“I don’t understand.” She clutched the pendant. “Do you think something is wrong with it?”
“No. I was curious about what butterflies meant in the Victorian era.”
“And did they tell you?”
“The salesgirl didn’t know, but the owner did. To the Victorians, the butterfly symbolized the soul.” He frowned so hard he feared his forehead might crack. “In fact, the owner told me what that specific piece means.”
Still clutching the necklace, she waited for him to expound.
He continued by saying, “The arrow is associated with Cupid, so, basically, the pendant means that love captured the giver’s soul.” His voice went shaky. He could hear it rattling from his chest. “
My soul,
since I’m the one who gave it to you.”
Kendra didn’t respond, but she gazed at him in a way that made him feel worse. His distress was obvious, and he suspected that she didn’t know how she was supposed to react.
After a beat of uncomfortable silence, she asked, “Do you want the necklace back? Do you want to return it to the store?”
“No, of course not. I wouldn’t take a gift away from you.” Nor could he bear the thought of her not wearing it. “Do you think Marie’s daughter did this?”
“Did what?”
“Drew me to the pendant and willed me to buy it for you.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “What if dismantling the dungeon doesn’t break the spell? What if the magic is too strong for that? Or what if I freak out after you’re gone?”
She exhaled an audible breath, the sound soft and vulnerable. “Maybe you shouldn’t let me go.”
James resisted the urge to pace. “Don’t tempt me to make this permanent, Kendra.”
She lifted her chin. “Why not?”
Yes,
a voice inside him asked ...
why not?
“Because it scares me.” He actually felt as if his soul had been captured. Taken hostage by a butterfly. He’d pinned her to his wheel, and now he was being pinned to hers.
“The way I feel scares me, too. But if you asked me to stay, I would. I’d transfer to New Orleans and be with you.” She clutched a half-folded garment against her chest. “I love you, James.”
Oh, God, he thought. Everlasting love. Everlasting voodoo. Everlasting everything.
“It’s a spell,” he said, still fighting the feeling.
“No, it isn’t. What’s happening is real. Marie’s daughter just helped us along.”
He imagined making her his lifelong lover. He even envisioned her being his wife, like the day she’d been watching the wedding movie. “Our life together would be crazy. We’d never stop touching each other.”
“That would be okay with me. I’d let you touch me day and night.”
He wanted to put his hands all over her now. But he wanted to give her his heart, too. To show her how hard it was beating.
He reached out, and she came toward him. When she fell into his embrace, he buried his face in her hair.
“Will you stay?” he asked, even if he already knew the answer.
“For an eternity,” she responded, pressing closer to him.
“Will you come upstairs with me?” He wanted to seal their fate, and he wanted to do it in the dungeon, a place he was no longer going to dismantle.
She went willingly, and he knew he was making the right decision. This was his destiny. Her destiny. The world they were meant to share.
Once they were inside the secret room, he unbuttoned her blouse and slipped off her skirt until it pooled around her feet. He got rid of her bra and panties, making her beautifully bare.
Lost in the feeling, he led her to the bondage wheel and strapped her onto it. When she was secure, when he could look directly into her eyes, he said, “I love you, too.”
Sweet and tender, she smiled, making him glad, so very glad, that they belonged to each other.
Later
that day, Kendra and James went to a coin shop, then to the
Jaillissement de Plaisir.
For Kendra, it was a poignant moment. They’d brought special coins to toss into the water, not to make a wish, but to thank Marie’s daughter for bringing them together.
James said it was going to be a voodoo offering, as he seemed certain that the younger queen would appreciate the coins they’d chosen, one representing the year of her birth and another one that was minted in the year she’d died.
As they walked through the garden, Kendra inhaled the floral scent. They reached the base of the fountain, and she gazed at the three muses.
“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” she said, aware that this was James’s first time seeing them.
“They’re more than beautiful.” He steeped closer to the fountain. “They’re mesmerizing.”
She stood quietly, letting him absorb the feeling. Then she looked across the courtyard, where a brick wall stood. Beyond it were a series of balconies that lorded over the garden. “Is that the
maison?”
He followed her line of sight. “Yes, that’s it.”
“It actually seems kind of sexy.” Now that she knew what it was.
“Everything is sexy when we’re together.” He turned to look at her. “I’d make love to you right here, right now, if I could.”
She melted inside. “I’ll bet the muses would like that.”
“Marie’s daughter, too.” He leaned forward to kiss her, to put his mouth against hers.
It was a light touch, a gentle kiss, but it was highly sensual, too. Their bodies brushed in the most provocative way.
A moment later, they faced the fountain once again, but the feeling of togetherness remained.
She gazed at the
jaillissement de Plaisir,
then studied the inscription on it:
Tout quoi vous voulez.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“All that you wish.”
She had all that she wished, all that she’d dreamed.
“Ready?” he asked, removing the coins from his pocket.
She nodded, and he gave her one of them. Although neither was rare, they held emotional value.
They tossed them at the same time, and the coins spun before hitting the water. As they plunked to the bottom, a small breeze blew. Proof, Kendra thought, that magic was in the air, and that it belonged to her and James.
Always and forever.