Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (14 page)

I stared up at him. “You have warriors?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain that later.”

Okay, I decided to let that go.

“Is, um… Orlando good at that kind of thing?
You know, leading a rescue mission?”

“Yes, if he wasn’t, I’d be with him but he
also has my men with him and if he wasn’t good, they are.”

“So, they’ll find her.”

He nodded and stated firmly, “They’ll find
her.”

This made me feel better.

Then I asked, “Dash isn’t with them?” He
shook his head and I continued, “Why not?”

“Because Dash is in danger, like you and
like me. The full curse starts when both the females are collected
but Minerva switches tactics frequently, generation upon
generation, she conjures something new, growing frustrated at her
torment being thwarted. She could attempt to take Dash or me. He
needs to stay safe and we all need to be cautious. There’s no
telling what she’ll do.”

“Oh,” I whispered, thinking an unpredictable
enemy who had the power of a god was not a good thing.

“And furthermore, he’s Dash,” Noctorno
carried on

I felt my brows knit. “He’s Dash?”

“My brother is a lot of things, nearly all
of them good, what he is not is a soldier and something else he
definitely is not is a warrior.”

“Like you,” I guessed quietly. “Being a
warrior, I mean.”

“Indeed, love, like me.”

And I knew this to be true the way he sat
astride a horse and beat back an army of vickrants wielding a
sword.

Not to mention, all his scars.

“And,” he started and I focused on him to
see his eyes lit with something I’d never seen before, “apparently
like my wife.”

“What?” I whispered.

His eyes moved over my face then his head
dipped. I tensed when his lips brushed mine sweetly, slid along the
skin of my cheek just as sweetly and ended up at my ear.

“You are valiant,” he whispered there and I
shivered.

“Valiant?”

“Never in a million years would I think you
had that in you.”

“Had what?”

His head lifted and his eyes locked on mine.
“You fought alongside me and Salem. No hesitation. Quick reflexes,
brilliant instincts. You did not recoil. You did not become
hysterical. You were no burden. You were a boon. Had it only been
me and Salem, they may have taken me or they may have harmed
him.”

I felt something squishy in my belly at his
words but also felt the need to point out, “You’re pretty good with
a sword yourself, big guy.”

He grinned at me. “I’ve had plenty of
practice. You, my love, as far as I know, have never wielded a
dagger.” His fingers tensed in mine. “Your strokes were awkward,
uneconomical, you expended more energy than you needed. You lashed
out, were reactionary rather than tactical.”

Well!

“Nevertheless,” he went on, “you
instinctively protected my weak flank and our mount.” He gave me
another finger squeeze. “You did well, sweets.”

My belly was even squishier when I
whispered, “Uh… thanks.”

He grinned at me and dipped his head yet
again to brush his lips against mine.

Damn, but I liked it when he did that.

He lifted his head and I saw his eyes were
smiling. “Now, as brilliant as it is to have your soft body under
mine in an actual bed, my love, I need to drag you out of it, feed
you and we need to be on our way.”

What?

“We do?”

“I’ve given Salem his oats, he’s rested, we
have to press on.”

“Press on to where?”

“My castle.”

Oh. Wow.

“Seriously?” I asked, wanting, despite
myself, to see his castle.

“Yes, Cora.”

My eyeballs moved around the room then back
to him. “But, if this is safe –?”

“It
is
safe but it’s rustic, one room
and there’s no tree cover. The cottage is sacred ground, the land
around it isn’t. You or I leave the house, we could be spotted. My
castle, and the land around it, is bigger, more comfortable and all
of it is off-limits thus it’s safer.”

“Oh.”

This made sense.

“Now kiss me quickly, make it good, earn
your breakfast and we’ll be away.”

Uh. What?

“Are you joking?” I asked.

He grinned and answered, “Not even a little
bit.”

The squishiness in my belly and the
excitement at seeing his castle disappeared and I glared at
him.

“So we’re back to that?”

“We never left it.”

“You let me have a bath, clothes and dinner
without earning it,” I reminded him.

“You cleaned my cave,” he informed me.

