She, Jasmine and their new husbands had stood on a pavilion and been married by a priest in a slick brown robe. Flowers were twined around the pavilion posts and strewn about the floor, raising a heavenly fragrance when stepped on. Masses of flowers were dotted around the garden wedding, providing the primary decoration.
She lost track of Jasmine in the crowd. She’d given Jas a good scolding for not letting her best friend in on the good news first, then laughed when Jasmine admitted she hadn’t known herself until Keilor let her come up for air. By then, of course, it had been too late.
She hadn’t seemed unhappy about it.
Kayless had been able to attend, but she spent a great deal of time in a chair, poor girl. The last time Wiley had seen her, Hytal had been speaking to her. Kayless had been frowning, but her mother, oddly enough, had not been.
Shanra was lost amid the dancers.
“It’s getting late. Do you think anyone would mind if we slipped away?” Wiley asked Jayems.
He looked at her and smiled her favorite smile. “We can do anything you like.”
So they slipped away and held a very special, very private celebration of their own.
* * * *
“Jasmine’s been kidnapped.”
Wiley froze with her eyes locked on Jayems’. Reflected in the mirror, they were grave and worried. Slowly she turned around and looked at him.
“She was taken last night. Keilor is in the hospital in critical condition. They caught him by surprise.”
Wiley quickly shed her robe and ran to the closet for her clothes, throwing on a shirt and pants. “This is why they got you out of bed last night? Why didn’t you tell me?”
She vaguely remembered rolling over and going back to sleep at Jayems’ soothing whisper.
“I was busy coordinating a search. It was better that you rest. Someone should be with Keilor when he wakes up--he’s going to be beside himself. I can’t be two places at once, and he’d only yell at me to get out and do something if I were. He needs family now.”
She nodded, choking on emotion. “Jasmine?”
“We’re doing all we can. Go and do what you can for him,” Jayems said. The strain was evident in his face. This was family.
She kissed him quickly. “I’ll go.”
Rabid with worry, she nearly ran to the medics, her Haunt guard tense beside her.
Keilor was heavily sedated to keep him in bed. Not that it should have been a problem--
his attackers had disemboweled him. He should have been dead.
He recognized her. “Rihlia. My wife … I’m sorry.” His voice was a whisper, thick with grief and rage.
She shook her head. “Stop. Rest and heal. Jayems is doing everything he can.
He’s sent out Jasmine’s bodyguards and your friend Mathin. They’ll bring her home.”
She prayed that was true. She couldn’t lose Jasmine.
“Mathin.” He tossed his head restlessly. “I should be there.” The words were faint. He was already going back down. He was so pale.
She kissed his brow. “Rest, Keilor. Jasmine is one tough nut. She’ll come out of this okay.” Words of hope, but she wished someone would say them to her.
Her mother came to sit with him after a while, with a promise that his aunt and cousin would also take their turns. Meanwhile, those of the family not on watch stayed in Jayems’ suite and tried to comfort Wiley, with marginal success. She couldn’t help pacing.
Jayems finally had word to share. “We know who took her--a woman named Yesande. She’s an old enemy of Keilor’s. We think we know where she’s headed. The only trouble is, there’s no way to get ahead of them, not with the lead they have, at the pace they’re going. The good news is that Mathin is right on their tail. He’ll find a way to get to Jasmine.”
“Why? Why did they take her?” Wiley asked. “It doesn’t make sense.”
Jayems put his arm around her. “I don’t know yet. The important thing is that we get her back. Don’t worry--we’ll bring her home.”
But she did worry. The days became weeks, and there was still no word. Thanks to his Haunt blood, Keilor was rapidly recovering, but he was still in no shape to go after Jas.
Her worry was bad enough, but Wiley’s mother made it worse with her ‘comforting.’
“You know,” she suggested one afternoon at tea, “all things happen for a reason. Perhaps this will work out for the best, after all.”
Wiley’s eyes narrowed. It was just the two of them, and she felt less and less inclined to be civil. Her mother had been wearing ever thinner, but this was the first time she’d openly suggested that Jasmine’s disappearance was a good thing. “I fail to see how.”
Rhapsody delicately sipped her tea as she considered. “As loyal as you were to her, you must consider how out of place she must have felt. Sometimes, nature has a way of correcting the balance. Both you and Keilor can now proceed with the natural course of your life. Surely Jasmine--if she’d loved you--would have wanted that for you.”
Rage like she’d never known poured through Wiley, consumed her. She stood up slowly, and it was all she could do not to launch herself over the table. Summoning her voice through the white anger was hard enough. “Get out. Start walking, and don’t stop, or so help me, I’ll bitch slap you to the ground right now.”
Eyes wide, her mother stood. “How could you--”
“Get out!” Finger shaking with adrenaline, she wanted nothing better than to choke the life out of the woman. “Don’t you ever walk through that door again, or so help me, I’ll throw you out it myself.”
Amazingly, the woman stood her ground. “I can see that you’re upset--”
Wiley started for her.
Finally, Rhapsody realized she’d gone too far. She ran for the door, narrowly escaping.
Wiley slammed against the carved wood, snarling her rage. Outraged, she slammed it again and then gave it a good kick.
How dare she?
How dare she?
Jayems must have been summoned from wherever he was, because he showed up not five minutes later. One look at the couch cushions scattered in every direction told him the depth of her anger. “What did she say?”
She told him, and she didn’t watch her mouth as she did so.
His eyes widened and then he advanced on her with tenderness, folding her into his arms.
It was the tenderness that broke her. “She’s no mother to me, Jayems! How could she say something like that about Jasmine? She’s been more a sister to me than that woman has ever been a mother. She’s jealous, and mean, too.”
“I know. It’s all right; she won’t come back in here unless you decide to make your peace with it.” He rubbed her back.
She pulled back. “Make my peace! Are you crazy? How am I supposed to forgive her for that?”
He offered a lopsided smile. “That’s why they call it ‘make your peace.’
Nobody’s implied it’s easy.”
She grunted and allowed him to hold her again, but there was no softening in her heart for her mother.
* * * *
They got word the next day that Jasmine had been rescued. Mathin and his two friends were running with her deep into the swamps to avoid pursuit. Jayems sent out men to clear the path for them for the run home.
While relieved, Wiley found it hard to sit home and wait. It was on one of those dark days, when her friends Shanra and Kayless were trying to cheer her up, that Wiley realized something important. She hadn’t had her period since before Jasmine was taken.
Shanra saw the arrested expression on Wiley’s face and immediately went to her.
“What is it?”
Wiley blinked at her, dazed. “I think I might be pregnant.”
Jayems lit up when he heard. Knowing that the glad news would bring hope to Keilor, he quickly passed it on. Her family was ecstatic; there hadn’t been a baby in the family in years. Even Rhapsody bragged to all her friends about the new heir. The fact that her own daughter still refused to talk to her was not discussed.
All told, Jasmine was gone almost two months. If anything, the experience changed her in positive ways, for she returned a stronger, more confident woman. She and Keilor had a fiery reunion. When she came up for air, she and Wiley exchanged hugs and tears. But this is not the end of the story …