Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (65 page)

I held her hand tight and whispered, “I
know, honey.”

“But, we’re all also glad you are so
sweet.”

I smiled at her and, still whispering, said,
“Thank you, Esther. That means a lot.”

She returned my smile before her eyes
wandered back to the landscape, stopped on something and she
muttered, “I best move, I don’t want to left out,” then she
squeezed my hand again, let it go and hurried away.

I watched her a second then looked out to
see Oleg striding toward the house while scowling at an Orion who
was now smiling down at Bess then he swung his scowl to Max and
Stephan who both appeared to be flirting with Alyssa and I had to
admit, I was a little surprised at Esther’s choice. Oleg wasn’t
hard on the eyes but he also wasn’t easygoing and quick to laugh or
smile like all of Frey’s other men. In fact, he so wasn’t any of
these, he seemed grumpy a lot of the time.

I waited then watched Esther approach him
and then watched him stop and scowl at her, something which I
thought was kind of scary but didn’t affect her in the slightest.
She said something to him, his brows shot together then he jerked
up his chin then jerked his whole head to the house. She turned
toward it, he followed her and I wondered what she’d said to him.
As she moved, her eyes came up to me and she smiled.

I smiled back.

Oleg, if her smile was anything to go by and
he could quit being grumpy long enough to catch a pass, was about
to get lucky too.

I left the balcony and in so doing left my
girls to it and headed to Frey and my bedroom to get my book and
Penelope.

Instead of thinking about how I was going to
get my husband to agree to let me return home for a little while to
say good-bye to my old life, I wanted to lose myself in a book
while reclining on one of the comfortable, wooden lounge chairs on
the deck. These had a big, iron fire pit next to them that put off
so much heat, what with that and the summer thaw Frey told me about
that was warming the air, making the days longer and the snow melt
and the icicles drip, you didn’t have to wear a cloak. I knew this
because I’d tested it last night, cuddling with Frey in one of
those chairs with a big fire blazing beside us and making out until
Frey was done making out and carried me to our bedroom to do a lot
more than make out. But considering the activities of my girls and
Frey’s men, and the fact that he only had a housekeeper at his
lodge, no other servants, and further he likely wouldn’t be fired
up about me building my own fire considering he thought pregnancy
required severely limited physical activity (as in, none at all
except to walk, sit, eat and have sex), I decided I’d curl up by
the fire in the living room. There were super-soft, comfy couches
in there, so comfy, they were a very good second best.

Or, at least they would be until Frey
returned from whatever he was doing and I could ask him to build me
a fire.

I entered our bedroom through the wooden
doors that led to the balcony, closed them behind me and started to
the nightstand on my side of the bed where my book was when the
hairs at the back of my neck stood up.

I stopped, my breath stopped and I turned
slowly then stopped again, going completely still at what I
saw.

In the armchair in the corner by the windows
sat Valentine wearing a fabulous, jade green, wool knit, wraparound
dress, equally fabulous, spike-heeled, charcoal gray boots and her
tremendously fabulous red hair was framing the classic features of
her alabaster face.

Penelope was curled in her lap purring as
Valentine’s blood-red fingernails moved through her thick, ginger
fur.

Holy moly.

“Valentine?” I whispered.

“Hello, my goddess of love,” she replied
quietly, my eyes got big and I felt a smile hit my face as I rushed
to her.

“
Valentine! It is
so
cool you’re here!” I cried, her head tipped to the
side, her lips tipped up slightly and her eyes flashed in a way
that made my excitement at what I thought was a very surprising but
also very fortunate turn of events fade to hesitant
concern.

Then she solidified that concern when she
said softly, “I fear, my Seoafin, after I say what I’ve come to
say, you will not feel this same way.”

I felt my heart squeeze and a million
thoughts raced through my head, primarily Sjofn wanting to come
back and wanting to do that early.

Okay. Shit. First things first.

I needed to go get Frey.

“Please sit,” Valentine invited, regardless
that it was actually my bedroom, and she did this by gracefully
throwing out her pale hand to indicate the bed.

“I…” I started, didn’t know how to go on
then I went on anyway. “A lot has happened Valentine, you can’t
imagine. A lot. Huge. I need to go get someone so you can meet him
and then we need to talk.”

“Please, Seoafin, sit,” she semi-repeated
and I blinked at her.

“Seriously, I have to –” I started but she
interrupted me.

“
Tell me you are married to Frey Drakkar
and you are pregnant with his child. This,
ma cherie,
I know,” she stated, I sucked in a surprised
breath and she went on. “Now, please, considering you are, indeed,
expecting, I would very much prefer it if you were seated when I
say what I’ve come to say.”

I stared at her thinking this did not sound
good.

Then I moved to the bed and sat.

What I wanted to do, watching her face, was
move to the door and run.

Penelope, shockingly, didn’t leave
Valentine’s lap but stayed purring right where she was and while
doing it didn’t even twitch.

My cat, by the way, was still holding her
grudge.

Once I was down, I unhooked my light wool
cloak, pulled it off my shoulders and it fell to the bed as I kept
my eyes on her.

Then I asked, “How do you know about Frey
and me?”

She tilted her head slightly before
answering, “I told you I am not a seer and this is true, I am not.
I do not have visions and I cannot call up scenes from the future.
This does not mean I cannot tune into people of our world, or this
one, and see what has past. And this I have been doing with you
since you left.”

“You’ve been keeping an eye on me?” I asked,
not upset about this, exactly, just surprised.

“It was not by choice. You call to me,
Seoafin, I do not know why. But you do. So, yes, since you do, I
have been keeping an eye on you.”

It was interesting, this “calling to her”
business, but I decided for now that we needed to keep on
target.

“So you know when I got here that I –” I
started.

