Chapter 5
Chapter
Five
If that was okay with him?
Sven was completely stunned, but he wanted to shout YES.
Only, he was still approaching this situation with caution.
When the séance happened, this is what he hoped would happen next.
Still, he wasn’t going to rush anything, but having her lie next to him was a positive step into healing everything. Plus, he could keep an eye on her.
When they were together, before she had been cursed, they hadn’t been intimate.
They’d kissed, but it was chaste because it was a different time.
Flo wanted to wait until marriage and he’d respected that.
The night they were going to run away together, that was the night everything was going to change for the both of them.
Before her, it had been a long time since he’d been with anyone, and so now it had been even longer. And it didn’t matter. He’d wait forever for her, even if his body was burning with need.
“Of course it’s all right if you sleep in here,” he responded.
She nodded, her lips pressed together firmly as she floated over to his bed and then gently lay down on top of the covers. Sven followed suit. Usually, he liked to sleep naked, though he didn’t wander around nude like his brother did.
Tonight, he was perfectly fine sleeping on top of the covers in his clothes, as long as it was next to Flo. Lying on the bed next to her, he held himself completely straight, like a board, because he didn’t want to scare her.
“Thank you,” she whispered in the dark, and then she rolled onto her side, tucking her hands under her head. “I know this must be uncomfortable for you…”
“I don’t care, Flo. I’m just glad you’re here with me. You’re not lost anymore.”
She smiled at him sweetly. “I want to remember. I truly do. I hate that it’s gone and I hate that it was getting worse.”
Sven leaned over and touched her face, and she closed her eyes. “I’ll help you remember me. I don’t care how long it takes.”
“You don’t?”
“Immortal, remember?”
She laughed softly and nodded. “Would you hold me?”
“I would like that.” He slid over to the middle and she curled up against his chest before he wrapped his arms around her.
“Oh,” she murmured.
“What?”
“You don’t have a heartbeat either.”
“Ghoul.”
“I think I do remember that about you.”
“Although, Magnus’ heartbeat returned when his curse was broken.”
Flo didn’t say anything further, and as he glanced down, he could see she was asleep, or resting the way the cursed and undead usually rested.
Even though he was tired himself, he really didn’t want to close his eyes and miss this moment with her because he was afraid that if he went to sleep, he’d wake up and she’d be gone.
He was afraid this was all just a dream waiting to end, like so many times before.
Sven had literally slept like the dead. His head hurt a bit, as if he were hungover. As he rubbed his eyes, he remembered everything and reached out beside him, only Flo wasn’t there. He flicked on the lamp to find a big, ruddy face hovering over him.
“Odin’s testicles,” he shouted, scrambling to sit up in the bed.
“Good morning!” Erickson shouted happily. “Have you had enough time to process what happened to you?”
“No,” Sven growled, willing his body to relax. “Where’s Flo?”
“The revenant? I do not know. She wasn’t in here when I came in. I made sure of it,” Erickson responded proudly, puffing out his chest.
Sven groaned and slid off the bed, rubbing his temples. “Erickson, were you always this loud in the morning?”
“Always, my friend. You were just delicate. I was hardy,” Erickson barked with laughter.
“Is that why the cougar ate you?” Sven snapped.
Erickson frowned. “I can see you need time to wake up. I will leave and later, I will regale you with tales of my existence here.”
Erickson turned into a ball of blue light and rocketed from the room.
Sven just groaned and got up. He hoped Flo hadn’t been scared off, but then he heard clanking from her room.
Just a small clink. He made his way over to the door, which was closed, but that didn’t matter.
He just glided through like she would’ve done.
She was sitting at her vanity and opening the various pots.
They weren’t hers, but he’d found them in an antique store and they reminded him of her old ones.
He was relieved she hadn’t rushed back off to her secret hiding place, because after seeing the state of it, he didn’t want her to ever go back there.
Her place was with him, so he could keep her safe.
“What were these for?” Flo asked, examining each one.
“You kept cosmetics in them, hair pins, things like that,” Sven responded.
“I see.” Flo set a lid down and then spun around on the stool where she sat. “Not that it will do me much good now. I’m sort of stuck wearing this.”
“Have you tried to change?” he asked. “Like when you’re solid? You’re not a ghost, so I don’t think you’re really bound to their rules. Revenants are different.”
