Fantasyland 03 Fantastical (45 page)

I hesitated only a moment before I
whispered, “I was right, you
are
perfect.”

I felt his face move to my neck.

“Be happy, baby,” he said on a squeeze of
his arms and I nodded.

Then the tears filled my eyes.

“You’ll tell them?” I asked on a broken
breath.

Another squeeze then, “Absolutely,” then
another squeeze and a whispered, “Go to your man, Cora babe.”

I nodded my head, held on tight for another
second and then let him go. Not looking back, I ran to Tor. The
instant I got within arm’s reach, he caught me up and planted me on
Salem, swinging up behind me before my bottom even settled.

Tor’s arm curled around me, he pulled my
back tight to his front and I lifted my fingers to my cheeks to
brush away the wetness.

“Do your magic, witch,” Tor demanded, I
looked at Noc and Clarabelle and fresh tears came to my eyes.

Clarabelle lifted both hands to the sky.

I held my breath.

Then I shouted, “Noc! When Phoebe gets here,
look her over. She’s my best friend, she makes great dirty
martinis, she’s a little crazy and she
really
likes shoes
but, trust me, no joke, she’s loyal, she’s funny and she’s
awesome!
”

Tor’s arm tightened around me as I watched
Noc grin at me and shake his head.

“Seriously!” I yelled.

The air turned pink.

“Shut up and go home, babe,” Noc shouted
back.

“You be happy too, Noc,” I yelled in
return.

His face split into a smile and I heard his
deep chuckle.

Clarabelle’s hands started to glow and I
looked at her.

“Thanks, Clarabelle!” I yelled.

“My love, be quiet and let the witch
concentrate,” Tor growled in my ear.

“We have to say thanks, Tor, she’s –”

His arm squeezed the air out of me.

“Quiet,” he grunted and his arm
released.

“Bossy,” I snapped when I had air in my
lungs.

The pink mist started at Salem’s hooves and
moved up.

I pressed back further into Tor’s strong
body and tried to control my escalating breathing.

“We’ll be fine,” he whispered in my ear.

The headlights bumping down Clarabelle’s
muddy lane lit us from our other side. I turned my head and saw my
Dad’s Volvo followed by Phoebe’s Mazda.

Jeez, Dad drove the Volvo. It was a wonder
they made it out of the city.

That thought made my throat burn and my
nostrils sting. The pink mist had covered most of Salem and was at
our waists when I lifted my hand to my mouth, touched it to my
lips, curled back my fingers and blew my kiss.

Salem had disappeared and the pink mist was
to our chests when the cars stopped, three doors opened and three
beloved bodies urgently folded out.

“I love you!” I yelled, raising my hand high
to wave over the advancing mist. “Always!” I yelled before my
throat closed and the mist masked them from view.

“Always!” I heard Phoebe yell.

“Always, my funny girl!” Mom shouted.

“Always, sweetheart!” Dad bellowed.

The sob tore out of my throat and I closed
my eyes. Tor buried his face in my neck as his arms squeezed tight
and Salem threw back his head and snorted.

One tear slid down my cheek and I opened my
eyes.

The soft light from colorful lanterns all
around and coming up from the city illuminated Tor’s courtyard
where Salem was standing. I saw the ships bobbing at sea, their
lanterns slanting long reflections across the glassy water. I heard
the gentle water of Tor’s big, beautiful, circular fountain
tinkling. Above us, billions of stars blinked brightly, a
glittering curtain of night sky.

Tor’s mouth moved to my ear.

“We’re home, my love.”

“Home,” I whispered.

Salem stamped a hoof.

I sucked in breath.

Then I twisted in my man’s arms, threw mine
around his wide shoulders and held on tight as I stuffed my face in
his neck and burst into tears.

One of Tor’s arms held me close while his
other hand slid up my back to play with the ends of my hair and he
did this for a long time as I cried.

Compassion

Six weeks later…

I could hear the city of Bellebryn bustling
with activity and see the white garlands of fresh blooms adorning
the shops and houses. There were so many of them, the very air
smelled like a blossom. All the lanterns had been changed, even the
ones on the boats that rocked at anchor on the emerald green sea.
They were all now white. The huge wrought iron, silver-crested
gates to Tor’s castle were festooned with draping sheets of ivory
held up at the sides in massive rosettes decorated with flowers.
And in the fountain in the courtyard, blossoms drifted as the water
drifted down twinkling like diamonds in the sun’s rays.

