Of Elven Blood by Leslie Fish

Author:Leslie Fish [Fish, Leslie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781944322182
Google: pRtXvgAACAAJ
Amazon: 1944322183
Publisher: The Writers of the Apocalypse
Published: 2017-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

14.

This time they chose to ride the two bay mares. The creatures trotted out willingly enough, but Lorraine decided that Leila was her favorite. The sun was still low enough that the weather was no more than comfortably warm.

Ben, she noticed, was increasingly silent and thoughtful as the ride progressed.

Remembering his shyness, she waited for him to settle his thoughts and speak—which at last he did.

"Lorraine, last night..." He paused to chew his lip. "It doesn't have to mean anything. You have no obligation to me."

"No," she smiled, remembering. "But don't tell me you didn't enjoy it too."

"Oh, I did." He twitched a brief grin. "And yes, I'd enjoy doing it again. What I mean is... It doesn't have to change our relationship. We can go right on being trainer and student, just as we were."

“With a bit of sex on the side?” No, she wouldn’t obligate him by saying she wanted more.

"If you like." Benjamin didn't look at her.

"And...friends?" She didn't want to lose that.

"Definitely friends." He paused again. "And...I did promise to be your protector."

Lorraine felt her heart pounding, and sternly ordered it to be still. "For as long as we're both here, you mean?"

Benjamin sighed, almost guiltily. "Yes. I'd planned to leave soon, but there's no fixed date."

Lorraine remembered that he had a life outside this place, and wondered if she still did herself. "I don't suppose I'll be able to leave here very soon...” Then she recalled the troubles back in Chicago. "At least, not permanently."

Benjamin only nodded, accepting that. Lorraine considered another possibility.

"I take it," she said carefully, "That you have a serious relationship somewhere else."

Ben gave a sigh that seemed to empty him. "More than one, actually. One in Seattle, another..." Abruptly, he ground his teeth and straightened in the saddle. "You have to understand that exclusive relationships are difficult for our kind. We can have a stable life in one place for ten years, perhaps twenty; then we have to move on before the neighbors notice that we're not aging. Couples are more noticeable, more easily tracked, than single travelers. And we have to keep coming up with new identities, covering our tracks..."

"I wouldn't mind spending ten years with you," Lorraine said before she could catch herself.

Benjamin shot her a surprised, almost frightened look. "It's possible—“ he said, then stopped short. He pulled another deep breath and went on, back in lecturing mode. "We have to be careful, to hide not only from mortals but from...Unseelie hunters. Mobility is our best defense, having several identities and bolt-holes, diving in and out of them. That makes relationships difficult."

"But not impossible?"

"No." He looked toward the horizon as if seeing far beyond it. "I know one clever couple who have stayed together for centuries, another who've darted in and out of each other's lives for nearly as long, and I... In past centuries, when populations were smaller and news took years to travel, I've...been married to mortal women, stayed with them until they died, then moved on.

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