Come Love A Stranger

Thirty four

Alador placed Mariah gently on the bed and he sat beside her and smiled at the expectant look in her eyes, he tried listening to her thought but she was going over so many things in few seconds and he had to get himself out of there, it was like a beehive and he doesn't think he would survive a minute in there, "you really want to hear the story, our story?"

"Yes," she replied happily.

"Okay, but, first of all, I would like to apologize for what my mother did tonight, I want you to understand that she was only trying to protect me and as long as I live and breathe, I would not let any harm to befall you, Mariah, so I plead in her behalf, do forgive her, please."

Mariah reached up and caressed his face, "I would not lie to you, Alador, I was hurt when I heard that, I had thought she brought me there to save you, I didn't know she used me as a bait to lure you out..."

"But she really wanted you to save me, no one, absolutely no one else would have brought me out but you, so in a way, she used you to save me," he interrupted softly.

Mariah smiled, "I know that now, Alador, I was saying I was hurt earlier but after going through everything in my mind, I realized she didn't actually lie, she did brought me to save you but not in a way that I had thought, is all," she shook her head softly, "but I am not angry at her, not anymore. Though if I'm being honest, I'm a little jealous," she bit her lip and looked away from him.

Alador frowned with a small smile, "jealous, how so? I do not understand."

"Well," Mariah sighed, "Bamushka, she is really beautiful and what's more? She does not age, she is just like you, she can boast of a power and she is your kind, whereas, I am just a human girl, plain looking and no power to boast of and what's worst? I will grow old while you keep looking young and beautiful."

A sweet melodious sound that rang in her room surprised her and it took her only a second to realize that Alador was laughing, louder than she had ever heard him and she felt embarrassed, she had just confessed her worries to him and all he could do was laugh at her. "Go on, laugh at me as much as you want," she grumbled and turned her face away from him to show her anger.

Alador stopped laughing when he sensed the change of mood in her attitude, he gently tucked her hair behind her ear and admired her smooth flawless face then he leaned down and surprising her, claimed her lips in the most gentle and sensual kiss. When he let her go, she was staring at him in shock with her mouth agape. Alador looked deep into her eyes and with his thumb, he caressed her cheek, "believe me by my words that in my one thousand years of lifetime, you are the only woman I have done that to," he whispered, referring to the kiss. "Now if you were plain as you described, you would not have had me in your charm for over nine hundred years and if being human was a bad thing, I wouldn't have stayed waiting for you after every lifetime of yours."

"That's sweet of you Alador but don't you forget, I do not have any powers."

He smiled, "I already have enough for both of us as you already know. I am sure my mother told you that a god cannot have more than one power and in all existence of the gods, only two gods have been blessed with three powers and they are both ancient history but this god in front of you not only have three powers, but four, I am the first in my kind. So if I have four powers whereas gods are meant to have one, do you think it matters whether you have powers or not?"

"You have four powers? That means you have..."

"Fire power, aye," he completed.

"But your mother said you have only shown sigh of it once when you were a child."

"Aye, but even as a child, I know the history and I know that having four powers would bring up problem so in order to live a peaceful life, I hid the fire, but I still could not hide it from my eyes. T's why I have gold color in them, turns out that even if my eyes indicate I have fire in me, since I did not show it out, the elders were convinced it was just a onetime thing so I was not considered a threat and was allowed to leave freely but as the third god to have three powers, if only they know I am the first to have four, I wonder what they would do."

Mariah was shocked at what he was saying, "but tonight..."

"Aye, I lost myself in my anger and did not remember that the best thing to do was to avert Bamushka's attack, but t's okay, it was bound to be revealed someday anyway," he smiled but Mariah was worried.

"What if they hunt you like the mighty Darian?"

Alador placed his index finger on her lips, "hush, let me worry about that when it happens. Now, do you have any more thing to be jealous about?" he raised an eyebrow.

Mariah sighed, "aye, I would grow old at some point in time whilst you remain as you are and soon, people would start thinking you are my son."

Alador tried not to laugh but it was so difficult to hold it in and Mariah had to turn away from him again in embarrassment and anger and he had to climb into bed beside her and hugged her tightly in his arms, "you do not have to worry about that."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because..." he sighed, "when two mates mated, they not only share their love but their body fluids which carry everything about them, in this case, when a god mates with a human and they share the secret of the bedchamber, the fluid from the god nourishes the human and thereby heighten her cells making her age a little slower than the average human and when she conceives, meaning she carries a god in her body, the power that flows through the child nourishes her as well, reducing her time of aging once more and by the time she finally put to bed, she has already become part god and part human. Meaning that she would age but ninety percent slower than an average human and the more she mates with her husband, the more her longevity is heightened."

"Oh," Mariah was impressed by his explanation and she surprised them both by turning towards him and attempting to take off his tunic. Alador was shocked by her action and immediately clasped his hand on hers to stop her and he stared at her unbelievably. Mariah shrugged, "you are already looking younger than I am so I don't want to grow older."

Alador chuckled, "nay Mariah, it should not be so."

"Why not?" she looked up at him, deep into his eyes.

"First, I would not want to risk putting you in danger than you already are, I do not know what Ilayas is planning now that the spell is broken and the last thing I would want is making you with child and risking your chances with the king, your chances of having a normal life, so until all this is sorted out, it would not be happening."

Mariah nodded in understanding and sighed and after a while, she glanced up at him, "during the previous times..." she licked her lips, embarrassed and shy about what she wanted to ask, "have we...did we...ever?"

Alador sighed and glanced up at the ceiling and then nodded, "aye, in one of them you became with child and I..." he closed his eyes, his arms tightening around her and his face scrunching up in pain, "I had to watch you die with him."