Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (5 page)

This guy was either a regular at bar fights
or he was a warrior.

I was guessing with his demeanor, both.

He stood, walked around and doused the
torches. He dumped a couple of logs on the fire then I watched in
the firelight as he walked back to me.

Whoa! Freaking hell, his chest was even
better (and more scarred).

He also had great chest hair, all dark and
sexy. I was not into chest hair, or I wasn’t until I saw his. It
was not too little, not too much… it was
just right.

Holy crap!

Then he bent low, threw back the hides and
slid in beside me.

I shot to sitting, screeching, “What are you
doing?”

“Preparing to sleep,” he replied calmly.

“Here?” I asked shrilly.

“Yes,” he answered, still calm.

“You can’t sleep here,” I informed him.

This was met with silence. He was on his
back. I was on my booty with my torso twisted to look down at him
and his eyes were on me.

Then he asked, “Where do you suggest I
sleep?”

“I don’t know,” I replied. “Don’t you have a
bedroll or something?”

He got up on both elbows and returned, “No,
I don’t have a bedroll. I left this morning on the errand of
getting my brother to a church and dragging your arse out of bed. I
didn’t come prepared to camp in the wilderness.”

Hmm. Of course he was right.

“Maybe you can take some hides and make a
bed on the other side of the fire,” I suggested.

“And maybe you can do that,” he retorted.
“I’m sleeping here.”

Then he lay back down and yanked at the
covers which made me teeter as they pulled against me. I held firm
and continued glaring at him.

“I’m not sleeping with you,” I declared.

“As you know, I’m perfectly fine with that.
The one time I took you to my bed, it was vastly unpleasant. I’m
not yearning for another go.”

I blinked and when I opened my eyes, I knew
they were huge. “We’ve slept together?”

I knew this was likely a crazy question,
seeing as we were married, but still.

He got up on his elbows again and scowled at
me, “Why do you persist in this foolishness?”

I didn’t reply to his question, I was on a
mission so I repeated, “We’ve slept together?”

He glared at me before he sighed and stated,
“I’ll play,” on a mumble. Then he continued, “We have, indeed,
slept together. As you know, because you were bloody there, after
our wedding, we consummated the union. To say you were the worst I
ever had would be to utter the definition of an understatement.
You, Cora, are undoubtedly the worst
any
man could ever
have.”

Oh God.

He went on, “Then you spent the night in my
bed. You snored,” he paused then carried on, “
loudly
. Then
you kept stealing the covers, moved around an inordinate amount and
took up most of the bed. I endured it but never wished to repeat
it. However, we’re here, this is the only place to sleep, I’m
sleeping here, with you, if I must. If you prefer to move across
the way, be my guest.”

Okay, there was a lot to consider there.
First was the fact that he was my husband and he’d only had sex
with me once, it didn’t go well (to say the least) and he’d only
slept with me in his bed once. Second was the fact that I was
getting the sense we didn’t live together which wasn’t surprising
to me since he was a jerk and he obviously didn’t like the Cora of
this world. Third was that Cora of this world was way not like me;
I didn’t snore and I slept like the dead, usually in a fetal
position, waking up in the same spot as I fell asleep. Last was the
fact that I didn’t exactly know how to separate the hides so we
both had our fair share considering they were stitched
together.

Then it came to me.

“Okay, how about this,” I started. “I take
the sheepskins with me, you get the top hide and the grassy
stuff.”

“No, you want to move, you get the cowhide
on top.”

So that was cow.

Interesting.

“That isn’t fair,” I informed him. “The
sheepskins are fluffier.”

“I know,” he replied.

Jerk!

“But you get the grassy stuff!” I
snapped.

“I get that too.”

I clenched my teeth. Noctorno was
silent.

“You’re a jerk!” I told him.

“Pardon?”

“A jerk!” I clipped, twisted further to him
and jabbed a finger in his direction, “You! Jerk!”

“Jerk?” he asked.

“Argh!” I groaned, understanding they didn’t
have that term here and deciding against educating him. Then I made
a decision and flopped on my back on the skins. “Fine, whatever,
we’ll sleep together. You just stick to your side and don’t touch
me.”

