Chapter 17 #2
"All over." Eluheed looked around to see if anyone was within hearing distance, then leaned down and continued in a lower voice.
"I crossed into Russia from Turkey, and I kept moving through different regions.
I stayed the longest in a small village near the Polish border.
The people there minded their own business.
They didn't ask too many questions, even if they noticed that I didn't seem to age. "
"The Polish border. My family on my maternal grandmother's side had roots in the same general region. How long did you live there?"
"Nearly twenty years," Eluheed said. "Much longer than I should have stayed. I made it a rule to never remain in the same place for more than a decade, so people wouldn't notice that I wasn't changing, but I liked that village and was too contented there to pick up and leave again."
"What made you finally leave?" Syssi asked.
He glanced at Tamira. "A woman."
"That's interesting." Tamira crossed her arms over her chest. "You've never told me about that."
"I'm an old immortal, and I wasn't living as a monk, so there are many women I didn't tell you about, but that particular case stuck in my memory because I'm not proud of it." He sighed. "In fact, I still feel bad about it."
Tamira frowned. "What did you do?"
"In those days, the options were limited, and it was either widows or married women who were unhappy with their husbands. Back then, divorce was unheard of. It was almost a taboo, but affairs were rampant."
"So, you had an affair with a married woman?" Kian asked.
Eluheed shook his head. "I let myself get seduced by a young maiden and got her in trouble.
" He closed his eyes for a moment. "Her name was Rosa, and she was such a wild spirit, so smart and so unsuited for life in a small village.
I should have resisted the temptation, but she was a force of nature, and I just couldn't say no to her.
I'd been so lonely for so long, and she was so different from all the other women I'd been with since arriving on Earth.
When she discovered that she was carrying a child, she expected me to marry her, but I couldn't risk my immortality being discovered.
I told her that I couldn't do that, but I couldn't tell her why.
She was so angry. She threw every item she could lift at me in my house and then stormed out.
The next day, her engagement to some unsuspecting guy was announced, and I was relieved and devastated at the same time.
They left shortly after that, emigrating to America, so I don't know if she carried my child to term or not.
" He smiled sadly. "I might have descendants somewhere on this continent. "
Rosa had been a popular name in that area, it still was, but something about the story made Syssi's pulse quicken.
"My great-grandmother's name was Rosa," she said. "She came from a small town near the Polish border. She married a guy named Boris and emigrated to the United States in the early 1920s. He died shortly after they came to America, and Rosa remarried."
Syssi had always assumed that her grandmother was Rosa's daughter from her second marriage. But what if she wasn't?
Eluheed's face had gone pale. "Did Rosa have a sister named Perla?"
"Yes. She married Boris's cousin Yanek. Did you know them?" Syssi asked, even though she already knew the answer to that.
"I only knew Rosa, but I knew she had a sister named Perla." His voice dropped to barely above a murmur, and he looked at Syssi like he was seeing her for the first time.
As the implications of what they had possibly just discovered registered, the sounds of the party, the music, the laughter, and the clinking of glasses seemed to recede around them.
"She was extraordinary," Eluheed continued.
"Intelligent, spirited, and completely unsuited for the life she was living.
" He looked at Syssi with so much warmth and longing in his eyes that it took her breath away.
"Is it possible that you are my great-granddaughter? Is that why Elu brought me here?"
The question of her grandmother's paternity was not straightforward. Rosa might have miscarried Eluheed's baby. It wasn't uncommon back in those days, when conditions had been harsh. Her first or second husband might have been the father. Without genetic testing, there was no way to know.
But if Eluheed was the father, it would explain the sense of recognition she had felt when she'd first met him, the inexplicable familiarity that went beyond simple affinity between immortals.
They were also both seers.
"I think that we should do a genetic test," she said.
Kian nodded. "If there's a biological connection, a DNA test would confirm it."
Eluheed's expression hardened, the openness and awe that the conversation had produced closing up.
"I can't do that," he said.
"Why not?"
"My DNA may contain markers that are not human. I'm not ready to reveal my origins to the rest of the clan yet."
Syssi understood. Eluheed's immortality was still a closely guarded secret. A DNA test processed by the clan's doctor would raise questions that Eluheed wasn't prepared to answer.
"I doubt your DNA is significantly different from a human's," she said carefully.
"Even immortal DNA is so similar that a regular genetic test would not uncover the differences.
We know that the gods seeded the galaxy, so the genetic foundation is shared across all the species they created, and the differences would be minimal.
That being said, the Kra-ell are markedly different. "
It was as much as Syssi dared to say without revealing their secret connection to Ani, the queen of Anumati.
"Even if the differences are minimal, they might be detectable," Eluheed said.
"Bridget would never disclose anything without your consent," Kian said. "And if I ask her to keep everything pertaining to you a secret, it will be so."
Syssi leaned forward. "Right now, she's busy with Navuh's recovery, but when she has more time, we could discuss it with her.
She could design the test to look for specific markers of relatedness without a full genomic analysis.
That would answer the question about our connection without exposing anything you're not ready to share. "
Eluheed was quiet for a long moment, his eyes focused on the party beyond their table, watching the village residents dance and laugh and celebrate a young couple's happiness.
"I'll think about it," he said.
"There's no rush," Syssi said. "Although I would love to find out if you are my great-grandpa. That would be one heck of a coincidence."
"There are no coincidences." Kian finished the rest of his drink. "This has the Fates' fingerprints all over it."