"It's just how things are in my family," she said quietly. "It's not that my mother is traditional, she's not. But we've lived a certain way, and it isn't easy to just switch gears and behave like we were born here in the land of the free. Things take time."
"I could come with you and talk to your mother," Drova offered. "I can convince her that it's perfectly safe, and that I'll be there too."
Something in Drova's tone made Arezoo's eyes narrow. "You're not planning to use your compulsion power on my mother, are you?"
Drova's eyes widened. "Of course not! I swear on my honor as a warrior that I would never use compulsion on your mother or any member of your family without their explicit permission."
The oath sounded formal, ritualistic even, but Arezoo wasn't entirely convinced. She'd seen how easily the immortals bent others to their will, how natural it seemed to them. Even if Drova meant her promise now, in the heat of the moment, faced with Soraya's temper…
"I appreciate the offer, but I think it's better if I talk to her alone."
Ruvon shifted beside her, and when she glanced at him, she caught something that might have been disappointment flash across his features before he smoothed them back to neutral.
"I'd be happy to pick you up from your home," he offered. "Properly introduce myself to your mother, if that would help. But if you prefer to meet me at the bar, that's perfectly fine too."
He was trying so hard to do this right, to respect her boundaries even if he didn't fully understand them.
"Meeting there would be better," she said. "If I can come at all. I'll call you if my mother throws a tantrum and forbids it."
"You'll need my number." He pulled out his phone. "What's yours?"
She recited the number of the phone the clan had given her, watching as he typed it. When he finished, her phone buzzed with a text:Ruvon - This is my number. Looking forward to tonight, but no pressure if it doesn't work out.
"There," he said, tucking his phone away. "Now you can reach me either way."
She stared at the message on her screen, her throat suddenly tight. It was the first time she'd exchanged phone numbers with a guy who wasn't family. Such a simple thing, something her friends in Tehran had been doing since they started attending university, but for her, it felt monumental.
It was ridiculous because she wasn't even sure she was interested in Ruvon romantically, even though she no longer saw him as a threat or lumped him together automatically withthe monsters who'd hurt her. The conversation about his past and his gratitude to Kalugal had shifted her perspective.
She felt guilty now for her initial prejudice.
He'd been a victim too, raised in brutality, denied education, denied choice. That he'd escaped and had built a new life, that he could sit here making gentle conversation about mocktails and respecting her boundaries, spoke to the quality of his character.
But understanding someone's story and being attracted to them were two different things.
The truth was that she wasn't attracted to anyone in the village, which was strange since most of the immortal males looked like they'd stepped out of magazines with their supernatural beauty. They were also polite and friendly, and she couldn't find any fault in any of them except perhaps being too perfect.
Maybe she was broken.
Maybe she considered all males a threat because of what had been done to her.
It wasn't rational. She knew that. Some of these immortal males, the Guardians, were saving girls like her from predators like the fake doctor. They were honorable, kind, and respectful. They would never hurt her.
But knowing something intellectually and feeling it were two different things.
When she thought about being touched by any man, her skin crawled. Her body remembered rough hands, violations, the helplessness of being examined like livestock. The fake doctor's face haunted her—so handsome and yet so evil, capable of such cruelty.
Perhaps that was the problem. All these males were just as handsome if not more so, and they reminded her of him.
Except, Ruvon wasn't as perfect as the others. Yet, still, she wasn't interested.
"Arezoo!" Cyra's voice broke through her spiraling thoughts. "Look! I made a tower!"
Grateful for the distraction, Arezoo rose and walked to the sandbox, making appropriate sounds of admiration for Cyra's architectural achievement. Behind her, she heard Drova challenge Ruvon to attempt her push-up routine, followed by his good-natured laughter and acceptance.
Arezoo needed to transition to immortality eventually. She knew that, too. Her mother and aunts were already discussing it in hushed voices when they thought the younger ones couldn't hear. The sooner the better, they said. While they were still young and healthy, while their children could grow up with immortal mothers.
But the transition required an inducer. An immortal male's venom delivered through a bite during...
