Part 34 (1/2)

CHAPTER 34.

SUSAN WALKED DOWNSTAIRS, wondering if she would see Ryan or Victor today. She saw Edward standing in the doorway of the balcony, looking out onto the patio below. She moved to his side and her musings regarding the two were answered immediately. Ryan and Victor sat at the table underneath the umbrella, looking less like mortal enemies and more like two lovers enjoying a late morning repast. They were talking and laughing, and Ryan appeared more relaxed and animated than Susan had ever seen her.

Edward seemed to almost read her thoughts. ”You find their relations.h.i.+p very disturbing, don't you?”

Susan sighed, trying not to be judgmental. ”Perhaps I'm just being too clinical.”

Edward glanced over at her. ”What do you mean by that?”

Susan gazed at the two through the window. ”Do you know, physiologically speaking, what an o.r.g.a.s.m is?”

Edward, despite his patrician appearance, was not at all shocked by the question. ”My expertise is in law, dear doctor. No, in physiological terms, I don't know what an o.r.g.a.s.m is.”

Susan turned to look at him, pausing only for a moment.

”It's a blood rush.”

Edward gazed at her with his unblinking eyes, then turned his attention back to the two on the patio.

Susan gazed down at the them. Ryan and Victor were not touching but there was an unbearable intimacy about the two of them. Their ease of conversation and coordination of movement bespoke the extraordinary depth of their relations.h.i.+p.

”Why,” Susan began, addressing Edward again, ”is Ryan so reluctant to take her place amongst your Kind?”

Evidently this was not a simple question for Edward to answer. It was several moments before he could frame a reply, and even then he chose his words carefully.

”I would not presume to speak for Ryan, but I believe her reasons are as complex as she is. I know Ryan does not think much of our Kind because they are so manipulated by their own pa.s.sions. I think that, in a way, she fears the loss of control she sees within them, knowing that it lies within herself as well. I also think that the burden of their desire is very great on her. Ryan is extraordinarily sensitive, and it exhausts her to be the object of such unbridled l.u.s.t.”

Susan was astounded at his level of insight, as well as the empathy and compa.s.sion he displayed for Ryan. When she spoke, she spoke softly.

”Why does it not affect Victor this way?”

Edward's reply was soft as well, his British accent p.r.o.nounced. ”Victor's personality is much different than Ryan's. Having never met Ryan's mother, I am guessing that in some ways Ryan is very much like her.”

Edward settled into silence, but evidently he was still contemplating Susan Ryerson's question. It wasn't long before he began again.

”Ryan's relations.h.i.+p with her father is also infinitely complex. I think that at times she rebels against him, and at the same time, lives to serve him. I don't think that anyone, with the possible exception of Victor, knew how deeply Ryan mourned him. And I don't think that anyone except for Victor knew how extraordinarily happy Ryan was to see him alive. Ryan will do whatever Victor asks her to.”

Susan gazed down at the two on the patio. ”So Ryan will take her position within the hierarchy?”

Edward turned to her with a keen expression. ”I think that Ryan will remake that position.”