Page 59 of Immortal By Morning
Crispen eyed her with worry. “Are you okay? I know this was a lot of information to take in in a very short time. It is perfectly understandable if you—”
“I’m not freaking out, if that’s what you’re asking. At least I don’t think I am,” she added with a weak smile. “I mean, thisisa lot, but I think I’m okay. I’m handling it.”
Crispin nodded, looked away, and then back to say, “As I said, I will not push you on the matter of us. I know this is early days and far too soon to expect—”
“Crispin,” she interrupted quietly.
When he paused and peered at her in question, she said, “Thisisa lot. And I would appreciate some time to think about everything. But honestly, I’m not looking at you like a monster or something if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m not suddenly seeing youas some blood-hungry fiend. You’ve explained it all pretty clearly. It sounds like a medical issue. You have nanos which help you stay strong and healthy. But they also cause a need for blood. Not unlike how it is for hemophiliacs... only with the nanos.” She rolled her eyes at herself and then added, “Anyway, the point is, we can just hang out and see—” She paused and frowned there. “I was going to say we could just hang around and see if we like each other, but I actually do like you already. Although,” she countered, “I don’t really know much about you, so maybe it’s actually just lusting after you. But I mean if the nanos choose life mates—Are you sure the nanos are right when they choose life mates? They never make mistakes?” she asked, knowing that she sounded terribly disorganized in her thinking right then, but her brain was kind of still bouncing around with the information it was trying to organize and file away.
Expression serious, Crispin clasped her arms, making sure to touch her only where her skin was covered by the cloth of her sleeves, and said, “I know many life mate couples, and all of them are happy and in wonderful relationships. Even one couple who have been together since Atlantis.”
“What?” she asked with surprise.
Crispin nodded firmly. “Nicodemus and Marzzia Notte. They were life mates in Atlantis before the fall, and they are still passionately in love and happy together all these years later. There are others like them who have been together centuries or millennia, and are happy and content together still. In fact, I have never heard of a life mate couple who were not happy and passionately in love.”
They were both silent for a moment, and then Crispen peered at her seriously and said, “Lucian said you were considering running away. Putting Lilith in the car and just leaving.”
Abril paused briefly, surprised at the fact that Lucian had read that from her mind. But supposed she shouldn’t be, not after everything she’d learned. Finally, she admitted, “I did consider doing that at one point.”
“And now?” he asked.
“And now I don’t feel like doing that,” she said simply and then admitted, “I was confused then, and distressed at everything that was happening around me. I felt like there was something going on that I didn’t understand. Which was true. But now that you’ve explained the situation to me, that feeling has receded.”
There was no mistaking the relief on Crispin’s face at her words. Now he offered her a smile. “I am glad to hear it. And I hope that in the future rather than simply leaving or running away, you would feel comfortable enough to come to me and talk to me about whatever is distressing you.”
“I think I could do that,” she said slowly. “You appear to have been honest with me, so I suppose I can be honest with you too.”
“Good.” He smiled at her widely and then stood and said, “Unless you have any more questions, I suppose we should join the others and find out what Anders and Roberts learned.”
Abril’s gaze widened slightly. “Are Anders and Roberts back?”
“Yes. They returned shortly after we came into your office.”
“How do you know?” she asked in surprise. “Can you guys send mental communication to each other, or something?”
Crispin smiled faintly. “Since they can all read my mind right now—”
“Wait, so you’re saying everyone in the kitchen is older than you?” she squawked with disbelief. While they all looked around the same age, it was hard to believe there were beings around who were born in 900 BC, let alone earlier.
“No. Well, Lucian is, but the others are younger.”
“Then how can they all read you? You said immortals could only read the minds of other immortals younger than themselves.”
“Ah, yes, I suppose I should explain that,” he said with a slight grimace. He then took a moment before saying, “While it is true we cannot usually read immortals older than ourselves, finding a life mate tends to temporarily change that. Even the oldest immortal is easily read by all other immortals, no matter their age, once they encounter their life mate. At least temporarily,” he added. “That usually goes away after a year or so. As does the fainting.”
“Why?” Abril asked at once.
Crispin shrugged helplessly. “No one knows for sure. It is presumed though that the fainting at the culmination of sex is because it is all so overwhelming at first and that once the couple adjusts to the extremes in passion they are better able to handle it and remain conscious. As for being suddenly readable by everyone...” He hesitated and then said, “I suspect that has to do with our minds struggling to accept everything happening. Busy processing all thenew feelings both emotional and physical suddenly assaulting us, I believe our minds might just be dropping the ball on blocking others from reading us. But that too ends after a year or so.”
Abril nodded slowly, and then returned to her earlier question. “Okay, so how do you know Anders and Roberts are back? Can you or can you not communicate mentally?”
Crispin paused briefly before saying, “I suppose I could send them messages in my thoughts since they can read me right now. But I don’t think they can send them to me. The truth is, I just heard them return and can hear their voices in the kitchen even now as they speak.”
Eyebrows rising slightly, she said, “I suppose that has something to do with your nanos. You did say they made you faster and stronger. Did they give you better hearing too?”
Crispin nodded. “And better sight as well.”
They were both silent for a moment, and then he asked, “Any more questions? I am happy to answer anything else you want to know.”
