He had feelings for her, romantic feelings, while she felt... what? Companionship? A growing fondness that was definitely not love?
"Order up!" Wonder called from behind the counter.
Arezoo hurried over to collect the plates, her mind still churning.
Was she being unfair to Ruvon? Leading him on by spending time with him when she knew she couldn't return his feelings? Or was friendship its own valid thing, separate from romance?
The morning rush eventually slowed to a manageable pace, and Arezoo finally got a chance to catch her breath. She grabbed a sandwich from the display, turkey and avocado on sourdough, and sat at the counter to eat.
"Are you okay?" Wonder asked.
"I forgot how intense it gets here in the mornings."
Wonder's expression softened with sympathy. "I appreciate you switching with Aliya."
"She and Vrog are working on something important." Arezoo took a bite of her sandwich.
Wonder chuckled. "Maybe they are working on a baby."
Arezoo blushed. "Do they want a child?"
Wonder shrugged. "I don't know. The Kra-ell revere children as much as immortals do, but they take their procreation duties even more seriously than we do, so it's possible."
Arezoo didn't even know if Vrog and Aliya were married. Not that it mattered in the village. Everyone knew who was with whom, and that was enough. Nothing official was required. Her Aunt Kyra and Max were not talking about getting married, but they were talking about having a baby so Jasmine would have a sister or a brother.
Wonder sighed. "Did you hear from your aunt since she went to Egypt?"
Arezoo shook her head. "No, why?"
"Do you know why she went there?"
"Something about looking for artifacts that will help find the Clan Mother's lost husband."
"Yes, well." Wonder pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "Eventually. But before that, they need to find Khiann's best friend, Esag, and they hope he will be able to help them find Khiann."
"I heard my aunt talking about it with my mother, but I didn't pay attention to the details."
Why was she telling her all that?
Wonder let out a breath. "When I was a girl in Sumer—and yes, I'm that old—I fell desperately in love with Esag, Khiann's squire. Annani was in love with Khiann, so, of course, I had to be in love with his best friend. Besides, he was tall and handsome, with the most beautiful red hair, like flames in sunlight. I was convinced he was my destiny."
Wonder was mated to a Guardian named Anandur, who fit that description perfectly. It was confusing.
"What happened?" Arezoo asked instead of trying to figure it out.
"As it turned out, he wasn't my destiny." Wonder's smile turned rueful. "Though it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that. A soothsayer told me that my future was with a giant of a man with red hair. Esag fit that description, so I assumed he was the one."
"But he wasn't?"
"He wasn't. He cared for me, but not enough to leave his awful but rich fiancée. And for my part, what I thought was love was attraction mixed with wishful thinking. I wanted so badly for him to be my destiny that I ignored all the signs that he wasn't."
Arezoo set down her sandwich. "How did you know that he wasn't the right one?"
"I met Anandur." Wonder smiled. "After Esag broke my heart, I escaped the palace and joined a caravan bound for Egypt. An earthquake happened, and I tried to save as many people as I could, but eventually I fell into the chasm as well. If I were human, I would have died, but I was immortal, so I entereda state of stasis and remained buried for five thousand years. When I woke up, I didn't remember who I was, let alone Esag, the guy I was supposedly in love with. I won't bore you with all the details of how I met Anandur, how we fell in love, how I finally remembered Esag but realized that I loved Anandur with everything I had, and that Esag wasn't the real deal for me."
"Fate must have worked very hard to make you and Anandur happen. He wasn't even born yet when that soothsayer told you about him. Maybe that's why you had to fall in love with Esag and have your heart broken. So you would escape and go to sleep for five thousand years."
Wonder laughed. "You make me sound like Sleeping Beauty."
