Chapter Seventeen

Until You

 

I felt weak light hit my eyes, I opened them and I saw my light green pillowcase.

I blinked but when my eyes came back open, there it was. My light green pillowcase.

My pillowcase. From my bed. In my world.

I shot up to sitting and nearly blacked out, my head was so woozy. I lifted a hand to my head and closed my eyes tight until the feeling went away. Then I kept them closed thinking, well, guess all I had to do to get myself back to my world was give myself a head injury… good to know.

Then I slowly opened them and looked around.

Then my mouth dropped open.

My room looked like a hurricane had rushed through it. There were clothes and shoes and accessories everywhere. I spied some glossy bags, squinted, leaned forward and my heart slid into my throat.

Okay, well, there it was. The Cora of Tor’s world had come here, she hadn’t cleaned in two months and apparently she somehow managed to shop at exclusive department stores.

I flopped back to the pillows, whispering, “Shit.”

Then I felt the mattress under me. I’d always liked my mattress. It was firm and comfortable.

What it was not was firm but soft and downy like Tor’s.

Tor.

My nose started stinging and I sucked air in through it.

No more Tor (which I told myself was good). No more Aggie (which was not good). No more Salem (also not good) or Clarabelle (ditto) and, of course, all the girls in the kitchen who I had just figured out liked me.

No more fairytale.

A lone tear slid out of the side of my eye, down my temple and mingled in my hair.

“Good,” I whispered but it wasn’t a convincing whisper.

It was total bullshit.

Now I was home, heartbroken, having been played by the master, the black Prince Noctorno of a whole other world and it was clear just looking at my bedroom that I had a big mess to clean up, left by the other Cora.

First, I needed to get a cold compress for my head.

Then I would tackle the mess Cora made of my house and, probably, my life.

I gingerly got out of bed and just as gingerly walked across the room. I flinched at the bright lights of the bathroom when I turned them on. Then I winced when I saw the state of the bathroom (dirty towels, makeup and hair stuff everywhere). Then I stared at my mustard yellow bathroom suite which had obviously not been cleaned in two months but even if it was sparkling clean it would still look like crap.

“Goodie, I’m home,” I muttered, did my thing, dug through the stuff on the long bathroom counter (Cora, I saw, had also splurged on some pretty pricey face stuff and makeup). Found face soap, washed my face, opened a new toothbrush and brushed my teeth. I took three aspirin and washed them down cupping the water in my hand under the tap to do so. Then I wetted the sole clean washcloth I could find in my bathroom closet with cold water, wrung it out, folded it and wandered back to my bedroom to lie down thinking a quick rest, parents first (if I wasn’t disowned), friends second (if they were talking to me), work last (if I still had work).

I moved over the threshold, something caught my eye, I looked up and stopped dead.

Tor was standing there.

Tor wearing a pair of faded jeans (that looked really freaking good on him) and a navy blue, long-sleeved tee (that also looked really freaking good on him).

His feet were bare, his hair was messy and his eyes were on me.

“What the –?” I started to breathe.

“What are you doing out of bed?” he demanded to know in his Tor-like, imperious, deep voice and I blinked.

This was a mistake for in the nanosecond my eyes were closed, he made it to me (truth be told, my bedroom wasn’t that big), had me cradled in his arms then he walked me to my bed and gently set me in it. Then he yanked the covers over me. Then he pulled the washcloth out of my hand, studied it a second, sat on the bed beside me and pressed it on my forehead.

I stared up at him and whispered, “Who are you?”

He stared down at me. “I’m your husband.”

Oh my God! Did Cora of the other world find Tor of this world and marry him in two months?

Holy crap!

“You’re my husband?”

His eyes moved over my face before he said, “Yes, love, I’m your husband.”

Oh no. Oh God. Oh no.

I couldn’t live in my world with the Tor of my world while remembering what a stupid fool I’d been about the Tor of the fairytale world!

That would suck!

How could this situation, already bad, get so much worse? What did I do to deserve such shitty karma?

“Did we, uh… like, get married in Vegas or something?” I asked and his brows drew together.

“No, Cora, actually, we haven’t been married, something I will rectify the minute we get back home.”

Oh boy.

“Back home?” I whispered.

“To our world.”

Oh boy!

