Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (31 page)

“Stop,” I whispered when her tears spilled
over. “Stop, Mama. I understand.”

“It wasn’t like I was trying to keep
anything from you, it was just –”

I cut her off again. “Stop, Mom. I
understand.”

She blinked and more tears fell then she
turned to Tor. “Rosa is alive in your world?”

I tensed, for Rosa
was
alive but she
was also the hostage of a cruel witch-god but Tor simply said,
“Alive and beloved. The only beauty in the land more exquisite than
hers is Cora’s. The only qualities in the land more dear are those
of
my
Cora, the Cora of this world.”

I felt my body start at his words and I
whispered, “That last part isn’t true,” and Tor’s gaze came to
me.

“It is, my sweet.”

“It isn’t, most everyone hates me,” I
reminded him.

“No, Cora, everyone hates the Cora of that
world.”

I rose, telling him, “But they think she’s
me.”

“Indeed, they do but it has been
you
gracing my castle for the past weeks and it was
you
, and
your rabid, not befitting a princess behavior that you displayed in
towns and villages for miles that people have been experiencing.
Word travels. They used to call you Cora, the Exquisite due to your
beauty. Now, you’re becoming known as Cora, the Gracious.”

Cora, the Gracious?

Wow. I liked that.

“Really?” I asked.

Tor’s eyes grew warm. “You read to blind
women, love, and rescue wild, wounded birds and make them your pet.
You smile at every child you see and touch their cheeks or ruffle
their hair, which, by the way, you must stop doing.” Even if his
words were melting my heart, my eyes still narrowed and he smiled
at me. “You are friendly, you are polite, you are kind and you are
merciful. You
are
Cora, the Gracious.”

Oh my. I was Cora, the Gracious.

How freaking cool!

“How freaking cool!” I cried, grinning at
him, he shook his head and looked at my mother.

“This language and her stubborn bent at
being uncommonly friendly to everyone she encounters is not
behavior befitting a princess. I persist in telling her this but
she doesn’t listen. I assume I have you to thank for that.”

“I, uh… uh… um…” Mom stammered, looking up
at Tor and, I could see, coming to the realization that she had a
being from a parallel universe at her table. “My daughter’s a
princess?”

“Of course, she’s my wife,” Tor replied.

“I keep telling you, Tor, I’m not your
wife,” I snapped and his eyes cut to me.

“And I keep telling you, my love, that
you’re going to be and, as far as I’m concerned, you already
are.”

“You’re married to my parallel world twin!”
I cried.

“This will be severed officially upon our
return. Luckily, Cora and I were wed in Bellebryn and the person
who grants annulments in Bellebryn is
me
. Therefore, it will
simply be a signature on a piece of paper and then you and I will
be wed.”

“You’re marrying him?” Dad asked.

“No!” I exclaimed hotly.

“Yes,” Tor answered.

“I am not!” I stated, my voice rising.

“My love, you are,” Tor said to me.

“No I’m not. You can be a jerk,” I informed
him.

“And you’re not a handful?” he returned.

“No! You just said I was Cora, the
Gracious,” I retorted and Tor looked to my father.

“She’s exceedingly friendly to every
creature in my realm. Even the birds flock down to tell her good
morning and my horse has told me he’d die for her. But to me, she
can, at times, be extremely vexing.”

“Salem said that?” I whispered, feeling my
heart squeeze and Tor’s eyes came to me.

“He cares deeply for you,” he whispered
back.

Then something else he said came to me and I
snapped, “I’m not vexing!”

He crossed his arms on his chest and leveled
his gaze on me. “Cora, you cleaned my cave and scraped your feet
raw in doing so. You fled after our fight with the vickrants and
put the entire kingdom in jeopardy. You made me climb up a tree to
save a half-dead bird –”

“All right, all right, I can be vexing,” I
gave in then fired back, “But you’re
more
vexing!”

It wasn’t good but it was all I had.

“And how am I vexing? Except,” he said
swiftly when I instantly opened my mouth to speak, “when I’m not
giving you your way.”

“Tor, you bought two carts full of food at
the grocery store.”

