Villains also get Second chance

Cassius pov

Only lord knows how I felt when her pulse fell continuously and her face turned white. She was hardly breathing when I held her but the woman just chuckled. I knew she was strange the moment I saw her.

Her eyes were ethereal as if she did not belong to this world. She must have hypnotized Marianne. But then how did she know about Elizabeth and my parents?

But I did not have the time to dwell on it further. I took Marianne in my arms and started rubbing her. Her temperature kept dropping no matter what I did.

I was almost on the verge of breaking down when her breathing stopped. I put my hands on  her chest and pressed with pressure and then started rubbing her hands and legs again.

"Marianne, Marianne..'' I kept on shouting… when she finally opened her eyes. For a moment I could not believe as I had lost hope but when she spoke as if my breaths came back to me.

I took her in my arms like it had been ages when I had last hugged her. I  wanted to drown myself in her warmth but her body was still frozen. She was shivering in my arms. The breath she was taking was shallow. She was even having trouble speaking.

Her words were sounding with so much difficulty that my heart clenched. I wanted to kill whoever had done that to her. But before that I had to take care of her.

I took her in my arms and instinctively followed the route we had taken to come here. The sun was almost setting and the place was well decorated. They must be having the marriage rituals of Caleb and his wife.

I looked at the girls in my arms, my wife. I had always disappointed her and now I was not even able to protect her. This thought brought my anger up again.

Finally reaching our hut, I opened the door and took her towards the bed. I laid her there and then started rubbing her again. But it was not working.

I closed my eyes because I knew the solution but I was not sure she would forgive me if I did that.

"Marianne" I called her with a lot of hesitation. 

She hardly fluttered her eyes open and she looked at me with the pained expressions. I could see she was feeling horrible. Her fingers were colder than ice and so was her body.

"I wanted permission to hold you." i said and she nodded but that was not it, "bare Marianne, i wanted permission to hold you bare.'' I added and her lips trembled. Her eyes widened a bit and she closed them again.

'Was it a yes or no?!'

I waited for a bit to reply but no reply came out. As if she had not listened. Or was her mind hazy again?!

"Marianne, it is necessary '' I added and finally she nodded yet her eyes stayed closed. I wished I could see them to know if she was ready for that or not.

I sighed, as I knew the time was ticking off. There were no facilities to keep her warm except a blanket that was not that thick. I took my shirt and pants off first in haste but when I came to take her clothes off I hesitated.

I kept looking at her frowned face and trembling lips, gaining all the courage that I could.

Finally my hands moved to her chest and held her in my arms. Moving my hands towards her back. I started opening the zip.

Once done the dress turned loose. I looked at her corset and undid its threads too. It took me a while to get rid of that too.

Then I laid her back gently on the bed. Her eyes were still closed as her face was still white but I could see the change in her expressions. She had held her breath when I undid her zips.

I held the dress and gently pulled it down so that her hands did not get hurt.

Getting rid of the sleeves from her hands, I pulled the dress  in one swift motion and corset in the next step.

She gasped as the cold winds touched her more. But I was sitting there with complicated expressions.

At last I took a sigh and let the thought of removing her undergarments go. I felt her shivering and came back to my senses.

I laid there beside her and took her in my arms. And covered both of us with the single balked we had.

Her body was still shivering but it was less than before. I was hesitating whether to go further or not.

Touching her generally and teasing her was something different as I had her expressions to know when to hold and when to let go. But this time she was laying there without anything but pain on her face.

I did not want to cross the limit which she was not ready for.

My hands were still on the sides. Slowly moved and took her into my arms. My arms warped around her back and I slowly started rubbing her cold back. I could hear her shallow breaths in my ears.

It was making me terrified as we were still sharing the body warmth yet her breaths were not turning to normal.

My hands started moving faster and her breath hitched. I was hugging her as tightly as I could with her injured hand. My body was hot yet it was feeling parching now, still her body felt cold and I shook my head. It was not working. I needed to cross the line a bit and touch her to make her feel better.

"Marianne, I am going to kiss you and touch you, I promise I will stop if your temperature turns normal again" I said with a pleading voice and she nodded again after some hesitation.