Forever Cursed

by Sarah J. Pepper

  “Worse than cursing someone, multiple someones, so they can’t even find peace in death? So they cannot die?” I huffed. “You will only get yourself killed, or worse, by being with me.”

  “She’s right, you know,” Deval said, walking up to us with a handful of men behind him. George was with him. The rest I didn’t recognize.

  James’ finger twitched. He’d withdrawn his sword and had it pressed up against Deval’s neck faster than I could follow.

  “Stay out of our personal affairs,” James sneered.

  “I’m afraid I can’t,” Deval snickered. “Like you said, the monarch is insistent that you be guarded. He doesn’t believe you’ll give a truthful report to what the mermaids say.”

  “Kensington knows I hate speaking lies,” I stated, they did not sit well on my tongue.

  “Kensington is an idiot to trust you,” Deval retorted.

  “I never said he trusted me—nor should he,” I countered, and headed for the Mermaids’ Lagoon without another word.

  Everyone else followed with less vigor in their step. I paid them little attention, drifting into my thoughts. James kept his hand on his hilt. I knew if I gave the slightest inclination that we’d be better off with them dead, they would be. He’d make sure of that. However, I meant what I had told Kensington. I would fight. I was certain that blood would stain my hands. But it didn’t mean I was heartless. It didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt my heart to watch the life fade from my enemies’ eyes. I wouldn’t go looking for a fight, but I wasn’t going to back down.

  “Does that really matter?” I asked no one.

  “Does what matter?” James questioned, keeping my pace as we left the Crown Estate.

  “I have killed,” I said. “And I’m quite certain there will be blood on my hands before long.” I glanced over my shoulder, counting the dozen trinkets Deval ordered to accompany him through Hangman’s Forest on our journey to the Mermaids’ Lagoon.

  “I would see them all dead.” His voice was free of remorse. “I’d kill them all without another thought.”

  “How?”

  “If it means I wouldn’t have to worry about them coming for you later, I’d take them out now.”

  My stomach stirred at the thought of him fighting them all. I didn’t know if the exhilaration that washed over me was from excitement or anxiety, but the thought definitely moved me.

  “Survival doesn’t mean you have to be in hand-to-hand combat, Miss Bell,” he continued, dunking under a vine. “It’s being prepared for the inevitable.”

  “I didn’t like the person I’d become when I was so prepared,” I muttered.

  “How is she so different from you?” he asked. “Did that person not shape who you are today?”

  I didn’t answer him. I didn’t want to justify my feelings. The morals I did have left were so fragile I didn’t want his words to rip them apart. I understood the men walking behind me were likely to stab me in the back if Deval gave the order.

  “At least his life is tied to mine,” I said and then wished even more so that I had the tear.

  There was no reason they wouldn’t kill James. And if he was hurt, seriously hurt, I didn’t know what I could do.

  Since I didn’t know what to say, I kept my lips pressed tightly together and just trudged through the forest. The deeper we got, the more brush under our boots, the less the sun shined through and the more vines dangled around us. I used them to help keep my balance, walking over fallen trees and such.

  They curled naturally around my hands like they were trying to help me over. James fell back several paces until the livelihood of the vegetation seemed to dissipate.

  No matter. I carried forward until we reached a small clearing when James suddenly grabbed my arm. “Miss Bell, you’ll lose the men in the forest racing this quickly. They won’t be able to keep up in the brush.”

  My cheeks warmed. I hadn’t realized I’d been going so fast. I felt so much faster on my feet, even if the wind wouldn’t carry me. But I wasn’t about to admit that. I was still furious with James. That tear was meant to be insurance should James need it. I couldn’t watch him die, blood pooled around him like it had been in Kensington’s Garden.

  I shook away the memory and replaced the dread in my heart with anger. I jerked my arm out of his grip. He let me go—he must have, otherwise, I wouldn’t have been free of him. I stomped forward.

  “You never answered my question either, Miss Bell! You can’t run away from who you are,” James called out, stopping me in my tracks.

