Hearts Unbound Read online

  “Jareth, no.” Jessica stared at him, clutching onto his sleeves. “Do not do this. Do not curse yourself once more. Remember the hell you lived through. Remember all of those lonely years. I am here, now. I am yours. Not Cassandra. Please listen to me!”

  “I expect you gone by the time I return with my beloved, Miss Belstowe,” he said, releasing her. Pivoting on his heel, he turned and strode out of his chamber, slamming the door behind him.

  Chapter Three

  Jessica ran. She didn’t care where she was going. Jareth’s words ripped through her heart. For years she had loved him, watching him every time he came to call on her sister. She knew in talking to Cassandra that her sister had no feelings for the younger Moreland brother but didn’t have the heart to tell him to cease his visits.

  Jessica had secretly wished to be seen by him, smoothing her hair and smiling grandly, but he never seemed to take notice. Now that she had brought him back from the brink of death, his words and actions told her he never had. Despite the fact that Cassandra had introduced them, he still did not remember. His love for her sister ran as deep, if not deeper, than his hatred for his brother.

  Jessica had been desperate. She wanted him to take notice, to open his eyes and see her in front of him. When she met the witch in the forests surrounding the estate of Crichton, she thought magic might be the answer. However, Jareth’s jealousy of his brother grew. Jessica knew her own jealousy of her sister shouldn’t turn into something akin to his—dark and foreboding. It wasn’t Cassandra’s fault Jareth fancied her. Jessica had learned spells from Morana, the witch, in exchange for information—when Jareth came to Belstowe Manor, when he was in Cassandra’s presence and when he left.

  At first, Jessica didn’t think a thing of it, until Morana became obsessed with knowing more and more. It wasn’t until the old witch threatened her life that Jessica stopped meeting with her, but she’d learned enough magic to dabble.

  Jessica had heard the old crone’s cacklings of what she had a mind to do with Jareth and it scared her beyond reason. She’d used her power to see exactly what the doomed lord had in store and found nothing but heartache, loneliness, hatred and guilt. Because of her feelings for Jareth, Jessica cried herself to sleep many a night thinking this was to be his fate; to become an unholy vampire for all eternity.

  When she scryed into the years to come, Jessica was shocked to learn that Cassandra’s reincarnation would be the one to kill Jareth as the Moreland brothers fought each other for her. Jessica could not let that happen.

  Jareth was a good man, she knew it. He used to smile often and he treated Cassandra with nothing but respect. Once Laith garnered her attentions, something changed inside of him and his jealousy rose to the fore. Despite it all, Jessica couldn’t leave Jareth to die so horribly. If she could just give him a second chance at life, perhaps he wouldn’t choose that path. Perhaps he could have a life—with her.

  She’d only bonded him as her shelmir to protect him from the witch. Jessica knew there was no possible way to break a shelmir bond. It was permanent. Even in death, the two souls would again find each other after they were reborn. That was how Laith would find Cassandra years in the future.

  Jareth, however, had told her he wanted nothing to do with her, despite the fact he’d kissed her passionately. The bond was strong, of that there was no doubt. Even he couldn’t resist it. At least for a few blessed moments.

  He’d demanded she be gone when he returned, and the disgust in his eyes was unmistakable. He would never forgive her for bonding him to her permanently.

  The rain pounded down and she was soaked clean through, having ignored the servants’ requests to allow them to take her back to Thornbury Manor, her home. Instead she ran across the grounds, her tears flowing freely. She could feel Jareth through their bond, and she knew he was racing to the ravine. He was going to curse himself once more and everything she had done had been for nothing.

  What did she expect? Jareth, this Jareth, had been a vampire for centuries. He’d probably forgotten what his life had been like before he was cursed. Would he curse himself again and succumb to the fate that lay before him? And what would her life become, being the shelmir of a vampire?

  Collapsing to the ground, Jessica wept, uncaring for the rivulets of mud that pooled around her. Despite the fact Jareth Moreland was her shelmir, she’d never hold his heart. Perhaps she should have let him die. Perhaps there was nothing inside of him worth saving.