“I’ll stick to my side but you need to stick
to yours.”

“No problem,” I hissed.

“Rubbish,” he muttered.

“Whatever,” I snapped, yanking the hides to
my chin then turning to my side away from him and curling my knees
into my belly.

“You kick me, steal the hides or snore, I’m
moving you and the top hide across the way myself,” he said to my
back.

I closed my eyes and warned, “You touch me,
I’ll kick you so hard in the balls you’ll kiss any hope of children
good-bye.”

“I did that a long time ago,” he mumbled and
I swiftly rolled to face him.

“Do you have to have the last word?” I
snapped.

“Yes,” he returned.

“Jerk,” I gritted out.

“Cow,” he returned.

Oh my God! He just called me a cow!

“I hate you,” I spat.

“That feeling, my love, is mutual,” he
retorted.

“Ugh!” I grunted, glared into his face and
rolled away from him again.

There was quiet as I watched the firelight
dance on the cave wall in front of me.

Then he called, “Cora.”

“What?” I snapped.

“You’re welcome for dinner and saving your
arse from the vickrants.”

Vickrants?

What the hell were those?

Probably they were those
things.

Shit. He had gone out in a thunderstorm to
get dinner and he had battled, rather mightily and with great skill
and energy, that
thing
that had me, saving me from
disappearing like poor Rosa.

Shit!

I gritted my teeth. Then I sucked in breath
through my nostrils.

Then I whispered, “Thank you, Noctorno, for
dinner and saving me from the vickrants.”

I didn’t want to say it but that didn’t mean
it didn’t have to be said.

“Bloody hell,” he whispered back, his voice
low and heavy with surprise.

Whatever.

I closed my eyes knowing I’d never get to
sleep but hoping I did and when I woke up I would be at home.

Terms

They had me.

The black, scaly claws were on me, grasping
at me, their talons tearing at my nightgown while the thin, veined
wings flapped sickeningly. It was pulling me away, pulling me over
the balustrade behind Cora and I could hear her shrill, terrified
screams mingled with my own.

I jolted awake and bolted out from under the
hides. Darting blindly, I ran into the cold, hard stone wall.

“Cora.” I heard.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, pressing myself to
the hard stone.

I wasn’t home. Why couldn’t I have woken up
at home?

I closed my eyes and felt the tears slide
down my cheeks.

“Cora.” I heard again and a warm hand was on
the small of my back.

“They almost got me,” I whispered.

“Cora.”

“They got Rosa.”

“Come back to bed.”

“They took her.”

“Cora, come back to bed.”

“They flew away with her and then,
poof,
she was gone.”

“You’re trembling. Come back to bed.”

“Just like that,” I whispered, my nails
clawing at the stone. “She was gone.”

“Cora –”

Noctorno stopped speaking when my breath
hitched loudly with a sob.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered then he picked me
up, I slid my arms around his shoulders and shoved my face in his
neck as he carried me back to the hides.

“I wanna go home,” I snuffled into his
neck.

“You can’t,” he told me as he went down to a
knee and placed me on the hides but I didn’t let go of his neck, in
fact, I clutched him tighter.

“I don’t like it here,” I told him, my voice
held tremors, the tears kept falling.

“Orlando will be working to –”

I cut him off by wailing, “I ate
Thumper!”

Then I shoved my face further into his neck
and arched into his body.

“Thumper?”

I yanked my face out of his neck and stared
at him. “A furry bunny! I ate bunny! Bunnies are cute! You don’t
eat
them!” I cried then pushed my face into his neck,
tightened my arms around his shoulders and pressed my body to the
solid heat of his.

“Bloody hell,” he muttered, his arms sliding
around me as he settled on his side in the hides, his body facing
mine, mine pressed tight to his, his arms staying around me.

“I wanna go home.”

“Let Orlando do his work.”

“I don’t like it here,” I repeated.

“Cora, calm yourself,” he ordered on a
squeeze of his arms.

This was good advice and I tried. I took
heavy, broken breaths and closed my eyes tight. It took awhile and,
along with the tears, it exhausted me so when my sobbing subsided,
I was tuckered out.

