*by Stephenie Meyer*



TWILIGHT - chapter 14 - MIND OVER MATTER


A long मिनट passed. I listened, not sure if I'd heard the door close. Then Edward's cool arm was around me, under the covers, his lips at my ear.
"You are a terrible actress - I'd say that career path is out for you."
"Darn it," I muttered. My दिल was crashing in my chest.
He hummed a melody I didn't recognize; it sounded like a lullaby.
He paused. "Should I sing आप to sleep?"
"Right," I laughed. "Like I could sleep with आप here!"
"You do it all the time," he reminded me.
"But I didn't know आप were here," I replied icily.
"So if आप don't want to sleep...," he suggested, ignoring my tone. My breath caught.
"If I don't want to sleep...?"
He chuckled. "What do आप want to do then?"
I couldn't answer at first.
"I'm not sure," I finally said.
"Tell me when आप decide."
I could feel his cool breath on my neck, feel his nose sliding along my jaw, inhaling.
"I thought आप were desensitized."
"Just because I'm resisting the wine doesn't mean I can't appreciate the bouquet," he whispered. "You have a very floral smell, like lavender... या feesia," he noted. "It's mouthwatering."
"Yeah, it's an off दिन when I don't get somebody telling me how edible I smell."
He chuckled, and then sighed.
"I've decided what I want to do," I told him. "I want to hear और about you."
"Ask me anything."
I sifted through my सवालों for the most vital. "Why do आप do it?" I said. "I still don't understand how आप can work so hard to resist what you... are. Please don't misunderstand, of course I'm glad that आप do. I just don't see why आप would bother in the first place."
He hesitated before answering. "That's a good question, and आप are not the first to ask it. The others - the majority of our kind who are quite content with our lot - they, too, wonder at how we live. But आप see, just because we've been... delt a certain hand... it doesn't mean that we can't choose to rise above - to conquer the boundaries of a destiny that none of us wanted. To try to retain whatever essential humanity we can."
I lay unmoving, locked in awed silence.
"Did आप fall asleep?" he whispered after a few minutes.
"No."
"Is that all आप were curious about?"
I rolled my eyes. "Not quite."
"What else do आप want to know?"
"Why can आप read minds - why only you? And Alice, seeing the future... why does that happen?"
I felt him shrug in the darkness. "We don't really know. Carlisle has a theory... he believes that we all bring something of our strongest human traits with us into the अगला life, where they are intensified - like our minds, and our senses. He thinks that I must have already been very sensitive to the thoughts of those around me. And that Alice had some precognition, wherever she was."
"What did he bring into the अगला life, and the others?"
"Carlisle brought his compassion. Esme brought her ability to प्यार passionately. Emmett brought his strength, Rosalie her... tenacity. या आप could call it pigheadedness," he chuckled. "Jasper is very interesting. He was quite charismatic in his first life, able to influence those around him to see things his way. Now he is able to manipulate the emotions of those around him - calm down a room of angry people, for example, या excite a lethargic crowd, conversely. It's a very subtle gift."
I considered the impossibilities he described, trying to take it in. He waited patiently while I thought.
"So where did it all start? I means, Carlisle changed you, and then someone must have changed him, and so on...."
"Well, where did आप come from? Evolution? Creation? Couldn't we have evolved in the same way as other species, predator and prey? Or, if आप don't believe that all this world could have just happened on its own, which is hard for me to accept myself, is it so hard to believe that the same force that created the delicate angelfish with the shark, the baby सील, मुहर and the killer whale, could create both our kinds together?"
"Let me get this straight - I'm the baby seal, right?"
"Right." He laughed, and something touched my hair - his lips?
I wanted to turn toward him, to see if it was really his lips against my hair. But I had to be good; I didn't want to make this any harder for him than it already was.
"Are आप ready to sleep?" he asked, interrupting the short silence. "Or do आप have any और questions?"
"Only a million या two."
"We have tomorrow, and the अगला day, and the next...," he reminded me. I smiled, ephoric at the thought.
"Are आप sure आप won't vanish in the morning?" I wanted this to be certain. "You are mythical, after all."
"I won't leave you." His voice had the सील, मुहर of a promise.
"One more, then, tonight..." And I blushed. The darkness was no help - I'm sure he could feel the sudden warmth under my skin.
"What is it?"
"No, forget it. I changed my mind."
"Bella, आप can ask me anything."
I didn't answer, and he groaned.
"I keep thinking it will get less frustrating, not hearing your thoughts. But it just gets worse and worse."
"I'm glad आप can't read my thoughts. It's bad anough that आप eavesdrop on my sleep-talking."
"Please?" His voice was so persuasive, so impossible to resist.
I shook my head.
"If आप don't tell me, I'll just asume it's something much worse than it is," he threatened darkly. "Please?" Again, that pleading voice.
"Well," I began, glad that he couldn't see my face.
"Yes?"
"You कहा that Rosalie and Emmett will get married soon.... Is that... marriage... the same as it is for humans?"
He laughed in earnest now, understanding. "Is that what आप were getting at?"
I fidgeted, unable to answer.
"Yes, I suppose it is much the same," he said. "I told you, most of those human desires are there, just hidden behind और powerful desires."
"Oh, was all I could say.
"Was there a purpose behind your curiosity?"
"Well, I did wonder... about आप and me... someday..."
He was instantly serious, I could tell द्वारा the sudden stillness of his body. I froze, too, reacting automatically.
"I don't think that... that... would be possible for us."
"Because it would be too hard for you, if I were that... close?"
"That's certainly a problem. But that's not what I was thinking of. It's just that आप are so soft, so fragile. I have to mind my actions every moment that we're together so that I don't hurt you. I could kill आप quite easily, Bella, simply द्वारा accident." His voice had become just a soft murmur. He moved his icy palm to rest it on my cheek. "If I was too hasty... if आप one सेकंड I wasn't paying enough attention, I could reach out, meaning to touch your face, and crush your skull द्वारा mistake. आप don't realize how incredibly breakable आप are. I can never, never afford to lose any kind of control when I'm with you."
He waited for me to respond, growing anxious when I didn't. "Are आप scared?" he asked.
I waited for a मिनट to answer, so the words would be true. "No. I'm fine."
He seemed to deliberate for a moment. "I'm curious now, though," he sais, his voice light again. "Have you ever...?" He trailed off suggestively.
"Of course not." I flushed. "I told आप I've never felt like this about anyone before, not even close."
"I know. It's just that I know other people's thoughts. I know प्यार and lust don't always keep the same company."
"They do for me. Now, anyway, that they exist for me at all," I sighed.
"That's nice. We have one thing in common, at least." He sounded satisfied.
"Your human instincts...," I began. He waited. "Well, do आप find me attractive, in that way, at all?"
He laughed and lightly rumpled my nearly dry hair.
"I may not be a human, but I am a man," he assured me.
I yawned involuntarily.
"I've answered your questions, now आप should sleep." he insisted.
"I'm not sure if I can."
"Do आप want me to leave?"
"No!" I कहा too loudly.
He laughed, and then began to hum that same, unfamiliar lullaby; the voice of an archangel, soft in my ear.
और tired than I realized, exhausted from the long दिन of mental and emotional stress like I'd never felt before, I drifted to sleep in his cold arms.