courage one day to go closer and investigate, I found a hole in the wall, just big enough for a person to squeeze through.”
“She was leaving the palace?” Jasmine was surprised and impressed. The princess was putting herself in grave danger leaving without a guard.
Ari nodded. “I never found out what she was doing. Meeting someone perhaps? Or was she just breaking the rules for the sake of it?”
Jasmine shrugged, unable to answer. She’d never met Ana, only heard stories about her beauty and kindness. Stories that she now knew to be at least half untrue. The way she’d treated her brother had been anything but kind.
“And you want to see if the hole in the wall is still there?” she asked. “Do you want to make an escape of your own?”
He shook his head. “Everything I want is already right here within this wall.”
She looked across at him, wondering if it was possible that he was including her in that statement, only to realize he’d been talking solely about her. The look in his eyes was unmistakably one of longing.
Did she dare to trust her feelings? This felt completely different to the infatuation she’d had with the Alchemist. She’d been certain she’d loved the Alchemist with her heart, but with Ari, it was like she loved him with her soul. Surely it was too soon to feel like this?
They reached a section of the wall lined with wild privet shrubs, its toxic berries hanging innocently from the branches.
“It’s in there.” Ari let go of Jasmine’s hand to point. “The last time I came here was years ago and it was grown over. I just want to see if…”
“If Ana’s been back,” finished Jasmine, to save him the pain of these words.
He nodded. “I know it’s silly, but she loved this garden. I just can’t believe she’d have been able to leave it and never return.”
Jasmine held back some branches as Ari climbed behind the bushes, squatting as he crept further in and disappeared.
“Are you okay?” she called, not keen to follow him. There were sure to be at least a few families of spiders in there.
“Jasmine!” he called, his voice now clearly on the other side of the wall.
“Ari!”
Instead of a response, she heard only the sound of more branches breaking as he made his way back to her.
When he emerged from the bushes, his face was flushed and he had a scratch down one side of his cheek. His eyes were glowing and he ran his hands through his hair, trying to shake any leaves away. There was no use. He was covered in leaf litter.
“What happened?” she asked, helping to brush the worst of it away, her fingertips tingling each time she accidentally made contact with his bare skin.
“Someone’s been through there,” he said. “Maybe not recently, but certainly since I last saw it.”
“Who else knows about it?” Jasmine asked, wondering if there was another explanation that didn’t involve Ana.
“Nobody. Unless she told someone. You’re the first person I’ve told. Not even my parents know about it.”
“So, what do you think it means?”
“That Ana’s still alive.” An energy lit his eyes and she knew he had his hopes up.
“It could be the Alchemist,” said Jasmine. “Or whoever she was meeting on the other side of the wall.”
“Maybe.” Ari looked disappointed by this and Jasmine realized just how desperate he was to figure out what had happened to this sister he’d been so fascinated by. The bond between siblings was strong, even when the relationship was weak.
Jasmine’s hand fluttered to her neckline and she lifted Raph’s sachet to her nose, not to bring her calm this time, but to help her feel close to her brother and the magic elixir he’d created.
“Do you mind if we head back to the infirmary?” she asked, having a sudden idea.
Ari nodded. “Sure. Everything all right?”
“This sachet,” she said, lifting it to her nose again. “Raph made it for me to wake me up. Do you think…” She didn’t want to say these words out loud for that would only light the flame of hope that had just started flickering.
Ari raised his eyebrows. “It’s very possible. Definitely worth a try.”
“Let’s go,” she said, quickening h
er pace, certain that if Ari hadn’t laughed at her then perhaps she was onto something.
Ari’s steps were heavy, as if carrying the weight of his missing sister was slowing him down.
She drew in a breath of courage and tucked her hand in the crook of his arm. He immediately brought his other hand to hers and rubbed it affectionately.
“Maybe I’m just not ever meant to know what happened to her.” He fell into step with her, still holding onto her hand. “Maybe the mystery that is my sister will always remain exactly that. She clearly doesn’t want to be found, even if she can’t manage to keep away.”
“We still don’t know it was her. It could have been anyone. An animal even.”
“It was her. It had to be.”
Jasmine let it drop. Clearly, he wanted to believe it was his sister who’d been climbing through the wall. It seemed like it could do no harm at this point to let him hold onto this.
So instead, she listened quietly as he told her about all the times he’d trailed Ana over the palace. She envisioned a lonely boy, desperate for attention from his selfish sister who never threw him a crumb of affection. Poor Ari. No wonder he liked Raph. They were alike in many ways, following their sisters around begging for attention.
They passed the perfumery on their way to the infirmary and heard a loud bang.
“Who would be in there?” asked Jasmine.
An excited look shot to Ari’s eyes. How could she tell him that whoever was in there, she was almost certain it wouldn’t be his sister?
One quick look inside confirmed her suspicions. It wasn’t Ana. Although, it was close.
The Queen was in the perfumery, banging pots on workbenches with a scowl on her face. So unlike any paintings Jasmine had seen of her, smiling meekly next to her husband, the King.
Jasmine drew in a sharp breath and dropped to a curtsy, hoping she was doing it right.
“Please stand up,” said the Queen. “You must be the girl who brought Ari here.”
The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set Page 33
