38. Morelle

38

MORELLE

B randon's lack of enthusiasm for Perfect Match was puzzling. It was the kind of technology that the gods on Anumati might possess, but no Kra-ell had ever enjoyed.

Maybe things had changed since she'd left the home planet, and the Kra-ell had more access to the wonders of the gods, but back then they had lived quite primitively, even compared to how the humans on Earth lived now.

Was it thanks to Annani's drip-feeding of the gods' tech to the human world?

Would they have advanced as much on their own without the immortals' help?

The answers to these questions were important to her because if humans could achieve so much on their own, why hadn't the Kra-ell?

They had complained that the gods hadn't allowed them access to education, but then humans didn't study in the gods' institutions of higher learning either. They had developed their own.

Or maybe not.

Maybe it had been started by the rebel gods and then continued by Annani, who had undertaken her father's mission.

"Would you like to see the Perfect Match machines at work?" Kaia asked. "We have an entire section of the old village dedicated to the enterprise. I can continue the tour there."

"Can you?" Morelle's interest was piqued. "I'd love to see them, but I don't want to keep you from your important work."

Kaia waved a dismissive hand. "I need a break." She smiled at her mate. "Am I right to assume that you don't want to join us?"

William shook his head. "I wish I could, love, but you go ahead."

Kaia blew him an air kiss and headed toward the elevators. "Two houses contain the machines themselves, one in each bedroom. The third house serves as office space. Toven and Mia work there, along with their ever-expanding crew. Now that Margo and Frankie have moved to the village, they've joined the Perfect Match team. Soon, we will need to dedicate another house to the enterprise."

"Or build a new office building," Brandon grumbled. "The village already looks like a patchwork of unplanned communities. Kian's vision for the place didn't anticipate Kalugal and his crew joining us, then the Kra-ell, and then Toven deciding that he wanted to buy Perfect Match and run it from the village. We should probably start looking for a new location."

Morelle wondered if his sudden sour mood was because of what he'd talked with William about while she was touring the lab with Kaia, or because she was excited about trying out a Perfect Match adventure while he seemed reluctant to do so.

After last night, she'd expected him to be walking on a cloud, and in the morning he had been, but now he seemed to be walking underneath it, and instead of a fluffy white one, it was dark and gloomy.

Morelle didn't like it.

It made her stomach feel uneasy as if she was expecting something bad to happen.

Was that normal?

Was it natural for couples to be so sensitive to each other's moods?

Brandon's frown deepened. "We don't have much time. Morelle has an appointment with Gertrude at the gym at one o'clock this afternoon."

"The whole tour won't take more than an hour," Kaia assured him. "We'll even have time for lunch at the café before that."

Morelle touched Brandon's arm. "I'd really like to see the Perfect Match operation. Margo, Frankie, and Jasmine talked about it so much during Jasmine's party."

He softened immediately under her touch, as she'd known he would. "Whatever pleases you, my princess."

His smile and term of endearment immediately resolved the knot of anxiety in her stomach, and even though it was a relief not to feel it, she didn't like that he had such a strong effect on her.

It shouldn't be like that.

As they stepped out of the glass pavilion, Brandon started toward one of the carts parked in the front, but Kaia shook her head. "It's a five-minute walk."

"Morelle is still recuperating." He continued to the vehicle.

"I'd rather walk." Morelle stayed next to Kaia. "It's a beautiful day, and I feel strong."

She loved walking through the village, feeling the sun and the breeze on her face. Brandon had insisted on taking the cart from Annani's house earlier, and while the open-air ride had been pleasant enough, she preferred using her own legs.

Soon, Morelle hoped to be strong enough to run. She'd seen people running through the village path just to enjoy the activity, and not because they needed to get somewhere fast or get away from something in a rush.

The idea appealed to her, and she wanted to try it.

There were so many things she wanted to try, and she wouldn't let anything or anyone stand in her way.

She was proud of how she'd managed to break through Brandon's stubborn resistance last night and give him pleasure as he'd given her.

And then that bite...

The pleasure of it…

The euphoria…

Her body tingled, remembering it. She couldn't wait to experience another venom-induced trip.

"What's that smile about?" Brandon took her hand.

"Nothing," she said innocently, but her smile gave her away, and his knowing look sent warmth spreading through her chest.

When they arrived at the first Perfect Match house, an immortal female rose to her feet and walked over to greet them.

"Councilman Brandon, Princess Morelle, and Kaia. To what do I owe the honor of your visit?"

"The princess wanted to tour the Perfect Match operation," Kaia said. "She's heard a lot about it from Margo, Frankie, and Jasmine."

Morelle wanted to ask everyone to stop calling her a princess and just call her Morelle, but then she noticed that the female didn't have translating earpieces.

Fortunately, she'd planned ahead for the possibility that some people didn't have them and brought the teardrop with her.

She pulled it out of her purse, hung the string around her neck, and activated the device.

"Please, call me Morelle. I'm not really a princess."

"Welcome, Morelle. I'm Sarah," the woman said. "What would you like to know about the Perfect Match experience?"

"If someone wants to go on an adventure, what's the process?"

"Everything starts with our comprehensive questionnaire. It not only helps us find ideal matches for participants but also allows us to customize each virtual experience to the participant's specific desires and comfort level." She smiled. "Some people are risk averse, while others are adrenaline junkies. Imagine how difficult it is to match an adventure for a couple when one wants nothing more exciting than a cozy mystery, while the other wants Jurassic Park ."

