15. Marina

15

MARINA

A s the doorbell rang, Marina wiped her hands on the dish towel and walked over to open it.

"Good evening." Lusha entered with a small bouquet of roses in hand. "These are for you."

Marina took the small bundle and brought the flowers to her nose for a sniff. "These are lovely. Where did you get them?"

"Mo-red trimmed the rose bushes in front of the clinic today and brought these home, so I commandeered some. I'm staying with him and Vanessa."

That was news to Marina. "I didn't know that. Why are you staying with them?" She motioned for Lusha to follow her to the kitchen.

"Vanessa invited me to stay with her during the trial, and when I decided to move to the village permanently, she offered me the guest room, and I happily accepted. I'm barely there, so it's not like I'm in the way, but I like having a place I can escape to when Pavel is having his Kra-ell friends over."

"That doesn't sound like a committed relationship, " Marina said.

Lusha shrugged. "It's not. Most of my things are at Vanessa's place. I only keep a few items at Pavel's. I think that says it all."

"Indeed." Marina put the roses in a vase and filled it with water. "How are you getting along with Mo-red?"

"Splendidly." Lusha leaned on the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. "First of all, I'm dating his son, so he needs to be nice to me. And secondly, he owes me a life debt, as do the others whose necks I saved from Jade's sword."

Marina winced. "Yeah, I bet. That female scares me, but I hear good things about her. She's trying not to be as totalitarian in her approach to ruling as she used to be."

Lusha sighed. "It's not going to work with the Kra-ell, but who am I to give Jade advice?"

"Why not?" Marina took out the chopping board.

"Because they are not ready for that. They need a totalitarian leader who rules mercilessly over them because that's the only thing they respect. They need time to absorb the ideas of democracy and equality and all those nice concepts the clan believes in. The problem is that they are long-lived people, so waiting for the current generation to die out along with their traditions and ways of thinking will take a long time, and in the meantime, they are indoctrinating the younger Kra-ell. I'm trying to think of a solution to this predicament, but most of what I come up with has already been tried in the human world and failed."

Marina took out four tomatoes and started chopping them into small pieces. "That doesn't sound encouraging."

"It is what it is." Lusha pushed away from the counter. "Can I do the chopping? I came early with the intention to help make dinner."

Given Lusha's own admission that she wasn't much of a cook, Marina didn't trust her with the sharp chopping knife.

She smiled. "You are my guest, and I want you to relax and enjoy. Can I offer you something to drink?"

"What do you have?" Lusha seemed relieved.

"Take a look in the fridge."

Lusha did as instructed and pulled out two Coronas. "I bet these are not Peter's or Alfie's. The immortals only drink that super potent Snake Venom beer that they import from Scotland."

"Good guess." Marina paused her chopping to take one of the beers. "Peter got them for me. You'll find an opener in that drawer on the right." Once they had both opened their beers, Marina clicked her bottle with Lusha's. "Cheers."

"Cheers." Lusha took a long swig. "This is good." She leaned against the counter again. "So, any advice about seducing an immortal?"

"Don't be shy." Marina grinned. "Which doesn't seem to be a problem for you. Just walk up to someone who catches your eye and start a conversation."

Lusha arched a brow. "Is that what you did?"

"Yep. Peter was having a drink on the lido deck, and so was I, and I asked him if I could join him. We started talking, and one thing led to another, and here we are."

"And here you are." Lusha lifted her bottle for another salute. "Planning a wedding."

Marina laughed. "Not yet."

"When you are ready, let me know. I'll help you organize."

Marina slanted her a look while dicing an onion. "Aren't you busy with that mysterious new job you got?"

"It's not mysterious. I'm working for Edna, the clan's judge and attorney. It's mostly paralegal-type stuff for now, but it's not like I can do anything else while residing in the village or in Safe Haven, and I don't think I will be allowed to venture out on my own anytime soon." She sighed. "When I do, I hope Edna will hire me for her office in the city, but to do actual legal work, I will need to pass the California bar exam."

"What's that?"

"It is necessary to pass that test to practice law in the state. It's proof that I've met all the educational requirements and I know the California law as well as general legal principles. Each place has its own legal system, and that's why attorneys need to study local law and pass exams to prove that they know it."

Marina nodded. "You studied in Finland. They probably have different laws, right?"

"Many of the principles are the same, but there are differences and nuances, of course. I'm studying when I have the time. Edna says that the test is a bitch. It is spread over two days, and many students take it several times before they pass."

"That sounds intense."

"It is," Lusha agreed, "but it's necessary to ensure that only those who are truly prepared and knowledgeable can become licensed attorneys. Once I pass the exam, they are also going to check my background, which I will need the clan to fabricate for me, and if I pass all that and a test on professional responsibility, I will be eligible to be admitted to the bar."

"Good luck. That sounds like one hell of an undertaking."

Lusha shrugged and took another swig of her beer. "I know how to study, and my English has gotten much better since I got here and was forced to speak it exclusively. If the clan will help with fabricating a background for me, I can do it."

"I admire your tenacity." Marina squeezed a lime into the salsa and added salt. "Do you really think that you'll ever be able to practice law here?"

Lusha sighed. "It will probably take years before Kian will be comfortable letting us come and go as we please."

The mention of years brought Marina's thoughts crashing back to the elephant in the room—the vast lifespan difference between her and Peter. She felt the familiar weight of that reality settling in her chest.

"You should reconsider seducing an immortal. It's not really fair to them if they fall in love with a human. The children I will bear to Peter, if we get so lucky, will be human, and he will have to watch not only me die but our children as well."

"What about you? What's the downside for you, if there is any? From here, it seems that you can only benefit from being with him."

And here she thought that Lusha was a smart woman. "The downside for me is that I will get old while Peter will stay young. Do you really think that he will want to stay with an old woman when in fifty years' time he'll look exactly like he does now, and I'll look like a prune?"

"You might age slower than you would otherwise."

Marina rolled her eyes. "Fine, so in a hundred years, I will look like a prune, and he will still look exactly like he does now. It will still happen."

"Have you talked to Peter about this?" Lusha asked.

Marina nodded. "He says that he will take whatever years I can give him. He wants to be with me for as long as we have. He wants us to take it one day at a time and not think about the future. Sometimes I manage to do that, and sometimes I can't."

Lusha's eyes sparked with determination. "Peter is right, Marina. We are living in a world of gods and immortals, and their doctors are working on unraveling the secret to their immortality. One day, they will figure it out, and we will be the first ones they will test it on because we are here, and we are willing to be their test bunnies."