"She's hurting!" she shrieked, nearly wild, and he dragged her back even farther.

"Love, sweet love..." he soothed, and his words faded into a murmur as Keilor pressed the tendons in Jasmine's hand to force it open. He worked quickly to pick out the largest fragments.

Jasmine moaned, a low, tortured sound. She rolled into a tight ball.

The first shriek caught him off guard. He saw Fallon pale and press his lips tightly together. Vengeance took up a war drum in his blood. He saw the same need mirrored in Fallon's hard eyes. Someone would pay for harming this woman, and pay dearly.

"She'll live," The medic announced as he entered the clinic waiting room. He nodded respectfully to the party of four who'd been waiting more than two hours for his verdict.

Keilor had just sat down from his last circuit of the room. He closed his eyes as some of the tension drained from him.

Rihlia lifted her head from her hands, exposing tear-swollen eyes. Her voice hoarse, she asked, "Will she be all right?"

The medic sighed and crossed his arms, rocking back on his heels. "There is unlikely to be brain damage, and I believe that most of her organs will make a full recovery, but it's bound to be slow. The chemical we found in her blood is most deadly to humans. Frankly, I'm surprised she survived it."

Keilor sucked in a breath. Fallon swore softly and Jayems put a supporting arm around his wife. She allowed him to hold her as he kissed her hair and murmured soothing words, slowly shaking her head.

"What was it?" Keilor demanded.

The medic's lips tightened as he stared at the polished stone floor. "Its scientific name is Libran, but you might know it better as Sweet Surrender." He smiled without humor. "It would seem someone tried to slip your charmer an aphrodisiac, and ended up with a nasty surprise instead."

Keilor turned lethal eyes on Fallon, who was watching him with an equally savage expression. Each assessed and dismissed the other as suspects. Fallon was far too proud to resort to such an underhanded scheme, and as for Keilor...he held no love for Libran.

"But...it happened after she drank from my glass," Rihlia ventured uncertainly.

"The dessert," Jayems said with grim conviction. "She took a bite of the dessert just before she drank from your cup, Rihlia. If you hadn't been distracting her..." He glanced at Keilor. "But who and why? No one was going to get past the guards at her door without my permission, so even if she was drugged, they would have had a hard time seducing her. And if it wasn't one of us..."

Keilor frowned at Fallon. "Your mother does want you to wed." There was a silence as they considered just how far the manipulative Portae would go to secure a daughter-in-law. Considering the lengths she'd gone to in the past to manage her only son's life, there was no telling what she was capable of, and Jasmine was the first woman he'd ever shown a serious interest in.

"Had the drug been in your dessert, Keilor, I would have suspected Urseya." Jayems smiled faintly. "Under the circumstances, I can't see her wishing to inflame Jasmine, lest she be forced to toast the pair of you at your wedding feast."

His cousin gave him a sardonic smile.

"You give up on me too soon, Jayems," Fallon interjected smoothly. "The lady might have preferred to spend the night in my bed."

Rihlia stood up, fists clenched. "You leave her alone!"

Surprised by the fury of her command, the three men regarded her with uncertainty.

Fallon tried to soothe her. "We jest, cousin," he assured her. "No one is going to treat Jasmine with less than honor and courtesy. Surely Jayems has explained to you-"

"Just this morning you told me, Keilor, that the only thing you men feel for Jasmine is lust." When he didn't respond to her challenge, she continued tightly, "Well, I'm taking you at your word, and I'm telling you, commanding you, to leave her alone. She deserves far better than a man whose only interest in her is as a one night stand."

"Keilor speaks for himself if he said such things, Rihlia." Fallon glowered Keilor, who said nothing to defend himself. "I admire your friend, respect her, and I..."

"Admiration is not enough," she answered him coldly. "She deserves a lot more."

Fallon was silent for a moment. His jaw ticked when he said, "If you are looking to know my heart, it's not yours to know." The expression on his face when she tried to interrupt him was so savage, she stopped before uttering a word. "If your friend wishes to know, I will speak truthfully with her. Until then..." He softened his voice a little. "Be satisfied that she is in good hands."