Ugh!

“Why is it when I think I can start liking
you, you remind me why I don’t?” I asked and that earned me another
insolent grin but no response.

Drat the man!

“I think I should get a pass considering I
helped you hold back the vickrants and put up with your foul temper
in the church,” I informed him.

The grin faded and the amusement in his eyes
died but still he said, “And I think you should stop talking and
earn your breakfast so we can be on our way.”

I tried to unlace my fingers from his (and
failed, by the way) so I scowled up at him. “You forget, I’ve
decided to go it alone.”

“And you forget that you foolishly left me,
taking my horse while doing it. It’s my duty to protect you, you
put yourself in danger and doing this, you negated anything you
might have earned in our fight and enduring my foul temper in the
church.”

“That doesn’t add up!” I snapped.

“It certainly does,” he returned.

“It doesn’t!” I shot back and his fingers
tensed and stayed tensed in mine.

“The curse has just begun. The Shrew cannot
complete it unless she has a half of
both
the souls. She
gets you, and it’s highly likely, you go on alone, wherever the
bloody hell you think you’re going, she’ll get you. That means my
land, my people, will live under that curse in all its fullness
until the next divided souls blissfully wed. My people, as yet, are
unaware of what has befallen them. They are experiencing
unpredictable weather patterns but, as far as I can tell, nothing
more. As the curse has not descended for millennia, there is no
known record of what to expect
except
whatever it will be
will likely mean floods, droughts, crops failing, plague, famine
and the only hope would be to endure, for a shred of humanity to
hold on as the decades pass until the new souls are united in
matrimony. You endangered that,
again,
my love, and for that
we return to our terms and you
earn
your keep.”

Oh dear. I didn’t know any of that. I’d
fucked up again. Royally (in my case, seeing as I was a princess,
that was weirdly literal).

Shit.

“Then I’m not hungry,” I decided. “We can
just go.”

“You’ll eat and you’ll earn it.”

“Nope, I’m fine. Thanks for your concern but
I’m good.”

“Did you eat yesterday?”

No, I did not and, incidentally, I was
starved.

I didn’t tell him that.

“Cora, you can earn it or I can take it from
you.”

I blinked up at him. “What?”

“You kiss me or I kiss you. Those are your
choices. You have two seconds to decide.”

“Don’t you dare kiss –”

“One.”

“Noctorno, you kiss me, I’ll –”

“Two,” he muttered, his eyes dropping to my
mouth then his lips dropped there.

Hells bells.

I fought it, I did. Seriously. And I worked
hard at it. And it seemed I was winning.

I kept my mouth resolutely closed no matter
how he coaxed (and he
coaxed
) with lips and tongue to get it
open.

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself
when his free hand suddenly cupped my breast and his thumb, with
pinpoint accuracy, swept over my nipple.

Holy crap.

My mouth opened at the shock of pleasure
that shot through my system and his tongue swept inside.

Oh shit. I forgot just how stinking much I
loved how he tasted and how much more I loved how he kissed.

My body gave in before my mind, my arm
curving around his broad shoulders then my back arched to fit my
breast more firmly in his hand.

He groaned in my mouth and I loved that too.
So much, that was when my mind gave in and he had all of me.

He deepened the kiss and my fingers glided
into his hair to hold him to me as his thumb stopped sweeping my
nipple, his hand went up, tugged the fabric down then he went back
to my nipple, thumb and finger this time, rolling and
squeezing.

Oh my.
Nice.

My hips surged up, my fingers still laced in
his hand held on tighter and I moaned my pleasure in his mouth.

His lips left mine and I moaned again
because I didn’t want them to go.

But they didn’t go. They just moved to
relocate. His hand cupped my breast, lifting it, his body angled
down then my nipple was in his mouth and he instantly started
sucking even as his tongue swirled.

Oh my God. That felt freaking
great.

My fingers still in his hair fisted and I
breathed, “
Tor.
”

His lips left my breast, his hand cupping it
warmly again, just cupping it this time as his mouth came back to
mine.

My eyes opened and they stared into the
heated depths of his.

