Sixth Meeting
1540 Words
“I must say, I was surprised that you wanted to go to Paris so much,” Lucian observed the next morning.
Genevieve frowned at him. It hadn’t been an easy night of sleep thanks to a storm the steamer had hit at some point. She hadn’t been able to sleep much with all the rocking around so she wasn’t feeling in the mood for his teasing.
“Why is that?”
Lucian didn’t give a clear reply.
“Especially with me of all people.”
“Just answer the question,” she said and stabbed her fork into the egg.
Lucian flinched and made a very quick recovery for a teasing remark.
“Paris is known as a place for lovers…” he winked.
Genevieve didn’t feel like replying to that. She had read that piece of information and hadn’t taken it on as a serious fact as she didn’t class herself as being in love with anyone.
“It is lovely to know you wanted to come to such a place with me. The last time I came here I was single.”
Genevieve carried on eating. The only reason she was able to eat without throwing up was because her leg was touching Lucian’s under the table. That was also why she hadn’t kicked him yet.
“Why aren’t you replying?”
She took a look around at the restaurant again. It was full of couples that looked happy and in love with each other. She wanted to be like that. Instead she was stuck with a demon that put on a show and it was feeling increasingly hollow.
“You are really annoying me.”
He took the hint and didn’t speak until breakfast had finished. It seemed that he could now differentiate when she was really mad and when she was minorly annoyed.
“What should we do next?”
“I want to watch the sea for a bit.”
Lucian took her hand and they walked up the deck and looked over the rail at the water.
Genevieve found she did enjoy the sea breeze. She could understand why doctors recommended it as a remedy. The disadvantage was that she was getting a little chilly. The only warm part of her was her hand which was touching Lucian.
She shivered and Lucian instantly took off his coat.
“You are freezing, let’s go in.”
She let him put it round her and she shivered again despite the extra layer. Lucian sighed and put his arms around her from behind. Immediately she felt like she had been engulfed in wonderfully warm waterfall of water.
“Is that better?” he asked.
“Much better,” she replied and looked out at the waves again. She felt rather majestic standing on the upper deck of a ship on a cold day watching the waves. They stayed there for a while until other people started to appear on the deck.
“I think we need to go. It looks odd that I am not wearing a coat,” Lucian said softly after another couple gave them strange looks.
He withdrew his arms and the comfortable warmth retreated with him. Genevieve pouted and remembered that she didn’t actually like him.. She took off his coat and handed it back to him.
“Thank you for keeping me warm,” she said.“Let’s get back to the cabin.”
Her stomach started to turn over and she hurriedly grabbed his hand for skin contact. His hand was warm and she smiled without meaning to.
“I will order some tea for you to warm you up,” he told her. “Let’s visit the onboard library after a refreshment.”
Genevieve found that plan agreeable. She wouldn’t mind a hot beverage and they hadn’t had an opportunity to properly explore the steamer yet.
“That would be a nice date.”
“I will look forward to it,” Lucian said with a grin.
***
The rest of the day passed by very pleasantly. The lunch was delicious and well made. Genevieve for her love of English cuisine, was finding that the French dishes available were equally as nice and she had been finding the food at the manor monotonous to a degree.
Their tour of the library and the rest of the boat had been enjoyable. Lucian had attracted a lot of attention as the best looking male on board. His tendency to nudge her when a female showed interest in him had not been remotely enjoyable.
Now it was nearly time for dinner in the small ballroom onboard. Genevieve had a minor problem. She wanted to wear an evening gown as it was a special occasion and she had brought a handful with her. Her maid would normally give her assistance with doing up the back, but they had departed without any of the servants.
That left her with Lucian.
He had departed the cabin temporarily like a gentleman when she had announced her intention to get changed. Genevieve opened the door a c***k and saw he was outside. She cleared her throat and he turned around.
“Are you feeling sick?” he asked in concern.
She had been willing to put up with the feeling of sickness for a few minutes with the knowledge that she could get relief quickly after she had finished.
“...It is not that,” she whispered in embarrassment and plucked up the courage to ask something.. “...Can you do up my dress?”
She blinked. Lucian’s ears had just gone red. Had she imagined that? She was intrigued to find that he looked a lot less self assured than usual.
“...I will come in,” he said eventually.
Genevieve withdrew and hid out of sight of the door as Lucian opened it fully and came in.
“My eyes are closed,” he said and she stepped out.
She turned around so her back was facing him and he couldn’t see the front of her dress.
“You can look now.”
His warm hand touched her exposed back and she tried not to react. Her seasickness was the last thing on her mind. It was more the tension in the room that was making her nervous and the fact that this was the most exposed she had been in front of him.
He quickly did up the lacing for her with skillful motions.
“...I have finished. Did you need any more assistance?”
What should she say? The tension in the room was palpable.
“How much do you know about hair?” was the reply she settled for.
The mood lightened and he poked her bun from behind.
“Are you feeling like a change? I can give you some help.”
She let him play around with her hair as he eventually settled on a style. Again his movements were graceful and quick.
“I saw this in one of those publications you were reading,” he said after proclaiming he was done. “Go look in the mirror.”
She walked to the mirror and saw that he was correct. She did recognise the hair style as one she had been admiring in one of the many publications she had read about Paris. How had he known that? Demons were mysterious creatures.
“Thank you,” she said. “I could never have worked that one out and neither would have my maid.”
He preened and she smiled. The tension had completely dissipated and he held out his arm for her.
“Let’s go to dinner.”
***
Whilst Genevieve had decided she did like French food, she was a little taken aback by the dinner menu. It was like night and day compared to the lunch menu.
“Am I reading this right? Snails!?”
Lucian nodded sagely.
“Quite a delicacy in France. They have an interesting flavour.”
“What do they taste like?”
The demon gave her a knowing look and then he grinned.
“Like eating a snail with garlic butter.”
Genevieve screwed up her face in disgust and continued on with the rest of the menu. Lucian had a description of each item she read out and she was sure he wasn’t telling the truth about most of them which didn’t annoy her as much as it usually did.
What it did do was reignite her flaming curiosity into the demon species.
Lucian had never answered her demon related questions seriously or he would turn the question around on her to deliberately annoy her.
The demon seemed to be very experienced about France and its cuisine but he hadn’t seemed enthusiastic about wanting to go which was a mystery to her.
Her mind came up with a possible solution and she blurted out a question.
“Lucian, is Paris fashionable with demons?”
- Writer