Rihlia stared at one of the many potted plants dotting the room. "What about the other? What will you do when she finds out about the Haunt?" Silence followed her comment.

All three men had been there the night Rihlia had been found. She had been wary from the beginning of the three strangers who had suddenly appeared in her camp, emerging from the shadows as if they owned the night, and she had not gone willingly to the Dark Lands. Worse than that, when she had attempted to use the only weapon she had left, the one thing that they now knew she feared above all else, Jayems had shown her the true nature of the Haunt.

Tonight had been the first night since that she had willingly suffered his touch.

Keilor waved a hand irritably, dismissing her fears. "Jasmine's made of stern stuff, Rihlia, and loyal. I think she'd settle down quickly after she became used to the idea." He gave her a level look. "Your friend is the type to face her problems, not to turn and run."

"Have you seen how she looks at the soldiers?" she countered. "She's never relaxed around them, never forgets their presence for a moment. If one of them makes an unexpected move, she tenses and watches him as if she expects him to try and eat her." Keilor winced, and she nodded, vindicated. "How do you think she'd react to the announcement that you were one?"

Rihlia was curled up in a fat chair beside Jasmine's bed, knitting, when Jasmine finally woke up. She immediately set aside her needles and came to sit on the big bed.

"How are you doing, Jas?" she asked softly. She felt Jasmine's forehead with the back of her fingers and smiled. "You look better, and your skin's not clammy anymore."

Jasmine frowned, sifting details through her sleepy brain. She lifted her bandaged hand, staring as memories trickled through her awakening brain. "The glass," she croaked. Her throat was still sore from screaming.

"Yes. It took the medics a long while to get all the pieces out." Rihlia helped her take a sip of water, adjusting the straw so she could drink without sitting up.

Jasmine closed her eyes and relaxed back into the pillows. Her whole body hurt. "Did they figure out who tried to poison you?"

There was a pause. "It wasn't poison."

One eye opened and looked at her.

"It was an aphrodisiac."

Jasmine's eyes opened wide and she started to sit up. She groaned when her sore muscles and tender stomach protested. Temporarily defeated, she flopped back down, allowing Rihlia to fluff the pillows behind her head. "Someone gave you an aphrodisiac?"

Rihlia sighed. "Someone gave you an aphrodisiac, Jas, only it backfired. It acted on your body like a poison."

Jasmine stared at her for a long moment. Her face darkened.

Before she could explode, Rihlia hastily said, "It wasn't one of the men. You should have seen their faces; they were so upset. Nobody has any proof, but we think it might have been Fallon's mother."

A queer look passed over Jasmine's face, and Rihlia smirked. "Not for herself, silly! Apparently she wants Fallon to get married pretty badly. She might have used the stuff for that, never dreaming she might kill her future daughter-in-law."

There wasn't much Jasmine could say to that without a great deal of thought, and she felt too drained at the moment to engage in lengthy internal debates. Instead she grumbled, "So I'm going to be all right? There's no lasting effect to this stuff?"

Rihlia studied the quilt. "The medic said that you'll be all right, except for..." She cleared her throat uncomfortably and shifted on the bed. "You might have a few hormonal problems at first."

Jasmine narrowed her eyes. "Like what?" Sudden visions of sprouting facial hair taunted her. If Wiley's aunt had made her into a bearded lady, Jas was going to have to hurt her.

"Your sex drive." Rihlia waffled a hand in the air uncomfortably. "Uh, you may not be able to feel, er, arousal for a while."

Jasmine squinted one eye. This was getting worse and worse. Not that she wasn't grateful to be alive, and she'd never been a sexual dynamo, but not to feel any desire at all? Sheesh! "How long?"

"A few weeks, maybe. Or months." Rihlia cringed. "Or maybe never."

"Never!" Jasmine tried to shout, but it came out more of a croak. Never?

"Don't worry!" her friend hastened to assure her, laying her hand on her arm. "They can give you hormone therapy if it doesn't come back on its own, which your doctor is almost sure it will. You'll be fine."

"Great," Jasmine rasped, furious. "Viagra for women." She smacked her damaged hand on the bed and yowled with the pain. She'd forgotten it was injured.

