“He might hate you.”
She snorted and affected an injured look. “How could anyone hate me?”
Rajiv’s mouth twitched. “Well, let me count the ways.” He ticked off his fingers. “You’re disobedient.”
“I obey if the order makes sense.”
“Argumentative—”
“I am not!”
“Childish—”
She stomped a foot.
He grinned.
She blushed and looked away. “If I’m such a terrible catch, you should warn off the prince.”
“He’ll be able to judge for himself whether he’s interested in you.”
Jia turned back to her cousin. “What do you mean?”
Rajiv rose to his feet. “He’s coming here in two weeks.”
She stiffened with a gasp.
Rajiv motioned to her food. “You should eat before it gets cold. We’ll talk again in the morning.”
Jia remained still as her cousin let himself out and closed the door. She heard low whispers as he talked to the guards. No doubt he was making sure she stayed put for the night.
Her gaze wandered to the gifts on the floor. Two weeks? A were-tiger prince was coming for her in fourteen days. If she married him, she would spend the rest of her life far away. Far from her family and friends. Far from the quest she’d worked on for the past thirteen years.
She took a deep breath. Once the prince arrived, she would be immersed in endless ceremonial duties. There was no time to waste. She had less than two weeks to escape from Tiger Town and kill Master Han.
Chapter Three
The following evening Russell was perched high in a tree, aiming his binoculars at the interior of one of Han’s encampments. He’d counted only a dozen soldiers so far. Half of them were immersed in a dice game, gambling away what little money they had. Others were dozing or drinking. Only one was gazing over the battlements occasionally in a halfhearted attempt at guard duty. Clearly, Han wasn’t here. Nor were any of his high-ranking officers.
With a sigh, Russell lowered his binoculars. As much as he enjoyed the thought that last night’s assassination attempt must have scared the crap out of Han, the result was damned annoying. The coward was hiding so well now that Russell couldn’t find him anywhere.
Last night, after delivering the princess to Tiger Town, he’d visited each of Han’s thirty camps, searching for the bastard. No luck. After finding two of Han’s officers, Russell had hidden on the roof to listen in on the conversation, hoping they would mention Han or even the location of a new camp.
Nothing. He’d considered kidnapping one of the officers and trying vampire mind control on him to acquire more information, but it probably wouldn’t have worked. Russell was able to erase memories, but all of his attempts to control supersoldiers had failed. As far as he could tell, the demon Darafer had programmed their minds to obey only him and Master Han.
With dawn approaching, Russell had been forced to call it quits and return to his lair. Lying on his bed as death-sleep had stolen over him, he’d imagined the same scene he’d daydreamed for the last two years. The final battle where he beat the hell out of Master Han, ripped off his mask, and then killed him. If he envisioned it enough, it would eventually happen. It had to.
But then something odd had happened. For the first time ever, the dream hadn’t stopped with his victory. He’d seen himself teleport to Tiger Town after the battle and, on bended knee, present Han’s mask to the princess. She’d been dressed in a golden gown with a sparkling tiara on her head. The air around her had shimmered with candlelight, so she’d been surrounded by a golden nimbus, and he’d thought she’d looked more like an angel than a tigress.
“My lady, I have avenged your family for you.”
She’d clutched the mask to her chest as tears had glistened in her golden eyes. “Truly, you are the bravest, most noble man in the world! Nay, in the entire universe!”
With his eyes closed and his mind drowsy, Russell had still managed a derisive snort. Well, if he was going to dream, he might as well dream big.
“How will I ever repay you?” she’d continued, a tear slipping down her soft cheek.
“I’ll think of something.” He’d stepped close and wiped the tear away with his thumb.