Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (33 page)

I grinned back then stated, “You know, I
should be pissed at you for keeping it from me.”

His grin turned to a smile, his arm curving
around me and holding tight, he stated back, “I know.”

I started laughing softly and informed
him, “It’s good you’re hot, Frey Drakkar, and good in bed
and
command elves and dragons or
you’d seriously be in trouble.”

He kept smiling but his brows drew together.
“Hot?”

I nodded. “Hot. Handsome, good-looking,
pleasing to the eye,” I leaned into him, “
hot.
”

He tipped his chin back and laughed then,
still laughing, rolled me to my back, his arm around my belly
tucking my side into his front, he looked down at me and quit
laughing.

“And it is good you are beautiful, Finnie
Drakkar, or you would have a very pink arse for risking such a
venture.”

I blinked at him.

Finnie Drakkar.

Shit, but that had a nice ring to it.

Then all his words hit me and I
felt
my
brows draw
together. “A pink arse for risking such a venture?”

He nodded and his face again grew serious.
“This…” he hesitated, “travel to another world. It was
foolhardy.”

What?

“What?” I asked.

“You had no idea what you would encounter
and I know when you arrived, wife. I know you encountered a
situation that was beyond your means to control it. As you know, I
do not care for the other you.”

Boy, I knew
that
.

Frey kept talking. “I do not like to think
of how I behaved with you, thinking you were her.” His face grew
darker when he stated, “And I do not like to think of what could go
wrong with this magic, where you could have been sent, what could
have befallen you. It was reckless, my wee one, and you should not
have done it.”

I stared up at him.

He was worried about me.

That was sweet
and
hot.

I didn’t tell him that. Instead I pointed
out, “Frey, honey, I’m a princess, I live in a freaking
palace
, my Mom
and Dad are king and queen and I’m married to a hot guy who is the
rightful ruler of the land and commands elves and dragons. I
totally
did all right.”

“This is pure chance,” he stated firmly and
I smiled.

“Adventure always is,” I pushed against him,
taking him to his back, resting my torso on his, I dipped my face
close as I wrapped my fingers around the side of his neck. Then I
said quietly, “That’s the best part, baby.”

“Fin –” he started but I lifted my hand,
touched my fingers to his mouth and got serious.

“
My Mom and Dad, my real ones, back home,”
I watched his eyes grow intense, which I thought was weird but I
kept talking, “they lived every minute like it was their last.” I
slid my fingers across his cheek and down to his jaw before I
whispered, “And this was good for their lives didn’t last long.
They left me behind, Frey, and I miss them. But I like knowing they
packed as much as they could get in before they left me. And before
they left me, they taught me not just to exist, not just to breathe
in and breathe out, but to
live.
And I like knowing they’re smiling, wherever they are,
knowing that I listened and learned and I’m living my life like
they taught me how. Making every single breath I take
count.”

He held my eyes even as he lifted a hand,
sifted it into the hair behind my ear then glided it down through
my hair to hold it bunched at the side of my neck.

“I would like to know about them, Finnie,”
he said softly.

“And I’ll enjoy telling you about them,
Frey,” I replied softly.

His thumb stroked my throat, his gaze
still locked with mine and he muttered, “By the gods, you suit me,
this craving for life, your thirst for venture.”

I grinned at him because I liked that he
thought that, I liked it a lot.

“Can I tell you something?” I asked.

“Anything, wee one,” he answered.

I moved closer and had no idea my eyes got
bright and my cheeks turned pink with excitement before I whispered
breathlessly, “I cannot
wait
to
get on your ship.”

He held my eyes for a second before his
roamed my face. Then both his arms locked around me and held me
tight as he burst out laughing.

I watched him laugh and I liked that
too.

I liked it a lot.

When he finished laughing I tilted my head
to the side and again had no idea my eyes were bright and my cheeks
were pink with excitement when I asked, “Wanna hear about my
world?”

His big hand cupped my jaw and he answered,
“Absolutely. But go, wife, and get our food. You can talk while we
eat.”

I grinned at him and whispered, “Right.”

Then I dropped my mouth to his, kissed him
lightly and scurried off the bed. I quickly closed the curtain to
shut out the draft, rushed across the room and grabbed the tray
that had been set on a dresser and took it to bed.

Then I climbed in bed with my husband, ate
dinner and shared my world with him.

* * * * *

“Finnie?” Frey called into the darkness.

“Mm?” I mumbled sleepily, about five seconds
away from slumberland.

“You’re too tense with your bow.”

My eyes opened.

“What?” I whispered.

“You’re too tense with your bow,” he
repeated. “You’re concentrating too much. You’re letting your brain
muddle your aim. You desire so badly to do well, your entire body
is locking just prior to release, this jerks your aim off.”

Oh my God. He’d been watching me at archery.
When I thought he’d been keeping his distance, Frey had been
watching, apparently closely.

I said nothing but my heart again
swelled.

Frey spoke again. “If you relax, concentrate
on your target, what your arms are doing, your fingers, your
shoulders, your spine, focus instead on your body, your bow, the
arrow, your target and not on what Atticus will think, you will see
improvement.”

Oh my
God
.

He knew what I was thinking, what I wanted,
why I was out there with Father.

He knew what was in my heart.

I remained quiet.

His arm gave me a squeeze.

“Do not worry, wee one,” he whispered.
“Atticus will like you, whether your arrow can find the target or
not. He won’t be able to help it.”

I closed my eyes as his words rushed through
me and with them my Mother’s from earlier that day, not only her
giving them but how she gave them, what that said about her, how
she felt about me and last, but by no means least, what they said
about how Frey felt about me.

Tension I didn’t know I’d been holding in my
shoulders and neck released, I snuggled closer to Frey and tensed
my arm around him.

