Page 23 of Curse of Immortality
“In secret?” she asked with her gaze dropped low.
Seeing a servant pass by a window inside the castle, James dropped Maeve’s hands, not wanting anyone to see him showing her affection. “Our relationship is between you and me and no one else. I will meet you tomorrow at our spot, but I must ask you never to come back here again.”
His demand hung in the air as he turned his back on her and walked away. The sound of the heavy wooden doors closing made Maeve blink her eyes as if that would wake her from the nightmare she was in.
Heartbroken with disappointment, she felt like a fraud and an idiot for believing James’ lies. She had felt so sure of him and his promises when she claimed to her aunt and sister that this would be her new home and way of life. The deep embarrassment that she felt made her certain that she could never return home again. And so for the rest of the day, Maeve wandered through the forest feeling lost, hungry, and miserable. She had lost everything. Her family, the bright future she envisioned with James, and most of all, she’d lost her self-respect. Not only was she embarrassed for boasting about the life James had promised her, but she was embarrassed for the way she’d spoken to her aunt, whom she loved dearly.
As if nature wanted to punish her further, a storm hit and forced Maeve to take cover under a tree. It helped little against the rain that still drenched her. Sitting on the cold and muddy ground, she wrapped her arms around her knees and thought about how much she hated young Elizabeth Dale. It seemed that her problems all pointed back to her. The girl had stolen the life that James had promised Maeve and never had she hated anyone so much. Her jaws locked tight as she thought about Elizabeth living in the castle that was supposed to be hers and sleeping in her bed, next toherJames.
As her anger and hatred grew, she thought of a thousand ways to get what she wanted, and in the end, she concocted a plan fueled by envy and misery.
CHAPTER 8
A Stab to The Gut
Lying curled up against a tall root of a tree that had grown above ground, Maeve felt like the storm would never end. The howling wind and the thunder and lightning mirrored the chaos she was going through internally. Her hair had turned a darker shade of orange from the heavy downpour and clung to her skin. If Maeve had been human, she would have been freezing and possibly suffering from falling body temperature. At least as an Earthen, she could regulate her temperature, but that was about her only comfort in her bleak situation where each minute felt like a year.
While the aggressive winds and heavy rain eventually died down, it was another matter with the storm that raged inside of her. All night she had obsessed about the unfairness of her situation and was left with her emotional chaos spinning out of control. The more Maeve thought about how her life had drastically changed within a day, the more pain accumulated in her chest. She should have spent her night pampered by servants and sleeping like a princess in a warm and comfortable bed in James’ castle. But instead, she was sleepless on the hard and dirty ground. Sadness, shame, and anger consumed Maeve and when the time came to meet with James at their usual spot, Maeve was no longer the same girl she had been the day before.
She came early and as she waited for him, she looked at the spot where less than twenty-four hours ago, she had naively believed all his lies. Yesterday, she arrived at this place feeling happy and optimistic about life. Today, there was a darkness inside her that cursed the mossy ground where she’d lain the day before, and what it represented.
Maeve heard the sound of James’ horse approaching before she saw him. She had always seen him as her prince in shining armor, but as he rode toward her, she was the one wearing armor around her heart. No longer blinded by his handsome face, flattery, and empty lies, she would hold him to his promises and make him see that Elizabeth Dale would never be able to make him happy. James had said it himself; he loved Maeve.
The word “love” had lost its appeal to Maeve, but she wasn’t ready to go back to living in poverty and isolation. James had painted too many images of them living in luxury and now that she had seen his beautiful home, she wanted all of it.
As if nothing had happened the day before, James got off his horse and walked over to pull her in for a kiss.
“I have to ask you something,” Maeve said, pushing her upper body away from his embrace.
“What is it?” There was slight irritation in his tone as if he was warning her not to bring up what happened the day before.
“I know you said you weren’t. But I have to ask you again. Are you in love with her?”
“No,” he said sternly. “My heart belongs to you, Maeve. But Miss Dale and I are already engaged, and I am a man of my word.”
Anger and ambition stirred in Maeve’s stomach. How dare James say that he was a man of his word when he had filled her head with dreams that he had never intended to fulfill? A coldness spread in her veins as she said, “What if there was a way where you could keep your honor and be with me instead of her; would you do it?”
James picked up Maeve’s hands and placed a kiss on each. “You know I would,” he lied, “but there isn’t a way. Miss Dale comes from a good family with money and influence, and I’ve already proposed to her.”
Watching his face closely, she read his expression as she spoke. “What if I told you there is a way where you could get both? If you marry her, you’ll get the money, the status, and the respect. But if Elizabeth were to die shortly after the wedding, that would leave you in need of a new wife.”
At first, James dismissed Maeve’s absurd words as humor and gave a small chuckle, but when Maeve’s face didn’t split into a grin, he frowned and asked, “You’re jesting, right?”
Maeve’s eyes narrowed a tiny bit, and she raised her chin with an expression of resolve that scared him. She had been innocent and pure when he met her but now there was a shift in her that made him uneasy. Widening his eyes in shock, he dropped her hands and pulled back a little. “Are you asking me to kill Miss Dale?”
Consumed with ambition and hatred for the woman who’d stolen her place, Maeve involved James in her plan. “I can make a remedy that would give her a peaceful death in her sleep. All you would have to do is slip it into her tea.”
Scrunching his face up, James exclaimed, “That’s madness. How could you ever suggest such a thing?”
Maeve’s pretty features were distorted by her anger. “Because she’s in our way. You said it yourself. I’m the one you love, and you’re only marrying her out of a sense of obligation.”
James stood stunned when Maeve took his hands and added, “I would do anything to be with you, James.”
Backing away, he no longer found Maeve as delightful and beautiful as he once had. A bloodthirsty wolf goes after easy prey, and Maeve had been an innocent and trusting little bunny in his eyes that he could manipulate into doing what he wanted. Never had he imagined that she could turn out to be as predatory as him. Looking into her eyes, his instinct told him that Maeve’s bloodthirstiness far surpassed his own.
Eager to get away, he quickly backed to his horse.
“Where are you going?” Maeve called out as he stepped into the stirrup and pulled himself onto the tall stallion.