  I glanced over my shoulder. He’d slumped against a fallen tree. His jaw was set, but I could practically see the unspoken questions burning in his eyes. I looked around. I couldn’t see any of the men following us, but I heard them griping about me from behind James.

  “Kensington was right. It doesn’t matter what name you go by,” James stated.

  “I know my name doesn’t matter,” I admitted. “It just pains me to hear it said out loud.”

  His gaze softened. “Why?”

  “Tinker Bell was the name I went by before I realized I could oversee my destiny,” I confessed. All strength seemed to have vanished from my body. “It reminds me of a time when I was as wild as the ocean, unpredictable as a hurricane, and just as destructive. And then—”

  Deval stumbled through the brush. His knuckles were stone white as he gripped the machete.

  “Why have we stopped?” he demanded.

  “We’re taking a break,” James answered coolly. “Your men can’t keep up.”

  “My men aren’t used to running through a forest where the vines have a Goddamn mind of their own,” he seethed.

  “Your problem,” James said, standing up so he was eye to eye with Deval. “We’ll carry forward after these pathetic Neanderthals catch their breath.”

  With that, James pushed past Deval, their shoulders brushing. James’ grip was firmly planted around the hilt of his sword as he strode closer to me. He grabbed my arm and nodded to the other side of the clearing. I followed him there, trying to anticipate where the conversation was going.

  “And then—what?” he asked quietly.

  I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “And then I saw the wake I left in my tracks. I saw the ripples I was making, and I realized what it was like to hate. I hated myself so deeply, so darkly. I did horrible, horrible things.”

  “That’s when you were with Peter?” He squared his shoulders, trying to give the appearance he was staying level headed about this particular subject.

  I kicked the ground with my boot. “When I watched him, it was like seeing all the worst parts of myself. So, I left him. I trapped him on Neverland and never looked back.”

  He lifted my chin up so I met his gaze. I didn’t know what I expected, but it sure wasn’t a Goddamn smile.

  Pushing away from him, I snapped, “You think my confession is funny?”

  “No,” he said, trying not to grin.

  “You can be such an insensitive jerk!” I yelled and stormed off.

  James raced up to me, reaching for me, but I was too quick. He ran to catch up, finally looping his hook through my belt and pulling me close. I struggled against him, but he didn’t let me go—not this time. In fact, he grabbed my wrist, wrenching it behind my back.

  “First, you are going the wrong way,” he stated.

  I froze. Heat washed over me as I realized I was trudging off in the same direction we’d come.

  “Second, I will not apologize for being happy that you left Peter. Ever,” he said, relaxing his grip.

  When I didn’t run off, he released me. He brought my wrist up to his lips and placed a soft kiss on it.

  “It’s just that when I look at you, I see your wild side, but I can feel your reserve. Your patience and control are just as attractive as your fury. You are a force. I will not deny that. But I doubt you’ve looked long enough to see all the beauty your ripples leave.”

  I sighed, “If only darkness
could be beautiful.”

  “Oh, Miss Bell, you’ve shown me your darkness in a starless night, I’ve felt your love in the most hopeless situations. Your silent cry still echoes in my mind, resonating the guilt you carry in your delicate heart. Without a doubt, I have seen the beauty you leave in your wake.”

  I pressed my lips together, deciding whether to still be upset with him. How could one man be so infuriating and so damn good at everything? “I’ve never heard anyone apologize like that,” I said.

  “I’m not apologizing. Given the chance, I’d take both those tears and drop them on your back the moment you told me about them.”

  “You are an idiot, a stupid idiot,” I seethed, shaking my head. I turned around and headed off in the right direction of the lagoon, marching past a handful of trinkets. “I’m surrounded by godforsaken idiots.”

  “Speaking of which,” James called out. “How do you suggest we keep ourselves from being enchanted while we negotiate with the mermaids?”

  “If Deval insists upon tearing down all the vines, we might as well put them to good use.”

