The evening passed in an exchange of kisses and caresses.
Grace basked in his touch. Each pluck of a nipple, each love bite, each stroke of his tongue over her most sensitive flesh brought a more intense wave of heat and longing. She reached to share in giving pleasure, but Luc held her back. “Later, my love. For now, allow me to worship you as you deserve.
The words melted her heart, and she opened to him body and soul.
He stroked, stirring every nerve and sinew to fever pitch.
“Please, now, please,” she begged fixing her gaze on his.
“As my love commands,”
He filled her body. His passion filled her heart, beyond her ability to hold, and she soared to the heavens.
She dozed content and secure in Luc’s arms and finally slept.
***
A long while later, Luc woke. His beloved still slumbered at his side. He’d slept for the second time. Wonderful as it was to wake next to Grace, he worried at the changes in his cursed state. His life had been constant for nine decades, what caused the changes now?
Would they last?
Would he become completely human?
That would mean Grace—or perhaps Grainne—had broken his curse, but neither woman was heartless. He left his love to sleep, dressed, and went to the desk.
If anything, Grace had too much heart. Luc had seen her kindness to her workers, to a strange old lady—Mambo Ayezan—to his disloyal cat who would not become her friend and a pair of dogs she’d never asked for.
He’d watched her labor to makeSweet Dreamsa home. Watched her fight for it, for what she wanted, even when she was most afraid—first with him, then Guidry. Yes, she’d run from Boston and those troubles, but she was a long way from there and then.
So much had changed, for both of them.
In the past few months, she’d fought for what she wanted, in the face of all the odd fear-prompting events that had gone on atSweet Dreams. Some of those events he had caused. Luc had no regrets. What he’d done, he’d done for so many reasons, none of them malicious. The upshot of it all was that Grace Thibodaux was no heartless woman. Neither had Grainne lacked heart. She’d loved him, despite her refusal to marry. Hadn’t she come to find him when her marriage ended and her family no longer needed her to sacrifice herself for them?
What had happened to Grainne?
He’d not find the answer to that question in his log book.
Nonetheless, the book contained information that might offer clues. Luc opened the book to his earlier spot and continued reading. He was looking for dates, yes, and other answers. Answers to the questions he had about his curse and the changes he could not explain. The ability to sleep, and today being corporeal with neither the full moon nor theOnly Loveto ground him. He found them, or rather hints of the causes in the entry dated, 25 January 1815, a month after his curse had begun.
Life, if I can call it that, has settled, he read. Those early days after Mawu cursed me were a jumble of confusion and uncertainty. In the first moments when the curse took effect, I was weak. My body felt torn in two—I pity men who in the past were drawn and quartered, and wonder if my pain is half as terrible as theirs. I hurt so badly I had to crawl back to my bed. I could not even find the strength to search for Grainne. She had vanished, leaving no trace. All night on 9 December, and much of the following day I lay in mybed. Bound there by debilitating pain and weakness. Caleb sat in the chair next to my bed tending me.
By afternoon, I had regained some strength. Cal helped me dress, then I went above to have a meal and speak with both my brother, and my first mate.
I ordered Alfeo to dismiss the men, give them any pay owed. I gave him all the money and treasure I had. I wasn’t going to need it. I knew that much. Told him to buy his own ship. He tried to refuse, but he’d seen as many strange things as I had. He knew how real a curse could be. I informed them both that I would vanish before the next morning.
Caleb believed I was joking.
Alfeo knew better and left. He said he did not want to watch me fade away into nothing.
Cal thought him silly and stayed. My brother and I remained on deck watching the night pass, drinking rum. Cal was nearly asleep when I spoke my last words to him that night.
“I love you very much, brother,” I said as the breeze rose. I vanished as it blew. I could see Cal, this ship, the surrounding bayou. I could hear water slap against the hull, birds, other creatures. I could smell the scents of the day. I could even smell the rum on Caleb’s breath. But I could see nothing of myself, and I could feel nothing of my surroundings.
Cal woke and searched for me. Still denying what I knew to be true, he left, angry with me for ‘playing jokes’ as he thought of it. I left the message for Alfeo to bring Cal back on the night of the full moon.
In the days before Caleb returned, I tested my abilities, the length, breadth and depth of what my cursed body could and could not do. Every day was different in some way, and I did not understand until now. Now I am certain that the differences are caused by the moon’s sway. The first week or so of cursed life had been very mixed up with the ability to be corporeal or ephemeral, seemingly at random. That was a time of adjustment, of my body learning how to exist in two worlds while ruled by an outside force, the moon….
***
