Authors: Kristen Ashley

Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (49 page)

BOOK: Fantasyland 03 Fantastical

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Valentine

“You are here,” she heard the deep,
appealing male voice say, her body turned and her eyes went from
the beautiful vista of the glassy dark sea and its tall-masted
ships to the beautiful vision of the tall, dark man who formed out
of the shadows of the castle beyond him.

“I am here,” she agreed to the obvious.

He stopped on the balcony six feet from
her.

“I have waited some time,” he informed her
and the witch Valentine Rousseau knew by the tone of his voice he
did not like waiting.

“I know you have,” she said softly.

“And I have heard no word,” he told her
something else she knew and something else it was clear he did not
like.

“Ulfr,” she whispered, not believing she was
going to do this but she was going to do this so before she could
stop herself from doing it, she said quickly, “I will return your
payment.”

He stared at her, his green eyes gleaming
even in the dark night illuminated only by the soft lanterns of the
city.

Finally, he guessed, “She is dead in your
world too.”

Valentine shook her head.

Ulfr’s brows rose. “Then you have not found
her?”

“I have found her,” Valentine said carefully
and she watched his big, heavenly body grow taut which made it even
more heavenly.

“Then, what –?” he started.

“In my world,” she quickly interrupted him,
“Ilsa is married.”

It must be said, as she watched his heavenly
body grow
more
taut, Valentine found it a fascinating
show.

He remained silent and it wasn’t until he
spoke again that she understood he did this to consider his
options.

Then he declared the one he’d chosen. “This
matters not.”

It was a surprising, dictatorial choice but
Valentine couldn’t help but think he was right, it didn’t matter.
With her eyes beholding the specimen of man before her, Valentine
knew a woman could love a man in her world and be taken from him
and offered to this man and she’d eventually forget her other man
existed. She knew this even though she knew very little about
Apollo Ulfr. What she did know was the depth of his capacity for
love and her experience was only three men had its equal and they
were all of this parallel world and they were all currently
residing in this castle.

Unfortunately for him, the one woman he
wanted, it was Valentine’s considered opinion, was the one woman in
both their worlds he had no hope of winning.

“It does,” Valentine told him
cautiously.

“It does not,” he returned immediately.

“Ulfr –” she started.

“Bring her to me,” he ordered.

“Ulfr, it’s my understanding you are at the
cusp of war,” she reminded him.

“This is my concern, not yours.”

Valentine took in a delicate breath.

Then she told him what he needed to
know.

“Ulfr, Ilsa of my world is married –”

He cut her off, “You have already told me
that and –”

She interrupted him in turn, “To
you.
”

Ulfr’s body again grew tight and she heard
him pull in a sharp breath.

Then he whispered, “To me?”

“To the you of my world,” Valentine
explained.

Ulfr made no response.

Valentine continued, “This is not unusual.
In fact, it’s highly usual.”

Ulfr’s eyes moved to study the sea but she
knew he didn’t see it.

Then they came back to her. “This also
matters not.”

Love.

Goddess, but this man could love.

Blinded by it.

“Ulfr –”

“It matters not,” he repeated.

“Ulfr,” Valentine leaned in, “it
does.
And it does
not
because she is deeply in love
with her husband as you are with your dead wife. It does because
the you of my world is
not
a good man. He is a
bad
man. A
very
bad man. Foul. Selfish. Criminal. Cruel. And the
reason I had trouble finding her was because she is on the run from
him. She will not want you, Ulfr. She will not want anything to do
with you. If you bring her here to spend time with you, she’ll
–”

“Bring her to me,” he demanded again.

She took a step toward him and,
uncharacteristically losing control in defense of a fellow female
(or at all), she hissed, “You must allow me to explain. He, the
other you, who
looks
just like you and
sounds
just
like you has
not
been good to her and when I say that, Ulfr,
I mean in every way a man cannot be good to a woman. She fears him
and she hates him with an intensity it will be impossible for her
to grow to –”

“Bring her to me.”

“Ulfr!” she snapped and he leaned in
threateningly, so threateningly, even Valentine reared back.

She might be a witch, a powerful one, but he
was a man, a large one
and
a powerful one and she was human,
not immune to being hurt and he was a man who knew what he wanted
and would do anything to get it.

“This is
my
concern, not
yours,
” he growled. “Bring… her…
to me.
”

Valentine held his jade eyes.

Then she leaned back.

Then she whispered, “So be it.”

Apollo Ulfr leaned back too, his body
relaxed and he stated, “Tomorrow. I will tell you the time and the
place.”

Valentine nodded.

Ulfr did not nod back. He turned on his boot
and walked away.

It was a good show and, even after that
scene, Valentine enjoyed it.

