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"They are still assholes, but thankfully, I only have to see them once a year."
It made sense now why Jasmine had said that she didn't have much of a life to leave behind. At the time, Margo had wondered about it because she assumed that a beauty like Jasmine had to lead a glamorous life with a ton of friends, but apparently, that wasn't the case.
Most people wanted to project a confident and happy façade for the world to see, but underneath, many were carrying pain, insecurities, grief, or a combination of all three, and Jasmine was no different.
Casting Negal a sidelong glance, Margo wondered what he was hiding under his perfect exterior and stoic expression.
So far, she'd learned three things about him, or was it four?
He had been a soldier at some point in his life, he needed corrective lenses but contact lenses irritated his eyes, so he had to wear dark sunglasses, and he hated dragons.
He also saved damsels in distress in his spare time.
3
KIAN
Toven rose to his feet and stretched his back. "If you don't need me, I would like to catch a couple of hours of shuteye." He looked at Kian.
None of them had gotten any sleep, wanting to stay awake until the mission was completed and Margo and her friend were safe and sound on board the Silver Swan.
The god had been needed mostly as a safety measure in case the ship was attacked and they needed his compulsion ability to defend it, but now that most of the Guardians who had raided Modana's compound were back and Kalugal was only minutes away, there was no reason for him to stay awake.
"Thank you for your help," Kian said.
Toven chuckled. "I didn't do much other than stay awake and keep you guys company."
"Having you on standby in case of an attack was what we needed, and I'm grateful for your presence aboard the ship." Kian stood up and offered Toven his hand. "Frankly, since you and Kalugal joined the clan, things have been much easier for us. I didn't realize how useful compulsion could be until it was readily available to us."
Toven cast him an amused glance as he shook his hand. "You had it all along but didn't want to use it. Annani is just as capable a compeller as I am, and probably more so."
Kian grimaced. "She doesn't like using compulsion, so she doesn't have the years of practice required to wield it with the same precision that you and Kalugal do. Besides, she didn't use to spend much time in the village. In fact, her visits have been quite rare, and she's never stayed for long, so she wasn't always available when I needed a capable compeller."
Kian blamed himself for that. His good intentions had kept his mother away. He'd been so worried about her safety that he had tried to stifle her freedom, and she wouldn't stand for it. Lately, though, she had been much less inclined to get into mischief, and it was probably because she'd lost Alena as her reluctant partner in crime.
For some time now Annani had seemed down, subdued, giving Kian a new reason to worry, but then Aru had arrived with tales of Anumati and her grandparents, and suddenly, there was a new spark in Annani's eyes.
The threat of his great-grandfather, the Eternal King, was worrisome in the extreme and certainly no reason for an improved mood. However, Annani was excited about communicating with her grandmother, who, according to Aru, was overjoyed to discover that her granddaughter had survived.
Hopefully, the report was true, and the queen of Anumati would become a positive force in Annani's life, but that still remained to be seen.
Toven smiled benevolently. "And yet, despite Annani being here on the ship, with all of her considerable power, you prefer me to defend your clan. I don't want to be the one to point it out, but you are a bit of a chauvinist, Kian."
"I've been called worse, and if that means keeping the Clan Mother safe, then it's fine with me. I won't apologize for it."
Toven put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "You're a good male, Kian, even if you are a chauvinist." The god laughed on his way to the bedroom.
"Do you want us to leave?" Kian called after him.
It hadn't bothered Mia that they had turned her and Toven's cabin into their war room, and she'd gone to sleep knowing that they were all there, but it would be awkward to remain in the living room of their cabin while both Toven and Mia slept in the bedroom.
Toven waved a dismissive hand. "You can stay."
When the door closed behind him, Kian sat back down and looked at Turner. "You should get some sleep as well."
"I'm okay." The strategist lifted his half-empty mug of coffee. "I want to talk to Kalugal and hear from him how Modana and his men are doing. As inspired as the idea of a religious revelation and awakening was, I need to know how well it will hold. Unless Kalugal had some seeds to work with, the compulsion could lose its power pretty quickly."
"Kalugal told me that Modana had a statue of the Madonna on his desk, so he must be a believer, and Kalugal knows what he's doing. He wouldn't have used that tactic if he thought it wouldn't work."
