Forever Cursed

by Sarah J. Pepper

  He helped me scoot in. Using his shoulder to carry my weight, we worked our way into the water together. The running water burned the open areas of my skin, but I tried not to let it show. And I did need James’ support. That much was evident as I stumbled to get deeper into the water.

  “Careful,” he warned. “The rocks are quite slippery. Moss covers them.”

  Judging from the deep red moss which had overgrown the rocks underneath my feet, few people had been in the spring in years. However, the sponge substance felt good against my feet.

  What was worse was that James was right about the water. It was translucent. He could see everything.

  “Don’t look,” I said.

  He raised an eyebrow. “You tell me not to look when a beautiful angel is in my sight?”

  “I’m more like a demon and you know it.”

  He leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “My love, I’ve, quite possibly, seen every inch of you before.”

  “And I’d like you to remember me looking like that instead of this injured, broken, mess of cuts and bruises,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest. “I will not let another drop touch my skin until you agree.”

  “Fine, I won’t stare at the beauty of your body.”

  I wiggled my skirt off first and handed it to James. He threw it on the pool’s edge, his gaze locked with mine. I wasn’t even sure if he knew or cared that my clothing had made it on the ground. I took a deep breath; I could practically breathe in his desire. I wanted to lick it off his lips, but then my hands would go to places I wanted and his would find the broken parts of me. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want him to see or feel any of it. If I could make him forget he saw me in this condition, I would. But I didn’t know how to work such magic—if it even existed. I unbuttoned the first button on my vest.

  “Can you undress less…” He closed his eyes, regaining the ability to find the words hiding on his tongue.

  When he opened them again, it was me who was without words. The intensity in those perfect dark eyes was breathtaking.

  He lightly blew against my skin, pushing back a lock of hair I didn’t realize had fallen over my eye. He asked, “Can you look less…”

  I wasn’t sure if he finished that last sentence or not. I was too preoccupied with what he wasn’t saying and with his body being impossibly close to mine. I couldn’t take off another article of clothing even if I wanted to. He spoke in a voice so deep I swore it reached places below my undergarments where no one should have been able to touch.

  Places I wanted him to touch.

  “Can you say…something?” he asked, keeping his eyes locked on mine.

  I licked my bottom lip and shook my head. Nothing I could say could match the intensity of his gaze.

  “Do you mind if I help?” he asked, slowly pushing the straps of my vest off my shoulders. When I didn’t object, he slipped one side down, staring at my face like he was committing this moment to memory.

  “You wear white undergarments to torture me,” he said, rolling his thumb over the thin material keeping my chest from being completely exposed.

  I grinned. “You like white.”

  “I hate it—all of it,” he proclaimed a lie I’d never believe. “I’d rather shred all your undergarments than see them on you.”

  I shrugged it off. He reached around, pulling the vest down from behind me. I relaxed my arm so it slipped under the water. I didn’t watch to see where it ended up. James never let his gaze slip either. Goosebumps shot throughout my body.

  “Are you cold?” he asked.

  “No,” I said, slowly sliding my hands up his chest until I laced my arms around his neck.

  “Will you still not permit me to peek?”

  “No.”

  His hand slid down, finding the places I refused to let his gaze cover. His hand glided over my breast. As his thumb slipped over my soft skin, I caught my breath. He swore under his.

  “You enjoy torturing me,” he said. “Every sound you make screams for me to take you, but still you say no.”

  “I’m not saying no. I’m saying no peeking,” I said, shivering as he found the bottom of my undershirt and slid his hand up.

  Reacting to my trembling, he pressed his hips against mine, walking me backward. The restraint he had, holding most of my body weight in the water, but careful not to further hurt me, was what made my heart pound. He could be so completely gentle yet still commanding.

  My back hit the pool’s edge. With my footing under me, he rested his injured arm on the side and reached for my face. Sliding his hand up my neck, his thumb caught the bottom of my jaw and his fingers slid up the back of my head, tangling in my hair.