Today was a day of celebration.

But first, there was some unpleasant
business to attend to and I wasn’t looking forward to it.

To say the least.

The fingers holding my hand squeezed.

“Tell me again about our parents in your
world, Cora,” Rosa whispered from my side and I turned to my sister
and smiled.

She asked me to do that a lot and I figured
she did it because she thought it helped the ache in my heart.

And she was right.

“They’re funny and crazy and they would love
you,” I told her what I always told her which also happened to be
the truth. Rosa, I had discovered what I thought to be true when I
first met her, was
very
lovable.

Her head tipped to the side and her pretty
blue eyes lit. “Do you think our mother has talked our father into
getting rid of his…” she hesitated then finished, “car?”

I shook my head, looked back to the amazing
view and whispered, “Probably not.”

And this was probably true.

Rosa moved closer to me and I let her hand
go so I could slide my arm around her waist. She reciprocated the
gesture.

Aggie, on my shoulder, hopped gently and
gave a soft, “Chirpy, chirp?” which meant, “All right, Cora?”

“I’m all right, Aggie,” I whispered.

Aggie gave my neck a soft peck and that made
me smile a soft smile.

Rosa was doing well after the loving care
Dash and her parents had showered on her once she’d been rescued
from the clutches of Minerva. She hadn’t talked to me about it,
rather she seemed intent on learning more about me. This was likely
in an attempt to create a replacement for the sister who had
betrayed her, a sister she loved, a sister she could never again
trust.

I was letting her have that play because
Rosa
was
delicate and she needed it but it wasn’t entirely
altruistic.

I liked having a sister.

I let the happy vibe in the air fill me as I
gave her a squeeze and let out a sigh at the same time I heard the
beat of boots on the marble floors behind us.

I let Rosa go and turned to see Tor striding
purposefully our way.

God, he was hot.

Tor stopped at us, swept me with his eyes
then he looked at his soon-to-be sister-in-law.

“You’ll stay in these rooms, no matter what.
Yes, Rosa?” he asked gently.

She nodded. “No matter what, Tor.”

He watched her a second then his eyes came
to me. He reached in, took my hand and I sighed again.

“Come, my love,” he murmured, clearly
looking forward to this as much I was. “Leave the bird,” he ordered
and I nodded.

Rosa’s hand came up and Aggie hopped from me
to her.

Without delay, Tor pulled me away from my
sister.

Well, might as well get it over with.

As Tor pulled me along, I looked back at
Rosa. “I’ll be back in time to help you get ready,” I promised.

“I’ll be here,” she replied on a smile that
was half bright, half sad.

She knew where we were going.

Poor thing.

As I hustled after Tor, I gave her what I
hoped was a reassuring smile then turned away to follow him through
the bedroom and I saw Perdita rushing in carrying a ring of
needlework.

“She doesn’t leave these rooms,” Tor
ordered.

“Yes, your grace,” Perdita said on a quick
curtsy.

I smiled at her and gave her a wink. Perdita
smiled and winked back. She did not curtsy to me because I told her
not to. I didn’t like people curtsying to me, it weirded me out and
enough people curtsied to me everywhere in town, in the courtyard
and around most of the castle, I didn’t need my closest servants
curtsying to me (in other words, Perdita, all the girls in the
kitchens and all the maids who cleaned the castle). So, I asked
them to stop doing it.

Tor led me out of our rooms and when we were
through the doors and walking down the wide hall, his head bent to
me and he caught my eye.

His face was disapproving.

He’d seen me wink at Perdita and he noticed
the absent curtsy.

I looked away, biting my lip.

Okay, so, I promised never to vex him and be
the perfect princess. And I was breaking that promise.

Hmm.

I gave this a moment of reflection then I
mentally shrugged.

Oh well, whatever. He’d get over it.

He always did.