“I know everything,” she interrupted me,
took in a delicate breath, her eyes narrowing slightly on me and
then she went on, speaking softly but even so, the words she spoke
rocked my world.

“
I know that your emotion runs deep for
your husband and his for you. However, I feel it is important
that
you
know all so
the happiness you are experiencing will be true and rich rather
than shadowed by misunderstanding. So, I’ve been watching and
waiting for your husband to clear those shadows. Alas, he has not
so, unusually, I feel compelled to do so.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that and
since I was concentrating on keeping my tightening neck muscles
from snapping, I didn’t make a peep.

Valentine carried on. “Therefore, I must
inform you that I also know that before you felt this emotion for
him, and he was aware of his depth of feeling for you, in order to
bind you to this land and to him for the future of this country and
for his own ends as he held extreme distaste for your twin, he
ordered the elves of this world to bind you here for the rest of
your days at the same time he ordered that the other Sjofn be bound
to your world… and your
life… for the rest of hers.”

I blinked but said nothing mostly because I
had no air in my lungs and my throat suddenly felt parched.

Valentine kept speaking. “The power held by
these creatures is immense, unbreakable. It is so powerful I have
never felt the like of it. Still, I have searched for magic or some
means of thwarting it but my search was fruitless and I fear this
kind of magic does not exist.” She paused, held my gaze and
delivered the killing blow, “You are never to go home, Seoafin,
ever. And your twin will never come back, ever.”

I stared at her, now unblinking, she held my
stare and continued.

“Your husband made this decision without
consulting you and he did this on the night you first learned of
the existence of elves.”

I kept staring as my mind reeled.

That night… that night…

Oh my God. We barely knew each other back
then. He’d just come back from being away with his men. Although he
told me he fell in love with me while I was mixing pancake batter,
and maybe when he looked back this was the true, but at the time he
didn’t trust me and I wasn’t even certain he liked me. He didn’t
even know who I was until the elves told him. In fact, he wouldn’t
start being really sweet and gentle, becoming my Frey, until
after
that night.

After he’d cut me off from my world –
completely and forever.

And he cut me off because the elves had told
him who I was. He cut me off because Sjofn was a lesbian and I was
not. He cut me off because he could get from me for the rest of his
life what he wouldn’t get from her.

And he did all of this without asking
me.

He irrevocably changed my life and
imprisoned me in this world, cutting me off from people I loved and
the world I knew without asking and at a time when I had no
intention of staying.

Oh… my…
God
.

“And when,” Valentine continued and my
dazed, wounded attention shot back to her, “I sent a message
through the witch of this world, Agnes, to inform you this
happened, your husband intercepted it, lied to me through Agnes
about your desires to remain, saying you were aware of this
situation and had agreed to stay. He then disallowed Agnes any
communication with you even though much was happening in this world
and your own.”

Oh my
God.

“
And now,
ma cherie,
” she kept going, her voice gentling, indicating
she was not done delivering her death blows, “even though I do
sense you are pleased that you are bound to this world and further
bound to it through the child you carry, you must know that your
husband orchestrated that as well. He did this without your
knowledge and, until it came about and you decided to be pleased
mostly because the deed was done and you had no choice, he also did
it against your will.”

It was then I finally blinked again.

Then I whispered, “What?”

“This powder you took?” she asked, I nodded
slowly and she went on. “It is quite powerful and nearly foolproof.
However, you have not been taking it now for some time. He
discovered it and switched it with a placebo with the intent to
sire a child on you in order to safely deliver an heir to the
throne of this nation.”

I felt every inch of my body lock.

No.

God. No.

Why would he do that?

“Why would he do that?” I breathed.

“He is a man,” Valentine answered gently,
studied my face that I could actually feel was pale and then she
continued. “Therefore, my goddess of love, your husband has been
very busy. Your parents of this world have known of all of this
since your return to them after the time you spent in the country.
The three of them have known you are bound to this world
everlasting and Princess Sjofn would never return. But it is only
your husband, and one of his men who procured the placebo for you,
that knows he has schemed behind your back to get you with
child.”

I couldn’t believe this.

This was unbelievable.

Why would Frey do this? Any of it.

Why?

Memories clashed in my head. Atticus seeming
so despondent when I couldn’t hit the target I knew now was not
because he was disappointed in his Sjofn but because he was
mourning the loss of his daughter. Both his and Aurora’s easy
acceptance of me, acceptance they had no choice but to have for
their Frey, their Drakkar had commanded the elves. All of them,
including Frey’s quick and unreserved happiness I was pregnant
without me having to say a word about remaining in this world,
switching places with Sjofn and providing an heir to the
throne.

God, I was so stupid, so blind, so
involved in falling in love I didn’t even notice, didn’t think,
didn’t piece it together – but this was because they all knew I was
never leaving way before I did and way before I even knew I
wanted
to.

I felt my jaw clench and a red film
descended over my eyes.

“That said…” Valentine’s voice came to me
but I had stopped hearing her, nothing was penetrating the injured,
infuriated fog filling my head.

I slowly stood and turned to round the
bed.

“Seoafin,” she called but I ignored her and
moved, my gait slow, my head feeling fuzzy, my eyes still seeing
red.

“Seoafin,” I heard again and then I heard an
angry mew from Penelope which could only mean that Valentine had
stood but I kept going, my pace quickening. “Seoafin, my goddess of
love, I’m not quite –”

But she didn’t finish because I was running
to the door, out the door, down the hall, down the stairs, down the
next flight, out the door and into the snow.

And as I blindly ran, I ran right into Ruben
who caught me in his arms.

“Finnie, what are you doing outside without
a cloak?” he asked and my head shot back, my gaze locked with his
and his head jerked at what he saw.