  I wanted to wrap my legs around his waist, to play out my current fantasy, but a stabbing pain shot through my side when I tried to move my leg up.

  I swore, pushing James away—not because he hurt me, but because I couldn’t trust myself around him. I couldn’t do what I wanted. I couldn’t say no. I was suffocating in desire and drowning in pain. It was entirely insufferable. What had those mermaids done to me?

  I couldn’t bear the sight of myself. When I looked away, James closed the gap again, hooked his finger under my chin and kissed me. He pulled away too soon—far too soon.

  When he broke the kiss, he said, “Regardless how you look beneath your dress, know that I think of you as a beauty. Always.”

  I didn’t believe a word he’d said after I lowered my gaze. It was worse than I expected. The rib had broken through my skin. Angry red marks lined my stomach. Deep purple shadows marked my skin down one side of my torso. However, my stomach churned when I noticed the bursts of red scratches and bruises on my hip.

  “I truly do hate mermaids,” I groaned, suddenly aching everywhere.

  “As do I. But they are a necessary evil.”

  “Aren’t we all?” I sighed. “Captain, I don’t trust myself around you.”

  “Even when you are hurt, you say the most perfect things to a man like me,” he said, inching closer. “I love that you lose all sense of your control when you’re around me. I wouldn’t want it any other way…well, other than…I do hate seeing your hair stained red.”

  “I would agree. At the pace we’re going, we will wrinkle before we make it to the falling waters. Let’s try to get cleaned up a bit, shall we?”

  Using James’ shoulder as a handhold, I followed James to the falls. I believe I was more concerned about his arm that he kept out of the water, just as he was more preoccupied with my injuries.

  “We are quite the pair,” I commented.

  James grinned. It was insanely attractive, even under that mess of a beard.

  “Pout at me like that much longer, Miss Bell, and I will be forced not to act like a gent.”

  “Whoever said I wanted a gentleman?”

  “That whimper of yours,” he replied. His grin deepened. “You force me to behave.”

  “I sincerely doubt there is much I could say to force the great Captain James Jones to do anything.”

  “You do have a cheeky tongue.”

  “So I’ve heard,” I replied and then reached for a large black vine.

  When I curled my fingers around the vine, it coiled around my arm like a snake would. It was alarming but not entirely unexpected that the wildlife would react to me. It curled around my arm tight enough that I was positive it wasn’t letting go, but it didn’t hurt.

  “Interesting.” James reached for a different vine. He gave it a good tug when it didn’t react to him like it had me. “Does vegetation usually take on an animalistic nature when you touch it?”

  “I believe it is merely recognizing the magic in me,” I replied, studying the vine.

  Tiny balls glowed beneath the black layer. They moved through the vine like it was a vein of the tree. The longer I held on, the warmer it felt to the touch. I didn’t know why that pleased me, but it did. I pursed my lips together, not sure of what to make of my sudden appreciation of this ga
rden.

  “This was your home once. It’s okay to feel a sense of welcome,” James said. His gaze was soft but there was a spark in his eye.

  “I don’t have very many fond memories of home. Well, I do but they are saturated in vile acts that…” I looked back at the vine twisted around in my hand, “…overshadow the small parts of loveliness.”

  “Then let this be one of the good ones,” James said.

  I liked that. So I started for the falling waters. Again, I wanted to go about it on my own, but James pulled me close, looping his arm around my waist.

  “So stubborn,” he mumbled. “If I had a hook, I’d use it to pull you back to me.”

  I giggled as his finger curled around my waistband. I teased, “A hook would not be enough to bring me back to you.”

  “An enchanted one then,” he mused, clutching me even more dearly as the current was stronger near the waterfalls.

  Once we got to the boulders in the middle, I released my grip on the vine. Part of it slipped into the water. The glowing balls in the middle broke through the vine like it was made of mesh and disbursed amongst the water on the ripples. The ones that reached me stuck to my skin. When I wiped them away, the glow smudged like paint but made my skin tingle. The sensation was quite refreshing.

