For that long conversation I took her out to dinner. We went to the best and cheapest steakhouse in town. You wouldn’t believe those two were the same thing, but they are. Apparently not being pretentious means you can serve really good steak for less.
“Kanesha…how’s the arm?”

“Much better.”

I paused. “Look. This is…”
“Stop.” She reached across the table. “I choose you. I don’t care about the consequences. I don’t care about the fate of my immortal soul…well, I do, but who else would I trust with it?”

I blushed. “And if…”

“…you wouldn’t be the first person in history to have a political marriage and keep the one you really want. Would you?”

I fell silent at that. “No, but…”

“And I wouldn’t even mind if you…I don’t mind sharing.” She blushed too.

“Not both at once!” I exclaimed, loud enough to get a head turn from a nearby table. I laughed, trying to cover it. “I mean, I’m not…I mean…”

I was probably redder than the inside of my rare steak at this point. I didn’t want a threesome. Especially not that kind of threesome. “That’s a bisexual stereotype!” I finally managed.

She was trying not to laugh. “I know you aren’t. I…didn’t…I didn’t mean both at once and didn’t realize it…oh dear. I meant I wouldn’t mind if you loved somebody else.”

I hesitated. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m wired to be in love with more than one person.” I knew some people were. I wasn’t sure I was one of them. “But…look. I found out something today. I don’t want to feel…I don’t want to feel I forced you into something when I figured we were just going to be girlfriends.”

“And you didn’t. I worked it out. I knew that if I didn’t break it off right away, this could be where it ended up.” She fell silent for a moment.

I used eating some steak as an excuse not to say more. But I knew I couldn’t stay quiet. “I didn’t.”

“I’m the academic. I’m the one who studies stuff, remember. And it’s…surprising how many books there are. And Clara’s mother’s coven has more they’re willing to let me borrow.”

“Books are good. But there’s precedent for…”

“More precedent for gods having kids with mortals then elevating the kids. But this is…”

“…me accidentally claiming a soul because I’m half trained and don’t know what I’m doing.” I found the humor in the situation. “It’s really ridiculous.”

“No it isn’t. I mean, godding has to take work.”

“You’d think it would come with an instruction manual. Or maybe it does and I just forgot.”

Or maybe I’d known somewhere deep within myself and not cared. And that thought about myself scared me.

I didn’t want to be that kind of a person.