Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (37 page)

I couldn’t help it, I was freaking out but
still, what Phoebe said made me giggle.

Then her phone rang, she jerked it up,
looked at it and said to us, “Brianna,” then she flipped it open,
put it to her ear and wandered back toward the kitchen ordering
bossily, “Talk to me.”

Then she disappeared.

Then I heard Tor mutter, “Your friend is
very strange.”

Then, still freaking out but also still
unable to help it, I wrapped my arm around his abs, pressed close
and burst out laughing.

You Hold the Other Half of My Soul

We sat in the coffee house; Tor resting back
against his chair, legs straight out, ankles crossed, sipping
regular coffee, calm as you please; me with my legs crossed, foot
bouncing, fingers of one hand tapping on the table while slugging
back my third latte (decaf due to confirmed pregnancy – yikes!),
not calm by a long shot but wired like I’d actually had a shitload
of caffeine.

“Love,” Tor called and I turned my head to
him, surprised to see his eyes on me. A minute ago, he was taking
in the bustling environs of the coffee house and the busy slick
sidewalks outside with avid interest.

“Yes?” I replied.

He leaned in as his hand came out and
covered my tapping fingers, his fingers wrapping warmly around
mine.

“Calm,” he said quietly.

Yeah, right. Calm.

We were waiting for Brianna and her friend
to show at the same time we were waiting for Phoebe, who was
hanging at my place, having volunteered to hand Noc his packed
suitcase personally and see if she could pump him for
information.

I wasn’t all fired up about this controlling
blue mist magic business and I wasn’t because anything could go
wrong. What if the world this Circe had been to
wasn’t
the
Korwahk on Tor’s world? What if there were a bunch of worlds and
Tor and/or me were sent to one of those – where there were savages
and mighty kings with the strength of ten men?

Not to mention, what if Phoebe did something
to alert Noc to the fact that all was not right with the Cora he
knew and set him to doing something that would not bode well for
Tor and me? And, I should mention, I wasn’t hip on Phoebe being
involved in any of this, especially not Noc investigating the other
Cora. My friend wasn’t exactly a super-sleuth. She was an
administrative assistant, like me. And she couldn’t be swept away
to a safe fairytale land, like me. She would be stuck behind, maybe
considered an accomplice in whatever Cora was up to… or
something.

But Phoebe had no qualms about wading in and
actually seemed excited to be in on it all.

Then again, as I had mentioned before,
Phoebe was more than a little nuts.

But too much could go wrong. I wasn’t all
fired up to be at the mercy of blue mist magic or whatever Noc was
doing with Cora but I was equally not fired up about sticking my
nose in where it might not belong. And, it had to be said, I had no
interest at all in
melting.

“Tor –” I started, his eyes slid to the side
and his jaw went scary hard.

I looked to where he was looking to see a
man holding a paper cup with a cardboard sleeve staring at my
crossed legs as he passed by. Tor moved, the man’s eyes moved to
Tor, his face blanched and he hurried away.

I looked at Tor to see him turning in his
seat in order to continue scowling frighteningly at the man’s back
and I twisted my hand so I could squeeze his fingers.

“Honey,” I called softly and his gaze sliced
to me.

“Although your garments are becoming, Cora,
I do not like the amount of skin they expose,” he growled.

“Tor –”

He cut me off with, “You have lovely
legs.”

Wow. That was nice.

I smiled at him. “Thanks, baby.”

His face went as hard as his jaw.
“
Too
lovely,” he went on. “And they are mine and I do not
like that other men gaze at them.”

Oh boy.

“Tor, this is how we dress in my world,” I
told him something he had to know for I was wearing another little
dress with a light cardigan and high heels but there were other
women around us in Capri pants, mini-skirts, skintight tees or tops
with huge-ass cleavage. It wasn’t like he was blind.

“I am aware of that, Cora, but that does not
mean I have to
like
how you dress in this world.”

I held my breath, waiting for him to say
something Tor-like to piss me off, like I had to go home and change
into something he preferred, say, a floor length granny ball gown
that covered me from neck to wrist to ankle. But, surprisingly, he
did not say this. He let my hand go and his eyes slid around the
room. Then the anger faded from his face and it grew pensive.

