Chapter 9 #2
Soraya nodded. "You're damn right I would."
Shrugging, Drova let the hem drop and re-crossed her arms. "It's her choice. She can wear whatever she wants."
Kyra was a commander in the Kurdish rebel forces, but even she wouldn't dare defy Soraya. Although given the mischievous smirk that bloomed on her face, she was planning something.
Kyra turned to Soraya. "Back to the issue of you putting yourselves out there. The four of you run a grocery store. You must see every eligible bachelor in this place. Don't tell me that you haven't seen anyone you liked."
So, that had been the strategy. Smart. Kyra had distracted her sisters with the discussion about Drova's boots, and then she went right back to the issue of them not dating.
"I'm not telling you that," Soraya said. "They are all handsome and cordial."
"So? What's the problem?"
"None of them is interested in old women who are mothers to a gaggle of kids," Soraya said.
The room went still for a beat.
Angelica set the brush down with a small click against the table. "That is the most ridiculous thing I have heard all week." She turned to face Soraya. "Did you see yourself after I did your hair and makeup for the cocktail party?"
Soraya waved a dismissive hand. "We had to look nice for the party. Usually, we don't look that glamorous."
"You looked spectacular, and people noticed. I saw the looks you were getting, especially from the male population of this village."
Parisa snorted. "You are good, Angelica, but you're not a miracle worker. We looked okay, but we are ugly ducklings compared to the immortal females in this village."
"That's nonsense." Angelica crossed her arms over her chest. "Besides, most of the males here are related to most of the immortal ladies, and they have very few options of available unattached ladies who are Dormants. You underestimate your value."
Parisa shook her head. "I don't want to be chosen because these guys have no options, and I'm sure that they don't want to settle for what's available either and would rather wait for something better to come along."
Angelica's face got red, and not because she was embarrassed about something. She didn't know the meaning of the word. The color meant that she was furious. "Stop telling yourself that sob story. I saw a guy literally walk into a tree because he was gaping at you."
Parisa frowned. "Who?"
"I don't know. I'm still new in the village, and I don't know who is who."
"What did he look like?" Soraya asked.
"Tall, dark hair, olive skin, a slightly hooked nose."
"Clean-shaven?" Soraya asked.
"Yes."
"I think she's talking about Gurtis," Soraya said.
Given the sheepish look on Parisa's face, she knew who he was. "That description could fit a hundred different males in this place."
"Whatever." Angelica picked up her brush.
"Today, you all look even better. The four of you are going to walk onto that lawn and shine like stars.
The only reason none of you has found an immortal mate yet is that you have been broadcasting do not approach on every available frequency.
" She turned to Soraya. "Especially you with your attitude. "
"What attitude?" Soraya asked.
Everyone in the room turned to look at her.
"The dragon lady attitude," Angelica said. "The one that says, don't get on my bad side or I'll torch you."
Yasmin laughed first, her hand over her mouth and her shoulders shaking. Parisa fell over on the floor and clutched her belly. Even Soraya, who had been the target, was laughing, with her cheeks turning red and her head shaking.
"Is that what they are saying about me?" she asked.
"They are saying that about all of us," Yasmin said. "We are all dragon ladies. It runs in the family. I think it's Kyra's fault. They think that we are all dangerous rebels like her."
"I'm not a dragon," Kyra protested. "No one calls me that, not even the rebel forces I command."
"We should ask Max," Arezoo suggested. "He must know what they are calling you behind your back."
"I'm an immortal. I know what they are thinking. I don't need Max to spy for me because I can hear them talking when they think they are out of range."
"What do they call you?" Donya asked.
Kyra's lips lifted in a smirk. "Not dragon, but they have some interesting nicknames for me that don't translate well into English."
Arezoo didn't believe her, but she wasn't going to press the matter. She could imagine what the human fighters thought about their leader, who was stronger and faster than all the men, and healed from injuries in minutes instead of days or months.
"I am going to ask Max to give me a list of available Guardians who are interested in settling down," Kyra said.
Arezoo's mother looked horrified. "Don't you dare."
"Why? You need help."
"Kyra, please."
"Soraya, you are forty-four. You have raised three daughters.
The oldest is getting married this afternoon.
You are at a stage of your life where you get to think about yourself again.
In six months, Donya will be in college, in two years, it's Laleh's turn, and then what?
You sit alone in a kitchen and tell yourself you are really too old to start dating again? "
"I've never dated," Soraya said quietly. "I was married off. I wouldn't know the first thing about dating."
A spark ignited in Kyra's eyes. "So, that's the problem. You are scared because you don't know how to act on a date."
The room had gone even quieter, and Soraya's eyes filled with tears.
Angelica pulled a tissue from a box and handed it to her. "You're lucky I didn't redo your makeup yet."
Soraya took it and dabbed at her eyes. "I'm too old for this."
"Forty-four is a baby to these immortals."
Parisa was watching the exchange with a wary expression, knowing that she was next on Kyra's matchmaking agenda.
"Don't even look at me, Kyra," she said.
"I am looking at you."
"I am thirty-six, and I have four boys."
"So? Don't you realize what a treasure you are to immortal males? Kids are not considered a liability here. If anything, the fact that you are a package deal makes you more desirable, not less."
Kyra was making a lot of sense, but Arezoo doubted her mother and aunts were actually listening to what she was saying. They were too busy thinking about all the reasons why she was wrong and they were right.
As Angelica resumed work on her face, Arezoo let the conversation flow around her.
The tiny brush moved along her eyebrows, and she held still, watching her aunts in the mirror, and let the chatter wash over her.
She didn't contribute to it because it was futile.
Her mother and aunts would decide when they were ready to move on, and no one could convince them to move a moment earlier.
"Close your eyes," Angelica said. "And don't open them until I tell you."
Arezoo closed her eyes, and her mind drifted to Ruvon.
To their wedding night.
She had been thinking about it for weeks and thinking about it in cycles of confidence and panic.
Ruvon had told her that they did not have to do anything tonight, handing her the decision and stepping back from it. He had said that he would not be disappointed. That the wedding night was a tradition with a great deal of pressure attached to it, and that he didn't want her to feel pressured.
She had nodded, smiled, kissed him, and said she appreciated how patient he was, and that she loved him.
Arezoo wasn't going to make him wait any longer. She was ready and she'd been ready for a long time now. It had been Ruvon's patience that had made it possible for her to get to the point where she was not only ready but was looking forward to her wedding night.