Part 31 (1/2)
”Aren't you forgetting something?” she asked, her voice taking on an edge he didn't like.
He pressed his hands against her sides. ”I guess I must have, if you're getting ready to tell me about it.”
”I think you've noticed that when you... when you get close to me, I pull back. How can you have a life-mate who can't make love with you?”
”I think we can work on that together.”
”Falcone...”
He could feel his expression turning fierce. ”I'm nothing like him. So don't bring him into the room. This is between you and me. Let's talk about what it feels like when I touch you and kiss you.”
He watched her face soften.
”Does it feel good?” he asked.
”Yes. But then I get scared.”
”You won't, if I prove to you that I'm not going to grab you or hurt you or do anything you don't like. If you're willing to try.”
He held his breath until she answered with a little nod.
”Come back to the table and eat.”
She sat down opposite him and picked up her mug, taking a quick sip.
”Tell me about Carfoli,” he said because he wanted to switch to a subject that would be less threatening to her. ”You said he's in the history books.”
She thought for a moment. ”In your world... did you have the White City?”
He sucked in a sharp breath. ”The White City-1893. You mean at the Chicago World's Fair?”
”You know it?”
”Of course. I should have recognized the date when you told me before. I'm a landscape architect. Frederick Law Olmstead planned the city. It was all cla.s.sical Greek and Roman architecture. And it was full of exhibits from around the world. They had everything from elephants and gondolas to Greek statues and a dancer called Little Egypt. But I never heard of anyone called Carfoli.”
She took a sip of soup, then said, ”Maybe he didn't show up in your... timeline. He had an exhibit where he said he could give people psychic powers. And... he did. People left his building with abilities they never had before.”
”How? Why?”
”He had some kind of machine that did it. n.o.body knows how it worked. Some historians think it enhanced natural talents that were already present. The important thing is that it was very popular, so a lot of people did it. They went home being able to do things like move objects with their minds. Or see the future. Or view a remote scene. It caused all sorts of disruptions in society. Those without the powers ganged up on those who had them. But the people with the powers fought them off. It was a very bad time. Cities were destroyed. A lot of people were killed. The people who were left gathered together in gated communities for protection. And some of them used the opportunity to take over the leaders.h.i.+p. Some of them might be good leaders. But others were ruthless.”
He nodded, trying to imagine the chaos. ”And if you got psychic abilities from his machine, you could pa.s.s them on to your children?” he asked.
”Yes.”
”And how did people end up as slaves?”
”Sometimes they were captured in wars with other city-states. Or they might have been the people in the city with no status.”
”It's hard to believe. It sounds like Carfoli created chaos. Lucky for us he wasn't in our world.”