Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (21 page)

“Heya,” I greeted and he stopped dead.

“By the gods,” he breathed.

Okay, proof the handkerchief didn’t
work.

I needed to cover.

“So, uh… how was your day?” I asked fake
brightly.

One second he was five feet away, the next
second he was right there, I was out of the chair and in his
arms.

Um. Not good. Way too close.

“Cora –”

I looked down and to the side. “Is all well
in your princedom?” I tried to inject lightness in my tone and knew
I failed when he spoke next.

His voice was so firm it was steely when he
commanded, “Look at me.”

I did as he asked, lifting my head and
moving it in a swift arc, my eyes catching his for a brief second
before I tried to look down to the other side but one of his hands
caught me, fingers at my chin, and forced me to face him.

Foiled!

“Bloody hell,” he muttered. “By the gods,
what happened to you?”

“Nothing,” I replied instantly.

“Nothing?” he asked, his voice dripping with
impatience and disbelief.

“Nope, nothing,” I repeated. “Everything’s
cool. How are you? Did you have a good day?”

He stared at me. Then he stated, “Don’t lie
to me, Cora.”

“I’m not –”

I stopped speaking when he shook me gently
but firmly and semi-repeated, “I said, don’t lie to me.”

I looked into his gorgeous face, into his
beautiful eyes, eyes that held mine the entire first time he moved
inside me, eyes I could fall in love with and I lost it.

Completely.

I dissolved into tears in his arms, dipping
my chin and shoving my face into his chest, my fingers fisting in
his shirt by my cheeks as I wailed.

“Sweets, what on earth?” he murmured into
the top of my hair and I jerked my head back so fast he had to jerk
his up too.

“They hate me!” I cried.

“Who?” he asked.

“
Everyone!
” I shouted then shoved my
face back into his chest and as quickly as I did, I pulled it out,
looked through my watery eyes at his face and yelled desperately,
“You have to find a witch! A wizard! There has
got
to be
someone here who knows how to send me
home
. There’s always
some magical type…
person
who inhabits enchanted animated
movies that knows how to help!” I pulled his shirt out then slammed
it back in and kept going. “You have to find someone to help. I
have
to go home.
I have to.
”

His body grew rock solid against mine but I
was too far gone to notice and kept right on babbling.

“They hate me, God! You cannot imagine how
much. The other Cora was
a bitch!
” I screeched the last two
words at the top of my lungs. “And I
like
you. Your world is
so
beautiful
. And you saved Aggie for me. And last night was
so… so…” I hiccoughed through my sobs, “
good.
The best I’ve
ever had by, like…” I couldn’t find words to describe how much so I
shouted, “
A lot!
I don’t want to have it
once
then
have to let it go.
” I slammed his shirt into his chest and
kept wailing, “I
told you
we shouldn’t
do it!
Now,
forever and ever I’ll remember what we had and want it again and
I’ll never have it!” My sobs turned to anger and I yelled, “See! I
knew! I tried to tell you but would you listen?
No!
You
jerk!”

“Sweets,” he whispered.

“You owe me!” I cried. “That’s our deal. I
gave it up…
three times
… and now
you
have to pay. You
have to find me a wizard or a gypsy or someone,
anyone
who
knows how to send me
home!
”

Then I dissolved again, my knees buckling
and he caught me in his arms, lifted me up and swung around. I
shoved my face into his neck and held onto his shoulders with both
arms, my body wracked with tears and I dimly heard the firm, angry
beat of his boots hitting the ground as he stalked wherever he was
stalking.

“Gods, what on… is she well?” I heard a
woman ask.

“Find me Perdita,” Tor growled. “I’ll want
an explanation for the state of
my wife.
”

“No!” I cried, lifting my head and looking
at his hard, angry profile. “Don’t blame Perdita. I think she may
be the only one who likes me.”

“I gave her charge of you and you’re a gods
damned mess.” Tor’s voice rumbled with fury. “So, my love, I’ll
bloody well be talking to Perdita.”

My hand went to his cheek and I pleaded,
“Please, please, don’t, Tor. You do, you’ll do me no favors.”

