Fantastical (Fantasyland #3)(44)

And I watched this miraculous vision thinking I had an additional worry to occupy my mind.

It wasn’t just what Cora was getting up to in my world. It wasn’t that with every passing day it seemed less and less likely I was going home. It wasn’t that with every passing day I felt less and less like I wanted to go home. It wasn’t that I missed my parents and friends and I wished I had the opportunity to say good-bye.

It was that I was thinking I was falling for a black prince who conquered lands, took care of his people, gave in when I wanted to save a tiny bird and took time to show me his world.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the possibility still loomed that I could go to sleep at any time and wake up back home. Which would mean, if I fell for Tor, I would leave behind the man I loved in a fairytale world I could never go to again.

Which would seriously suck.

Therefore I was thinking I had to guard my heart when another thought shoved into my brain and my body went solid when it did.

Shit.

Bellebryn was his home, his city, his princedom.

And I was his princess.

And I, or the other Cora, had been here.

Tor felt me tense.

“Cora?” he called and I twisted to look up at him.

“Do your people know me?” I asked.

He studied my face and answered slowly, “Yes.”

“Do they know I’m a bitch?”

He hesitated.

Oh shit! They knew I was a bitch.

I turned quickly forward again, chanting, “Shit, shit, shit.”

“Cora –”

“Stop,” I demanded.

“Pardon?”

“Stop!” I shouted.

Tor pulled back on the reins, Salem stopped then turned his head to look at us and a groggy Aggie chirped a “What’s happening?”

I didn’t answer the bird. I was trying to think.

“Love, it’ll be fine,” Tor assured me.

“I need to, I don’t know, brush my hair and, um,” I lifted my hand and started pinching my cheeks, “um…” I repeated.

I didn’t know!

“Cora, look at me,” Tor commanded and I did. “It will be fine.”

“They think I’m a bitch,” I reminded him.

“No, they don’t. The people don’t know you. You’ve been here once. I will admit, you didn’t make a good impression…” Fabulous. “But you were simply haughty, a bit cold the short time you were here. They don’t think much of anything except that you aren’t around.” He paused. “Now my men…” he trailed off.

Oh boy.

“What have I done to your men?”

He looked in my eyes. “Nothing, except the fact you refuse to warm my bed. Something they haven’t missed nor do they like, considering half my soul is yours. They’re loyal to me and wish me contentment.”

Great. Freaking great. His warriors hated me because I was a cold bitch who made her man search for it elsewhere.

Brilliant.

I turned forward again and Tor called my name again.

“No,” I said, not turning back. “I’m okay. This’ll be fine. Just fine.”

Total lie.

I was freaking out!

“Love, look at me,” he urged.

“No,” I denied. “Let’s just get this over with.”

He paused then he sighed then he stated, “Cora, just be this you and they’ll change their minds. If you’re this woman, they won’t be able to stop themselves from falling in love with you.”

I stared straight ahead but I could see nothing, I could only feel his words wash over me.

Yes, feel them.

And oh, but they felt good.

Oh man.

I didn’t respond, couldn’t. I was trying to control my rapidly beating pulse and prevent a heart attack.

After awhile, Tor asked, “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” I lied.

“We can proceed?”

“Sure.”

“You aren’t… freaking out?”

His using words from my world made my freak out fade and my mouth grin and I turned to him.

“I’ll be okay,” I said quietly.

His eyes held mine as he murmured, “There’s my future queen.”

Oh man!

He clicked his tongue against his teeth and Salem proceeded. I turned forward again. Aggie chirped, “Cora, are you sure you’re going to be all right?”

“Yes, Aggie, no worries,” I whispered to the bird.

Tor’s arm gave me a squeeze and his thighs gave Salem a squeeze. The horse moved gracefully from a trot, to a canter, to a gentle gallop.

And Bellebryn got closer and closer.

Chapter Thirteen

Magical

I stood at the balustrade of the vast patio jutting out from Tor’s rooms in the castle and stared at the now dark sea filled with its ships, their lights casting long reflections across the water.

I was brushing the moisture from my hair after having just taken a hot, gardenia scented bath in a huge, oval, ivory marble bathtub.

Tor’s rooms were the shit. In fact, his entire castle was the shit. In fact, his entire princedom was the shit. If it was amazing from the outside, it was doubly amazing on the inside.