The Charmer

Chapter 22

“That’s a load of garbage!” Rihlia’s eyes shot sparks as she sat forward, gesturing angrily. “She might be a little shy with men, but Jasmine has always been a pretty girl. I don’t think it’s fair of you to blame some mythical pheromone just so you can have an excuse for being attracted to a human!”

“What I feel, what Fallon feels, what Knightin feels,” he answered with grim conviction. “What every unattached male above the age of puberty will feel whenever she is near.” He leaned forward, determined to make her understand. “She's pretty, and it doesn’t help, but it wouldn’t matter if she were fat and bald and covered with boils, men would still want her.” She tried to interrupt, but he cut her off ruthlessly. “Fallon likes his women, true, but I’ve never seen him pursue one with the tenacity he displayed last night. If she hadn’t surprised him with that comment about tongues,“ he grimaced, “then we might have had to leash him to keep him from following her to her room.” He paused to give his words weight. “Do you really think her beauty alone would bring three grown men to their knees?”

Rihlia’s lips were tight with anger. “Prove it.”

“Very well.” He strode towards the door. “Give me fifteen minutes to arrange an escort, and I’ll meet you in the courtyard. We’ll take a tour of the cadet’s dining hall.” He slammed the door behind him, giving vent to his frustration, and strode quickly down the hall. Jayems might have his head later, but by fire, he’d hear no more complaints about imaginary pheromones!

Word spread about what he was about to do, and by the time he met Rihlia and Jasmine in the bricked courtyard the rest of his female relations were there as well. They’d gathered by a fountain, and the spray from the small waterfall misted the air. It sparkled around his aunt Portae as she talked, gesturing expansively.

Jasmine was coolly confident in the nondescript white uniform of a servant, and even Rihlia looked disdainful, but there was nothing chilly in the greeting Urseya granted him.

“Keilor! This is so exciting,” she greeted him, smiling, and put her hand on his arm. When he merely nodded an acknowledgment her smile faded a little, and her hand fell away. “Well.” She bounced a bit on the balls of her feet and looked over to their family. “I must warn you, Keilor, we’ve placed wagers on the outcome of your charmer’s unveiling.” She smiled up at him through her long lashes. “As a vote of confidence, I’ve placed my money on you, but I must say, I think Rihlia’s friend is cheating dreadfully. Just look at what she’s done to her face.”

Jasmine’s face was coated in something that made it pasty gray, and she’d greased her hair so that it hung in limp strands on her shoulders. Dark circles dimmed her green eyes and she smiled at him, revealing three blackened teeth. She looked like something two days in the grave.

“It won’t matter,” he said grimly. Jasmine’s confidence visibly wavered a bit at those words, and he felt a sharp pang in his chest. He didn’t think she was going to enjoy this.

He knew he wouldn’t.

Gesturing sharply to the fifteen mated Haunt he’d brought with him, he turned and strode resolutely towards the cadet barracks built into the curving arm of the mountain.

Jasmine told herself she had nothing to worry about. This whole thing was foolish. Keilor had made a mistake, and she’d prove it to the i***t. She’d show him that what he felt, what she felt, had nothing to do with a stupid legend and everything to do with a man and a woman who were attracted to each other, and had been from the first. After that…

Her mind shied away from the ‘after’. First she had to prove her point. There was no mysterious, seductive pheromone, and even if there ever had been, she didn’t have it.

She was butt ugly today and confident that Wiley and the beautiful Urseya outshone her by a mile.

No one would look at her twice.

***

From the moment the double doors opened for the noble party and her scent was carried into the hall, all eyes were on her. They remained on her throughout the introduction that excluded her, even though she tried to hide behind the others. The necks of cadets at attention craned to watch her as she walked by, in spite of sharp words from their superiors and the warning growls of her tense guard. One dazed young man even broke rank to watch her walk by and was forcibly escorted from the hall.

Jasmine shivered as the cold of dread seeped into her bones. Keilor wasn’t imagining it, and it was far worse than she could have dreamed. She edged forward and gave his uniform a frightened tug. His he raised his arm. Instantly their tour was over, and the Haunt guards closed ranks and got them out of there as swiftly as protocol allowed.

“Jasmine…” Wiley’s voice was concerned, stunned. Jasmine began to walk very fast. “Jasmine!” She began to jog. In a moment she was running back the way she’d come, the warm, damp sea air burning her lungs as she tried to out run this thing she’d become.

No one stopped her.

Jasmine burst into Jayems’ room and skidded to a stop on the polished wood. Eyes wild, she demanded, “How do I make it stop?”

“What?” He looked up from a map he and Knightin had been studying and frowned.

She gestured violently. “This charmer thing!” Raising a trembling hand to her forehead and closing her eyes, she continued, “They were all looking at me like…”

Jayems glanced at Knightin, dismissing him. Tossing his pen aside, he leaned back in his chair and regarded her. “Like they desired you?”

She threw her hand down, but could only hold his eyes for a second. “It was worse than that! They...” She grabbed the back of a chair for support, feeling like she just might fly apart. “I want it to stop. Now.”

Knowing eyes considered her. “Is it so bad to be desired?”

She clenched her fists and shouted at him. “Yes! Yes. I don’t want men to look at me like that!” She moaned in frustration and swept her fist through the air. “I was afraid genetics would come back to haunt me.”

He tilted his head in inquiry, and she swallowed hard. Addressing the carpet in front of his desk, she said, “My mother was a stripper. She...ah, when she danced, she...stripped.”

“Ah.” He examined his desktop as if it held the secrets of the universe.