While she was still mouthing curses and holding her wrist, the door tone sounded, and Rihlia went to answer it. "All right. Bring it on in." Jasmine glanced in irritation at the doors as Rihlia swung them wide and stood back. A man pushed a wheeled platform into the room. A giant granite pot rested on the platform, and inside it grew a six-foot fruit tree, loaded with ripe avocados.

She looked at Rihlia in bewilderment. "What-"

The deliveryman stepped forward and nodded his head respectfully. "Lady Jasmine, may I present a gift from the cadet Marcus Bustos? He sends his hopes that you might recover swiftly and prays that his gift will cheer you in your convalescence."

When she only blinked stupidly at him, Rihlia apologized, "Jasmine's voice is almost gone at the moment, but if she could speak I'm certain that she would say thank you, the tree is very lovely. Why don't you set it right at the foot of the bed, where she can have a good view of it?"

She grinned at Jasmine while the man slid the heavy pot off the platform. "They've been arriving all morning." She gestured to the window, where three other potted plants and a small waterfall surrounded by mushrooms formed a miniature grove. "So far you've collected a banana, an ulu ristu fruit and an apple tree, and I can't wait to see what shows up next." She rubbed her hands gleefully. "Apparently, instead of *say it with flowers', here they say it with fruit."

"It's an old tradition," Jayems said, entering the room as the deliveryman left. He walked to Rihlia. Jasmine's eyes widened as he slid an arm around her friend's waist and then kissed her neck in greeting. Rihlia blushed and avoided her eyes.

"Your suitors are very organized, Jasmine. I've heard they have a list going at the barracks to avoid duplicating any gifts." He smiled in good humor and she reflected with surprise that she'd never seen him so relaxed.

It could only mean one thing.

Before she could speculate further, he continued, "Keilor searches every gift to be certain that it is safe and Fallon scowls every time another delivery is made." He flashed her a wicked grin. "I haven't had so much fun just watching them in years."

Jayems, wicked? Feeling a little disoriented, Jasmine just grunted a reply. How much had she missed while she'd been sleeping, anyway? "I guess I'll have to see them and tell them thank you." She blinked sleepily at her hand. "Thank you notes are out of the question."

Rihlia gave her a bright smile and adjusted the covers. "I'm sure they'll be thrilled to hear it, Jas, but you might want to wait a couple of days. How about I make up a schedule for you?" Rihlia grinned. "You're quite the celebrity. I don't think you'd want all your fans mobbing you at once."

Jasmine murmured something in the affirmative and closed her eyes. In moments she was asleep.

Keilor watched Jasmine sleep, deep in thought. Three citrus, an illupe vine, a pineapple plant and a hairy sugar fruit later, her room looked and smelled like a garden. As Jasmine's public liaison, Rihlia had finally suggested that Jasmine's admirers switch to another form of gift, and since then baskets of blooms and bushels of tempting treats-all carefully and discreetly tested for dangerous additives- had begun to arrive in place of the plants. Not that she would be able to taste any for a few days-her tender stomach wouldn't be able to process much than liquids for a while.

He smiled mischievously and popped a truffle into his mouth. No sense letting them go to waste.

Jasmine opened her eyes, smiling a little when she saw him, and he felt a warm wave slide through him. The girl had a way about her.

"Morning," she murmured, and elbowed herself into a sitting position. He adjusted the pillows for her. "Are my guests scheduled to arrive yet?"

He surveyed her tousled hair and slumberous eyes ruefully. "I don't think you'll want to greet them just as you are."

She yawned behind her bandaged hand. "You're right. I guess I probably ought to do something about my hair and at least wash my face. I probably look kind of scary."

A fire kindled in his eyes as they brushed over her body. Even hidden under a soft sleep shirt and a velvet quilt, her pull on him was strong. "That wasn't my concern." He handed her a glass of thick, almond milk eggnog. "Your breakfast."

She sighed. After two days of subsiding on near liquids, even that tasty concoction lacked appeal. She eyed the truffles in the crystal dish near her hopefully. "Those look good."