“Tor?” I called and his eyes moved back to
me. Before I could ask what was on his mind, he told me.

“Why are you not taken in this world?”

“Sorry?” I asked.

“You are very beautiful,” he stated as if
this was fact and my belly melted and continued to melt as he
carried on. “Far more beautiful than any woman I have seen not only
in my own world but especially in this one. There is no
compare.”

“Tor,” I whispered, my heart growing
light.

“This does not make sense to me. If the Cora
of my world had not been destined for me, men would fight battles
for her. They
did
write songs and poems to her beauty. She
might not be likable but that didn’t mean her beauty was not
desirous and greatly admired. You hold not only her beauty but a
kind heart and a sharp wit. It is…” he paused, “
strange
that
no man has claimed you.”

Jeez, I loved this guy.

“Um… the dating game is different in this
world and –” I started.

“Dating game?”

“Uh… wooing,” I explained, “you know,
courting.”

He shook his head and stated, “Rubbish.”

I tipped my head to the side and replied,
“No, honey, it’s true.”

His eyes held mine. Then he leaned in,
reached across the table between us and again took my hand. I
studied the look on his face and twisted my body to face him,
leaning in too, giving him my full attention.

When he had it, he spoke. “Cora, I have been
thinking about this, noting your men’s response to you, your
people’s response to
us,
and it occurs to me that there may
be other powers at work here.”

Great. Other powers at work. Fantastic. Just
what we needed.

“What do you mean?” I whispered.

“You are not claimed in this world. This is
unnatural. With your beauty, your character –”

“Tor, honestly, it’s different here. It’s
totally
natural. Good women constantly –”

He shook his head and squeezed my hand. “It
is unnatural.”

“Tor –”

“I’m a man, in your world or mine. Believe
me, my love, this is
unnatural,
” he stated firmly.

Okay, I couldn’t argue with him being a man.
He was definitely that.

I leaned in further and asked, “What are you
thinking?”

“People observe us,” he remarked, I pulled
in my lips and bit them because I’d noticed this too. “It is
strange. I could understand men gazing at you; you’re beautiful,
this happens in my world too. But the way their eyes are drawn to
us, not only men but women –”

“I’ve noticed that too,” I told him.

“Something is not right about this,” he told
me he was feeling the same thing I was feeling.

“Why do you think that?” I asked.

“I don’t think it, sweets, I
feel
it.”

Oh boy.

Yeah, he was feeling the same thing I was
feeling.

“And what do you feel?” I asked
hesitantly.

“You do not have destinies written in the
sky in your world, do you?” Tor enquired and I shook my head. “And
therefore, souls are not split in this world.” I shook my head
again and Tor studied me. Then he said softly, “Cora, I think you
hold the other half of my soul.”

I sat back swiftly, my heart clenching then
beating madly and I stared at him then I said in a high-pitched
voice, “
What?
”

His hand tugged mine and I leaned back in.
“Minerva’s magic is blue.”

I shook my head but kept my eyes on his. “I
don’t get it.”

“The vickrants aren’t born, they are made.
Same with the toilroys. And the hewcrows. Minerva creates them.
That is why, when struck, they bleed blue magic. That is why I was
offended when you suggested I bled blue.”

“That’s a saying in my world, Tor, about
royalty –”

He squeezed my hand and I quieted. “I know,
love. But this mist that took us, it is also blue.”

Oh shit! I hadn’t thought of that.

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“And Minerva, she is impatient. She’s been
thwarted generation after generation. And I’m thinking that she
knows of this world and knew of your existence. And therefore, to
feed her need for evil, she split my soul but the other half she
did not put in the Cora of my world, she put it in
you.
”

I wanted this to be true. I really did. But
I didn’t think it was true.

“Tor,” I reminded him gently, “you fell in
love with her on sight when you met her.”

“I didn’t know another her existed and I had
grown up from the time I could comprehend to the time I laid eyes
on her being told she was my one true love, my only, my destiny,
the being that held half my soul. It would stand to reason having
this ingrained since I could remember that my mind would conjure a
love that was not actually there.”

