Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (15 page)

As much as I hated it, I had to admit that I
liked sitting in the sunshine atop Salem, feeling Tor’s big, strong
body surrounding me, making me feel safe. Yesterday had been
overcast and chilly, I felt the need to be constantly vigilant and
I wasn’t a brilliant rider, only having been on a horse a handful
of times in my life. Salem luckily knew what he was doing but
riding was difficult, jarring, exhausting and it was nice to sit
back and enjoy the ride.

Which, watching the splendiferous
countryside pass us by as the sun warmed our bodies and Tor held me
close, I was doing.

I relaxed further into him and asked, “How
long before we get to your castle?”

“If we were able to take the main road,
which we cannot for Minerva’s beings will be watching it, a day.
The route we have to take, likely three,” Tor answered and I
straightened, twisted and looked up at him.

“Three?”

“Yes, love, three.”

Holy crap. That was a serious detour.

I turned back and fell silent. In the
distance I saw a bunch of deer lift their heads in our direction,
sensing us. Then as a group they took off, gracefully running up a
hill into a forest.

I’d never seen that many deer in my life. A
few here and there, but there had to be thirty, maybe even forty of
them.

Outstanding.

My eyes slid across the landscape,
experiencing greens greener than I’d ever seen before, wildflowers
running riot in the fields around Salem’s legs and beyond, a
faraway body of water that was the blue of Tor’s eyes. In fact, it
seemed strangely the very air sparkled like it had tiny pieces of
near invisible glitter floating in it.

It was magical.

I sighed.

Then I decided to take a chance and rested
my hand on Tor’s arm at my belly.

“Can I tell you something?” I asked.

“Anything, sweets,” he mumbled and I felt
his chin come to rest where my neck met my shoulder.

Oh boy. That felt nice.

“Can you promise me something before I tell
you?” I went on.

“Ask me and we’ll see,” he replied
gently.

Well, that wasn’t a yes but it wasn’t a no
and it was a maybe said in a tone I liked so I sallied forth.

“Okay, I want to talk about something you
don’t believe and won’t like. But can you just
pretend
you
believe or, I don’t know, just keep silent?”

I received no response for some time then
his arm around me gave me a squeeze and he answered, “I can do
that, Cora.”

“Really?” I whispered to the landscape.

“Really, love, what do you want to talk
about?”

I pulled in a deep breath and then shared
what had been niggling me deep in the back of my head for
awhile.

“I’m not going home,” I said softly, his arm
squeezed me again and I went on quickly. “No, don’t say anything. I
know you think I
am
home but I’m not. And every time I go to
sleep, I expect to wake up back in my apartment, in my life. But
I’m not doing that. And as the days pass by, I’m wondering if I
ever will. And there are a couple things about this that are
nagging me.”

He didn’t lift his chin from my shoulder
when he prompted, “And those are?”

“Well,” I started, “if I’m here, that means
the other Cora is there. And if she’s like you say she is… um, I
don’t think that’s good. See, my job is in danger. I’ve been there
years and I make okay money but they’re looking for reasons to get
rid of people. If she doesn’t figure out she has to work for a
living, or decides not to, or figures it out, goes in and doesn’t
know what she’s doing, which, by the way, in my world she can’t
possibly know, or by some miracle, pulls that off but pisses
someone –”

“I get it, love,” he cut me off quietly.

I sucked in breath. Then I said, “I can’t
lose my job, Tor. And Lord only knows what else she might get up to
and the longer I’m here, the more time she has to get up to
it.”

“This is true, the gods only know what the
other Cora would get up to,” he agreed and I didn’t know if it was
actual agreement or him humoring me but I didn’t ask because I
didn’t want to know if was the latter (though I figured it
was).

“This is important,” I told him, “and it’s
kind of freaking me out.”

“Freaking you out?”

“Worrying me,” I explained.

He lifted his chin and ordered, “Look at me,
Cora.” I did, twisting to look up at him to see his eyes tipped
down to me. “You have no control over that. Let it go.”

“But –”

“Let it go.”

“I can’t!” I exclaimed.