“Quiet, Cora,” he commanded low.

“Please, honey!” I cried, swiped at my tears
and tried to brighten my tone. “I’ll be okay. It’s just stress.
It’s a wonder I haven’t already had a meltdown. I’ll be fine. It’s
out of my system.”

“I said quiet,” he clipped.

“Totally out of my system, baby, I promise,”
I assured him on a complete lie.

“
Quiet!
” he thundered and I shut my
trap.

Oh boy. Tor was pissed.

Great.
Now
what had I done?

He strode angrily through the castle, up the
gazillion winding, gleaming, marble steps that led to his rooms and
into his rooms where he laid me gently down on his bed and
straightened.

Looking down at me, he stated, “Rest. I’ll
have someone bring you some wine.”

At that, I panicked, sat up and cried, “No!
Don’t! Don’t ask anyone to do anything for me!”

Big,
big
mistake. I knew this when
his eyes narrowed ominously.

“Or,” I went on, trying to repair the
damage, “actually, wine sounds good.”

Better to see one of his people, who hated
me, than endure Tor’s fury, which scared the beejeezus out of
me.

“Rest,” he commanded.

“Right,” I whispered.

Then he turned on his boot and stalked
off.

“Fucking great,” I muttered and collapsed
back on the bed.

* * * * *

I sat curled into the heavy, comfy chair I
dragged out onto the balcony patio and sipped at my second glass of
wine poured from a delicately carved crystal decanter with a
curlicued handle and a whirly stopper that a scurrying, pale-faced,
frightened looking, silent woman delivered to me and I stared at
the view.

Tor had been gone a long time.

I heard the door open and the angry pounding
of boots on marble.

Oh jeez.

I turned to look around the chair and
watched him prowl to me.

He didn’t look any less angry.

I bit my lip and took in a deep breath.

He made it to me, I opened my mouth to speak
but shut it when he pulled the glass out of my hand, set it on the
balustrade, plucked me out of the chair, sat in it, arranged me in
his lap, leaned forward and nabbed the wine, handed it to me and
then sat back, glowering at the view.

“Uh, is everything all right?” I
ventured.

“It bloody well will be,” he growled to the
view.

Hmm.

I decided to say no more.

Tor pulled the glass out of my hand and took
a huge gulp.

Hmm, again.

Then he spoke again to the view. “You’ll not
have any problems in future, Cora. You do, you tell me
instantly.
”

Oh dear.

I felt it prudent to agree, quickly and
softly, so I did. “Okay, honey.”

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

I kind of was. I hadn’t had anything since
breakfast.

“Um… yes?” I asked back cautiously and his
eyes cut to me.

“You either are or you aren’t, love,” he
clipped.

“I am,” I whispered.

“Do you want to eat up here or in the dining
room?”

I wanted to ask which dining room since, in
my lonely tour of the castle, I saw three.

“Where do you want to eat?” I asked
instead.

“Up here,” he grunted. “That way, when we’re
done, I don’t have to waste time walking all the way up here to get
you in my bed.”

Hmm.

“Okay,” I said quietly.

“Go pull the bell,” he muttered.

“Okay,” I repeated and scrambled off his
lap

Halfway across the patio, I chanced a glance
back and saw him drain my wineglass.

I bit my lip and turned back.

Oh boy.

* * * * *

Tor was up on a hand, arm straight, body at
an angle, his weight distributed on his other forearm which was in
the bed, his fingers laced in mine.

And his hips were between my legs, he was
inside me, driving deep as his fiery eyes held mine captive.

I was close, so freaking close, God, he was
big, he could move and he felt so damned
good.

“Tor,” I breathed, communicating it was
coming.

He buried himself deep, my neck arched and
he stopped.

“Look at me,” he commanded, his voice
thick.

I forced my chin down and tried to focus on
him.

“Cora,
look at me,
” he repeated and I
blinked the haze away.

“I see you,” I whispered, my hand at his
chest running through the hair down to his flat stomach. “Don’t
stop, baby.”

He ground his hips into me and I
whimpered.

“Who’s inside you?” he demanded to know.

