“Don’t stop,” he whispered.
I had no intention of stopping. In fact, I was just getting started. I wasn’t exactly a novice in the bedroom, but neither was I an expert. And yet, I knew exactly how to pleasure him. The flick of my tongue, the whisper of my lips, and he was mine.
I could have sworn I felt the frost of Mariama’s breath on my neck, the chill of her touch against my hand, guiding me, as I slid to my knees before him. But when I glanced over my shoulder, it wasn’t her ghostly face I saw in the mirror. It was my own. Eyes gleaming, lips curled in a secret smile.
“Yes, look at yourself,” Devlin murmured, his gaze meeting mine in the mirror. “Look at what you’re doing to me.”
I rose slowly, sliding up his body, draping my arms around his neck, pulling his mouth down to mine.
He drew back, searching my face. “You’re different tonight.”
“Am I?”
“You’re glowing. It’s like you’ve tapped into something that’s been hidden inside you.”
“Or maybe I’m just…”
“What?”
But I didn’t have the courage to utter the words aloud. “Maybe I just want you,” I said.
His eyes flared. “Come here, then.”
The windows had fogged, cocooning us in hazy moonlight. If ghosts looked in on us, I didn’t see them. My focus had narrowed to Devlin and to the quivering heat that welled inside me.
We lay down on the bed and I rose over him. He grasped my hips to bring us together, and we began to move slowly as we found our rhythm.
Rising and falling like the tide of an ocean, I leaned forward to kiss him. His tongue met mine eagerly as he sat up and wrapped my legs around him. The shift created a new friction, a new pressure and I gasped as the first ripple of release caught me by surprise.
And then a wave swept me up and over, and I heard Devlin drawl my name as I closed my eyes and clung to him.
I woke up in an empty bed and went in search of Devlin. He was sitting on the terrace in the moonlight, eyes fixated on the swing as it moved slowly back and forth. He almost seemed mesmerized by the movement. I watched, too, captivated by the sway of Shani’s hair and the billow of her little blue dress as she pumped her legs.
Devlin didn’t look at me when I sat down beside him. His eyes remained on that swing.
“How long have you been out here?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Are you okay?”
“There’s no wind.” He turned to me, then, and my heart quickened at the look on his face. “There’s no wind.”
“I know.”
“Then tell me how,” he said in a hushed voice.
I reached over and took his hand, almost expecting him to pull away, but instead he clung to me. His skin was very cold. He’d been out in the night air for a long time.
“You know how,” I said softly. “You’ve felt those strange drafts in your house.”
He frowned. “It’s an old house.”
“You’ve felt the cold spots. You’ve probably experienced electrical fluctuations. Inexplicable sounds and scents.”
“It’s not possible!” I understood his anger. I was forcing him to confront something he’d wanted desperately to keep buried.
“They’re still here, John.”
He closed his eyes on a shudder.
“Shani’s in the swing. But you know that, don’t you? She’s wearing a little blue dress with a ribbon in her hair.”
Devlin stared at me in horror. “She was buried in a blue dress. How could you possibly have known that?”
“I can see her. I can see ghosts. I inherited the ability from my papa. Since the first night I met you on the Battery, Shani has been at your side. She’s been trying to tell you something, but you can’t hear her. You can’t see her.”
I swallowed hard past the lump in my throat. “Your guilt and grief have kept her earthbound, but it’s time for her to move on. You have to let her go.” I saw the sparkle of Shani’s ring in the grass, the same one I’d placed earlier on her grave. She must have left it there for me to find because she knew her father would need proof. I plucked it from the grass and placed it in his palm. “Is this not her ring?”
He stared down at the glittering garnet, then curled his fingers around it. “Where did you get this?”
“She brought it to me. It’s her way of communicating with me.”
He drew a ragged breath. “I gave her this ring for her birthday. It was on her finger when—”
“I know. But how else would I have come by it? Twice I’ve taken it to her grave and twice she’s brought it back to me.”
“It’s impossible,” he said again.
The motion of the swing stopped, and Shani was suddenly there at his side. She placed a ghostly hand on his cheek.
“You can feel her, can’t you? Concentrate.”
His eyes closed again and he lifted a hand to his face.
“Your fingers are touching her hand.”
His stoicism cracked then, and I heard an awful sound in his throat. “Shani…”
“She’s here, John. She’s always been here.”
Like a drowning man, he gulped in air. “I smell jasmine.”
“Yes. That’s her.”
Shani knelt and laid her head on John’s knee. His hand went automatically to his leg.
“What happened to her wasn’t your fault,” I said. “She wants you to know that.” Now was not the time to tell him what Mariama had done. His moment with Shani was too precious.
“I should have protected her.” The torment in his voice broke my heart. “I should have been there to save her.”
“It’s time to let go of the guilt. You have to let it go so that she can move on. But a part of her will always be here with you. She’ll always have a special place in your heart. She needs to know that you’ll be okay without her. She needs to know that it’s okay for her to go.”
He opened his hand, and Shani reached for the ring. The garnet sparked in the moonlight as she slipped it on her tiny finger. Devlin watched in wonder and amazement. He couldn’t see her, of course. But he could see the ring float up from his palm.
“Shani,” he whispered.
She took his hand and then reached for mine. I couldn’t help shivering at her icy touch.
“I’m scared,” she said.
“What are you afraid of?” I asked her.
“The bad man won’t let me go. He won’t let me leave the dark place. Will you help me?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, I promise.”
I left Devlin on the terrace. He needed to be alone and I needed to figure out how to find Shani. Darius had said that in order to help her, I’d have to cross over.