  Chapter 20

  captain hook

  Miss Bell was incredibly desirable when angry. Had she no idea what she did to me when she paired that deadly glare with her heart-shattering pout? Christ, it was everything I could do to focus on the task at hand—tying up this fool so he didn’t try to do something absurd, like kill me.

  Again.

  I groaned. There were far too many blasted men on this island. Even more men than I expected to have had a colorful past with the fairy in question. I rubbed my chin with the curve of my hook and tried to figure out if there was anything I could possibly say to put Bell at ease that my plan would work.

  Stomping out of the lagoon, like the mermaids weren’t within earshot, she demanded, “What is your plan for Peter?”

  Kill him.

  But I couldn’t say that. She’d go on and on about how that was impossible since she’d cast out his soul.

  “And not just Peter,” she added and then spread her arms wide. “For everyone and everything against us.”

  “A sword prick here, a mermaid tear there. A ship to take back and a damned crew to…”—I waved my hand in the air, searching for a word like kill that Bell couldn’t argue was impossible—“…dispose of. It’s all very simple really.”

  “Simple?” She glared at me and then at Deval. Thus, he was in his current predicament of being tied to a tree along the edge of Hangman’s Forest. “You think this has been simple?”

  “The plan is simple. Execution has proven to be a bit more problematic.” I raised an eyebrow, closing the gap between us. “Care to enlighten me of yours?”

  “The details are still underway.”

  That was a non-answer if I’d ever heard one. She was plotting, just as I had been over the last—hell, how many nights had we spent on this indecisive island? I suppose it didn’t matter. We were still trapped here, scheming to find a way off this island that didn’t involve her psychopath ex stalking us.

  Bell may try to conceal the sharp intellect hiding in those jade-colored eyes, but I saw it shimmer. It was like a flash of lightning. There was so much to see in that burst of light in such a short amount of time one could hardly catch it all, much less react to the danger it brought.

  And then she smiled.

  Bloody hell, that smile revealed everything and nothing. It was the same when she was pissed off as when she was enjoying herself. It made her wildly unpredictable. I didn’t know what she’d say or what her next move would be.

  I could only react.

  And by God, I reacted to her. Every morsel of my being reacted to her. Every. Fucking. Morsel. That she was soaking wet and wearing my old leather vest and a skirt that was just short enough to make an imagination run rampant didn’t help matters in terms of logic. Then again, I was fighting with Miss Bell. Logic went out the window long ago.

  “Captain Hook,” she purred, whispering her new favorite pet name for me in that raspy voice of hers. The sassy way it sounded was so unexpected one couldn’t not hang on every word. “You are, by far, the stupidest man I’ve ever had the misfortune of meeting.”

  “But now that you’ve met me, you can’t help but enjoy my company.”

  She blinked in response, then gave me a blank stare. This dame. I shook my head and tried not to smile. I failed. Terribly. My grin proved only to infuriate her. She clenched those dainty little hands up into the tiniest fists.

  God, she was adorable when she was mad.

  She stood on her toes, still far from being eye to eye with me. It just brought that lovely, dirty mouth closer to mine, which in turn made me think of a hundred other things I’d rather be doing with that mouth than arguing.

  “Your mouth hangs, Captain.” She glowered like my company was merely an annoyance, but the corner of that fiery mouth tugged. “You may say your plan is simple, but it will never work.”

  “Neverland is a place where the impossible happens, defying all logic and reason. Yet, you say it will never work? Never?”

  “It’s highly improbable.”

  I smirked. That’s what I thought. “Well, until your details become more concrete, I’d suggest we revisit my plan. We already have the deadliest force in Neverland on our side. And Kensington has the alliance of Jukes, a powerful practitioner.”

  “They are not loyal to us,” she seethed. “We’ve merely convinced them we are the lesser of two evils.”

  “Minor detail,” I said, dismissively, even though she was dead on. I just needed her to meet me halfway with something, anything. “And since that little blond-haired bastard stole my warship, it is quite likely he plans to attack us with it. Which means we need a waterfront. Who better than the mermaids?”

