You are no longer here (1)

A series of rushed footsteps on the staircase interrupted them and they all looked over. Dahlia was now wearing her favorite night wear—a purple silk floral dress that Jasmine specially designed for her. She ran over and threw herself into Jasmine's arms. "Jasmine, you love me very much, right?"

"You naughty little thing. When did you learn emotional blackmail?" Jasmine laughed and tapped the girl's cheek. "Of course I love you with all my life."

Dahlia joyously looked up at her sister with bright eyes. "Can I sleep in your room tonight?"

Harry and Sophie smiled at their younger daughter's new way of asking for what she wanted. So that was what she was getting at.

Unfortunately, Jasmine rejected her. "What a bummer. I want mother to sleep with me tonight."

"Can you not?" Harry frowned when he was suddenly targeted.

Jasmine laughed at her father's dejected expression. "I'm sorry papa. Can I steal Mrs. Cavendish from you tonight? I promise to give her back in the morning."

"Don't papa me." He huffed and pretended to be jealous. However, he knew that his daughters liked snuggling with their mother when they felt sad or restless. Jasmine must have been through a turmoil so he bit the bullet and agreed to spend the cold night on his own.

"Hey, what about me?" Dahlia blinked when Jasmine managed to convince Harry.

"How about I lull you to sleep?" She offered.

"Okie dokie!" Dahlia loved hearing her sister sing so she grabbed her hand and they went to her room. She shuffled onto the bed and waited for Jasmine to sit beside her before snuggling onto her.

Jasmine smiled gently and covered the girl. She was intending to sing the lullaby that Sophie taught her when she was a little girl, but what left her mouth was baffling.

"Where is the smile, as beautiful as a flower

That I think about every hour

The warmth that my body loved to embrace

The voice that brought me joy

The other half of me without whom I am lost in a void

You are no longer here."

She paused. Why in the world was she singing a song she had never heard of? And what was with the bizarre lyrics? This was nothing like a lullaby!

It was as though her vocals had been kidnapped, she continued singing while petting Dahlia.

"When the sea wakes me up

And I see its most beautiful waves

You are all my heart craves

But you are no longer here."

"Jasmine, are you in love?" Dahlia asked as she looked up at her. The song had made her alert instead of sleepy.

"What? Why would you ask such a question?" Jasmine found it ridiculous.

Dahlia smiled mischievously. "Were you singing to the person you miss?"

Jasmine pinched her nose. "Go to sleep, okay? You have been thinking up too much nonsense lately."

She tucked in the naughty girl before going to her own room where her mother was already waiting.

How good it felt to be in her room again. It had only been a few days but it felt like eternity. She hugged her mother as soon as she arrived, then changed into a nightgown.

The mother and daughter lay in bed facing each other. Sophie caressed her cheek. "You have changed so much in such a few days."

"You mean my hair? It's an effect of Bardumond's medication." She quickly explained. She couldn't believe it herself, but it was the only available reason that made sense to her.

"Bardumond?" Sophie frowned at the unfamiliar name.

"A god of health. It's thanks to his medication that I became strong enough to return." Jasmine smiled as she remembered Bardumond. He was more reasonable than Dairon. She frowned and tried not to think about that island. Even so, she had to explain the details to her mother. "He is also a close friend of Dairon—the water demigod who saved me."

Sophie studied her eyes carefully. If she was not wrong, did her daughter's eye color change for a fraction of a second? She shook the thought off her head. She probably imagined it. Besides, Jasmine had come into such close contact with not only a demigod but a god too—it was already good enough that she was still alive.

"You know you can tell me anything, my dear." She urged, knowing that things were not as simple as they seemed. Nothing could ever be simple with deities in the picture.

Jasmine sighed. "A lot has been going on, mother." She wanted to burst into tears when she thought about how scared she was when she first saw Dairon, how she almost drowned again and the horror when Maximus suggested that she could be a demon in disguise—which was still stuck on her mind.

However, she didn't want to worry her so she simply snuggled in her arms. "It was all related to my health and it has been dealt with."

Sophie was relieved and tousled Jasmine's hair. "This demigod, you stayed with him?" She asked carefully.

"I had no choice." Jasmine shrugged with a sigh. If she had a choice, she would never have stayed under the same roof as a man. Not even a demigod. Realizing that she had said something that made her mother tense, she added, "It was the best place for me to recuperate and he didn't want anyone to notice my presence." She lied.

"He… your necklace is glowing." She pointed at the red light emanating from Jasmine's chest, forgetting about her previous statement.

"What's this supposed to mean?" Jasmine wondered aloud with a laugh.

"Wait, that necklace..." Sophie was suddenly confused. "Uhm… I've never seen it before. It's so beautiful. Did you design it?"

"Dairon's mother gave it to me. She is so beautiful." She was awed just thinking about the breathtaking woman who didn't look old enough to have a child, much less one as old as Dairon.

"Mother, I'm so sleepy." She yawned.

"Go to sleep, child." Sophie tucked her in. Her own sleep had faded, and she stayed up for most of the night with a racing heart. When Jasmine was asleep, she carefully inspected the entire necklace. Nothing was wrong with it, but she was still confused.

The next morning, she was almost lifeless as she prepared breakfast.

"My wife, are you tired? You should let the helpers do this. I understand that you want to cook for Jasmine now that she is back but you should take care of yourself too." Harry spoke when he saw her in the kitchen.

She turned in panic and grabbed his arm. "We have to hide Jasmine away. We can't let the gods find her."

"What's going on?" He wiped his wife's eyes that were already welling up.

Sophie checked the door and lowered her voice. "They gave her a necklace."

"Perhaps they merely gave it as a present." He frowned.

Sophie didn't feel better. "I don't trust them. What if it is a way to lure her in order to use her later?

Harry, I know I'm being selfish against them when they saved her life but I wouldn't want my child to be forced into anything."

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What do you think of Sophie's reaction? Is she being unreasonably selfish?