  Jessica shivered, but she didn’t care. She had made a colossal mess of things. Now, she was just as doomed as he.

  * * *

  Jareth hadn’t even bothered with a saddle before he jumped on one of Laith’s horses and bolted out the stall. He’d at least stopped long enough to put on a bridle. The lightning was getting more and more intense as he urged the creature onward, and desperation clutched at his heart.

  He couldn’t let Cassandra die. Not this time.

  Jareth didn’t remember the ravine being so damned far away. Off in the distance, he could see the figure of a woman, her arms spread wide, her white hair flowing all around her. The crone’s leathery skin seemed to hang on her, dry and cracking in her old age. Jareth had no idea how old she truly was, but she’d once mentioned being alive for some centuries before she’d turned him.

  “Morana!” he screamed, knowing she couldn’t hear him against the wind. As the horse charged up one side of the ravine, Laith and his horse charged up the other. Jareth’s heart was in his throat.

  “Morana!” he yelled again, but it was too late. A giant bolt of lightning crashed down in front of Laith’s horse, making the animal rear and fall backward over the edge. Jareth could hear a woman’s scream. Cassandra!

  His own horse, spooked by the lightning, bucked, and Jareth flew over its head into the mud. Once he regained his bearings, the horse was gone, galloping back the way he had come.

  With tears in his eyes, Jareth pulled himself up and rushed forward, watching with horror as the old witch chanted and weaved intricate patterns in the air with her hands. It didn’t take long before he reached her.

  “Morana!” he croaked, falling at her feet.

  “It is done, my lord!” she yelled triumphantly, smiling up into the heavens as the clouds parted, revealing only a darkened twilight sky.

  Sobbing, Jareth scrambled to the ravine and peered over the edge. He covered his mouth and turn away. Laith and Cassandra lay broken and unmoving at the bottom.

  “You killed them!” he cried out, seething with rage. “You killed them both!”

  Looking over the side herself, the witch gasped. “Cassandra! I did not see her. She must have been riding behind your brother!”

  Jessica’s words came back to him. Was Morana lying about killing his beloved?

  “I could have saved her,” he yelled, stumbling as he tried to stand. “Cassandra was my life!”

  “She will be reborn!” The witch peered up at him with her milk-white eyes, making his skin crawl. “You can find her when she is reborn.”

  Morana’s words echoed in his head for the second time in his life. He knew exactly what she would say next.

  “I am a vampire, boy. I can make you like me, immortal, undead. You will find her again and take her as your own.”

  What had once seemed the right thing to do, now only filled him with dread. Jessica’s words rang in his head and he growled at them. She’d told him she enchanted him to protect him from the witch, that Morana only wanted him for herself.

  “I—I—” he stuttered.

  “Do not be a fool! Cassandra is the woman you love, and now, she is dead. Dead, boy! You will never have her unless you become immortal, unless you drink of my curse. She will be reborn, mark my words.”

  “Of that I have no doubt,” Jareth said, slicking back his hair with his hands. “But you just enchanted Laith and Cassandra as shelmirs. Why?”

  “How do you know that?” She glanced around at the trees as if they had prying eyes.
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  “It does not matter how I know. Tell me why.”

  “You…you need a way to find her. In the future, Jareth. You can follow Laith! He is dead, yes, but I have cursed his soul to wander the earth, just as we discussed. He will find her through his bond and then she will be yours!”

  “You have told me that once before, witch,” he said. “But I was too consumed by my hatred to see through your lies.”

  Morana glared at him in shock. “What are you speaking of? We have never talked of this before! You think I lie to you?”

  “Yes!”

  “You are mine, boy,” she growled as the wind picked up once again. “You will stay with me!”

  Whatever spell she was about to cast fizzled. Her mouth dropped open and a cry escaped her lips.

  “You have a shelmir,” she whispered. “You have a shelmir! Tell me who. Now!”

