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Mia’s head was spinning, and she couldn’t seem to wrap her brain around what he’d just told her. “Y-you brought me to Ellet’s lab? While I was sleeping? You did this to me over t-two weeks ago?”
“Yes,” he said, his eyes slowly turning more golden. “I didn’t want to chance something happening to you by delaying it any further.”
She stared at him, utterly bewildered. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you ask me before you did it?”
“I couldn’t take a chance that you’d refuse,” he said simply. “You were still too angry, too resentful when I had first brought you there. And frankly, my darling, I was too angry with you – too hurt and angry to offer this to you at the time and have an entire discussion on this topic. Your betrayal wounded me, Mia. Logically, I understood why you did it, but it still hurt me more than anything anyone had ever done . . .”
Mia swallowed, te
ars welling up in her eyes. “I’m sorry . . . I really am so sorry about that –”
“And later on,” Korum continued, his gaze holding hers, “after the procedure was done, I delayed telling you because I wanted to see how our relationship would develop, whether you would grow to feel as strongly about me as I felt about you . . .”
“You were testing me?”
He nodded. “In a way. I know how much immortality would mean to most humans. I wanted you to love me – and not just the long life I could give you. I was going to tell you when we came back to Lenkarda, but the topic kept coming up, and I didn’t want to lie to you.”
Her thoughts racing a mile a minute, Mia reached for the door, her hand scrambling to find the handle in the unfamiliar vehicle.
“What are you doing?” he asked sharply, his eyes narrowing.
“I . . . I need a minute,” she said tremulously, her arm shaking as she pushed open the door. She felt violated and invaded, and the realization that the man she loved had done that to her was making her sick. “I just need a minute –”
Before she could get out of the car, he was already there, looming over the passenger side. “Stop it, Mia. You’re not going anywhere.”
Feeling like she was hyperventilating, Mia scrambled out of the car, ignoring his order. She needed some distance between them right now, needed to find a way to come to terms with everything she’d just learned.
He grabbed her arm as she tried to slide past him. “Stop acting like this. You said you loved me – you even risked your life yesterday to save me – and you’re upset about the fact that we can be together long term?”
Mia frantically shook her head, trying to yank her arm away – a futile attempt, of course. “No, of course not!” She could hear the edge of hysteria in her own voice. “But you didn’t even ask me! How could you do something this big without asking me?”
“Do what?” His tone was ice-cold, and his expression hard. “Give you perfect health? A long life?”
Mia felt like her head would explode. “Implant something into my body! Perform a medical procedure on me without my knowledge or consent!”
“I gave you a gift, Mia.” His eyes were almost purely yellow at this point. “It’s not like I stole your kidney –”
“You stole my free will!” Mia was vaguely aware that she was yelling, but she didn’t care right now. Her vision was hazy with rage, and she could feel herself trembling with the force of her emotions. All the frustration of the past few weeks boiled to the surface. “You stole my ability to make any decisions in my life! Yes, I love you, but that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like a possession. Don’t you understand, Korum? Don’t you realize how that makes me feel, knowing that you can do something like that to me?”
He stared at her, and she could see the muscle pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw. “I did what was best for you. I gave you immortality, Mia. Wasn’t that what you were worrying about? Our future together?”
“The future where I’m treated like a slave for centuries to come? The future where I don’t have any say over my own body, my own life? That kind of future?” Mia asked bitterly, too furious to think about what she was saying.
She heard him inhale sharply. “Get in the car, Mia,” he ordered, his voice low and cold. “You’re being irrational.”
“Or what?” she said defiantly. “You’re going to force me in? You’re going to make me?”
“If I have to. Now get in.”
Shaking with helpless anger, Mia got in and watched as he shut the passenger door and walked over to the driver’s side.
“We’re going back to the house,” he said, pulling out of the parking lot with the sound of squealing tires. “I don’t think a theme park is the best idea right now.”
* * *
The ride home passed in tense silence, with Mia looking out the window and Korum concentrating on driving. It took less than thirty minutes to make the drive back, with the speedometer pushing a hundred-and-thirty. Thankfully, they weren’t stopped by the police. Mia had a strong suspicion that any state trooper unfortunate enough to confront Korum in this mood wouldn’t have fared well.
As much as she’d wanted to have some time to herself, the silent drive accomplished nearly the same thing, giving her time to think. With her temper slowly cooling, the full implications of what he’d just told her dawned on her. He’d made her immortal – or at least as close to immortal as a biological being could get, she mentally corrected herself. She could still die if her body was damaged beyond repair, just as Korum could – but not from aging or disease, like the rest of humanity.