  “Your eyes are fluttering,” James said.

  “It feels like I’m bathing in the Arctic but without the insufferable cold.”

  James eyed the vine like he didn’t trust it, so I rubbed some of it on his cheek. He touched it with his fingers and rubbed them together, inspecting it.

  “Peculiar, very peculiar,” he said, then wiped it off in the water like he didn’t trust it. “Let’s worry more about getting you cleaned up than covering you with tingling gel.”

  “Okay,” I said and dipped my head underneath the falling water.

  The cool water stole my breath away, but my skin felt tremendously better as the water carried away the dirty history on my skin. I closed my eyes, enjoying the relaxation of it all when James caressed a tender spot near my eye. He rubbed gently, cursing under his breath about what he wanted to do to the mermaid who left me in such a disarray.

  When he was done, I opened my eyes and stood on my tiptoes. “Your turn.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Pardon?”

  “Let the water carry away your worries.”

  He glanced to the bandaged mess around his wrist and cleared his throat. “It gets rather unpleasant if I place my wrist under running water.”

  “There is more of you than just your wrist that needs cleaning,” I said, guiding him in place.

  Well, it wasn’t so much me guiding him as him allowing me to move out from under the water. Even though the rocks were covered in red moss, my feet were quite tender.

  He gasped when he backed up enough and let the water fall down his shoulders. He kept his injured arm out from it, but the rest of him dipped with it. He tilted his head back to wash.

  Before he could rub too much, I caressed his cheek where the whiskers hadn’t covered. Wiping away the dirt from the worried lines of his face made me feel like I could do something for him. When I was finished cleaning his face, I drove my fingers through his wild hair. His hair was smoother than I recalled, once it was rid of sand, dirt, and salt from the water.

  “Your hair is long enough to tie back now,” I said, letting my fingers slip away.

  He grabbed my hand. “Don’t stop.”

  “Your hair is clean.”

  Pulling me closer, he said, “I still feel dirty.”

  I bit my lip. He was enjoying this. To be quite honest, so was I. He closed his eyes and let out a breath, relaxing his shoulders when I slipped my fingers through his hair again. A moan slipped from his mouth as I played with each lock. I basked in his company as well, memorizing the way he felt against me, the noises he made that were brought out by my doing, and the way such a dangerous man felt weak under my touch.

  “Told you someone was here!” a man called out in the distance. “Look at the footprints. Seems a fairy made another donation to Neverland.”

  James snapped to attention. He slipped in front of me, scanning the area. My ears perked up as I concentrated on the noises around us.

  “Fucking witches,” another man cursed before breaking through the opening. “Kensington will need to be advised.”

  I didn’t recognize his voice at first, but I remembered the scar across Chaz’s mouth. Well, not a scar exactly. The last time I’d seen the gigantic man was when I screamed at him to never utter my name in his presence again. He wasn’t a fast learner. And I had a dagger in my hand…

  The one side of his mouth spread wide when he saw me. The other didn’t move. “Well, well. A fairy hasn’t been in these gardens for what…almost a century now?” Chaz asked lightly, spreading his arms out wide like he wanted to welcome me back to my home. “What brings you to these parts? Kensington will be interested that a fairy is visiting his garden.”

  “A friend of yours?” James asked but kept his focus on Chaz.

  “Not mine,” I replied.

  “The fairy and I go way back. Don’t let her make you believe otherwise,” Chaz scoffed, crossing his arms. Then he eyed James down, grinning like the idiot he was when he noticed James’ missing hand. “Looks like you got a scratch there. From anyone I know?” he asked, looking at me like I had been the reason.

  “It wasn’t,” I snarled.

  “Wasn’t what?” Chaz chuckled and then burst out laughing. Again, half his face didn’t move, like all the nerve endings were dead. “Are you really going to preach to me that you had nothing to do with his lack of fingers?”