“Our world?” I asked tentatively.

“My world and what will bloody well be your world as soon as I discover how the fuck to get out of this dreary, foul place.”

Holy crap! Tor came back with me!

I shot straight up to my feet and jumped off the bed, running over the clothes and shoes on the floor, my head whirling but I ignored it, praying I wouldn’t pass out.

Of course, I didn’t make it to the door. I was caught with an arm at my waist and pulled back into a hard body. I struggled, Tor’s other arm locked around my shoulders and chest, caging me in and his mouth went to my ear.

“Calm yourself,” he said quietly.

“Let go of me!” I shrieked.

“Calm yourself, love.”

“Let… me… go!” I yelled, still struggling.

He let me go but only so he could put his hands to my hips, whirl me around and step into me in a way that I had no choice but to back up until I hit wall and then his body fenced me in.

I tipped my head back to scream in his face but his tender voice got there before me.

“You’ve sustained a head injury not to mention a variety of bruises and swelling. You need to rest.”

“And you need to step back.”

“Cora, I’ll step back when you promise to lie down, not get excited and rest.”

“How did you get here?” I snapped.

“I’ve no idea.”

“What happened?” I asked, forcing my hands between are bodies and pushing against his chest, to no avail so I gave up and went on. “The last thing I remember is losing consciousness.”

He nodded. “You did. I picked you up, carried you to our rooms. Perdita and the women from the kitchens had come out; they heard us arguing and saw your fall. Algernon was there as well and I sent him to fetch my physician. One of the women got you ice for a bump on your head. I was holding you in my arms and the ice on your head when Algernon and my physician arrived. The next thing I knew, your entire body was surrounded by a blue mist, it surrounded mine with yours and then we were in that,” his head gave a small jerk backwards, “bed.”

I stared up at him. “A blue mist?”

“A blue mist.”

“What blue mist?” I asked.

“I’ve no idea. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Never?”

“Never.”

“So we didn’t disappear when I passed out?”

“No.”

Weird.

I turned my head, looked down at myself and saw I was wearing the stretchy, cotton charcoal gray nightie with the dusty pink band at the top that I’d been wearing the last night I went to sleep in my world.

Then I looked to him. “Where’d you get your clothes? Did you wake up in those?”

“No,” he gave another jerk of his head and I saw his clothing from his world, including boots, dumped in a corner. “These were in your wardrobe which, sweets, is incredibly small.”

Clothes that fit him perfectly were in my closet?

Oh man. I didn’t think that was good.

“As is your whole dwelling,” he went on. “It’s also filthy. You cleaned a cave. How on earth do you live like this?”

“Well, Tor, I haven’t been living in my dwelling for two months, now, have I?” I asked snottily then demanded, “Move away.”

“Cora –”

I gave another shove of my hands, doing it with such effort it hurt my head (and my, I belatedly realized, aching muscles) but he rocked back an inch.

Then he came right back. “Not until you promise you’ll settle down and rest.”

“I’ll promise to settle down and rest if you’ll get, the fuck, away from me!” I screeched.

His head tilted and his chin went down just as his eyes closed slowly and, God’s honest truth, he looked in pain.

It proved to be true when he opened his eyes and locked them with mine.

Yep, he was in pain. Lots of it.

Ouch.

Man, it totally sucked that I could hate him, see his pain and hurt for him.

Then his hand came to my neck and I had nowhere to go so I couldn’t pull away.

“Please, listen to me,” he said softly.

“Fine,” I snapped. “Get it over with so I can go to bed and let the aspirin work.”

“The what?”

“It doesn’t matter. Just say whatever you have to say.”

His jaw clenched then his thumb started stroking the side of my neck. That was when my jaw clenched and I glared at him.

“Is it normal, in this world, this… travel between worlds?” he asked.

“No,” I bit out.

“Do you know anyone it’s happened to?”

“No,” I repeated shortly.

“No one?”

“No,” I replied. “Get to the point.”

“Me either,” he said quietly, “until you.”

Oh shit. I saw his point and that sucked.

When he said no more, I prompted, “Is that all?”

“My love,” his thumb moved up to stroke my jaw as his face got even closer, “it was fantastical what you were saying. You have to agree.”

“No I don’t,” I denied.