“She hurt you,” I said softly. “You can’t
hurt someone if –”

“She is beautiful and I wanted the magic
that was supposed to be mine but never, until I met you, did she
vex me so thoroughly, unless it was shaded with disappointment as
to a lost dream. Never did my blood heat with her every move, word
and smile. She never wept in my presence but every tear I saw
you
shed scored my soul and I cannot believe if I saw her
weep I would experience that same feeling.”

“Tor,” I whispered, my hand tensing in his
just as his words scored at
my
soul but I couldn’t say it
wasn’t a beautiful pain.

“I do not wish to remember this or remind
you of it, my love, but when you came into my study carrying your
birthday gift, the look on your face…” He shook his head. “I felt
your hurt and I felt it so deeply, I must have felt it just as
keenly as you did.”

My hand tensed harder and I felt tears sting
my nose. “Honey.”

“You are my other half, Cora.”

I felt the tears fill my eyes. “Oh, baby,” I
whispered.

“These people, your people,” he tipped his
head to the side to indicate the patrons of the coffee house, “they
see this or sense it. This magic we have. This connection of souls.
They do not understand it but they sense it.”

I felt my brows rise. “Do you think?”

“Yes, I do.”

“But… what would Minerva get out of
that?”

“What she has got for the last five years
since I met the other you. The opportunity to feed on my
frustration, my heartbreak. It isn’t an entire kingdom filled with
despair but it’s something. And if she did this, she would have my
lifetime of frustration for I would never have you.”

“But if the blue mist –”

“She toys,” Tor interrupted me. “What, my
sweet, is worse than not having the love you always knew you would
have?” He didn’t wait for my answer but answered himself. “What is
worse is having it for a time and then having it taken away. My
father taught me that with nearly every day he existed without one
of his wives.”

Oh
God.
He was right.

“So, you don’t think Cora is behind this?” I
asked.

“I am uncertain. What I think is that Cora
is as lazy as she is unkind as she is
greedy.
What I think
is that Cora
does
care… too much… for my brother which would
provide added evidence that
she
is not the other half to
my
soul for she would not feel this way about Dash if she
was. I have always found this strange for
I,
until I met
you, have never held feelings for any other than her and until we
came to your world, I thought you
were
her. This,” he
squeezed my hand, “would explain her feelings for my brother.”

This was true.

Tor continued, “What I also think is that
Cora may have colluded with Minerva for some gain or so she herself
would not have a lifetime of watching her sister and her love be
wildly happy together. What I think is that she may be sly but she
has nowhere near the sharp wit you have. What I think is that
Minerva chose that Cora carefully, and in doing so chose
you
carefully, knowing all this would happen. What I think is that Cora
would convince herself she could play Minerva but Minerva is
manipulating Cora and feeding off her unrequited love or her greed
or her malice or all three.”

“But that would mean you think Cora would
bring down the curse,” I remarked.

He shook his head. “I couldn’t imagine even
Cora would do that. She knows how the curse works. She knows me. I
did not consent to meet her until after I re-secured my birthright.
She knew the warrior I was. She would know I would do everything in
my power to stop the curse. It is my conjecture that Cora agreed to
leave that world so as not to have to watch my brother with her
sister and she would assume I would stop the curse. Either way, her
being here would mean she wouldn’t be in Minerva’s clutches
therefore the curse would never fully culminate.”

“Maybe she didn’t do any of that, Tor.
Wouldn’t Minerva just do as she wished to toy with whoever she
wanted?”

“The gods are all-powerful, my love. The
she-god, whose power is immense but it comes from her own conjured
magic, is not. Regardless, all the gods grant us free will and we
use it as we see fit, for right or for wrong. Minerva, however,
capitalizes on the wrong. She insinuates herself and manipulates.
She needs a being to make the wrong choices, or she uses malicious
means to guide the weak to make wrong choices so that she can
exploit those choices. And the other Cora, as I think you know,
sweets, is very good at making the wrong choices.”