Page 27 of Matchmaking With Cupid

The waiter appeared and poured us both some wine, putting a pause in the conversation.

"Is it weird?" Eloise asked. "To know you're going to live forever and see all the people you love die?"

"Not all of the people I've loved have died," I responded. "Some of them took the offer of immortality when it came their way."

"You can do that?"

I nodded and picked up my wine. "All gods can. It's just about the only magic Icando, but making someone immortal is easy enough so long as they want it."

"Oh." She leaned back in her seat and I could almost see the thoughts racing through her mind. "So that's why you're not opposed to dating mortals?"

"I've never really thought about it," I admitted. "I've only offered to make one of my partners immortal and he said no."

"Why only one?" She leaned forward, listening intently.

"Some of them were immortal themselves, other relationships ran their course before it was the right time to, and in two cases, I knew how they felt about it and they'd have been insulted if I'd asked. They were very into their faith. I'm sure you can imagine what Rome in the fifteen hundreds was like."

"I'm surprised anyone that into their faith would have dated a Roman god in the first place."

"It wasn't really dating then," I responded. "One of them did it to frustrate her father and try to get him to give her a better marriage contract."

"Did it work?"

"Yes. But she wasn't very pleased with the results. She didn't become fanatical about religion until after her marriage."

"And the other one?"

I cleared my throat. "He was a cardinal."

"Wow."

"Mmhm. He wasn't particularly faith-driven until he got older. The closer he got to death, the more intensely he believed." A pang of sadness travelled through me as I thought about lost lovers. I'd loved deeply before and lost. I didn't regret any of my relationships, but it always hurt when I had the realisation it wouldn't be forever. In an ideal world, I'd find someone who wanted to be with me that long.

"I see." She took a sip of wine. "Would you offer someone immortality again?"

"Yes. But I would never pressure anyone to take it. The choice would be theirs."

"That's very thoughtful. I've heard people say that living forever can be exhausting. I'm not sure I'd agree, but I've not talked to anyone about it before."

My lips quirked up into a smile when I thought back to her answers about immortality from her matchmaking questionnaire. She wasn't opposed to it at all. "I know some of the gods feel that way, but I've never seen it like that myself. The way I see it, I have a long life ahead of me full of people I haven't yet met, things I haven't discovered I like doing, and many people to help fall in love."

A wide smile crossed Eloise's face. "You're one ofthosepeople."

"I guess that depends on what you mean by that."

"You're the kind of person who always sees the positives in life."

I shrugged. "I guess. But I don't see anything wrong with that."

"Oh, me neither. My friends used to tease me about that. You should probably know before you see it, but I haveLive, Laugh, Lovepainted on my living room wall. And not ironically."

I chuckled. "I'll consider myself warned. Though I'm not surprised. It takes a certain kind of person to want to be a matchmaker."

"Mmm. My mum told me it was a terrible idea because I'd watch other people find love but would be single myself. I think she was worried that it would depress me and make me think that there couldn't be anyone out there for me. I never really understood what she was getting at. It's a happy thing for me to see people find love, even if I haven't found it myself."Her expression changed, and I could tell that she was thinking something she didn't want to say. Spending a couple of thousand years as a love god had given me a lot of insight into reading people. She wasn't saying anything extreme like that she could be in love with me, that was ridiculous at this stage of our potential relationship, but she was probably thinking about the fact shecouldsee that happening.

Our meals arrived, stopping me from being able to say anything in response, though perhaps that was a good thing. It was better to leave her to process her thoughts on her own, she'd share them with me when she was ready to, and I was glad for that. I didn't want to pressure her into any kind of relationship. Whatever happened between us needed to be because she wanted it, and no other reason.

But sometimes, it was possible to tell when something was real between people, and right now, I was feeling that between us.

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