It’s been well over two days and Charlie still can’t sleep. He doesn’t get it. Chamomile. Lavender. Cannabis seeds. Valerian root. Catnip. Nothing he makes brings sleep. It just makes him exhausted on top of the insomnia.

He’s already useless as a doctor, but a doctor without sleep is worse. Things poke him, prod him, and he’s so weak-willed right now. Eventually, his constant weeping gets a gruff sigh and a shove into Thandi.

“You’ve got potion for that, right, Thandi?”

“I should…Charlie? Come along now, darling.”

He stumbles after her, his wrist grasped tight. She sits him down in her bedroll, opening her bag and pulling out her signature silver flask. “This always helps me, Charlie. Vitani brews it herself!”

“I…that’s your medicine, Thandi…” She looks at him, dark rims under his eyes giving him a ghoulish appearance. He’s looking horrible. In fact…worse than he should be.

“Manifestus veneficium.“

“What are you looking at, Thandi?”

She shushes him, looking him over, and she sees it. A glittering thread, highlighted with her altered vision, mended into his vest. A curse given form. “There it is! You’ll be just fine, Charlie. Just like so…“

He watches her hand come toward him and he flinches. There’s a moment where it’s like she’s unraveling him, and then it’s gone. Thandi winds the thread between her fingers and holds it out to him. Charlie furrows his brows.

“Come now, you have to break the curse. Just sweep your hand through, darling.”

The thread is invisible to him, but he slices his hand through the air all the same. As soon as it’s broken, it’s like everything hits him all at once. Thandi catches him and eases him back to sleep on her bedroll. She straightens his hair with a small smile and lets him catch up.

Thandi is lustful.

She is lustful and she is damn proud of it.

Oh, for years she had been stifled and shielded from sexuality due in part to Vitani’s machinations and in part of her mother’s near-fanatical control of her beforehand. Thandi hadn’t had a clue what desire felt like, going through puberty and seemingly skipping what many considered a rite of passage. Why, the thought of sex had made her nervous and even a touch frightened.

“It will hurt at first,” her mother always said. “But you let your man finish and you get on with your day. It is an essential part of ensuring your husband is happy.”

Thandi had never thought to ask, but what about me?

Not until something trickled through when she met Charlie. He, too, kept a distance from sexuality— but he knew so much. He had lent her books that featured passionate, romantic scenes that would make a working girl blush, and he spoke with the same coarse language a peasant prided himself on. And somehow, the two inexperienced people came to wonder, mutually, what it might be like to kiss.

Granted, the blood was unexpected, but what struck Thandi was the feeling behind it. The incredible adoration that Charlie developed that made her warm in a way she never knew. Her curse kept their lips from touching, kept them from exploring, but it didn’t keep her from nestling into his arms and holding such an intimate gesture close.

And when she reunited with him, they swallowed each other whole with pent up need.

There was not a single painful moment in her experience. There was only the worship of her body, the birth of light and burst of foliage that made them laugh between hasty kisses and plentiful declarations.

Thandi is not ashamed to enjoy her lover. She isn’t ashamed to have her body loved thoroughly by him. She isn’t ashamed to fall into the depths of the lovemaking they do, slip into the mindspace of her old self to relive her liberation over and over and over.

She hungers for the physical expression of her love, the union of their bodies, the passionate closeness that he has brought into her life.

And really… it brings more satisfaction to her than pleasing Vitani ever did.

She’s so tight around him. They’re frozen, quiet, him twitching inside of her as they wait for the footsteps to fade. His nerves are being frayed, but at the same time, it’s exciting to be so close to being caught murdering propriety.

Thandi’s face slips from one of mortification to a sly smile.

The game is on.

Though he tries to keep a grasp on her hips, she rocks against him, biting her lip as she gives him the look. The one that haunts his best dreams, the one she shows only him, the one that shows how much she really desires. The look that pulls him back into a rhythm, trying desperately to steady his breath as they rut.

Gods…no, goddess…She rules him. Body and mind. It’s so close. He’s so close. Charlie throws his head back, stifling a moan as she picks up speed. Thandi always knows what she wants and how to get it. He’s just another part of that collection.

That’s right…he should be working to keep his spot in her ranking of importance. It’s not enough to simply be a distraction. He’s got to be as close to number one as he can get. She looks mirthful when she sees him smirk, a wicked grin spreading.

Thandi loves that look. It means he’s done being passive. And she’s about to get really fucked.

Charlie watches Thandi, the pressure in his chest rising with every breath. Every movement of hers is lovely. Every expression. Every small detail. He feels her through the bracelet and it’s heaven. The beat of her pulse and the warmth of her body pressed to his, even degrees removed, is a comfort he never thought he would enjoy.

The bracelet squeezes gently as his heart rushes, wasting precious heartbeats on his adoration. Thandi looks up at Charlie and smiles. There’s some relief to the pain.

Thandi watches his face light up, inner coil moving against her wrist. It never lets her forget. A giggle bursts out of her as she smiles broader, seeing his goofy, crooked smile in return. What a gorgeous man he is.

Charlie is giddy. No one knows what they did, and his seed is still inside of her. He can’t stop smirking at the backward glances Thandi gives him. Both of them share this secret excitement, knowing she’s filled with him.

Her small giggle is wonderful as she blushes at him. She feels the bracelet twine and stroke at her wrist, tightening possessively. She gives it a peck to calm his excitement, but instead rouses him more.

The two hook pinkies as they walk, bumping hips and brushing fingers. Being so close. Being so loved. And knowing that he’s left his mark in her…what a thrill. He can’t wait to do it again. And again. And again.

She sees him as he rushes past, grabbing his arm. “Hold on. Look at you! You want to go in looking like that?”

“Like what?”

He’s a mess after staying overnight in the lab. His hair is askew and his collar is rumpled. His tie…oh, his tie. She knows he’s playing ignorant. No one but her ever sees him like this. He just likes to be preened.

So she smiles at him and straightens his collar, fixes his tie, and runs her fingers through his hair. It earns her a contented sigh and that cute little smile that she’s certain is only for her. He leans forward slightly, and there’s a moment where she thinks he might kiss her.

But he restrains himself yet again, nods his head as he murmurs a thank-you-very-much, and dashes out of the room.

The love of such a small gesture makes his heart race, and she’s so lovely. So wonderful. He’s tempted to stay in the office again overnight for another preen, but honestly, one could only be a mess so many times in a row. Shame.