Lynsay Sands Quote

What is a life mate? If you would care to sit down, I’ll explain, Anders said quietly. Valerie sat down. She could hardly do anything else. She had to know what a life mate was. She suspected it was important. Vital, even. She just didn’t know why. Mind reading is one of the skills that evolved through the nanos. Immortals can read most immortals younger than them, and occasionally even immortals older than themselves. But they can read all mortals unless they are mentally ill or suffering some sort of ailment like a tumor that might block the part of the brain where thoughts are processed. I’m not crazy, Valerie denied, eyes wide. No, of course not, he said quickly. Then I have a tumor? she asked with horror. The news was devastating. Dear God, she was only thirty. Too young to— Breathe, Anders repeated, capturing her hands and chafing them between both of his. You don’t have a tumor, Valerie. That’s not why I can’t read you. Leigh, Lucian, and—hell, everyone who has encountered you—has been able to read your thoughts like a book. You are not ill. Oh, good, Valerie let her breath out on a sigh and then frowned. Really it wasn’t that good. While she was glad she wasn’t ill, it was rather disturbing to think every one she’d met since waking in Leigh and Lucian’s house had been able to read her mind. Pushing that worry away for now, she asked, Why can’t you read my mind? Because you’re my— Life mate, she finished for him, recalling his saying that earlier. Yes. And a life mate is that one person, mortal or immortal, that an immortal can neither read nor control, and who cannot read or control them. And that makes them a life mate? Valerie asked uncertainly. Anders nodded. It is a special gift to us. With the rest of the world we have to constantly guard our minds to prevent our thoughts from being read, which can be exhausting. It’s that, or restrict ourselves to a solitary existence. He paused and then said, But with a life mate we don’t have to do that. We can let our guards down around them, and just enjoy the company of another without fear that they’ll read our thoughts. And I’m that for you? Yes, you are, Anders assured her as if it was a good thing.