  “I didn’t swing the sword,” I snapped.

  Chaz wiggled his finger at me. “That doesn’t mean you’re innocent, dear.”

  “Clarification of our situation would be much appreciated, Miss Bell,” James said.

  “Chaz is not my friend,” I assured him. “But rather a friend of Peter’s.”

  James went stiff. A noise vibrated deep from his throat. He sounded more like an animal than a human. The way he held himself, ready to strike, made me believe he was looking for an excuse to attack.

  “My boy, Peter, was hell-bent on finding you, darling. He wanted to make amends or something about winning over your heart. Did you two ever catch up?” Chaz asked as Deval, the monarch’s first lieutenant, entered the clearing.

  Like all the other natives on this island, Deval hadn’t aged a day. He looked exactly like the greedy Frenchman I’d brought to Neverland ages ago—beautiful dark skin, black hair, and a lean muscular physique so many women loved.

  “Merde,” Deval said, in his native tongue with a gaped-mouth stare. “I certainly didn’t think I’d see you again.”

  I was never so happy to be standing behind a man in my life. The feeling of being exposed while naked made my skin crawl as it was, but that they could see all the injuries I bore was remarkably worse.

  “Believe me when I say, I never planned on running into you again, Deval.” I sneered.

  “Who is your latest squeeze?” Chaz asked, drawing my attention back to him.

  “Captain James Jones,” James announced. “And Miss Bell is under my protection.”

  “Unfortunately for you, capitaine, I made a promise to myself,” Deval said, speaking faster as he did when he lost control of his anger, “that if that fairy ever returned, I’d do everything in my power to end her miserable, horrid existence.”

  I prodded, “And I’ll do everything in my power to ensure you live a long and miserable life.”

  “You already have,” he snarled. “Fils de pute.”

  Numbness washed over me, spreading through my body like a ripple in the water. I felt many things I would not associate with vanilla-flavored pleasure. No, what rippled through me was silent rage cocooned in a promise I’d made myself—one day, I would kill him.

  I giggled, “It appears I am better than you are at fulfilling promises.”


  Chapter 7

  Miss Bell

  James guarded me with his body, holding himself in a way which communicated many unspoken things. His muscles were taut, ready to attack. His gaze was fixated on his enemy. And yet, the way he kept a grip on me was gentle.

  “They are going to force me to choose which one to attack,” James said, as Chaz and Deval went in opposite directions, walking around the pool. They were forcing us to fight in pairs. Divide and conquer and all that dribble about weakening one’s enemy—it wasn’t how I preferred to fight. “The other will surely come for you.”

  “I have survived worse,” I replied.

  “They do not mean to kill you, my love,” he said, analyzing their movements. “You are a prize to them.”

  I disagreed that they didn’t want to kill me. Deval certainly did, but Chaz would make sure I was delivered to Kensington alive. However, one thing was certain…

  “They will not hesitate to end your life.”

  “Nor I with theirs,” James vowed.

  Deval pulled a machete from behind his back. It caught the light perfectly, directing it in my eyes. He grinned. I glared. But neither of us spoke. We were past exchanging words. Nothing needed to be said. He wanted me dead. I wanted him alive and miserable.

  The boulders blocked my view. I suspected he’d slip into the water soon enough. I didn’t know if he’d keep the height advantage and climb on top of the boulders or if he’d take to the watery playing field.

  “Telling secrets?” Chaz called out.

  I knew he meant to distract us from what Deval was doing. I wasn’t a fool.

  “We don’t keep secrets from one another.” James narrowed his eyes.

  My heart beat faster at that response. I didn’t correct him though. I kept many things from James. For his protection as well as mine.

  Chaz crept along the side and picked up the dagger James had tossed to the ground. His sleeve pulled up as he plucked it from the ground, revealing a tattoo of skull and crossbones. I didn’t need a closer look to know a dagger was slammed in one of the skull’s eyes.