Forcing myself to stay present, I asked, “Who are you?”
The woman leaned forward, extending her hand. “I’m Jasmine.”
Mirroring her, I looped my fingers around hers, and we shook slowly, still sizing each other up like an untrusted opponent.
“You’re his sister,” I whispered, breaking our touch and placing my hands in my lap.
“I’m many men’s sister.”
“You know who I mean.”
She leaned back, sighing a little. “Yes, lucky for you, I do know who you mean. Let’s get the introductions out of the way, shall we?” Running French-tipped fingernails through her hair, she recited, “I’m second born to Bryan and Rose Hawk. I chased my older brother into the world as soon as possible, and that fact alone makes us closer than my other two siblings. I love him more than I love myself, and I know what he lives with every day with being the firstborn of a family so steeped in tradition and persecution that it’s become an unhealthy combination. I know what you’ve done to him, and as much as I want to hate you for smashing apart his world and making him struggle morethan I’ve ever seen, I can’t.”
I couldn’t breathe properly. Like a drowning person only interested in air, I was only interested in what Jasmine had to say about her brother. “What does he struggle with? And how did my arrival have anything to do with what’s happened to him?”
Her forehead furrowed as her hands fisted in her lap. “Don’t play coy in my domain, Nila Weaver. Don’t come in here and fish for information on my beloved brother in the hope to twist it into a weapon. I don’t hate you, but it doesn’t mean I won’t if you continue to torture him.”
Wow, what?
I held up my hands in surrender. “I don’t want to hurt him.”
Liar.
I wanted to hurt him by manipulating him to go against his family—to choose me above all others. Even his sister.
Did that make me a hateful person? To want to be the one person he loved more than anyone?
“I...I—”I have feelings for him.
The truth danced on my tongue, but I couldn’t admit it. I’d barely admitted it to myself, let alone a woman who looked at me with curiosity and disdain.
Jasmine waved away my fumble. “Regardless, you’ve already hurt him. And as much as I would like to stop you, it’s your burden now, as much as mine.”
“Burden?”
My mind raced, wishing I knew just what we were discussing.
“You’re the one who’s forced him to face an alternative to the way he’s been living. Thanks to you, the other method of coping is no longer working. It’s up to you to give him another.”
Anger took over my confusion. How dare she layer me with responsibility when I was nothing more than a captive in her home? “I think you’re forgetting one important fact. I’m a prisoner of your father’s. I’m a toy for your brother. I have no future thanks to your insane family and have no wish to help one of you.”
Lying again, Nila.
I just hoped she swallowed my fibs better than her brother did.
Jasmine leaned forward. It was only subtle, a gentle inclining bringing us closer together, yet I felt her encroachment in every cell. This woman rippled with indignation and righteousness when it cameto Jethro. Her unwavering devotion was both humbling and terrifying. “Too late. You’re the one who coaxed him into your bed. He fought you. But, from woman to woman, he wasn’t strong enough for you. And that excites and upsets me.”
My shoulders slouched; her riddles made my head hurt. “What exactly is wrong with him? Why does he think he can only live if he surrounds himself in ice and removes himself from any emotion whatsoever?”
Jasmine sniffed. “That’s his secret to tell, and I will not break his trust. And you don’t understand—there is nothing wrong with him. He’s perfect. Just...not perfect for this family.”
“You’re of the same blood and seem very close. Are you saying you aren’t fit for this family, either?”
Jasmine smiled. “Smart. I suppose you could say that. Jethro and I are a different breed. Born and bred to the same parents but we inherited a different kind of madness than the rest of my relations.”
I didn’t want to hurt her, but I needed to know. In over a month that I’d been a ward of the Hawks, Jasmine was the first woman I’d come across, not counting the maids. Why was that?
“Does your mother live here, too?”
