“Isn’t that the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen?” Marguerite asked with a wide smile.
Following her gaze to the huge dog bed in the corner, Ildaria smiled faintly when she saw that H.D. and Julius were curled up on the bed. The little cream-colored fur ball was in front of the much bigger black dog, his back against Julius’s curled feet.
“Maybe I should get Julius a brother or sister to cuddle with,” Marguerite said with a small frown.
Ildaria chuckled at the suggestion, but didn’t comment. She was busy pulling out her phone to snap a picture. She took three quick shots of the pair, checked them all to see which was best, and then stood staring at her phone with a small frown.
“Problem, dear?” Marguerite asked lightly.
“I was going to send this to G.G. so he can see H.D. is all right and won’t worry about him, but I don’t have his number,” she explained and clucked with irritation. She’d have to get his number if she was going to work for him.
“Here.” Marguerite stood and moved quickly around the table to her side to take the phone. She immediately began to tap on it and Ildaria saw that she was entering G.G.’s name and number in her contacts list.
The older woman had been pleased with her flowers, but almost ecstatic to learn Ildaria was now working for G.G. Over ecstatic really, she thought and worried that the lady, whom she liked a great deal, was finding her presence in her home a trial.
“Of course, I do not find your presence a trial,” Marguerite said with exasperation, drawing her attention to the fact that she’d finished her chore and was now holding out the phone.
“Oh.” Ildaria flushed as she took back the phone. She wasn’t used to people reading her thoughts. Vasco, like herself, didn’t read people unless it was absolutely necessary. No one on the ship had. Or at least, no one had made it obvious that they did if they were reading others. Neither had Raffaele if he had read her while she was living with him and Jess, and Jess herself was too new a turn to be able to read anyone. Not that she could have read Ildaria. Younger immortals couldn’t read immortals that were older than them. As for Marguerite, as far as she knew her host hadn’t read her much since her arrival in her home. At least, she hadn’t said anything that gave away that she had read her. Until now, and Ildaria found her doing so a bit discomfiting.
“No, dear. I am not reading you. Not on purpose anyway. Your thoughts are just a bit loud at the moment,” Marguerite announced, moving back to her seat at the table.
“Loud?” Ildaria repeated uncertainly as she returned to her own seat.
“Hmmm.” Marguerite focused her attention on pouring more tea into both their cups, and waited until Ildaria had finished sending G.G. the pic of H.D., before commenting, “You obviously didn’t try to read G.G., did you?”
“I—No.” Ildaria glanced up from her phone with a small frown. “There was no need. G.G. isn’t a threat to me.”
“No, I agree. G.G. is not a threat to our kind,” Marguerite said at once as she pushed her teacup back to her.
“Right,” Ildaria murmured, doctoring her fresh tea with sugar and cream.
“Do you know the symptoms that an immortal experiences on meeting a life mate?” Marguerite asked as she lifted her cup to her lips.
Ildaria peered at her blankly. A life mate was something every immortal hoped to find. That being the case, the symptoms of meeting one were well known to their kind from a young age if they were born immortal, and shortly after turning if they were not born immortal. Or usually before they were turned if a life mate turned them. Of course, she knew what the symptoms were. She just didn’t understand why Marguerite was asking her that.
Clearing her throat, Ildaria finally said, “Si, of course. A return of the desire for, and pleasure in, those things that often leave an immortal between the first and second century of their lives,” she murmured, and then listed them off. “Food, drink, and sex topmost among them.”
Marguerite nodded. “What else?”
“Shared sexual dreams if they sleep within a certain distance,” she said now.
“And?”
“Experiencing each other’s pleasure when indulging in sexual relations,” she said a bit stiffly. “And then usually fainting or passing out at the end