A Perfect Curse by Shereen Vedam

Author:Shereen Vedam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BelleBooks, Inc.
Published: 2015-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

AT NEVARA’S CABIN, Mark knocked.

There was no answer.

He knocked again and called her name. Worry clamped onto his heart like a vice. He tried the door. Locked. He passed his staff over the knob, and the key clicked open. He pushed the door in and found Nevara on the cot, her eyes closed.

He shut the door and laid his staff against it, barring entry. He approached softly so as not to startle her. “Nevara.”

Still no response.

Her silk gown lay discarded on the floor and she slept with her spectacles on. Noting her half-dressed state, he shook her gently. “Nevara, wake up. It is past time for the musicale.”

She did not move.

Bending, he passed his hand above her nose. No breath stirred. Fear hammered as he shook her in earnest. “Wake up!”

Her face and neck were pale, almost deathlike. He opened her mouth. There was nothing obstructing her breathing. Her stays seemed really tight, pinching her flesh. Ribbons crisscrossed across her front. Lady Terrance had implied that Nevara dressed herself, so why would she tie it so tight? He tugged at one ribbon to loosen the knot. It cinched her in even tighter.

Magic! Drawing on his power, he sliced his hand across the material, to the right of the ribbons. The stays ripped apart, and he flung them away.

Nevara gasped.

Relief coursed through him as she took that first precious breath. She opened her eyes.

“Nevara.” He knelt beside the cot and gently straightened her spectacles that had become askew. “Are you all right?”

Her brown gaze was confused. “Mark, what are you doing here?” She then glanced at herself and gasped before she covered her breasts and lower extremities with her arms.

Mark’s blood heated. In his rush to strip away her stays, he had ripped off the shift beneath, leaving her naked. He swallowed, anxious, nervous . . . and now that his fear was receding, thoroughly aroused.

“You seemed to be asleep.” He pulled the sheet beneath her as a cover, but the more he tugged, the closer she rolled toward him. He stood abruptly and turned around.

“You were not above deck, so I came to find you. Those stays were constricting your breathing, so I tore them off.”

By the creaking of the cot, he guessed she sat up and covered herself. “I will wait on deck,” he said. “Then we must talk.”

“Mark.” Nevara caught his hand. “Please stay.”

“I cannot.” He clutched at her warm fingers, wanting to obey, wanting to do much more than talk. Talk was what was needed. “Nevara, where did you get those stays?”

“They were a family heirloom. A wedding gift from ages past.”

Ah! What a fool he was. While he had been so busy protecting her from an outside attack, he had missed the threat from within.

“Do not be angry, Mark,” she whispered. “I thought wearing the lace garment might make me pretty enough for you.”

Her concern touched his heart. “You do not need any such assistance, Nevara,” he said in earnest. “You take my breath away every time I look at you.

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