Her green eyes widened. “No, I suppose I really haven’t. The ghosts can’t change or do much like that, so I just assumed I couldn’t either, but you’re right. I’m not a ghost and perhaps I’m not bound by their rules.”
“Would you like to try? I don’t have any clothes for you, but you could try taking off your gloves.”
Flo stared down at her gloved hands. She pulled on the fingertips and the satin glove came off. The moment she dropped it to the floor, it withered and aged. Since it was no longer connected to her, it aged instantly the moment it left her body. Flo gasped.
Sven’s stomach twisted in a knot. “That’s…interesting.”
He didn’t think that it was a good sign at all.
“I’ll say,” she whispered. “I suppose I should dispose of the other one because what’s the use of having one white glove?”
“Right.” Sven chuckled. “You’re not the king of pop.”
Flo cocked an eyebrow. “The king of what?”
“Remind me to introduce you to some modern music later.”
She smiled shyly. “You know, I never liked wearing gloves.”
“Is that from a memory?”
“A feeling?” she said cautiously. “Did I tell you that in the past?”
Sven nodded. “You did, but you also were quite fashionable. It’s why I bought you that dress you’re wearing.”
Flo looked down at her golden dress with the fringe and ran her bare fingers over the fabric. His body reacted, watching her touch herself, and he wished he could be the one touching her now.
Take it slow. She’s trusting you. Don’t rush this.
“I do like this dress. I guess it’s not in fashion anymore.”
“I suppose not, but no one but me and Mercedes can see you.”
Flo nodded. “I would hate for it to rot away like the glove did.”
“We have all the time in the world. Remember, immortal. I guess we both are.”
She pulled off the other glove, dropping it, where it did the same as the other one. “Right. I wonder what else I can do?”
Sven rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, we know you can read books and you sleep. Have you tried eating anything?”
Flo frowned and cocked her head to one side. “No. I guess it never occurred to me.”
“How about we go down to the kitchen and I’ll get Magnus to make you some breakfast. Would you like that?”
She nodded. “Sure. Although, it’ll just give the ghosts more fodder to be angry with me or distrust me.”
“Why would they be angry with you?”
She shrugged. “Well, maybe not angry. Jealous or mistrusting. They keep their distance from me.”
“Ah, well you can’t help what you are.”
“True.” Flo rose. “Let’s go try.”
Just as they were about to float out of her bedroom, there was a slam and a whirr as the door flung open and a vacuum with a mind of its own came in. Flo startled and clutched his arm.
“Oh, drat. I forgot Mercedes did something to these appliances.”
The vacuum, Vlad the Inhaler Jr., ignored them as it made its rounds through the room.
It tried to suck up one of the satin gloves, but then there was horrible grinding sound and then a puff of black smoke and dust. Vlad Junior’s light went out and he remained there, frozen, with half an old rotted glove hanging out of its beater bar like a tongue.
Sven groaned. “Great. This is why enchanted appliances are never a good idea.”
“Do we leave it?” Flo asked, staring at the appliance with apprehension.
“Yes. We’ll tell Mercedes about it. Figures the appliance she magics explodes.”
“Why is that?”
“Have you never seen her explode things around here?”
A slow grin crept onto Flo’s face. “Oh right. I have. Pillows, the washing machine and dryer, which are enchanted too, so it wasn’t completely her fault.”
“Yes, Tumbledore. But Vlad Junior here is all her,” Sven groused.
Flo laughed lightly. “I don’t know why I was so scared of it before. I don’t feel so nervous about it now.”
Sven brought her hand up to his lips and kissed her bare knuckle gently. “Good. You have nothing to fear around me. I hope you know that.”
“I do,” she whispered, pink staining her pale cheeks. “You’ve always made me feel safe, even if I don’t exactly remember why.”
“And that doesn’t matter now.” He gently ran his fingers over her face. “None of it matters. You’re here and so am I. We’re together. That’s the only thing that matters.”
“What if I never remember you? What if your curse or mine is never broken?”
Sven shrugged. “As long as we’re together, I’ll be here to take care of you. Forever.”
And he meant it.
As much as he’d like his curse to end, all that mattered was not losing Flo. He’d do everything in his power to help her recall her past, but if he had to woo her all over again, he was willing to do that too. Just as long as he didn’t lose her again.
They made their way down to the kitchen, floating through the walls with ease. Magnus was working away because the Sullivans were going to be checking out and they were waiting on their last breakfast at the dead-and-breakfast. He was singing an old Viking song loudly.