“I can understand this but do you know how
to get back there?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Do you know how you got here?” he went
on.

“No,” I repeated.

“Then you have no control over it.
If
you go back,” he stated and my heart somersaulted at the same time
it clenched, “you’ll be forced to deal with it then. Since you have
no way of knowing what you’ll face, you have no way of strategizing
your response. So you simply have to wait and deal with it if it
occurs.”

He was right. This was logical and wise.

“That’s logical and wise,” I told him.

He grinned at me.

“I’m still going to worry,” I admitted and
he chuckled.

I smiled at him because it felt good to
unload that, even if I didn’t have any firm answers, and I turned
to face forward.

We fell silent for awhile before I broke
it.

“There’s something else.”

“Yes?”

I stared at the scenery. Then I
swallowed.

Then I shared on a whisper, “I don’t know if
I want to go back.”

Tor’s body went completely solid behind me
and even Salem missed a step before righting himself.

“Pardon?” Tor asked.

I pulled in my lips and bit them. Then for
some wild, crazy, insane reason, I kept right on talking.

“It’s beautiful here. Horses communicate
with you. Birds talk to you. It’s unpolluted. Life is simple. I
would never, not in my life, have guessed that I wouldn’t miss
cars, cell phones, microwaves, martinis and high-heeled shoes. If
you told me I would come to a place such as this but if I did I’d
have to stay, I’d say no way. But now that I’m here, I want to
explore. Every sight I see, I like. Every village. Every flower.
Every beast. Every blade of grass. Sure, a curse is pending, but
you’ve got that under control, right?”

“Right,” he replied, humor in his tone.

“So,” I whispered, “if I’m stuck here, when
your brother saves Rosa, I think I’m going to go. Travel.
Experience this world to its fullest, something I never did in my
own.”

“Two points to make, Cora,” he said in a
voice that now held no humor and I twisted to look up at him again.
His eyes dropped down to me. “One, I would ask, is there nothing
you would regret leaving behind?”

I bit my lip and turned forward again.

“Yes, my parents and my friends,” I admitted
and whispered, “I’ll miss them, a lot. Losing them would suck.
Especially since, by all reports, Cora of your world won’t be such
a great daughter or BFF and they’d wonder what the hell was going
on.”

I pursed my lips on this thought then kept
sharing.

“But I don’t like my apartment, my job. My
life is colorless. Brian and I broke up and I haven’t been asked
out on one, single date. I’m not lonely, I don’t get lonely. I like
my own company. But a lot of the time, I’m alone and, well, I’m
getting sick of that. And, if I’m honest, I was getting sick of all
of it… until this happened. And being here, seeing this… this
place,
” I threw out a hand in front of me, “it’s made me
realize all of that.”

Tor made no response and spoke no further
until I prompted, “You said you had two points to make?”

“Yes,” he replied. “The second point would
be that when Rosa is saved, I’m afraid, love, you aren’t going to
go, travel, experience this world to its fullest.”

This surprised me and I twisted to look at
him again. “Why not?”

His eyes captured mine. “Because I’ll not
let you.”

My head tilted to the side and I stared at
him before repeating, “Why not?”

“Because, Cora, I’m beginning to like having
you around. So I’ve decided to keep you.”

What?

“
What?
” I shrieked and Salem twitched
under us.

Tor smiled. “It won’t be that bad, my sweet.
When I travel, I’ll take you with me so you will experience this
world. But when I’m home, you’ll be with me there too.”

“But we don’t live together,” I reminded
him.

“That will change.”

“What?” I snapped. “Why?”

“As I said, I like you around.”

“We fight all the time,” I informed him of
something he already knew.

“Indeed, and I like that too.”

I blinked at him. “You do?”

He nodded. “I do.”

“That’s insane.”

“Don’t you?”

“Hell no,” I clipped.

His arm gave me a squeeze, his eyes shifted
over my head and he declared, “You will.”

“I won’t.”

“You will.”

“No, Tor, I won’t.”

He looked back down at me. “You will, Cora,
because soon, when we argue, and you take it too far, which you do
so you will continue, I’ll be forced to stop you.” He grinned. “And
I like the ideas I have on how I’m going to stop you.” His eyes
warmed. “
All
of them.”