Then I whispered, “Okay.”

His fingers slid up my side and curled
in.

“Okay,” he whispered back.

My body melted into the warm hardness of
Frey’s and seconds later, I was asleep.

Anything So Exquisite

Four days later…

I burst out of the house and ran down the
stone steps as the mass of riders, led by Frey and King Atticus,
charged into the clearing in front of the Palace.

Frey swung Tyr around and reined him in as I
got close and I put my hands on his thigh, tipping my head way back
to look up at him.

“Did you win?” I asked with a smile and he
smiled down at me.

Then he leaned far down to the side in his
saddle, his hand hooking me at the back of my neck and pulling me
up to my toes so our faces were close.

“You don’t win a hunt, wife,” he said
quietly. “The only way to lose is if you don’t bag a deer or at
least a hare.”

“Okay then,” I replied, “did you bag at
least a hare?”

“Four,” he stated, “and three deer.”

I scrunched my nose.

Frey took in my face and his smile got
bigger before he asked, “Why is it you burst forth from the Palace
with excitement for news about the hunt and now you look as if I
told you I scored through a village cutting down every breathing
being with my sword?”

I didn’t “burst forth from the Palace”
because I wanted news of the hunt. I burst forth from the Palace
because my hot guy husband rode up to the Palace on his beautiful
steed looking… well,
hot
.
And he’d been gone since the wee hours of the morning. And
therefore I “burst forth from the Palace” because I was excited to
see
him.

I did not tell him this.

Instead I explained, “Because before, I
thought it was a competition you could win. And now it’s just a
bunch of guys going out and killing things. Competition is
exciting. Killing things just to kill things…” I shook my head and
finished, “not so much.”

Frey kept smiling as he bent even further
then touched his mouth to mine before he ordered softly, “Step
back, wee wife, so I can dismount.”

He let me go and I stepped back to see
Father moving toward us so I turned to him and smiled.

“How did you do?” I asked.

“Not as well as The Drakkar, a hare and two
deer,” he answered, arriving at me while speaking through a
returned smile and bending in to kiss my cheek after he spoke. When
he straightened, Frey was there and Atticus looked to my husband.
“As usual, not anyone did as well as The Drakkar.”

I turned to look up at Frey. “So
you
did
win.”

Frey looked down at me, eyes smiling. “If it
pleases you, my princess, you can think of it this way.”

“Okay, I’ll think of it this way,” I
decided, Frey’s mouth twitched and his eyes went to Atticus who was
noting, “Plenty of fresh meat for the feast tonight.”

I made a gaggy face that Frey caught and I
knew this because he burst out laughing. It also made him hook an
arm around my shoulders and pull me into his side. And last, and
best, it made him kiss the top of my hair after he quit
laughing.

When he was done kissing me, I tipped my
head back to see he was looking down at me.

When he caught my eyes, he stated, “You eat
pork.”

I had a feeling I knew where this was
going.

“Yes,” I confirmed, “but –”

Frey cut me off. “And beef.”

“Yes, husband, but –”

“And chicken, pheasant and lamb,” he went
on.

“I don’t eat lamb,” I protested.

“Of course, I forgot,” Frey looked at Father
and informed him. “Finnie doesn’t eat baby animals. It’s a
rule.”

This
was
a
rule and this rule Frey learned when our trays were brought up two
nights ago so we could (again) eat in bed. Lamb was served and I
pitched a mini-fit and, like I was a real princess, sent it back.
Frey thought this was hilarious during my fit
and
after it when I explained my reasons for having
said fit. I knew he thought this was hilarious because first, he
laughed about it a lot at the time, second, he laughed about it a
lot afterward whenever he remembered it and last, because he teased
me about it frequently.

He could think it was hilariously funny and
tease me about it. I still was not eating baby animals. No way.

I looked at Father, nodded and affirmed,
“Totally.”

Father grinned at me and Frey looked back
down at me. “You
do
know where
all that comes from, Finnie.”

“Of course, I just don’t wish to discuss it
or think of my husband and father riding off into the forest and
hunting it down,” I returned then continued, “And, by the way,
along with baby animals, I don’t eat hare nor do I eat
venison.”

Actually, to be honest, I didn’t know
exactly what a hare was except that it looked like a rabbit and
there was no way in hell I was eating a rabbit.

I was an adventurer but you had to draw the
line somewhere.

“You’ll eat it tonight,” Father put in, “for
there’ll be a great deal of it and I promise you, daughter, you’ll
think it’s delicious.”

“I think I’ll stick with the canapés,” I
replied, Father’s head tilted to the side in confusion and Frey
gave me a squeeze which meant they had no clue what I was talking
about. “Hors d’oeuvres?” I tried, Father’s brows drew together and
Frey started chuckling. “Finger food. Like vol-au-vents, miniature
quiches, meatballs on toothpicks and such,” I explained.

Father closed in our huddle and he said
quietly, “I think, my other world daughter, we do not have the same
foods.”

By the way, Father and Mother, I now knew,
had been told by Frey who I was and where I’d come from. This had
made things better for it meant I could be me around both of them.
I was obviously way better at being me and that seemed to be
working, especially with Father.

Still, I went out with him every day (except
today, since he was with the hunt) and practiced with my bow and
arrow. And Frey was right; I was worrying too much about
disappointing Atticus. Once I started to focus on what I was doing,
and not on making Father happy (not to mention, doing that every
day, my arms and shoulders were getting stronger and thus I gained
more control), I got loads better. I wasn’t hitting bulls-eyes but
the last two days I was out, not one arrow went astray and some of
them actually hit the circles in the target.

Father was pleased with my progress and so
was I.

“We’ll see,” I whispered back, “we probably
just don’t call them the same things.”