He flashed a devilish grin at her and selected a chocolate ball coated in nuts. He bit into it slowly. "Mmm. They are." He licked his fingers as she scowled at him. "Hazelnut filling, I believe."

She harrumphed and sipped her eggnog.

"I brought you something." He lifted a small package from the floor and placed it on her lap, pleased to see her eyes light up.

She traced the smooth surface of the silver paper. With a shy smile, she teased, "It's not a plant, is it?"

Keilor raised a brow. "You do not enjoy your new garden?"

"Actually, I love it, though I'm a little afraid of killing everything off," she admitted. "I've never had a garden before. Do you think I might be able to find someone to teach me how to take care of it?"

He propped his chin on his fist and leaned on the arm of his chair. "I'll teach you."

Surely he was teasing. Men like Keilor did not run around with pruning shears and weed flowers. "You, a gardener?"

He winked at her. "It impresses the ladies." He waved a graceful hand towards her present. "Open your gift." He watched as she awkwardly held the package steady with her right wrist and worked at the seams with her left, making no move to interfere. When the paper parted, spilling a cool wash of ivory silk across her lap, he gently removed the paper and helped drape the straps of the chemise over her bandaged hand.

He lowered his eyes, feeling an unaccustomed touch of self-consciousness. "For your comfort, when you sleep. Do you like it?"

"It's very pretty, thank you," she said, coloring faintly. "But if...Keilor," she whispered, and there was a touch of pain in her voice, "I can't feel...the doctor said..." She had nearly died, and at the moment she felt no reason to hide her feelings. Besides, what else could he mean with such a gift but that he cared?

His brow cleared as he understood what she was saying. For a moment, he'd feared something else entirely. "It doesn't matter," he assured her. "It is a gift, freely given." He brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek. "Enjoy it. I hope for only your pleasure in return."

She lowered her gaze. "You Haunt men must take lessons in charm. Thank you. I will enjoy it."

He leaned back and gave her a lazy grin. "Of course, I have to admit the thought of you wearing it may cause me to loose sleep-" he laughed and caught the pillow she tossed at him, "-but the gift of your smile makes the sacrifice worth while."

She wagged a finger at him and he chuckled. "I will call for Rihlia. She will wish to help you prepare to meet your admirers." He kept the pleasant expression on his face until he was safely out of the room. The moment the doors closed behind him, he lost all traces of amusement.

He looked critically over the two Haunt captains he'd personally selected to guard Jasmine while she thanked her admirers. Each had achieved a reputation for vicious ferocity in battle during the years before Jayems officially came to power. Isfael had guarded his back during the ambush that had taken Keilor's father and the rest of his family. When the battle had been over, only the two of them had been left standing; bloody, but alive. Isfael had been by his side ever since.

He turned his eyes to Raziel. That Haunt had been feared as the most devastating warrior in the realm before an attack by jealous rivals had brought him down. They tortured him and left him for dead, going on to slay the rest of his family. Raziel had recovered and single-handedly destroyed his enemy's entire clan. He was fearless, soulless.

The Haunt knew him as the Immortal.

Those two were the only ones in the entire garrison who could hope to best him in battle, and Jasmine couldn't have been safer if he'd been standing by himself. But just to be sure...

"Her visits are to be short, safe, and pleasant. If she so much as looks distressed, remove the irritant at once. Take care of her." He began turn away, but paused. These might be his friends, but still... "One other thing, comrades. If you take a liking to her, I'll have to slit your throats."

Isfael growled and made an obscene sign. Raziel gave him toothy grin. Satisfied, Keilor walked away, smiling.

CHAPTER 11.

"Stop fussing. You're not my nurse."

Rihlia grunted and shifted her grip around Jasmine's waist. Jas had one arm flung around her shoulders for balance. She'd already threatened to dump her friend on the floor or have one of their escorts carry her. "No, and I'm not a pack mule, either. I told you to let me get the books for you. I would have been there and back by now."

With an effort, Jasmine straightened and took most of her weight on her own feet, hiding what it cost her. It had seemed like a great idea to go check out the library. What better way to while away the long hours she was forced to stay abed than with a stack of books? Besides, she was sick of staring at her own four walls.