But I didn’t let him go. He was real. He was
warm. He was strong. He saved me from that
thing.
He fed me.
He took me someplace safe, dry and warm (ish). He was a jerk, he
hated me but he was taking care of me. In this strange land, if I
didn’t have him, I would be royally screwed (more than I already
was, that was).

“Thank you for taking care of me,” I
whispered, pushing closer to his body.

That body got tight.

“But I don’t want to eat bunny anymore.” I
was still whispering.

“Fine, Cora, I’ll not hunt
bunny
anymore,” he sounded slightly amused, slightly surprised and
slightly annoyed, a strange combination that worked for him. “Go to
sleep,” he said on another squeeze of his arms.

I pulled in another breath and sleep came
closer.

Then I mumbled, “Pray God, those
things
don’t harm her.”

His body again got tight.

“Pray God,” I repeated softly.

“Sleep,” his voice rumbled the order.

“She tra la’ed and danced on her toes.
Anyone who tra la’s and dances on their toes shouldn’t be harmed,
even by those
things.
No,
especially
by those
things.
”

“Cora, what did I say?”

I fell silent.

Then, on the edge of sleep, I whispered so
low it was barely audible, “I hope Aggie’s okay.”

I felt his arms squeeze one last time before
I was dead to the world.

* * * * *

I woke feeling
great.

This feeling didn’t last long because the
next feeling that assaulted me was the knowledge that my body was
wrapped around the long, hard body of Noctorno. He was on his back,
I was nearly on top of him, my thigh thrown over both of his, my
head on his chest, my arm tight around him.

To make matters worse, both his arms were
around me too.

Holy crap.

My head came up but before I could move away
I was imprisoned by his light blue eyes.

“You didn’t snore,” his voice rumbled
sleepily and, might I add, sexily.

Uh-oh.

“Um –”

“Or move.”

“Uh –”

“Or steal the covers.”

I bit my lip.

“Gods, you
cuddled,
” he muttered, his
eyes narrowing dangerously.

Oh dear.

“I –” I started trying to pull away but his
arms got tighter so I stopped mostly because his arms were really
freaking strong and I had no choice.

“What’s this now?” he murmured, his
glittering, no longer sleepy eyes moving over my face.

“What?” I asked.

“Seduction?” he asked back.

Uh. What?

Then it hit me.

“No!” I cried. “I –”

“I can’t imagine you’d be very good at it,”
he remarked.

Oh Lord. I was seeing he was back to the
jerk.

I tugged at his hold and put my hands to his
chest to get better leverage.

This didn’t work.

“Let me go.”

“Though,” he carried on, ignoring me, “you
put your mind to something…” then he trailed off.

Oh God.

“Noctorno, let… me…” I shoved hard,
“
go!
”

I got nowhere.

His eyes dropped to my mouth. “I’ve a mind
to test your skills.”

Uh-oh!

“Let me go!” I repeated.

He didn’t let me go. His arms separated, one
sliding up my back, the other one sliding low on my waist. The hand
at my waist slanted down to my hip and his fingers pressed in.

“You feel better now that there’s more to
you. I like the curves. When you were skin and bones…” he trailed
off again.

Great. Just my luck. He liked that I was fat
in this world.

“I’m not going to say it again,” I told him
on another shove. “Let me go!”

His eyes moved back to mine. “Kiss me and
I’ll let you go.”

My body went still.

Then I shouted, “No!”

“Can’t even give your husband that,” he
muttered, his expression changing from speculative to daunting.

“Right. I can’t. You’re a jerk and I hate
you, remember?” I snapped.

His arms tightened. “I remember,” he
replied. “But that’s not it. You can’t do it.”

“Can’t do what?”

“Kiss me.”

“I can kiss you. I just don’t want to.”

“I’ll wager you can kiss me, what I mean is,
you can’t kiss me the way I’d like it.”

It was my eyes that narrowed at that.

I really had no idea if I was a good kisser
or not. Brian didn’t seem to mind the way I kissed. In fact, all I
had to do was kiss him, give him a good, long, wet one and he was
all over me. Then again, he was a guy. Guys didn’t need much and
Brian needed less than most (in my, admittedly, not so vast
experience).