“And I’m yours?” Paul asked with wonder. Joy spread on his face, but his voice was solemn and sincere when he said, “I’d like that. To be with you until death.”
She smiled back, relief pouring through her. It was going to work out. He wanted to be her life mate. He would be a true life mate, and not simply do it to save Livy. This was what she’d hoped for, what she’d needed to be sure of before she could reveal the way to save Livy and have him too. Closing her eyes briefly, she savored the moment and then opened her eyes and said, “I want that too. I want to turn you and spend the rest of my very long life with you as my mate.”
He started to smile, but just as quickly frowned instead. “But if you turn me, you can’t turn Livy.”
“No, but you could,” she pointed out with a wide grin, and then cautioned, “But it means if I died, you wouldn’t be able to turn any future life mate you might encounter who was mortal.” Jeanne Louise really didn’t think that would matter to him. That he would put Livy above such a consideration, but felt Paul should have all the facts before he made his decision.
As expected, he waved her words away as unimportant. “You aren’t going to die, I won’t let you. Besides, no one could replace you for me,” he added solemnly.
Jeanne Louise didn’t point out that he’d probably felt that way about his mortal wife Jerri at one time. She simply leaned down and kissed him, relieved that things had worked out after all. Well, at least things with him. There was still the fact that he’d kidnapped her to get her to turn and save his daughter. They would have to deal with that and the council, and especially her uncle, who headed up the council and could be pretty unforgiving about things like that. The man had beheaded his own twin brother whom he’d loved dearly when the man had broken one of their laws.
The thought made Jeanne Louise frown and worry her lip. She’d been so worried about how to woo Paul and get him to want her for herself that she hadn’t even started to consider the other troubles ahead of them.
“So,” Paul said quietly, “You could turn me, and I could then turn Livy?”
Jeanne Louise nodded.
“And we could be a family. You, Livy and me,” he said.
“Yes, we could,” she said softly and was as pleased at the thought as he appeared to be. Jeanne Louise already loved the little girl as her own. She would enjoy helping to raise her.
Realizing that Paul had been quiet for a while, she glanced to him and frowned when she saw him pinching his arm. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to wake myself up,” he said dryly. “This has to be a dream. You’re giving me everything I want and life just never goes that smoothly.”
Jeanne Louise bit her lip, and then said, “I didn’t say it was going to go smoothly.”
Paul stopped pinching himself and met her gaze solemnly. “Tell me.”
“The turn is very painful, Paul. It’s an ordeal and sometimes the turnee dies. It’s rare, but it has happened in cases where the turnee is ill or otherwise weakened.”
“Like Livy,” he said on a sigh.
“Yes. So we might want to hold off on turning her for a bit, until we get her stronger.”
“Which means you’ll be suffering her headaches for her,” Paul said grimly, and then stilled and asked, “Can I do that for her after you turn me?”
Jeanne Louise knew he felt a lot of guilt over her suffering in Livy’s stead, so was almost sorry to tell him, “Probably not. You need to be trained in stuff like that. You won’t come out of the turn with the knowledge and skills of an immortal who’s been trained in it.”
“Right,” he said unhappily.
Jeanne Louise hesitated to add to his unhappiness and worries, but he had to know, so she added, “And that’s not our only problem. There’s the little matter of your kidnapping an immortal with the intention of convincing them to turn Livy.”
Paul grimaced. “I suppose that’s not going to go over well, is it?”
“It could be a problem,” she admitted, and then added, “But hopefully the fact that I stayed willingly and that you’re my life mate will be taken into account.”
Jeanne Louise could tell from the worry on his expression that he didn’t think that was likely. Since it was a worry on her own mind, she decided they’d done enough talking and it was time for some distraction . . . for both of them. To that end, she leaned down and kissed him.
Paul lay still and unmoving under the gentle caress at first, his mind obviously preoccupied with the possible problems ahead of them. But after a moment he began to kiss her back. She was just starting to think she’d succeeded in distracting him when he suddenly caught her arms and forced her back to break the kiss.
Catching sight of her disappointed expression, he said, “I just—you said we’re only allowed one child every hundred years. Do we have to wait until Livy is one hundred before we have a child? Should we be using protection?” he asked, and then added huskily, “I don’t want to risk you being put to death for—”
“No,” Jeanne Louise interrupted. She didn’t take the time to explain that an immortal woman could only get pregnant and carry the child to term if she deliberately overfed on blood to keep the nanos busy enough not to expel the child as a parasite, but simply said, “Livy will be counted as your turn, not a child born of an immortal.”
“Right.” He relaxed and even managed a smile. “So it’s okay to start on a little sister for her right away?”
“I’d like that,” Jeanne Louise admitted quietly, though she knew it wasn’t possible. She simply didn’t have access to the blood needed to get pregnant.