Then, when she lost sight of him, she sighed
delicately and turned back to the sea. Moving to the balustrade,
she rested her hands on it and felt rather than saw the other
presence who had been hiding in the shadows move out of them and
come to her side.

“He will not succeed,” Valentine informed
the sea.

“Love is powerful,” Lavinia of Lunwyn
whispered in return.

“Indeed, love is everything but hate is the
other side to that coin and it holds equal power.”

“Mm,” Lavinia murmured then asked softly,
“But the distance around that coin is not far, is it,
Valentine?”

This was true. The coin of love and hate
flipped and it did so regularly.

Still.

Valentine stared at the sea and, again
uncharacteristically, she felt unease therefore she shared quietly,
“Ilsa is broken.”

“As is our Apollo,” Lavinia replied and that
was the truth.

“But he does not love the Ilsa of my world.
He loves a dead Ilsa,” Valentine reminded her friend.

Valentine knew Lavinia turned her head to
look at her when she spoke again. “Three times, Valentine,
three
, love has spanned universes. You’ve seen it happen
once and you know of the other two times. He loves a dead woman, he
mourns her, unabated. But that does not mean he cannot find love
again, a different love with a different woman who is yet the same.
He has known beauty but his full story is untold. And she has not
known beauty. Who is to say that he cannot guide her to beauty? A
man such as him is capable of many feats, even those that seem
impossible.” She paused and whispered, “Love has its own magic,
Valentine, you know that too.”

Valentine looked to the other witch. “You
don’t know how bad it is. I don’t see good things. He pines for a
dead woman. The Ilsa of my world will not thank him for tearing her
from her world, no matter that that world holds nothing but terror
and flight, and forcing her to live with a man who physically is,
even though he is not, a man she fears and detests all the while he
wants nothing but his dead wife back, not
her
. She is not
the Ilsa he loves and that is all he will see, until he comes to
understand she is not the woman he so desperately wants returned
and then what? Disappointment, if she is lucky. Anger, if she is
not.”

“There are other possible outcomes,” Lavinia
returned.

“Indeed, but there are also those two.”

Lavinia held her eyes.

Then she smiled and whispered, “We shall
see.”

That was the truth too.

Valentine sighed and wondered why she
cared.

She came to no conclusions; it was simply
that, unfortunately, she did.

Then she looked back to the sea.

Then she said softly, “I have work to
do.”

“You do, indeed,” Lavinia agreed. “As do
I.”

She did. Troubled times lay ahead and if
Valentine was not taking back trunks of jewels and gold, she would
have nothing to do with it.

Valentine did not have a good feeling about
what was to come for this universe.

Not at all.

And she’d been trapped in that universe
during war and she had not enjoyed it even a little bit.

That said, the work she had to do at that
moment didn’t have to do with the troubles this world faced. It
also didn’t have to do with Apollo Ulfr and his blind devotion to a
dead woman.

It had to do with something else.

Something she was not doing for payment.

Something she was doing just for fun.

And also, since she seemed to be growing
soft of heart recently (also unfortunately), something she was
doing for love.

Then again, love was everything so she
forgave herself her soft heart… this time.

Valentine turned back to her friend. “Until
tomorrow.”

Lavinia lifted her chin and smiled.

Valentine lifted both hands then, moments
later, in a mist of green, she disappeared.

She reappeared not in New Orleans, her
home.

No, she reappeared in a living room in
Seattle.

“Jesus, fuck! What the fuck? Who the fuck
are you?” the man walking out of his kitchen carrying a bottle of
beer and spying her in his living room burst out.

Valentine allowed herself an indulgent
moment to study the extremely handsome Noctorno Hawthorne of her
world.

Then she said words he would undoubtedly
understand immediately.

“Cora needs you.”

His powerful body went statue-still and he
glared at her but behind his blue eyes he was alert and he didn’t
even attempt to veil his concern.

Then he transferred his glare to the
ceiling.

Then he muttered, “Fuck.”

At that, finally, Valentine smiled her cat’s
smile.

####

About the Author

Kristen Ashley lives in the beautiful West
Country of England with her husband and her cat. She came to
England by way of Denver, where she lived for twelve years, but she
grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana. Her family and friends are loopy
(to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen’s Mom moved her and her brother and
sister in with their grandparents when she was six. Her
grandparents had a daughter much younger than her Mom so they all
lived together on a very small farm in a small farm town in the
heartland. She grew up with Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO
Speedwagon and Whitesnake (and the wardrobes that matched).
Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music, clothes and
love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps
getting better.

Discover other Titles by Kristen
Ashley
at
Smashwords.com

Rock Chick Series:

Rock Chick

Rock Chick Rescue

Rock Chick Redemption

Rock Chick Renegade

Rock Chick Revenge

Rock Chick Renegade

The ‘Burg Series:

For You

At Peace