“Don’t stop,” I begged, arching into him
again.

“Why do you burn so hot now, sweets, when we
must go?” he muttered, his mutter husky with want at the same time
I sensed frustration.

“We can delay,” I whispered, my hand leaving
his hair to cover his at my breast and my other hand squeezing his
insistently.

“We can’t,” he denied.

“Ten minutes,” I pushed and watched the
desire in his eyes war with amusement.

“My love, what I intend to get from you will
take far,
far
longer than ten minutes to get.”

Oh boy.

I liked the sound of that.

His hand moved from my breast and he pulled
up the material.

Drat!

I couldn’t help it; I felt my mouth twist
into a pout.

His eyes dropped to it, he stared at my
mouth for a scant second and then he burst out laughing, throwing
his head back and everything to do it.

It totally sucked that he looked gorgeous
all the time and laughing was no exception.

“Get off me,” I snapped. “I’m hungry.”

His laughter turned to chuckles and he
dropped his chin to catch my eyes. “I’ll give you what you’re
hungry for, in my soft bed, in my big castle, I promise you that,
Cora.” His voice dropped sexy, husky deep when he finished, “And
I’ll take my time doing it.”

“I was talking about
breakfast,
” I
informed him briskly.

“Right,” he murmured, smiling down at
me.

“Hello? Noctorno? Aren’t we in a big hurry?”
I called.

This earned me another blasted chuckle but
he knifed away from me never letting go of my hand therefore he
used it to pull me out of bed with him. And he rested me on my feet
half an inch from his body, let go of my hand but crushed me to his
body with both arms.

I tipped my head back to look up at him.
“What are you doing now?” I snapped.

His eyes searched my face and they did this
for a long time, so long, the scrutiny so intense, I started to
feel funny but I didn’t know if it was a good funny or a bad
one.

“Noctorno?” I finally said.

“I prefer you calling me Tor.”

I didn’t answer.

One of his hands slid up my spine and
started to play with the ends of my hair.

Oh dear. I liked that too.

“My wife is exquisite,” he said softly and I
felt my body still as I felt my lips part. “That, I always knew.
But she’s also brave, defiant, clever and amusing. That, my sweet,
I did
not
know.”

Holy crap!

“Tor,” I whispered but didn’t say anymore
because I didn’t know what to say and because his head dropped down
so he could again brush his lips tenderly against mine.

“Now I need to feed you,” he murmured
against my lips, I sighed against his, his eyes, which were all I
could see, lit with a light that I liked way too much then he let
me go, took my hand and led me to the table.

Sharing

Salem was clip clopping under us at a sedate
canter as the magnificent countryside passed us by.

The clouds had shifted so now the sun shone
and the view as far as the eye could see (and the stretch of what
we’d already passed) was extraordinary.

Every inch of it.

I had, that day, learned two things.

One, a horse could look contrite. I
discovered this when I walked outside and glared my displeasure at
Salem. He gave me a look and if he could bite his lip, I knew he
would. Instead, he ducked his head.

I let him suffer for about two seconds then
I gave in, stroked his long, glossy nose and muttered, “I forgive
you and anyway, you did the right thing, taking care of me and
obeying your master at the same time. You’re a good horse.”

He blew in my neck.

Two, my husband could cook – on an old, iron
wood-burning stove, no less. He made me eggs, bacon and thick
slices of toast slathered in creamy, melty fresh butter. The food
was awesome and not just because I hadn’t had anything to eat since
the stew at Liza and Rory’s pub but because Tor could
seriously
cook. It was just eggs, bacon and toast but
somehow he made it delicious.

After breakfast, we both mounted Salem even
though there was another horse there (the one Tor used to track
us). He left it saying he’d have his “people” deal with it just as
they would deal with the dirty dishes we left.

It, obviously, was good being the future
king.

I didn’t understand why we wouldn’t take the
horse. I figured we could go much further much faster if we both
had our own mounts but he disagreed. He told me if we were
attacked, he could guard me much easier if I was close. Considering
my inexperience as a horsewoman and warrior princess, I agreed.