Page 1 of Winter's Scorching Kisses
Chapter 1
Adorra sat impatiently at the breakfast table, waiting for her sister to show up in the great hall. She glanced at the empty seat next to her and rolled her eyes. Jasmine was probably sleeping in again in revolt. They might be family, but her sister was making her opinion of Adorra’s fiancé perfectly clear. Now Jasmine wasn’t even showing up for meals.
She loved her younger sister, but sometimes… sometimes she just wanted to throttle her!
“Excuse me.” She stood up from her seat, the chair scraping against the stone floor, and her fiancé, Lord Edmund Gothar, glanced up surprised by the sudden movement.
“What is it?” Edmund asked as he turned his attention back to buttering a roll.
“My sister. She hasn’t shown up, and I fear she’s slept in again.” On purpose. Jasmine was making it her mission to protest the upcoming nuptials, and Adorra had a theory. She figured Jasmine was just upset that someone else was entering their lives. They’d grown close after their parents’ death, and they would remain close after her marriage. She just wished Jasmine could see that.
“Perhaps you should let her rest,” Edmund suggested as he took a bite of his buttered roll, chewing thoughtfully, not a bit perturbed about Jasmine’s ludicrous behavior.
Adorra glanced over at him and sent him a smile. “You’re so sweet, but she must show herself.”
Jasmine was most likely still sulking in her room over the fact that Adorra was about to get married. No matter how much she reassured her sister everything would remain the same between them, her sister wouldn’t be happy for her.
To say it was causing a rift, would be an understatement.
She left the table with a sigh and glided over to the stairs nearby. This wouldn’t be the first time she’d been forced to wake her younger sister. Adorra had been like her mother ever since their parents died when they were children. She had hoped adulthood would bring about another side of her sister, but it hadn’t.
It was no secret Jasmine hated Adorra’s betrothed. She only wished her sister could see Lord Gothar as she saw him. He was a kind man with an enormous heart. It hurt her that her own sister couldn’t see the love she felt for him.
As she ascended the stone stairs, she used the time to think over how to handle her sister. Jasmine was a woman who enjoyed the freedom of the countryside, but maybe it was time Adorra insisted her sister go to court. There Jasmine would be ruled by a stricter timetable, and no one there would let her out of her place.
She paused midway up the stairs, but did she really want court to take away one of the things she was glad Jasmine got to enjoy? Not many women in their station could say they’d had enough spare time to read as much as her sister did. Jasmine had such spirit and kindness, and Adorra worried the ladies of the court, with their wagging tongues, would shred her in a minute.
Quickly, her slippered feet made quick work of the rest of the stone stairs. She strode up to Jasmine’s door but took a moment to rein in her raging emotions. Getting in a heated discussion with her sister would get them nowhere and only result in them simmering in silence.
She knocked lightly on the wooden door. “Jasmine, you’ve missed the morning meal.”
No answer.
It was time to get a little harder and pull out the voice she figured she’d used on a petulant child. It was hard to imagine her sister was an adult and being this childish. Life was full of people they hated, yet a lady should still smile and find something to talk about.
“Jasmine, I will come in there and drag you out of your bed.” She’d done it before, and she wasn’t afraid to do it again.
Silence.
She knocked again, louder this time. “I’m coming in Jasmine!”
Adorra shoved open the door only to stop short when her eyes landed on Jasmine’s bed. Jasmine’s bed was made without a single crinkle in the fabric, and no one was in the room. Her teeth gritted together in anger.
As she slammed her sister’s door shut, she noticed a maid passing by. Adorra reached a hand out stopping the maid. “Have you seen Jasmine?”
“Not since yesterday, m’lady.”
“Okay, you may go back to your tasks, but if you see Jasmine let her know I want to speak with her. Immediately.”
The maid curtsied before bustling off down the hall.
Adorra pursed her lips. She had no idea where her sister was in the manor, but she had a breakfast to get back to and a betrothed to dote over. She would run into her sister at some point during the day. For now, she would let Jasmine have her solitude, but at some point, she would have to light a fire under her sister’s butt.
She wanted her sister and betrothed to get along. Soon they all would be family, and she needed them to be on speaking terms. They both meant so much to her. Each of them held a half of her heart, and she didn’t want them breaking it into pieces.
“Give up, my lady.” A guard pleaded with Adorra. “We’ve been searching for more than a fortnight now, and there is still no sign of your sister.”
“No, I must keep looking for her. I can't just give up on finding her.” Adorra stifled a sob. She had to keep focused. If her grief took over now, then she wouldn't have the strength to keep searching the area around the manor. Her sister was still missing, and after a complete search of the manor involving everyone who lived there, there’d been no trace of her.