“Put yourself in my place,” he urged.

“Yes, well, sure, for an hour, maybe a day, I’ll give you a week,” I stated sarcastically. “I can put myself in your place and maybe the Cora of your world could pull something like that off for that period of time. I’ll give you that.”

“My sweet –”

“But we had two months together. I saw the damage she wrought on your staff and the entirety of Bellebryn. I know she was idiot enough to spurn your love. I can look around my house and see what she’s capable of. But you can’t tell me that she’s capable of carrying off that kind of deception for that long. When I arrived, everything about her had changed, I hope. Everything. Even the way she slept. And you cannot tell me that you covered my body with yours, moved inside me, looked in my eyes while you fucked me and didn’t know the bloody difference.”

Shit. Now I was using his curse words.

But it worked. I scored a hit. I saw the pain slash through his eyes.

“I wanted to believe –” he started.

“Well, you didn’t. I baked you a fucking cake because it was the only thing I had to give you on your birthday, I wanted to give you a part of me and I got to your study and heard –”

“Don’t,” he clipped tersely.

“Yes, you know what I heard,” I whispered.

His hand slid up to cup my jaw, his other hand joining it on the other side.

“Take your hands off me.” I was still whispering.

He didn’t. He dropped his forehead to mine and started talking.

“Think about it, love, please,” he urged softly.

“Think about what? How, while I was falling in love with you, you were playing me?”

“You love me,” he told me.

“Not anymore, I don’t,” I returned and I watched his eyes smile.

“You can’t fall out of love just like that.”

“Trust me, Tor, you can.”

He lifted his forehead from mine and swept his thumb across my lips. I tried to tear my face away but his fingers simply gripped tighter.

“You can’t. I know. I fell in love with her and it isn’t that easy. I know this because I tried.”

“Well, I’m not you,” I spat.

“No, thank the gods, you aren’t.” And his eyes were smiling as his lips twitched.

I looked at the ceiling then back at him. “Will you let me go?” I demanded impatiently.

“Yes, I will, in a moment.”

“Now!”

“A moment, Cora,” he stated firmly, I glared and he continued. “I will leave you to rest, you need some time away from me. I’ll give it to you.”

Really? How was he going to do that? Where was he going to go?

Oh Lordy, he’d probably walk in front of a car or…

“But, I’ll leave you with this,” he interrupted my thoughts. “If you have a twin in my world then it is safe to assume that there is a man in this world who looks like me. And if he was in your life, if you fell in love with him the instant you saw him, if you were convinced by a prophesy written in the sky that he carried half your soul, just like every prophesy that came true generation after generation for as long as anyone could remember… and then he crushed your heart… then I was brought into this world and I was charming, amusing, seducing you with every turn of my head, every look, every smile, every move I made, telling you fantastical stories about how I came from another world, what would you think? What would you do?”

“I didn’t seduce you!” I cried.

“Cora, love,” he whispered, “you’re seducing me right now.”

That shut me up and it made my heart clench.

“Think about that,” he said quietly then he let me go and stepped toward the door.

I watched him go and I knew I couldn’t watch him go.

Damn it all to hell!

I turned and called out to him (really, I had no choice), “Where are you going?”

He stopped in the doorway and looked at me. “Out.”

“Out where?”

“Wherever my feet take me.”

Shit!

I turned fully to him and crossed my arms on my chest. “Tor, you can’t go out in my world without me. Things are different here. Vastly different. You might get… hurt, or something.”

His mouth curved up. “Worried?”

“No!” I snapped. “I just figure you’re destined to go home soon and I don’t want to deprive Bellebryn of their ruler.”

“Right,” he murmured and started to turn. “I’ll be back.”

“Tor!” I cried, taking a step to him, he stopped and looked at me.

“Take one more step away from the bed, Cora, and I’ll have to be inventive in finding ways to keep you in it and make you rest.”

I took a step back and glared at him.

“Don’t worry about me, love. I’ll be fine. Rest, I’ll be back soon.”

Then he went to the dresser, opened a drawer, grabbed a pair of socks then nabbed a pair of boots from the floor before he disappeared.

I stared after him. Then I walked back to my bed and collapsed on it.

Then I stared at the ceiling and muttered, “Shit.”