* * * * *

“You understand what you have confessed,
Cora?” Tor’s Dad, King Ludlum, was sitting in Tor’s uh… prince
chair (or whatever you call it) in Tor’s throne room. It wasn’t
exactly a throne, as such, but it was a freaking big chair, the
seat and a big panel at the back covered in royal blue velvet, the
intricately carved wood painted a gleaming black and it had a lot
of silver accents on it that looked real.

I didn’t know what Tor’s Mom looked like.
But, now knowing his Dad, I knew Tor took after him. And hopefully
Tor would age like him. His Dad definitely still had it. He even
looked not stupid wearing a big, gold crown with lots of brilliant
sapphires on it and seriously, anyone who could pull that off
definitely
still had it.

Tor was standing to his father’s right side,
Orlando to his father’s left. Dash was on his way to Bellebryn
having spent the night in a village miles away.

They were taking
no
chances that
day.

I was standing next to Tor. There were four
sentries across the room, standing two and two on both sides of the
door.

The Forrest and Dara Goode of this world
were down the steps to the right, holding hands and looking like
they were doing exactly what I was certain they were doing.
Fretting.

Seeing Rosa’s parents didn’t hurt me like I
thought it would. This was mainly because I knew them both now and
I was getting to know them pretty well. They might look like my Mom
and Dad but they were not one thing like them. Forrest of this
world would be a staunch conservative Republican in mine and Dara
wasn’t all that bright (albeit sweet and kind).

I knew they were worried about their
daughter but they were already treating me like one, even though I
could tell it startled them to look at me (still). Then again, I
was now a dab hand at this business and they were not.

They’d get used to it.

The Cora Goode of this world was bowed in a
curtsy before us. This was the first time I’d seen her, she had
been sequestered the minute Tor returned to his world (the time he
returned without me, of course) and she had not been allowed to
talk to anyone but Orlando and members of his trusted guard.

Seeing her freaked me out. Definitely ten
pounds lighter than me, at least, even with all that takeaway and
junk food she ate when she was away.

But other than that, all me.

Creepy weird.

Tor had the annulment drawn up the evening
we arrived back in his world, waking some official dude to do it.
He signed the paper before the ink was dry.

Then he took me to bed.

I would have preferred it the other way
around but in the end I got what I wanted (three times) so who was
I to quibble?

Four days later, Rosa, Dara, Forrest, the
king, Orlando and Dash all descended on the castle and Tor and I
were wed in this very room.

I wore a new kickass gown made of ivory
silk.

Tor wore his usual black but he added a
brocade vest for the occasion.

I wanted to invite all the servants in the
castle to the festivities but I wasn’t allowed. The information
that I was not of this world would be held only by the inner
sanctum (the inner sanctum being whoever Tor decided to let in, I
might add). This was Tor’s decree but at least, even being bossy in
giving it, he took the time to explain it to me.

He made sense so I gave in.

We had one more guest. Aggie attended the
ceremony and he did this perched on the pastor’s shoulder.

Salem, although the throne room was big
enough to accommodate him, was not invited (Tor put his foot down,
saying, “I’ve already given in on the bird, I’m not having a horse
at my bloody wedding.”).

Just to be safe, I didn’t see Tor the day of
our wedding until Rosa and I walked hand in hand into the throne
room.

We got married at seven o’clock in the
morning.

This was another Tor edict. He didn’t want
to wait to take me as his bride, he said. And after two weeks of
enduring the same pain as I had
while
he was searching the
kingdom high and low for a witch who could magic him back to my
world, he wasn’t all that hip on spending even half a day without
me.

I got where he was coming from.

It was a bitch getting up way early to
prepare for my wedding. But I did it.

And, in the days prior to the wedding, I
thought it kind of sucked I wasn’t going to have a big do to
celebrate my nuptials, nuptials that bound me to a handsome prince
from a fairytale land.
All
the heroines in animated movies
got their big do. But Dara and Rosa had arranged for me to have a
beautiful bouquet made of peach roses and white lilies, Tor had
arranged for us all to have a delicious wedding breakfast after the
ceremony and Perdita and the girls went all out on a sumptuous
spread (Perdita and the girls obviously being in Tor’s inner
sanctum since they were there to see us disappear, and they were
sworn to secrecy, and thus they knew the important occasion they
were preparing for so they went all out).