“Well, we know your disease is a result of a genetic mutation,” Arthur said. “And that family inheritance only arises in about ten to twenty-five percent of cases. Most doctors are baffled about what your disease really is or how you develop it.”
“So am I one of those random cases, or is there an ancestor in our family line that passed it down to me somehow?” I asked.
“It’s quite proficient, actually,” Arthur said, sounding somewhat shocked. “It stems from our father’s side. We have at least two distant cousins in our ancestry with the disease, along with a great-grandmother— that would be Babcia’s mother, who passed the carrier gene down to Babcia, who passed the gene down to Lucien, who then gave it to you. Though CVID wasn’t discovered as a condition until the 1950s, so the people who had it back then didn’t understand what they were going through. Due to lack of treatment, none of them lived that long.”
“So Lucien was a carrier. He didn’t have it himself, but he passed it down to me,” I said.
“I’m afraid so,” Arthur said. “CVID is extremely rare. That it’s so strong in our bloodline is quite an extraordinary case.”
My mouth grew dry as I asked, “What about you? Are you a carrier, like our dad was?”
“Miroslava tested me. I’m not a carrier of the gene that causes CVID,” Arthur said. “I won’t pass it down to my children. As fraternal twins, we developed from two different eggs in the womb, so I don’t carry the same genetics you do.”
I let out a breath. “Well, that’s a huge relief.”
“Of course.” Then Arthur paused. “Your chances are a bit different. We know you’re a carrier, so the chances of you producing a child with CVID are at least twenty-five percent, with the chances of producing another carrier another twenty-five percent. There’s a fifty-fifty shot you’ll produce a child that isn’t affected in any way, and won’t pass on the disease…”
I gave a grim nod. “I understand. It’s what I was expecting, anyway.”
“I don’t want you to give up hope of being a mother,” Arthur said gently. “There are other ways, and you’re still so young.”
“I know.” I dropped my head and took a sip of my drink. “Find anything else interesting?”
“Not particularly, but ithasbeen interesting, researching family history with our dad,” Arthur said as he pushed up his glasses. “We keep losing focus on what we’re supposed to be doing. Both of us are interested in so many things.”
“Like?” I put an elbow on the table and leaned forward.
“While looking into the Crystals, I’ve also been researching the gods and goddesses,” Arthur explained. “I find I’m really drawn to Neva.”
“The goddess of time?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes. Did you know I swore myself to her at Vara and I’s Choosing?” he asked.
“I didn’t. It’s unusual for a shifter to swear fealty to a sorceress.” Usually, fae stuck to worshipping a god of the same gender.
“I did. I found this massive book on her in the estate’s library— how she can stop time in place, hop from one point in time to another, even redirect the path of fate by returning from a place in the future to correct the past.”
“Doesn’t that mess with the timeline and screw things up?” I asked.
“See, time doesn’t happen the way you think it does. It’s all happening at once instead of in a straight line, so really, moving from one place in time to another for Neva is very similar to how we leave to go to the store, and come back— or like leaving one room to enter another,” Arthur explained. “It’s just a differentplace, not a different moment, so things end up working out the way they’re supposed to whether you modify them in the past or not.”
“I find that very hard to comprehend,” I said. My brain was hurting just thinking about it.
“It’s not meant for mortals to understand. I think it’s similar to the way prophets in our world work, and how we’re directed to follow the journey prophecies foretell. Your choices and decisions affect the future, and you have the power to change it, but certain events are written in stone and cannot be diverted from no matter how hard you try to avoid them.”
“I still don’t get it. Do we have the power to change the future or not?”
“It’s a little of both, really.”
I gave an impatient huff, and Arthur blushed. “Well, we can talk about the theory of time all day, but my point is that Neva isincredible.I can’t get enough of learning about her incarnations here on Earth. She’s gone all throughout time, choosing mates from different periods and bringing them back to Edinmyre for her enjoyment. That aspect of her is fascinating.” His green eyes sparkled.
“You sound enchanted by the idea.”
“I wouldn’t mind being a part of Neva’s harem,” Arthur said with a wry smile. “I think it would be wonderful to serve her, and an honor to share the affection of such a powerful being. If only I had caught the eye of such a goddess. She could teach meso muchabout the theory of time.”
“You’re not like most shifters, then.” They got jealous easily. I think Ethanwouldshare me if I was interested in someone else, but he’d probably pout about the whole thing.
Hardly. One werewolf was more than enough for me to handle, thank you.