  Jareth shivered at the fire in her eyes and took a step back. “I think not. I am not yours, woman.” With that, he turned to walk away.

  “Do not think you can leave me so easily, Jareth!” she called out. “I will find who she is and I will crush her! Mark my words!”

  Jareth had had enough. Without looking back, he began to walk back to his manor. Now that his brother was dead, he was the duke of Crichton.

  Chapter Four

  “My lord, thank goodness you are back!” One of the servants appeared to be waiting for him on the steps as Jareth made his way to the huge double doors of the manor. It had taken him forever, it seemed, to walk back. Thankfully, it had stopped raining. “Lady Jessica, I fear for her safety.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jareth asked wearily, without stopping. The servant had to trot to keep up with him.

  “She has departed, my lord!”

  “Good. I told her to be gone.”

  “But she left without an escort. In the middle of a downpour! The little thing was distraught and merely ran through the trees before I could stop her.”

  Jareth stopped, making the servant bump into his back. His heart stammered at the thought of Jessica wandering the woods alone. Morana was out there somewhere, and she’d said she would crush the woman who was his shelmir. He was furious at what Jessica had done to him, but the girl did not deserve to die. With the darkness now upon them, there was no fathomable way she’d be able to find her way back to Thornbury Manor on her own.

  “Have a horse saddled and ready for me in five minutes.”

  “Yes, my lord.” The servant bowed before he bounded down the manor steps, disappearing around the side of the house.

  Jareth strode through the front doors, determined to find some dry clothes.

  * * *

  Jareth knew enough about the shelmir enchantment to understand that the bond would allow him to find her. Concentrating on the sweet scent of lilacs, he tried to clear his mind as he weaved his horse among the trees.

  “Jessica!” he yelled, but did not receive an answer.

  He was getting close, he could feel it. Every nerve ending inside of him prickled, and he knew when he was getting closer and when he turned away. It was as if something was beckoning him, drawing him to wherever Jessica may be.

  After what seemed like an eternity, Jareth finally stopped the horse and jumped down. There in front of him was a mound of dirty fabric. It was pale green silk, the same dress Jessica had been wearing. He knew it was her, lying on the ground, unmoving. For a few endless moments, Jareth’s heart filled with dread, thinking Morana had already exacted her revenge.

  However she was breathing, albeit shallowly. Jareth dropped to his knees beside her.

  “Jessica?” he said gently as he smoothed the hair away from her face. She didn’t answer him.

  Her skin was flushed and hot to the touch. Jareth cursed under his breath. The damn woman had caught a fever lying out here in the rain. What the hell had she been thinking?

  He picked her up and stood. Once again, Jareth was overcome with tender feelings, wanting to hold her close. He tried to ignore them. Jessica opened her eyes for a moment She gazed up at him, seeming to trust him with her very life. Jareth took advantage of her moment of lucidity and lifted her sideways onto his horse’s back. He steadied her, then jumped up to straddle the horse himself. When he set her onto his lap, her head tucked under his chin. He groaned at how perfectly her body fit his.

  What would it be like to make love to my shelmir?

  Jareth shook his head and turned his horse back toward the manor. The woman had been most willing, and she was Cassandra’s sister. Wasn’t she merely the next best thing?

  Jessica had been upset when he said he didn’t remember her, but as the horse plodded on, Jareth could remember glimpses of his life before he’d become a vampire, glimpses of a young girl who smelled of…lilacs. She was right. He had met her.

  Unlike Cassandra, this woman was alive and well.

  And his.

  Tears collected in his eyes as he held her, unable to feel anything but helplessness. First, he was a slave to Cassandra’s beauty. And then a slave to Morana. Now, he was a slave to his passion, his passion for his soul mate. How could that be? How could he possibly desire a woman he didn’t know? Did he even want to know her?

  For centuries, all he’d known was his desire for Cassandra. Even the women he’d dallied with over the years meant nothing to him. Now here he was, carrying this little waif in his arms and dreaming about kissing every inch of her skin.

