Torrential Love

Chapter Twenty-Three

~ YAEL ~

"Duncan - " Yael started but stopped herself. Wait, she thought, this made little sense. She had not uttered Maya's name but somehow had received a reaction from him like she had. It was as if -

As if he could read her mind.

"Do you need anything else?" he asked her softly.

Should she bring Maya up? "Umm, no."

"Alright," he said. "Let me know if you need anything." The pain was still fresh in his face, and Yael wanted badly to make him feel better. But he probably thought of Maya coincidentally and her bringing that up might worsen things. She did not want that to happen.

She left it alone and continued with her studies, but she kept her attention on him from the corner of her eyes. He was seated at the table, looking through some thick book and making notes. His shoulders were slumped, like there was a heavy weight on them.

Maya. What was she like? Yael thought and thought before she glanced at Duncan again. Another pained expression crossed his face, and it looked to her as if he was trying to hide it.

Did mind readers exist?

It made sense. How he knew exactly what she needed at every point of time. How he won all those card games. And how he always reacted to her thoughts like she had spoken them. She stared hard at him, eyes narrowed. She had to test this theory.

Yael used all the strength in her to jerk her legs upwards. Searing pain shot up her calves to her thighs, and they fell back down to the bed. The burning sensation remained on her legs and she winced as her nerves pounded. It hurt a lot, and the soreness dominated her mind.

She looked over at Duncan, who was still buried in his book. Huh. Maybe she was wrong. But - God, it hurt. Was she stupid or something? Why did she do something like that to test whether he was a mind reader? Obviously he wasn't. Mind readers did not exist. This was not one moment where she was proud of herself.

Ouch!

She winced, gripping hard onto her book until she left nail marks. She gritted her teeth and scolded herself mentally. Duncan lifted his head to look at her. She looked at him and smiled like nothing happened.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she said. "No worry." She looked down at her book and tried to focus, but all her attention was given to her legs. Duncan returned to his book, but it didn't take a minute before he spoke again.

"Does it hurt somewhere?"

"No," she lied.

Fuck, it hurt so much; she wanted to cry. If he asked, what would she say? Oh, I forced my legs to move because I was testing to see if you could read my mind. What a joke!

But the next thing Duncan did surprised her. He sighed and got up from his seat, coming over to sit on the bed near her legs. He uncovered the sheets from her feet and rubbed his hands tenderly across her skin, easing the pain from her legs.

Her mouth fell open. How did he know?! Was he really a mind reader? He looked at her with resignation and sighed again.

"What are you?" Yael asked him.

"Promise that you won't tell anyone, Yael."

"I promise," she said. "Now say."

"I'm an immortal, and I can read minds. Including your own."

A shred of doubt crept in. No way he was speaking the truth. He was only joking. That must be it.

"I'm not joking," Duncan said directly in response to her thoughts.

She gasped. "You can - " she said, trailing off, unsure what to say next.

"Yes, I know what you're thinking."

"But how immortal exist?"

"There are many ways one can become an immortal. The common thread is that they transfer their soul's natural immortality to their physical bodies. I transferred mine synthetically. Lucy herself is not human, she is a vampire."

"You read my mind since meet me?" Yael asked.

"Yes, I can't turn it off. I'm sorry. I wish I could."

The moment where she pictured him kissing her body as he patched her up came crashing back to her, and she blushed hard. He knew that?! No, no no! She bit her lips in embarrassment.

And Duncan broke out into a chorus of laughter.