“You,” I answered.

“Who’s inside you?” he repeated and I
blinked.

“Honey –”

His elbow bent and my body took on more of
his weight as his face became the only thing I could see.

“Who’s
fucking
you?” he changed his
question.

I was confused. “You,” I said again.

“Who am I?”

Oh God, I needed him to move!

“Tor,” I replied breathlessly.

That earned me a violent stroke and heat
surged through me.

He stopped again and kept at it. “Who am
I?”

“My husband,” I gasped.

Another violent stroke and again, “Who am
I?”

“My prince,” I whispered.

“Bloody right,” he growled and his hips
started moving faster, harder.

He moved his weight fully to his forearm and
his hand slid from my chest, between my breasts and down to my
belly.

“Who does this belong to?” he asked.

“My prince,” I repeated.

His hand went up and cupped my breast
firmly. “And this?” he demanded while his cock drove deep and I
lifted my knees higher and pressed my thighs tight to him.

Oh
God.

“My prince,” I moaned.

His thumb slid roughly across my nipple and
a shaft of pleasure shot through me.

Oh
God!

“And this?” he continued harshly.

“It belongs to you, my prince,” I
breathed.

His fingers left my breast, he pulled my
hand away from his belly and pushed both of our hands between our
legs, his hand over mine cupping my sex so I could feel his thrusts
between our fingers.

His mouth came to mine and he stopped
thrusting and started grinding. “Who does this belong to?”

Oh God, God,
God.

I closed my eyes and arched my neck again.
“You, my prince.”

“Bloody look at me,” he ordered, I did and
he started thrusting savagely, I felt him pounding, inside and out.
“You’ll not leave,” he ground out, his voice hoarse.

My legs circled his hips but I didn’t
answer.

“Cora, say it, you’ll not leave.”

Oh God!

“I’ll not leave,” I whispered.

His eyes kept mine imprisoned as he kept
driving deep and I lost it, my back arched, my neck arched and my
heels dug into his back as I exploded.

His mouth went to my ear as I climaxed and I
felt the sharp nip of his teeth on my earlobe before he gritted,
“You’re never going ‘
home’
.”

Then he shoved his face in my neck and
groaned.

When we both came down, Tor guided our hands
from between us, let mine go, he pulled out of me then kissed my
neck and exited the bed.

I rolled to my side and watched as he strode
around the room and extinguished candles and lamps until the only
illumination came from the city lights glowing through the huge
opened doors.

He joined me in bed and pulled me into his
arms, settling me with my cheek on his chest, my thigh over both of
his and then his fingers came up and played with the ends of my
hair.

I closed my eyes tight.

Okay, shit, what was
that
all
about?

I wasn’t sure but one thing I knew, I was
screwed.

The people of his castle and the city hated
me, but I could not leave, I could not complain about them or Tor
would do something to make them hate me more, if he already
hadn’t.

I was stuck on that score.

I wanted to take off but if I did, I might
get captured by Minerva and then his world would descend into
plague and famine and who wanted to be responsible for something
like that?

Not me.

From what just happened, it was pretty
freaking clear that Tor wasn’t going to go out and find me a wizard
or sorcerer to help me get home. Further,
I
couldn’t ask
anyone because they hated me and they wouldn’t help me. So I was
stuck on that score too.

And, blast my luck, his protective behavior
when he found me crying settled my black prince even deeper in my
heart. I wasn’t falling sedately in love with him, I was falling
fast and I was going to land soon and when I did, I’d land
hard.

Yes, I was totally screwed.

I had no choice.

I had to tough it up where his people were
concerned. I needed to build a shield. I would be my friendly,
social self and do my best to keep my chin up. I didn’t suspect,
considering how deep their hatred went, I’d win them over but I had
to find a way to live with it.

And as for Tor, I didn’t know what to
do.

What I did know was that there was a
possibility I was going to go home one day, no warning, no chance
to say good-bye.

So, I not only had to take what I could get
from my fairytale prince but I also had to give him back everything
I could muster. Because when I went home, the other Cora would come
back and he, like me, would have nothing.