  “Anyone!” she shouted and then glanced up at the sky like she was searching for answers in the heavens. “Quite literally I’d rather have anyone else on our side than those water demons.”

  “You can’t argue they are a force to be reckoned with.”

  “You are such a thick-headed…” She hissed a noise that I concluded was a curse word. “Have you forgotten that they’ll stop at nothing to make you their pet?”

  Bell went on, mumbling about my stupidity as she bent over to grab a black vine that was dangling from a cypress tree. The moment her fingertips curled around it, the end of the vine began to coil. Its snake-like tendencies did nothing to appease her anger. It only made me nervous. Ever since Bell told me that Peter had fed my hand to a godforsaken alligator, my appreciation for reptiles demised quite extensively. I shuddered as she walked behind me, dragging the vine over my skin just put me on edge.

  She wrapped the vine around Deval, the rather bruised Frenchman who had the fancy of being at the wrong end of my sword, whose back had been forced against the tree. The second Bell hung the loose end of the vine over Deval’s shoulder, it twirled around his neck, like the blasted plant had a mind of its own and wanted to strangle the fellow. Though, that wouldn’t have been the worst thing to have happened to us lately.

  Hangman’s Forest, as I’d come to refer to this bit of vegetation on the north side of Mermaids’ Lagoon was not my most beloved area on Neverland. And our happenings on it were not the most innocent in nature.

  Each time Bell brushed up against a vine, it had the tendency to want to lace around a neck. The reaction made it quite unnerving being in such a vegetated area—especially when she was particularly upset with me.

  “Oh, come now. It wasn’t that ill-conceived of an idea,” I said, shoving the silver hook where my hand used to be between the loop she’d created with the vine.

  I jerked down, forming a knot, securing Deval tightly against the bark. He grunted. I slipped my hook free. His lip curled as he eyed it. His gaze trailed up my arm, studying the black burn mark that twisted around the skin. Adhering the hook was a bit more painful than I’d like to recall…

  “Black magic created that thing. It is not nat
urel,” Deval snarled. “It will curse you, poison you from the inside out. Your soul will rot.”

  “Then it is quite fitting that I’m already rotten.” I raised my arm up high so he could get a good look at the unnatural thing, as he so called it. I rather fancied it. It was quite fitting. The silver curved around at the end, coming to a point. When it caught the light just right, it shined, showing the sharpness along the sides.

  “That fairy is the only reason you still breathe,” I said, through gritted teeth.

  A chill went through my spine, resonating at my feet. Bell twirled a knife between her fingers. The vacancy in her eyes made it feel like I was staring at Death itself. She released a breath of air. It hung in the air, frozen. Her pink lips glistened. A thin layer of ice coated them.

  “Whisper about my bloodline like it is a curse once more, and I promise no word will leave your tongue again,” Bell said, as she continued to twirl the knife.

  Deval’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Eyeing the knife, he nodded.

  Gripping the knife, Bell reached up and hacked off a lock of her hair. The tips had been stained green when I first met her floating on a piece of charred wood nearly a year ago. Now her tresses fell just above her shoulders, well they used to until she splashed around in the sea to get them wet only to cut off several locks. She braided them around the vines, securing the ends. She gave it a tug. It didn’t budge.

  “Remember, they will not break as long as my hair stays wet.” Standing on her tippy-toes, Bell whispered in the man’s ear. “Do stay still, Deval.”

  “Va te faire foutre. You wouldn’t be so smug if we were alone together,” Deval seethed, pressing against the vine like he could intimidate her if he flexed hard enough. “If it weren’t for Capitaine Hook here, you’d be tied up instead of me.”

  “Then it appears we’ve both had the misfortune of meeting him,” she huffed.

  “Any of these men would gladly see you brûle en l’enfer,” Deval mocked.

  “Burn in hell?” I repeated in English. She would not burn in hell! I shoved my arm up under his throat. “Threaten Miss Bell again, and I shall use you to sharpen my sword.”