“Did you pay for this food?” Tor asked.

“No,” I answered tersely.

“Did you carry it up to your rooms?” he went
on.

“No!” I snapped.

“Then why is that vexing?” he enquired
sensibly and logically.

My neck twisted so I could look at my mother
and I announced, “He’s the sensible and logical one, even in
my
world. I tell you, Mom, it’s annoying. When I hit his
world and the curse started to fall, I freaked
way the hell
out. I was a wreck! But Tor here?” I leaned back and shook my head.
“No.” I drew out the “no” for about twelve syllables. “
He
doesn’t freak out. He wants to drive a car, I show him the ignition
and the turn signals and,” I lifted a hand and snapped my fingers,
“he’s driving a car. We need to change a lock, we go to the
hardware store, get the stuff, go home and,” I snapped again, “he’s
changed the lock. I’m telling you, it drives me mad.”

Tor called my attention to him by asking,
“Sweets, would you prefer that I was quivering, scared of my shadow
and incapable of providing for you?”

“No! But you could give me
something.
”

“Why? You didn’t give
me
anything.
You kept the fire burning. You cooked the rabbits on the spit. You
cleaned the cave. You say you were a wreck, my love, but I saw none
of that. By the gods, you wielded a blade and fought the vickrants
with me.”

“A blade?” Mom whispered.

“Your daughter is handy with a dagger,” Tor
informed Mom proudly and I turned and grinned down at her.

“Totally, Mom. You should have seen me,” I
bragged then pointed at myself. “Warrior princess, in the
flesh.”

“Bloody hell, warrior princess,” Tor
muttered and my eyes shot to him.

“Well, I was! You even said so!” I
cried.

“I need whisky,” Dad put in at this point,
my body went ramrod straight and I looked at my father who had an
expression on his face I’d never seen before. I was guessing he now
wished that I was actually simply insane or had hooked up with the
leader of a cult who seduced feeble-minded women and convinced them
he was from an alternate universe instead of being hooked up with
an actual warrior prince from a parallel world.

“Dad –” I started but Dad was looking at
Tor.

“Do you drink whisky?” he asked Tor.

“I do,” Tor replied.

“Comin’ right up,” Dad muttered and turned
to the liquor cabinet on the wall.

My eyes went to Tor and his came to me. Then
his face went soft, one of the sides of his mouth curled slightly
up and he winked at me. I took in a deep breath and smiled back. He
tipped his head to my chair and waited until my bottom was in it
before he resumed his seat.

Dad came back with two whiskies and he
brought the bottle. Mom refilled her and my wineglasses.

Dad threw back his whisky like he was doing
a tequila shot then refilled his glass.

Then his eyes came to me.

Then I watched him take in a breath.

Then he said quietly, “All right,
sweetheart. Let’s start at the beginning.”

I pressed my lips together and looked at
Tor. He sat back and sipped his whisky, his eyes watching me over
the rim of his glass the entire time. I took a sip of wine, looked
between my Mom and Dad and then I started at the beginning.

* * * * *

Dad and Tor were in the dining room,
drinking whisky.

Mom and I were in the kitchen, doing the
dishes.

I didn’t want Mom to have to do the dishes
by herself but I didn’t think it was wise leaving Tor with my
Dad.

I’d told our story and my parents believed
it. They were shocked by it, but they believed it.

This was good.

I had left out the part of Rosa being
kidnapped by the evil Minerva but Tor had gone into some detail of
what a sweet-tempered, lovely young woman she was, how she was
destined to marry his brother and how much she was loved by her
family, those around her and especially her husband-to-be. This
made both my parents’ eyes get wet. It also, with the information
I’d already communicated about Tor taking care of and protecting
me, made them like him. And from the way they were looking at him,
I was guessing they liked him a lot.

This I wasn’t sure was good.

“Do you think it’s a good idea that we leave
Dad and Tor in the dining room…” my mother’s eyes came to me and I
finished, “
alone?
”

“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?” Mom
asked.

I grabbed a wineglass and started drying it,
muttering, “I don’t know.”

