“Twenty five, why?”
“Just wondering,” he replies as the server brings us our salad course.
It’s a spring mix with some thin sliced vegetables and a light vinaigrette.
“So how many majors do you actually qualify to graduate with?” he asks, levelly.
I finish the bite in my mouth before answering. “Just six. I thought about going another year, but I’m becoming a non-traditional student and I never really meant to spend this long getting my bachelor’s.”
Darcy finishes off his glass of wine and pours himself another. “Do you plan to work on the family farm?”
“I’m working on the coursework for a degree in pedology so I’m useful on the farm. We grow marijuana now along with ouroriginal crops, plus we have a big orchard, and I think being able to take care of the soil and the business will be helpful. I know about weather patterns now too, so I can start planning for droughts or seasons with too much rain. Farming’s hard work, so I learned about physical therapy to help when one of us gets injured. My dad’s been nursing his shoulder for years, and I finally got him doing exercises. He says he hasn’t felt this good since he was forty.”
“Why the forensic criminology?” he questions, refilling my wine glass too.
“It was fun, and for a hot minute I thought I might not want to go back to the farm.” I have no regrets about it either. It’s been more helpful than I would have guessed since meeting Sam and now Darcy.
“Have you ever considered becoming a professional student?” he asks as the server whisks away our salad plates.
“That would be fun, but my MawMaw isn’t going to pay for that. She’s fine with what I’ve done, but I promised to graduate, so I’m not going to take further advantage of her goodness by begging to keep going. I can learn other things from other places, you know?”
Darcy peers at me over the lip of his wine glass. “What if you didn’t have to pay for your education?”
I laugh at the thought. “Well, of course I’d be down for that. I’d probably spend the next decade learning if I didn’t have to pay for it. Fuck, I’d go ahead and get a few masters degrees and maybe a PhD or two. Can you imagine me as Doctor Elijah Penn?” The thought tickles me, and I laugh again.
“I can see it. You’d make your parents proud, and if you wanted to pursue teaching, you’d probably be a good professor too. You’re interesting enough that I’m here instead of murdering people for fun. That says something.”
I tip the rest of my wine back and laugh again. “Do you really go out murdering people for fun?” Somehow I doubt it.
Darcy shakes his head. “I have fun when I murder people, but I don’t go looking to do it, not usually. Sometimes I do. I took part in the murder of the last queen of Hell and her consort because she threatened Romily’s adopted son.” He doesn’t look like he regrets that at all.
“Were they going to kill his kid?” That’s an appalling thought.
“I think they would have tried, but they were never going to succeed. They would have died trying, and instead of letting them inconvenience us, we took the fight they were going to lose to them. They’re dead now, and I’m not sleeping any worse for it. I probably should have killed them centuries ago.”
“It was their time.”
Darcy smirks. “Everyone dies, why not sooner rather than later?”
“It only works if it’s their time. People are basically immortal until they’re dead.” I believe that. I don’t think it’s possible to end a life prematurely. It might be my own bullshit, but no one can prove me wrong, and I like the idea that I’m meant to be alive until I'm done with this life.
“That’s a dire way of looking at things. I’m thousands of years old and I would never think that. It…” He stops and a look of vulnerability crosses his face.
I reach out to take his hand and he lets me, twining our fingers together.
“It’s too hurtful to think that Fate cuts the strings of children short on purpose.”
Oof. Damn. That’s hard to respond to. It would make fate cruel, and that’s not a world anyone wants to live in. Randomness and chaos is easier to cope with than intentional cruelty.
“I’m sorry. You’re absolutely right. What I said was insensitive. Are you ok?”
Darcy scowls at the wall for a few seconds, taking a moment to gather himself. It’s too bad he won’t let himself feel those emotions when they crop up. “It’s ok to be sad, man. It’s ok to not be ok even if you’re in the middle of an awesome hangout sesh and you’re guaranteed to get laid later.”
Darcy huffs a laugh and then smiles, really smiles at me. It’s not the smirk that lives on his face to mask his real self. It’s a gorgeous mark of joy, and I’m living for seeing it light him up. “I’m ok. I’m thousands of years old, Elijah. I’ve had a few kids along the way. Sometimes it’s hard to be a parent. Sometimes it’s impossible.”
Oooh, yeah. Being thousands of years old, it’s probably inevitable that you have a kid or two along the way. “I’m guessing your kids aren’t nearly as long lived as you?” It's a hard thing to say, but I don’t want to trip over this kind of grief and loss again if I don’t have to.
Darcy released a tight breath. “I only ever sired children from mortals, thus my children were also mortal. My last descendants are still alive and prospering, but they don’t know me, and I just keep tabs on the family line for my own sake. They’re practically human at this point. Most of them can’t perceive magic at all.”
