Elise woke with a man wrapped around her. She smiled, winced at the tenderness of her mouth, tried to move, and discovered she was tender in other areas as well. She glanced at Sterling. He looked almost boyish in sleep. Very much the innocent. She frowned, recalling last night when she hadn't thought him innocent-looking, when she hadn't even thought he looked like Sterling.
Memories of warm bodies moving against each other merged with those terrifying moments when she realized the cobra had crawled into her cot. Elise had no doubt now that the rumors surrounding Mora were true. She would unleash her snakes upon a woman if she fought for the same man's favor.
Sterling would confront the woman, but Elise felt it was her place, not his. If she planned to live a life of adventure with Sterling and the traveling troupe, Elise must learn to stand up for herself. She eased her body from beneath Sterling, careful to be quiet while she quickly prepared for the day.
The group had already gathered around the breakfast fire. Elise marched up to them and narrowed her gaze upon Mora.
"The next time you unleash one of your snakes inside my wagon, I'll chop off its head with a butcher knife! Then, I'll come after you."
Mora rose from her crouched position. "I do not know what you are speaking of, but I do not like being threatened, or accused of something that I did not do."
"Where is your cobra?" Elise demanded.
The snake charmer shrugged. "He must have gotten out at some time last night. I no longer have the snake."
"What is going on here?" Philip asked, stepping between them. "I settle disputes among the players."
"She turned her snake loose inside of my wagon," Elise informed Philip. "If Sterling hadn't come in and thrown it outside, I would most likely be dead."
The caravan leader frowned. "Did you do this, Mora?"
"It is her word against mine," Mora challenged. "The Beast Tamer would say anything she tells him to say. She has cast a spell over him."
Philip said, "No, Sterling is good for his word. Fetch him, Elise. I want his confirmation of your accusations."
Elise stood her ground. "It is my word that I ask you to trust, Philip. I danced last night to earn my way, will continue to dance. I ask you to accept me as one of your troupe, and judge me as a separate person from Sterling."
"Elise wouldn't lie," Dawn cut in. "She's my friend. If she says Mora tried to kill her, then it's true."
Elise smiled fondly at the girl, then turned her attention back to Philip.
He scratched his head and eyed Mora suspiciously. "You have never fit in among us, Mora. You keep your secrets and your company mostly to yourself. We are a family, and family do not try to kill one another."
The snake charmer hissed at him. Hissed like a snake, which made the hairs on Elise's arms stand on end. "She has cast a spell over all of you. It is her you should send away! If she is gone, I will have the Beast Tamer as my man."
"Which I'm sure was your intent when you slipped your cobra inside of her wagon last night." Philip glared down at Mora. "Get your things and be gone. I will not have one among us as cold-blooded as her snakes."
Again Mora hissed at them all, making more than Elise shudder in the early-morning chill. She cast Elise a threatening glance, then stalked from the fire.
"Thank you, Philip," Elise said. "Thank you for trusting my word."
"Never did care for her," he muttered.
"Good riddance to bad rubbish, I say," Sarah Dobbs joined in.
"Figured if I didn't keep an eye on my Dawn, she'd try feeding my girl to one of her snakes," Iris chimed in.
Sterling chose that moment to exit the wagon and join them. Elise caught his eye and felt a blush of pleasure run the entire length of her body. He turned to Philip.
"I want Mora banished from the troupe," he demanded.
"You're too late," Sarah said with a laugh. "Your woman has already sent the wench packing."
Elise smiled at Sterling and he smiled back, pride shining in his eyes, but only for a moment. Then it was as if a curtain fell over his features, blotting out all emotion. "I need to see to my cats."
And he walked away from her - left her as if nothing wonderful and magical had happened between them last night. Emotion closed her throat, threatened to send tears streaming down her cheeks. Elise wouldn't embarrass herself in front of the troupe members. Without a word, she hurried back toward the wagon.
Sterling had managed to avoid Elise throughout most of the day. He couldn't avoid her forever, and he couldn't avoid what was happening to him. He stared at the hand he'd unwrapped a while earlier. There was no scratch. It had disappeared. How could that be possible? Only one way he knew of - it had begun. The curse was upon him. He'd given his heart for his humanity.
But maybe it was better to have loved once and lost everything than to have continued his life as it had been for the past ten years. Hiding from the truth, hoping to hide from the inevitable. Elise bravely displayed her own emotions. She wore her love plainly for all to see. But that would change. His change would kill all the love she felt for him. She'd be as terrified of him as she was of the cobra last night. More so, because he was an unnatural being. A thing she would not be able to understand or accept.
