I told him all about Ashlyn and Katie, sharing with him the love I had for them. He loved hearing about Ash and asked me all sorts of questions about her life and my role in it. He was amazed that Katie and I were able to handle so much without the aid of a man. I was starting to understand the culture he lived in, and I tried not to be insulted. I told him about my job, which further fascinated him. He couldn’t fathom the idea that millions of tiny cells led to the construction of the body. We climbed in silence for a few minutes while he contemplated that.
“I was engaged once. His name was Keith and I thought he hung the moon.” Raif tensed slightly next to me and my lips curved in a slight grin—he was jealous. I continued as if I hadn’t noticed his reaction. “He left me before the wedding, I still have no idea why, exactly, but it broke something in me. I never thought I could love someone again; let alone think about committing my life to another person. But it’s different with you.”
As I reminisced about my relationship with Keith, I realized that it didn’t have any depth to it. My hurt and anger toward Keith was finally nothing more than history to me. He truly was nothing more than a passing season in my life. I’d found my soul mate, my alma xemelga, and I was finally complete.
“With you, even with as short a time as we’ve known each other, I feel more complete than I ever thought I could feel. I’m content for the first time in my life. I guess I’d never really known love. Either that or finally finding my soul mate trumps everything. Because this should terrify me. And it doesn’t. The only thing that scares me, that makes me question what we’re doing, is the fact that I know I have to leave you.” I was glad we had to concentrate on the wall. That way he couldn’t see the vulnerability in my face, or the tears that threatened to fall at the thought of not being able to feel his touch whenever I wanted. It hurt to the very core of my being.
“Amada, I…” He paused for a moment. “Ata o dus eu te amo.” His voice was soft on the wind, but it filled my heart to bursting. I had no idea what he’d said, but I was beginning to understand that he would say things in his language that he thought might be too intense for me to believe just yet.
“Tell me about you,” I demanded, changing the subject. “You’ve told me about your history and geography, but I know very little about you, and that’s really the only subject that matters to me.”
“I was born during a rich harvest. The only son to the Warrior Chief, the Iochera of my people, Mneseus, and his wife, Diana. Theirs was not a fairy tale love. They weren’t soul mates, but I believe they loved each other as much as they were able to. I was still fairly young when Nereus was born—barely having seen my first century.” I gasped. “Are you all right?”
“You’re saying you were a hundred years old when Nereus was born, and that was young?” The astonishment in my voice was coupled with the look of shock I couldn’t suppress. We paused in our climb, hanging against the cliff.
“I was 98 at the time of his birthing. I told you, we live for an extremely long time. By your standards, I would have only been in my early teens.” It’s one thing to know in a general way that someone is ancient, it’s a completely different matter to listen to him talk about it as if it was no big deal.
“So, by your standard I’m still a child?” I curled my lip in disgust as thoughts rushed through my head, both good and bad.
“No,” he replied with a grin. “If you were Atlantean, then yes, you would be a child, and wouldn’t look as you do. We would not be able to mate—you would not have even come close to that age of possibility. Certain, um, things have to occur before that can happen.” He actually blushed. I understood what he was trying to say; puberty had to happen in order to mate. That relieved most of my concerns. “We age at a much slower rate than you do. If I were a Surface Dweller, I wouldn’t even have seen half a century yet. We are different from you, but in all the ways that matter, we are the same.”
I nodded, not sure if I was entirely placated by his explanation, but not wanting to discuss it further and make myself more uncomfortable. I nodded, encouraging him to continue with his history.
“Mneseus was not an easy father. He raised me to both take over our place in the hierarchy and to take his place as the Iochera of Atlantis, should something ever happen to him. He was the one to lead the raid for Atlas—the one that left our city vulnerable to attack. My mother flung herself into the sea rather than face whatever retribution the gods had in store for my father’s actions.”
“Oh my god, Raif,” I exclaimed in a horrified whisper. “I’m so sorry.”
He gave me a sad smile. “Not necessary. It was a very long time ago, and I wasn’t the only child to grow up before I was ready, or even to be left alone in this world. There were many who had it much worse than I.”
“But still,” I replied, “that had to be heartbreaking.”
“Most of the families were destroyed in one way or another, either by the battle that led to our sinking or by Poseidon’s rage after. If it weren’t for Cleito, I believe
