Dark Stranger Immortal (The Children of the Gods #3)(23)

“Whatever she saw, she must have liked it. Don’t forget, we don’t share mortals’ inhibitions about sex. As long as it’s consensual there is nothing embarrassing or shameful about it.”

“I’m in no way ashamed, but I would like my sex life to remain private.

I’m not into exhibitionism.” Syssi stubbed out her cigarette and crossed her arms over her chest.

Kian pushed up from his lounger to sit beside her. Looking at her pouty face, he just couldn’t resist her sweet, puffed-up lips and bent down to kiss them. “Imagine you had Edna’s ability and were faced with the same dilemma. Would you have acted differently?” He caressed her cheek gently, rubbing his knuckles over her sensuous mouth and along her jawline.

Syssi closed her eyes, kissing his knuckles as they passed her lips, her expressive face flushed with the simmer of arousal stirring up inside her.

Then, as if forcing herself to think past her awakening libido, she looked up with hooded eyes as she conceded, “I would have done the same.”

Damn, with Syssi responding to him the way she did, it was hard to stick to that whole nonsexual interaction thing. He needed to put some space between them if he had any hope at all of sticking to that plan.

With a sigh, Kian moved to sit on the nearby side table. Facing Syssi, he continued from the safer distance. “Edna is the smartest person I know. I have great respect for her. Actually, she is my second.”

“What does it mean, a second, like second in command?” Syssi asked, looking a little hurt, no doubt wondering why he moved to sit away from her.

“No, it’s more like a Vice President. She takes over if something happens to me. It should have been Amanda, but she is not ready for that kind of responsibility. Not yet anyway.”

Syssi nodded in agreement. “Definitely not… Amanda would have hated it. She told me she was grateful you and Sari spared her the burden.”

“That’s why I chose Edna. I know she can handle it. Edna is tough, strict, and incredibly capable. Though it’s a pity that she is not well liked. Most are wary of her because she seems harsh, and that probing stare of hers doesn’t help her popularity either. But I know she is a fair and decent person. A little low on compassion and forgiveness, but nobody is perfect, right?”

“Well, I don’t know about that… How about your mother? Isn’t she perfect? As a goddess, she must possess incredible power and wisdom…”

Syssi’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.

Kian chuckled. “Oh, she would like everyone to believe that. She is the ultimate drama queen. I guess that’s who Amanda gets it from, though next to our mother, she is an amateur. Annani is incredibly powerful, but she tends to be frivolous, more passionate than contemplative. She might be as smart as Edna, but she is definitely not as wise. Trusting her gut, she acts on impulse, thinking with her heart and not her mind. Surprisingly, it has never steered her wrong, yet. So maybe wisdom is overrated?” He tilted his head, arching his brows.

“What does she look like? Is she majestic and regal?” Syssi was still bursting with curiosity.

“She is. Her power is so palpable, she radiates it.” Kian chuckled fondly.

“It’s funny, though, that all that splendor is housed in a tiny package of a little over five feet, weighing maybe a hundred pounds, half of it probably contributed by her long hair. She could blend in at a high school, posing as a teenager. With her power suppressed, she could pass for a seventeen-year-old girl.”

“I have a hard time imagining a childlike goddess inspiring that much awe. Does she believe that she really is a goddess?” Syssi asked.

“Yes and no. She misses the way mortals worshiped her kind and thinks she deserves it. And in a way she does. She is personally responsible for much of humanity’s progress. Not to say that mortals wouldn’t have eventually done it on their own, but it would have taken them thousands of years longer, and if the Doomers had their way, never. So she deserves her semidivine status. But of course, we all know that she is not the creator of the universe if such an entity even exists in some form.”

“So basically, your kind has no religion? You don’t believe in a god?”

“We have no formal religion. There are some festivals and rituals we observe as part of tradition, and we have some informal beliefs. But mostly we are agnostic. Just as mortals, we have limited capacity for understanding the underlying principles of material and nonmaterial existence and, therefore, refrain from making statements regarding things we know next to nothing about. It would be too presumptuous of us to do so based on our infinitesimal knowledge. How about you? What are your beliefs?” Kian asked, despite being afraid of stumbling upon another land mine.

In his experience, mortals clung with irrational ferocity to their faith, no matter how misguided or ridiculous, and felt offended when it was challenged in any way.

“I’m a confused agnostic. I don’t believe in a personal, benevolent God who hears our thoughts and answers our prayers. I used to. It was comforting to have that kind of an imaginary friend who was privy to my thoughts, who was always on my side and would always protect me from harm. But as I got older and lost the naive hopefulness of childhood, I could no longer hold on to that belief in the face of reality. I realized that good doesn’t always prevail, and very bad things happen to very good people all of the time. Humanity’s sordid past and present, the sheer magnitude of suffering, inflicted by both men and nature, does not indicate a benevolent, caring deity. So instead of being constantly angry at that indifferent or even cruel entity, I prefer to think that we are left to our own devices.” Syssi paused.