“Ugh!” I grunted and faced forward again,
noting, “You’re pretty sure of yourself.”

“Sweets, all I had to do was draw your
nipple in my mouth and you were begging for it. Of course I’m sure
of myself.”

Damn. I hated that that was true.

“Whatever,” I muttered, inching as best I
could up the saddle to get away from him, an effort that was for
naught when his arm tightened and he pulled me right back. “Release
your arm a little,” I demanded. “I want to shift. I’m
uncomfortable,” I lied.

His arm slid up so it was under my breasts
and I felt his lips at my neck. “No you’re not.”

“I
so
am.” I kept lying.

His thumb started stroking the underside of
my breast at the same time his tongue touched my earlobe and he
changed the subject.

“If you want,” he murmured huskily in my
ear, “I could pleasure you right here.”

Oh God.
That
sent a surge of heat
between my legs.

“Thanks,” I tried to sound snappish and
feared I failed. “I’m good.”

“I’ll give you the ten minutes you begged
for in bed,” he coaxed and I steeled myself against his pull.

I was thinking those ten minutes would be
the best ten minutes of my whole, entire life.

I beat the urge back and replied, “Thanks
again but… no.”

His thumb moved up half an inch so it was
stroking my breast right under the nipple.

Oh boy.

I couldn’t stop my lids from slowly lowering
over my eyes but I fought back the urge to lift a hand to his and
take him to target.

“Turn your head and give me your mouth,
sweets,” he commanded softly.

“No.”

“Right, then lift your skirts so I can have
the heat of you.”

Oh
God.

I swallowed a moan and ordered, “Tor, pay
attention to where we’re going.”

His tongue slid along the skin under my ear
and then he whispered in it, “Salem knows the way.”

There it was. A decent excuse.

“Salem, right, he’s a good horse. I couldn’t
possibly engage in any, um… naughty activities with him
around.”

Salem snorted and I had no idea if it was a
“go ahead, don’t mind me” snort or a “thanks for thinking of me,
Cora,” snort.

“It isn’t his first time,” Tor told me.

Way, way,
way
wrong thing to say.

Way.

My back shot straight, my eyes shot open and
Tor took his mouth from my ear.

“Cora?”

I lifted a hand and curled my fingers around
his at my breast, pulling them down.

He sighed. Then he said, “My love, you know
you’re not –”

“If I were you, Prince Noctorno Hawthorne,
I’d keep my trap
shut.
”

He, of course, did not.

“I’m a man, Cora, and you’ve been
withholding from me.”

“No I have
not,
considering I lived
in an alternate universe until a few days ago,” I reminded him.
“The
other
Cora has. If you were
my
husband, you’d be
getting it regular,” I announced.

Tor’s body went solid behind me again then
he asked, “Does that mean what I think it means?”

I twisted and glared at him. “Yes!” I spat.
“You’re a prince. You’re hot. You’re a great kisser. You have a
cool horse. You’ve got great eyes and an even better chest. You
have just enough, not too much chest hair. And when you aren’t
being a jerk, you can be sweet. So, obviously, if we were wed in
holy matrimony, I’d be giving it up…
regular.
”

His brows drew together. “You’d be giving
what up?”

“Me!” I shouted then twisted forward,
muttering, “Yeesh.”

His mouth came back to my ear, not to play,
just to speak. “Well, since you
are
here and you’ve taken
the place of the other Cora and you’re apparently stuck here, then
I expect to get
you,
” he paused and finished firmly,
“
regular.
Starting now.”

“No, absolutely not,” I denied.

“Then you lied?” he asked.

“No,” I answered. “But I can’t give it when
I’m peeved.” I twisted to look at him again. “And make no mistake,
Prince Noctorno, I… am…
peeved.
”

“You’re peeved a lot,” he observed.

“Learn from that, big guy,” I educated and
twisted right back.

He chuckled.

I gritted my teeth.

Then I heard it.

My head snapped to the left and I peered
into the trees at the same time Salem took two side steps and blew
through his lips.