Mom hesitated, rinsed a plate and put it in
the dish drainer before asking, “Is there something you aren’t
telling me?”

I bit my lip. Then I put the glass away.
Then I reached for the plate.

Then I lied, “No.”

“Cora,” Mom said softly and I hated it when
she said my name like that. Soft with disappointment. I hated to
disappoint my Mom. That was the worst.

I dried the plate, put it away, turned my
side to the counter and leaned into it.

Then I found my mother’s eyes and I
whispered, “I’m in love with him.”

My mother, who never hid her expressions
from me or anyone – she was who she was, she thought what she
thought – didn’t do it then either. And her face looked at war. She
looked hopeful and happy at the same time she looked frightened and
concerned.

She pulled the towel from my hands, dried
her own, dropped the towel on the counter and got close to me.

“You’re in love with him?”

I nodded.

“If you’re in love with a man who obviously
adores you for everything you are, sweetie, why do you look like
your dog just got run over?”

“Things are… complicated,” I explained.

“You got that right,” she muttered and I
shook my head.

“No, it’s not just the alternate universe
thing,” I told her and her brows drew together.

“Things are
more
complicated than the
alternate universe thing?” she enquired and I nodded. “How?”

“Well…” I started, quickly weighed the pros
and cons of confiding the fullness of my history with Tor to my
mother, then I decided to do it. I had no one else to talk to about
it, my Mom was awesome, she was also wise so who else would I
choose? “In his world, I was up front with him about who I was,
where I came from. He didn’t believe me.”

Her head tipped to the side. “And?”

“For
two months
he didn’t believe me,
Mom. The Cora of his world is different than me.
A lot
different. She isn’t a very nice person and… he doesn’t like her
much.”

Her head straightened, her eyes went alert
and she repeated, “And?”

“But he
used
to love her. But she
spurned his love, I get the gist that she wasn’t nice about it and
they were prophesied to marry so he was kind of stuck with her. I
got there, he didn’t know I was me, I told him I was me and he
thought I was her playing a game with him. So he played one with
me. He pretended that he was into me. During this time, I fell in
love with him. I found out right before we both came to my world
that he thought I was a liar and he was playing me.”

“Well I’m guessing he knows you’re not a
liar now,” she replied.

“Yep, he knows,” I affirmed the obvious.

“So this is a problem…?” she trailed off and
her brows went up.

“Mom!” I hissed, leaning into her. “He
thought, for two months, that I was
lying
to him. He played
the devoted, adoring husband and the operative word in that is
played.
He never believed me but he led me to believe that
he did!”

At this, her brows drew together. “Yes,
sweetie, I get that. But that was then. This is now.”

I leaned back and whispered, “What?”

She took my hand and held tight. “Cora, that
man in there doesn’t think you’re a liar and he’s not
playing
at the devoted, adoring anything. I don’t know what
went on between you two in that other world but whatever it was,
he’s seen it for what it was, he’s seen you for who you are and now
he’s just plain
devoted
and
adoring.
”

I sucked in breath and stared at her.

She squeezed my hand.

“Love is a mighty thing,” she carried on.
“When we deal with the people we love, everything they do, no
matter how slight or how huge, has awesome power over us, our
emotions, our behavior, our reactions. You love this man and you
feel betrayed that he didn’t believe you but pretended he did. I
get that. I even get why you’d hold onto it and the power that
betrayal would have over you. But, sweetie, you’d told him you were
from
a different world.
If Rosa was not in that world, our
dinner in there,” she jerked her head to the wall between the
kitchen and dining room, “would have had a far different ending.
There is no way in hell you, or Tor, would have been able to
convince your father or me that he was from another world. I still
find it unbelievable. And the only way I can make it so it doesn’t
freak me out is to understand the little girl I lost wasn’t lost in
that world, she has a beautiful life in that world. The rest of
it…” she trailed off and shook her head.

“I’m sorry it freaks you out,” I
whispered.

“I’m sorry you’re going through this. And
I’m worried you’re going through this,” she whispered back.

“Me too,” I agreed with considerable
feeling.