They sat in silence a long while as Maliah kept sneaking peeks at him. She was currently trying to figure out how old he was. He looked to be anywhere from late 20’s to early 30’s if she had to guess but given that he was a Death Prince, did they age like mortals?

Eventually she came out and asked, “How old are you?”

Abioye looked at her then, “How old?”

Maliah nodded and Abioye went silent for a moment, “I’m not sure. After millennia you tend to lose count.”

Maliah sat stunned at this, “Millennia? You are millennia years old?”

Abioye nodded and took a sip of his tea as Maliah went slack jawed. However she eventually leaned forward, “Okay, but give me a rough estimate of time when you were born.”

Abioye pursed his lips and sat back with folded arms. He stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before he finally answered, “I don’t remember. I was born before the rise of the 1st Pharaohs.”

Maliah gaped at him, “The first Pharaohs….of Egypt?”

“Those are the only Pharaohs there are.” snorted Abioye.

Maliah sat slack jawed for a long moment. She heard the words that he was millennia years old but still her mind couldn’t even grasp it.

“1st brother and 2nd sister, saw the 1st Earth, so yeah.”

Maliah twitched once, “1st Earth? What’s that?”

Abioye looked at her a moment before waving his hand once, “Ahh, I forgot. Mortals don’t even realize there was a world before this Earth that was destroyed.”

Maliah leaned forward, “Really?” she realized that she could hear something that few ever got to hear, “What was it like?”

Abioye smirked, “I don’t know. I was just a baby and more than that mortals lost the right to know about such things.”

Maliah pouted as Abioye added, “Baba was born before Time began and after the Sky was lifted.”

Maliah shook her head after a moment before snapping out of it, “So you’re immortal?”

Abioye took a sip of his tea, “Yes, you could say that. Though….we can die, in a manner of speaking.” His eyes took on a faraway look before he shook himself.

Maliah thought it wise not to linger sensing a kind of pain, “You have siblings, you said?”

Abioye nodded, “Five siblings. An older brother and sister. Then me. You met Ayinde, who is the 4th child and then the twins Ayana and Ajani who are babies, having been born in the 1600s.”

Maliah nodded, “How old is Ayinde?”

Abioye tapped a finger on his cup, “I remember his mother taking him back to West Africa where she came from and we didn’t see him until he was a teenager. So, I think it was during the time that the Kingdom of Benin was first beginning in the 900’s.”

Maliah nodded and then suddenly backtracked, “Wait, you said his mother?”

Abioye nodded, “Yes. My older brother, sister and I aren’t mortals at all. Our mother was a goddess who….died.” Maliah heard the slight tremble in his voice before he shook it, “4th brother and the twins are half mortals. Their mother was a princess from a tribe in West Africa. She was sacrificed for her people and when our father met her his heart was softened.”

Maliah thought she heard a tone of derision over the word ‘soften’ but said nothing about it. Instead she took a sip of her tea creating a lull in the conversation. Abioye reached over and picked up his teacup before blowing and taking a sip.

“How many of your siblings found mates?” Maliah asked after a moment of silence.

Abioye looked at her, “Ayinde and the twins got married to humans.”

“They have a contract too?” she asked.

Abioye frowned and shook his head, making Maliah almost spit her tea out, “Wait, why not?”

“The three of them met and fell in love and chose their respective mates. Baba never left contracts for them. He left them only for my siblings and I.”

Maliah was stunned, “Why?”

Abioye snorted, “Who knows the mind of the Death King? You would think after everything that has happened with our dealing with mortals that he would be wise enough not to force us to have one. It’s sickening.”

Maliah really couldn’t help but to ask then, “What happened during your dealings?”

However at Abioye fierce glare, Maliah qualled and looked away. She drank the last of her cup and stood up to put it into the sink to break the tension.

Abioye glanced out the window as the sun was starting to disappear, “Perhaps it’s time to see if this spirit nurturing has taken effect.”

Maliah nodded as Abioye came over and put his cup in the sink. She followed him to the door as he got his shoes and slipped them on.

“How will you know if it works?” she asked curiously.

“We are pre-bonded. We can both feel it.”

“You felt something too?”

Abioye didn’t answer but instead he said, “If I don’t return, thank you for tea.”

And without preamble Maliah watched as within a space of a blink he was gone.

Five minutes later and Maliah hadn’t felt any jolts.

Guess it worked then.