As I was getting ready for bed, I heard the door to the guest bedroom shut softly. Camarin must be back from wherever she’d spent her break.
I poked my head out the door in time to see her disappearing down the back stairs. Intrigued that she’d be wandering around this late at night, I followed. She continued outside and stopped to brood at the lantern. With a sudden shake of her head, she glided onto the grass.
When I reached the patio, I could see her illuminated by the moonlight, reclining on a chaise in the middle of the lawn.
“Would you like to join me?” she asked.
“Thanks.”
She flicked her wrist. A second chaise snapped to a spot beside her.
I crossed to it and lay down. Like her, I gazed at the stars. Unlike her, I wanted to talk. “How long have you been back?”
“Since supper.”
“Where did you go?”
She hesitated, her fingers tapping restlessly on the arm of her chaise. “I had business with the League.”
“About Grant?”
“Yes. He acts impulsively at times.”
“Was the most recent impulsive action for me and Scott?”
Her head rolled toward me. In the dimness of the night, with her hair curling loosely about her shoulders and her eyes bright, she seemed young and innocent. “There are some in the League who view his decision as a willingness to thwart the rules.”
“What about you?”
“In my mind, a better explanation is that he is challenging us to clarify rules that don’t obviously govern the situation he’s in.”
I smiled. “You seem to be trying really hard with him.”
“He is beautiful and wise. Grant is the most astonishingly complete Being of my acquaintance.” She sighed wistfully. “Under normal circumstances, members of the League avoid the painful extremes of human emotion, but Grant chose differently. He has explored the entire spectrum of human love. Kimberley’s case taught him brotherly tenderness. With Lacey, he discovered the passion and despair of romance.”
And me?I didn’t speak the words, shy about the answer.
“True friendship.” There was a smile in her voice. “Do not discount its value, Sara. You’ve given him a taste of equality. We shall have a hard time managing him now.”
“What did you have with Sean?”
“We too had a loving friendship.” She shifted to take in the sky. “We always interacted as peers. It was glorious.”
“Have you experienced other kinds of love?”
“I allowed myself to fall in love once with a human.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
Her hands folded together tightly against her waist. “The boy did not return my feelings. I doubt he even recognized them in me. I was there to serve him, and that was all he wanted. Perhaps it’s just as well. Love withers when it isn’t fed. His disinterest permitted me to pursue my aspirations with renewed vigor.”
“Is what you feel for Grant anything like the passionate kind?”
“I am not sure.” Her brow creased as if in deep thought. “My feelings for Grant call into question the emotions I felt for that boy. I’m beginning to believe that they are similar in name only. Of one thing I am confident. Grant does not share my regard.”
“How do you know?”
She looked at me, lips pursed primly. “Beings have more acute senses than humans.”
