Steam by Stacey Rourke

Author:Stacey Rourke
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Mystery, Retellings, Suspense
Publisher: Anchor Group Publishing
Published: 2015-09-10T04:00:00+00:00

I’m already dead.

Perhaps Preen was numb with shock, but coming to terms with that fact seemed almost liberating. It removed the fear from the task at hand. One she could no longer avoid. Be it with a rope around her neck or a succubus sucking the marrow from her bones, her death was inevitable. Her child’s was not. She needed to keep herself safe until the baby was born and ensure that he or she—despite the succubus’ claim of a masculine gender—would be loved and cared for no matter what befell her. Steeled by the conviction of what must be done, Preen raised her stone steady hand to deliver two sharp raps on the door.

Through the curtained window she saw a lantern flicker to life. Barely a heartbeat later the door was wrenched open by a sleep disheveled John Hathorne. His shirt hung open in a wide V, a bounty of rippling muscles on display.

“Preen,” he welcomed her with a soft smile.

Suddenly flushed from her neck to the tips of her ears, Preen gulped and searched her mind for eloquent wording. Unfortunately, she was struck by nothing except the blatant truth. Pushing past him into the house, she pulled the door shut behind her. “I am with child,” she blurted, the words tumbling from her lips.

John’s chin fell, his bulging eyes fixating on Preen’s stomach as if searching for proof to support her claim. “We’ll both be branded with the adulterer’s mark.” His mumble was low, almost unintelligible.

“There are worse things,” she said with a haughty lift of her chin to hide the fact that acidic fear was scorching up the back of her throat. “You know my truth, Mr. Hathorne, and you know what will happen if anyone else in Salem finds out. Please, no matter what happens, help me keep our baby safe.” Emotion cracking her plea, Preen raised a hand to her mouth, blinking back the threatening tears.

“I want to,” John whispered, fear transforming the specimen of virile masculinity to a terrified boy facing the very monster that haunted his dreams. “I-I know not how.”

“I may know a way,” a soft voice interjected from the hallway behind them.

Guiltily leaping farther away from Preen, John spun on his house boy. “Isaiah, I didn’t hear you enter.”

“You need not worry, sir,” Isaiah assured him, his face a mask of sincerity. “After all you have done for me, I will gladly protect this secret with my life. It would be my honor to help keep your child safe, as you have kept me safe.”

John cast a sideways glance to Preen, who nodded her encouragement.

“Speak, son.” John’s nervous energy revealed itself in the unsteady rise and fall of his wavering tone.

The light of the lantern cast cavernous shadows under Isaiah’s eyes as he took a step closer. “Your wife has been ill for some weeks now with no sign of improvement. No one in Salem can claim to know the state she was in before being struck ill. She could have already been with child.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.