Page 66 of Dark Princess Emerging

This time, Brandon was the one to clear his throat. "Amanda is coming over to conduct more tests."

"Right. Then I'll get to it tomorrow." Morelle rose to her feet. "Thank you, Sarah."

"Take some brochures." Sarah handed her a bunch. "I know you can't read them, but you can look at the pictures."

When they stepped outside into the sunshine, Kaia chuckled. "I didn't want to embarrass Sarah, but you can easily read thebrochures with the help of your laptop. I'll show you how when we get to the café."

As they continued to the house where the offices were located, Morelle noticed that Brandon's frown hadn't gone anywhere and had only gotten worse.

"What's wrong?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Do you need the algorithm to tell you whether we are a perfect match or not?"

The question was so unexpected that it made Morelle laugh, but she immediately regretted it when she saw the flash of hurt across his face. "Oh, Brandon, no! That's not why I wanted to fill out the questionnaire."

"Then why?"

"Because I want to try a Perfect Match adventure." She squeezed his hand. "I'll go solo if you don't want to share it with me. There seem to be endless possibilities, and I'm so excited to try out as many of them as I can."

His mouth twisted in a wince. "You want to do it all without me?"

Something in his tone made her feel uneasy. "Being a couple doesn't mean we have to do everything together or enjoy all the same things, right?" She shook her head, feeling like this was such an obvious thing that any reasonable adult should realize it. "You're supposed to be the experienced one. You should know that."

Kaia let out a small laugh. "Should I give you two some privacy for your first couple's spat?"

"We're not having a spat," Brandon protested. "It was just a misunderstanding."

"In what way?" Morelle arched an eyebrow at him. "To me, it seemed like you got upset because I wanted to try something on my own."

He let out a long breath. "I'm not upset. I just worry about you."

"Why? The machines are perfectly safe, right?" She looked to Kaia for confirmation.

"Completely safe," Kaia assured them. "And all experiences are carefully calibrated to each participant's comfort level. That's what the questionnaire is for."

Brandon's expression remained troubled. "It's not about safety, exactly. I know these things are supposed to be safe, but I don't like the idea of a machine taking over my mind and planting false memories in my brain. I don't understand why more people are not concerned about that. It's naive to put so much trust in those machines. I've just spent an hour listening to William explain how it was impossible to keep information clean of corruption. Do we really want to run the risk that the corruption will spread to our brains?"

Morelle sighed. "I might not understand much about it, but if thousands of people have tried it and nothing happened to them, I'm willing to risk it. You might be more risk-averse than I am, and that's fine. I will not force you to do anything you are not comfortable with."

He chuckled. "But you will do everything you can to coerce me out of my comfort zone."

"I might." She took his hand. "And you can stubbornly refuse to leave it, and I promise not to get angry."

Kaia cleared her throat. "This is sweet and all, but we should probably continue the tour if we want to make it to lunch before your Pilates session."

"Lead on. Unless..." She looked at Brandon. "Are we still having a spat?"

He cracked a smile. "It was not a spat."

"Just a misunderstanding. Got it." She stretched up to kiss his cheek. "Now, shall we see the rest of the operation?"

As they followed Kaia toward the second house, Morelle felt a surge of affection for Brandon. He might be centuries old, but in some ways, he was still learning too—learning to trust her judgment, to let her explore, and to accept that they would not always agree on everything.

39

BRANDON

Brandon's favorite spot in the village café was under the limbs of a massive oak tree that provided shade over the somewhat secluded table. He wasn't the only one who favored the spot, though, and he'd been lucky to have snagged it after escorting Morelle to her Pilates session.