Morelle didn't know what either of those things were, but she could imagine one was timid and the other not. "How do you resolve the conflict?"

"I don't," Sarah grinned. "Thankfully, it is all done by the algorithm. All I have to do is check whether the questionnaire was completed and help the participants choose an avatar." She leaned to whisper conspiratorially. "You can choose to be someone else entirely. We have a mer adventure that happens underwater so you will get a fishtail, or a futuristic world adventure where people choose all kinds of physical enhancements. Wings are, of course, the most popular."

"Of course," Morelle parroted.

She wouldn't have minded trying on wings. It sounded like fun.

"Let's sit down." Sarah led them to a seating area. "We have brochures you can leaf through and get a feel for the kind of adventure that appeals to you." She continued to give more detail about couples' adventures, solo adventures, and training modules, and she finished by explaining why the service was called Perfect Match. "The main purpose of the service is to find people who match each other perfectly. That's why we have such a detailed questionnaire."

"Could I see it?" Morelle asked.

Brandon tensed beside her. "It's in English. You won't be able to read it."

"Then it will be excellent motivation to learn quickly." She turned to Sarah. "Do you have one you can spare?"

The female smiled. "I can send you a link so you can download it. All I need is your email address."

Morelle cast a helpless glance at Brandon. "Do I have something like that?"

He let out a breath and pulled her new laptop out of his bag. "This belongs to Morelle. You can airdrop the questionnaire."

Sarah nodded, took the laptop, and did something with her phone that Morelle assumed had to do with the questionnaire. "It is quite extensive," Sarah said. "And some of the questions are quite intrusive. Take your time with it."

Morelle chuckled. "Given that I need to learn English first, it will take a while."

On her other side, Kaia cleared her throat. "Not really. You don't have to wait. You can ask the AI to translate the questions for you, you can tell it your answers, and it will fill them in for you."

Morelle's heart fluttered as the prospect of experiencing a Perfect Match adventure seemed within reach. "Thank you. That's awesome. I'll probably get to it this evening."

This time, Brandon was the one to clear his throat. "Amanda is coming over to conduct more tests."

"Right. Then I'll get to it tomorrow." Morelle rose to her feet. "Thank you, Sarah."

"Take some brochures." Sarah handed her a bunch. "I know you can't read them, but you can look at the pictures."

When they stepped outside into the sunshine, Kaia chuckled. "I didn't want to embarrass Sarah, but you can easily read the brochures with the help of your laptop. I'll show you how when we get to the café."

As they continued to the house where the offices were located, Morelle noticed that Brandon's frown hadn't gone anywhere and had only gotten worse.

"What's wrong?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Do you need the algorithm to tell you whether we are a perfect match or not?"

The question was so unexpected that it made Morelle laugh, but she immediately regretted it when she saw the flash of hurt across his face. "Oh, Brandon, no! That's not why I wanted to fill out the questionnaire."

"Then why?"

"Because I want to try a Perfect Match adventure." She squeezed his hand. "I'll go solo if you don't want to share it with me. There seem to be endless possibilities, and I'm so excited to try out as many of them as I can."

His mouth twisted in a wince. "You want to do it all without me?"

Something in his tone made her feel uneasy. "Being a couple doesn't mean we have to do everything together or enjoy all the same things, right?" She shook her head, feeling like this was such an obvious thing that any reasonable adult should realize it. "You're supposed to be the experienced one. You should know that."

Kaia let out a small laugh. "Should I give you two some privacy for your first couple's spat?"

"We're not having a spat," Brandon protested. "It was just a misunderstanding."

"In what way?" Morelle arched an eyebrow at him. "To me, it seemed like you got upset because I wanted to try something on my own."

He let out a long breath. "I'm not upset. I just worry about you."

"Why? The machines are perfectly safe, right?" She looked to Kaia for confirmation.

"Completely safe," Kaia assured them. "And all experiences are carefully calibrated to each participant's comfort level. That's what the questionnaire is for."

Brandon's expression remained troubled. "It's not about safety, exactly. I know these things are supposed to be safe, but I don't like the idea of a machine taking over my mind and planting false memories in my brain. I don't understand why more people are not concerned about that. It's naive to put so much trust in those machines. I've just spent an hour listening to William explain how it was impossible to keep information clean of corruption. Do we really want to run the risk that the corruption will spread to our brains?"

Morelle sighed. "I might not understand much about it, but if thousands of people have tried it and nothing happened to them, I'm willing to risk it. You might be more risk-averse than I am, and that's fine. I will not force you to do anything you are not comfortable with."

He chuckled. "But you will do everything you can to coerce me out of my comfort zone."

"I might." She took his hand. "And you can stubbornly refuse to leave it, and I promise not to get angry."

Kaia cleared her throat. "This is sweet and all, but we should probably continue the tour if we want to make it to lunch before your Pilates session."

"Lead on. Unless..." She looked at Brandon. "Are we still having a spat?"

He cracked a smile. "It was not a spat."

"Just a misunderstanding. Got it." She stretched up to kiss his cheek. "Now, shall we see the rest of the operation?"

As they followed Kaia toward the second house, Morelle felt a surge of affection for Brandon. He might be centuries old, but in some ways, he was still learning too—learning to trust her judgment, to let her explore, and to accept that they would not always agree on everything.