Chapter 15
“I can talk about my cows, potatoes, and whisky production for hours, Jazmina, and you still won’t escape giving me an explanation about what happened last night,” I say, and with satisfaction, I watch her cheeks burst into flames. Meaning: I nailed it. She was trying to dodge the conversation.
“Aren’t you supposed to be more polite? You’re a duke, after all.”
“And aren’t you, being a princess raised with every rule imaginable drilled into your head, not supposed to end up passed out in front of a fraternity house full of sons of bit . . . of boys who wouldn’t hesitate to take advantage of an unconscious girl?”
“Is that what happened? Is that why I was only wearing a robe?” Her face drains of color so fast she grabs the table as if she’s about to faint, and I curse myself internally.
I didn’t mean to scare her, but I’m also not going to soften the size of the damn risk she took when she slipped away from her security team.
“You’re grounded,” I say.
“What? You’re insane!”
“Let me put it another way, then. You’re grounded, and you’re going to do exactly as I say, or I’ll call Kaled and tell him everything.”
“You haven’t done that yet?”
“No.”
“Why not?” There’s a note of hope in her voice.
“Because I don’t give up easily, Jazmina. I agreed to take care of you, and that’s what I’ll do. But try running away again like you did last night, and in the blink of an eye there’ll be a plane ready to fly you back to Rheadur. Now tell me what happened.”
She takes a sip of coffee, like she needs fuel. “A girl named Linda invited me. And in case you don’t remember, you said no to university parties, leaving me no choice but to—”
“Lie. Run away,” I finish.
“Omit to tell you would be a nicer way of putting it.”
“What the hell was going through your head?”
“I just wanted to see in person the kind of parties my former English teacher used to talk about.”
“Finish telling me what you remember.”
“The girl who invited me ditched me. I was about to leave when I met another girl, Josephine, who, by the way, is an acquaintance of that witch, Ingrid, Kaled’s ex.
She was also at that party on Vicenzzo’s yacht, the one where you kidna—” She stops, correcting herself so fast it’s almost cute, probably realizing she’s in deep enough trouble already and provoking me won’t help.
“The party where you accompanied me back to my brother’s apartment. ”
She says it with the dignity of a Victorian duchess, but her whole face screams how much it still pisses her off that I carried her out of there.
And again, I find myself wanting to laugh. Jazmina has a devilish temper, very much like mine, but restrains it most of the time because she was raised to do so.
I knew the girl who helped her last night looked familiar. Only now do I remember the lunatic German model who gave Kaled a hellish headache and nearly ruined his marriage to Adeela.
“Go on.”
“We talked about jewelry because she’s in the same program as me, but honestly, she’s basically a professional already.
Anyway, I’d had enough fun and was ready to leave when Josephine said she needed the restroom.
” She blushes. “I stayed alone for about five to ten minutes. A boy approached me, and he was rude.” She sets the cup down and rubs both temples as if her head aches.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes . . . but it’s terrifying not remembering the whole night.”
“Don’t be afraid. Nothing happened to you,” I say before I can stop myself. I shouldn’t be comforting her, and frankly, I didn’t even know I could until this moment.
“Thank you. I’d never forgive myself if I had . . .”
“I know. Tell me the rest.”
“The boy I mentioned was pushy and insulting, and after a while, a friend of his joined him. They talked really fast, and my English still isn’t broad enough for slang, especially at that speed.
I was about to go after Josephine when she came back, and we left to call a taxi. I took a sip of my soda and . . .”
Her eyes widen, and I decide it’s time for the truth.
“They drugged you. Most likely, when the second guy approached, that’s when they tampered with your drink. The tests will confirm it, but the doctor who examined you suspects it was something called a date-rape drug.”
She looks like she might vomit, but she needs to understand how exposed she was.
“Under the influence of that substance, a person stays semi-conscious but remembers nothing the next day.”
She stands and trembles, terrified. “It wasn’t my fault,” she says, then whispers, “Do you think it was my fault?”
“Sit down, Jazmina.”
She obeys automatically.
“The part where you were drugged? No. The part where you exposed yourself? Yes. I understand you want to experience life, but if you think you’re grown up enough to go out, then act with responsibility.
And more importantly, understand that the world outside your palace isn’t the same.
Assaults on college campuses are far more common than you think.
If you’re ever in a place like that again, never, and I mean never, leave your drink out of your sight. ”
“I opened it myself.”
“But you must’ve left it somewhere.”
“Behind me on a counter,” she says quietly.
“It wasn’t your fault. But don’t put yourself in that position again. You only had a small sip, but the worst could’ve happened.”
“Thank you for being so understanding. I was terrified you’d send me back home.”
“You’re going to tell Kaled everything.”
“What? No! I can’t, Rodrick. He’ll send me back to Rheadur!”
“If you want to be respected as a woman capable of making her own decisions, face up to your mistakes. I haven’t told him yet out of loyalty to you. But I won’t lie to my best friend.”
“I need more time before I can do that. I just got here. If I tell him what happened, he’ll lose all trust in me.”
“One month. That’s the deadline I’m giving you to tell your brother. But on one condition: you stay out of trouble until then.”
She looks like she wants to argue, but then she wisely chooses to focus on breakfast instead.
I’m thinking I’ve handled the situation well when she suddenly fires off:
“I understand almost everything about last night, but not how we ended up in bed together.”