There was nothing to do now but wait... and he did wait, out in the forest until darkness had almost fallen; then he moved toward his wagon. He must tell Elise that he was leaving the caravan, and he must try to explain why.
Elise had already retired, but she'd left the lantern burning. She turned to look at him when he entered. Her cheeks were stained with teardrops. His heart twisted at the sight.
"I am a fool," she said softly. "I thought I had grown up, but I am still a child. I thought that because I love you, you must love me in return. I thought that last night meant as much to you as it did to me."
Her honesty never failed to amaze him and endear her more to him. It also made him feel all the worse for deceiving her. She would never keep secrets from him; this he knew about her. Elise wasn't capable of lying. Shamed, Sterling went to her, settling beside her upon the cot.
"I do love you, Elise." He gently wiped a tear from her cheek. "I have tried not to, but I have failed. I have shielded my heart for the past ten years, and yet you came into my life and, in the space of moments, crashed through all the barriers I had erected around myself. You will cost me my humanity, but you were worth it. Every moment spent with you will be worth the lifetime of loneliness I am forced to endure."
"You love me?" she whispered, and he realized she hadn't heard anything else he'd told her. "You honestly love me?"
"Yes," he answered. "But - "
She sat and threw her arms around him. "Oh, Sterling. You will not be alone. I want to stay with you always, be a part of your life, be a part of this life. The troupe members and you are the family I have longed for. My aunt will surely understand, and I will have the adventurous life I've secretly dreamed of. I - "
"Elise." Sterling felt a lump form in his throat. What a wonderful picture she painted, if only it could be. "You are not listening to me. We cannot be together. We are not suited for one another. There are things about me - "
"Don't." She placed her fingers against his lips. "Don't spoil my happiness with talk of social positions and a past that I care nothing about. Give me another night to simply be loved by you. Tomorrow is soon enough to discuss realities."
Was one more night with her too much to ask for all that he must sacrifice? His question was answered when she pulled his lips to hers, offering him his heart's desire. To be only a man in her eyes for a while longer. Sterling lowered her to the cot. He took what she offered, and took it greedily. He savored every human emotion she stirred within him, and later, while she slept, he slipped outside to berate himself for being a coward.
The moon hung full in the sky. Sterling stared, mesmerized by the glowing sphere. Stark loneliness rose up inside of him, and for a moment, he felt tempted to throw back his head and howl. The snap of a branch alerted him to another presence. He sniffed, strangely capable of identifying the intruder as Sarah Dobbs. She came upon him a moment later.
"Sterling." She placed a hand to her heart "Gave me a fright. Thought everyone was abed. Couldn't sleep myself, so I took a short walk, which sometimes helps. What..." Her voice trailed off. The fortune-teller's eyes squinted at him through the darkness. Her face paled.
"What is wrong?" he asked, but his voice sounded strange. Garbled and deep.
Sarah opened her mouth and screamed. The woman kept screaming until he heard the sounds of the troupe members hurriedly fumbling inside of their wagons. Elise stumbled outside, clutching a blanket around her nakedness.
"What's happening?" she breathed, staring at Sarah Dobbs. Elise turned to look at Sterling and stumbled back a step. "Good Lord," she whispered. "Your face."
Sterling lifted his hands to his face. He felt tufts of thick hair covering his cheeks. He ran his fingers over his teeth. They were long and sharp. Pain ripped through him, and he doubled over.
"Sterling!" Elise cried, and she was there a moment later, touching him.
He jerked from her grasp. "Don't come close to me!" he warned. "It's the curse. My family curse. To give my heart, I must sacrifice my humanity."
"You're talking nonsense," she insisted. "Let me help you."
"You can't help me!" he shouted, and another pain ripped through him, sending him to his knees. The other troupe members were now gathered around him, their eyes wide and their mouths hanging open. "I should have told you," he rasped. "Forgive me, Elise. I only wanted to love you, to be yours and have you for mine for a short time. Our time is over."
"No!" she cried again, and took a step toward him. "Sterling, allow me to help you. You're obviously sick with some disease."
When he held up a hand to warn her away, he saw that the hair had now spread to his hands. His fingers were bent and misshapen. "This is a Wulf's curse, Elise. Wulf is my family name. This is what I have been running from since I first saw it take my father ten years ago. The witch who cursed us took perverse pleasure in turning all Wulf males into our namesake. She loved one of my forefathers, but he would not acknowledge their love. He married a woman suitable to his station instead, and as punishment, the witch cursed him with this affliction, cursed all males of his bloodline, then and future generations."