“So…Gabe…turned human?”
“No. He relinquished the ability to transfer planes….” My expression must have reflected how foreign the words sounded to me, because he stopped to explain. “To be invisible. Falling from grace has a price. Archs are cursed when they choose to stay, and that curse carries on to their offspring; although, it lessens with each generation. As the blood is diluted with the human gene pool, so is the curse.”
“What kind of curse?” I asked. His world was much darker than wings and harps.
“Archs are obligated to protect their humans even after they fall, and because their priorities have been compromised, so to speak, the curse keeps that obligation in check. Fallen and their offspring, like Archs, don’t get sick and we can’t be killed. But unlike Archs, we experience a degree of pain and have a limited life span. Once our Taleh die, we almost immediately fall ill and expire.”
“So you lost your father when I lost mine,” I whispered.
Jared nodded infinitesimally and wiped a tear from my eye.
I leaned away from his hand. “Please don’t do that. Don’t comfort me for your father’s death.”
Jared shook his head. “I can’t stand to see you cry. Not when I’m close enough to stop it.”
“I’m so sorry, Jared.” I couldn’t imagine having to experience the constant worry of not only my father’s mortality, but someone else’s as well, for the sake of my father.
My eyes widened as my thoughts shifted. “I’m you’re Taleh?”
“You are.” He sat up a bit taller as his sad expression warmed at the thought.
“How do you know?”
“It’s a feeling we get. When you’re in pain, embarrassed, scared, sick, happy…aroused—,” he looked down for a moment, seeming embarrassed—“…we feel it to a lesser extent.”
“You can feel it when I feel those things?”
“It’s hard to explain. I guess I could liken it to a mosquito buzzing in your ear.”
“So, if I…bump my side on my father’s desk?”
“I can sense it,” he confirmed, amused that I had caught on.
“Was that you on the phone with my mother?” I raised an eyebrow.
“Yes. I just wanted to make sure you were all right. You hit pretty hard. I’d be surprised if you didn’t bruise,” he said, lightly touching the exact spot where I had collided with Jack’s desk.
“I did bruise. I thought you said my parents’ house has cameras. Couldn’t you see that I was okay?”
“Your father’s office is the only room in the house that isn’t wired. When you’re in there I have to rely on my senses. I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t spend so much time there in the future.”
I nodded, preoccupied with an errant thought that had popped into my head. “So…if I’m cramping….”
Jared closed his eyes and nodded. He clearly didn’t want to dwell on the subject.
I giggled in disbelief. “That hurts you?”
Jared chuckled and rolled his eyes. “I don’t get cramps, Nina, no. I’m aware of it.”
His answer caused my giggles to erupt in laughter. I was definitely feeling the effects of fatigue.
I tried to remember where we left off before my short bout of hysteria. “When did you know I was yours?” I asked. Jared’s eyebrows lifted and I corrected myself. “When did you know that I was your Taleh?”
He nodded in understanding, but a grin lingered on his lips. “Archs are assigned to their humans, but Half-breeds—,”
“Hybrids,” I interrupted. I didn’t like him using a derogatory term to refer to himself.
He smiled. “Hybrids have to figure it out on their own. Another reason Archs resent us—it leaves our humans vulnerable for a time. They don’t agree with that.”
“Lots of cons,” I sighed.
“There are pros,” he assured me. “We have few advantages over the Archs, the most important being that because we’re half-human, we can kill other humans to protect our Talehs if necessary. We can see them, even if they remain hidden to humans. We also retain a fraction of their pronounced strength, focus, intelligence, and accelerated healing. Archs are indestructible and they don’t bleed; bullets don’t bounce off of them, they simply pass through them.”
I glanced at his fading scar. “But you bleed.”
“Yes, but we heal quickly. Very quickly.”
“So, the wings thing….” I yawned as exhaustion set in.
“You don’t have to worry about me sprouting feathers, Nina,” he chuckled. “Archs don’t fly. They simply appear where they wish to go. I’ve always found the pictures a bit silly, myself.”
“I like those pictures,” I argued.
“You’re disappointed, then?” The corner of his mouth pulled up as he rested his hand on the back of my chair, leaning towards me.