  Whatever torrid thoughts he was having would just have to wait, as Jessica was trembling violently.

  “Can you hear me, my sweet?” he asked in her ear.

  “Jareth,” she whispered, making his heart sing.

  “Are you all right? Are you in pain?”

  “Jareth,” she moaned again, turning just enough to throw her arm around his neck. He held her tight against him, rejoicing at the contact.

  He would ignore the feeling of tenderness that washed over him as she breathed his name, if it was the last thing he ever did.

  Chapter Five

  Jessica awoke gradually, first feeling warmth, then softness. Opening her eyes, she found she was in a bed, but try as she might, she didn’t have strength enough to raise her head.

  “God be praised!” a woman’s voice exclaimed next to her, making Jessica glance up. There, hovering over her was a heavy-set woman smiling broadly. “You’re awake!”

  Jessica tried to swallow, but her throat was so dry she could do no more than smack her lips.

  “Here you go, dear.” The woman lifted a cup of water from a small table next to her. Jessica drank a few gulps before pulling away.

  “Thank you,” she managed to whisper. Her voice was deep and raspy, not at all sounding like herself.

  “I must tell His Grace you’ve wakened.” The woman turned to leave, but Jessica stopped her by grabbing her hand weakly.

  “His Grace?” she asked.

  The woman nodded mournfully. “Yes, my lady.”

  “Did Laith survive?”

  With a shake of her head, the woman backed away. “I must tell him you are awake, my lady. He will be in to see you shortly.”

  When the door closed quietly behind her, Jessica sighed and wondered what had happened last night. She’d run until she couldn’t run any further. Who had found her?

  It would seem she had somehow returned to the estate of Crichton. Did Laith survive or had Morana succeeded in killing both the duke and her sister? If that was the case, then Jareth would now be Duke of Crichton.

  Just as she had that thought, the door opened once more. Jessica didn’t bother to look; she knew it was Jareth. The shelmir bond made her skin tingle at his nearness.

  “You are lucky to be alive,” came his gruff voice. Jessica continued to stare out the window at the morning sky without saying a word. “Would you care to tell me just what the hell you were thinking?”

  “You told me to be gone, my lord,” she whispered, barely able to keep her tears in check. “Or should I sa
y ‘Your Grace’?”

  Jareth sighed. “Laith is dead,” he said. She could hear his footsteps as he approached the bed. Her entire body tensed, both from the desire to flee and the desire to kiss him into oblivion.

  “And…and my sister?” She had to know. If Cassandra was indeed dead, then Jareth had more than likely cursed himself once again to become a vampire. Would he turn her? Or kill her? He had seemed angry enough to commit murder when she told him of their bond the night before.

  Jareth stood by the bed, so close she could see his form out of the corner of her eye. The pull to look up into his eyes was so strong that she had to close her eyes and bite her lip to keep herself from doing so.

  “Cassandra is dead as well,” Jareth said in a soft voice, as if reluctant to tell her. Even though Jessica knew what he would say, it didn’t make the news any less painful. At his words, she could no longer keep the tears at bay. They poured down her cheeks as pitiful sobs escaped her.

  Jessica covered her face with her hands and wept. The last thing she expected from Jareth was his sympathy, but the bed dipped and before she knew it, she was in his arms. She didn’t stop to wonder why he was suddenly offering her his shoulder—she merely threw her arms around his neck and held on tight. It felt so good to hold him, to breathe in his scent as his arms crushed her to his chest.

  For a fleeting moment, Jessica pretended that he loved her as much as she loved him. It was torture, knowing he would never look at her the way he once looked at her sister.

  “What of you?” she asked, her voice muffled against his shoulder.

  “What of me?”

  Jessica pulled back just enough to look into his eyes. She knew she must look a fright with red, puffy eyes and hair every which way, but she didn’t care. Stroking his cheek she held his piercing gaze.

  “Did you curse yourself?”

  He looked at her for long moments before he shook his head. Relief poured through her and she cried out, hugging him once more.