known as Cora, the Gracious.”
Cora, the Gracious?
Wow. I liked that.
“Really?” I asked.
Tor’s eyes grew warm. “You read to blind women, love, and rescue wild, wounded birds and make them your pet. You smile at every child you see and touch their cheeks or ruffle their hair, which, by the way, you must stop doing.” Even if his words were melting my heart, my eyes still narrowed and he smiled at me. “You are friendly, you are polite, you are kind and you are merciful. You are Cora, the Gracious.”
Oh my. I was Cora, the Gracious.
How freaking cool!
“How freaking cool!” I cried, grinning at him, he shook his head and looked at my mother.
“This language and her stubborn bent at being uncommonly friendly to everyone she encounters is not behavior befitting a princess. I persist in telling her this but she doesn’t listen. I assume I have you to thank for that.”
“I, uh… uh… um…” Mom stammered, looking up at Tor and, I could see, coming to the realization that she had a being from a parallel universe at her table. “My daughter’s a princess?”
“Of course, she’s my wife,” Tor replied.
“I keep telling you, Tor, I’m not your wife,” I snapped and his eyes cut to me.
“And I keep telling you, my love, that you’re going to be and, as far as I’m concerned, you already are.”
“You’re married to my parallel world twin!” I cried.
“This will be severed officially upon our return. Luckily, Cora and I were wed in Bellebryn and the person who grants annulments in Bellebryn is me. Therefore, it will simply be a signature on a piece of paper and then you and I will be wed.”
“You’re marrying him?” Dad asked.
“No!” I exclaimed hotly.
“Yes,” Tor answered.
“I am not!” I stated, my voice rising.
“My love, you are,” Tor said to me.
“No I’m not. You can be a jerk,” I informed him.
“And you’re not a handful?” he returned.
“No! You just said I was Cora, the Gracious,” I retorted and Tor looked to my father.
“She’s exceedingly friendly to every creature in my realm. Even the birds flock down to tell her good morning and my horse has told me he’d die for her. But to me, she can, at times, be extremely vexing.”
“Salem said that?” I whispered, feeling my heart squeeze and Tor’s eyes came to me.
“He cares deeply for you,” he whispered back.
Then something else he said came to me and I snapped, “I’m not vexing!”
He crossed his arms on his chest and leveled his gaze on me. “Cora, you cleaned my cave and scraped your feet raw in doing so. You fled after our fight with the vickrants and put the entire kingdom in jeopardy. You made me climb up a tree to save a half-dead bird –”
“All right, all right, I can be vexing,” I gave in then fired back, “But you’re more vexing!”
It wasn’t good but it was all I had.
“And how am I vexing? Except,” he said swiftly when I instantly opened my mouth to speak, “when I’m not giving you your way.”
“Tor, you bought two carts full of food at the grocery store.”
“Did you pay for this food?” Tor asked.
“No,” I answered tersely.
“Did you carry it up to your rooms?” he went on.
“No!” I snapped.
“Then why is that vexing?” he enquired sensibly and logically.
My neck twisted so I could look at my mother and I announced, “He’s the sensible and logical one, even in my world. I tell you, Mom, it’s annoying. When I hit his world and the curse started to fall, I freaked way the hell out. I was a wreck! But Tor here?” I leaned back and shook my head. “No.” I drew out the “no” for about twelve syllables. “He doesn’t freak out. He wants to drive a car, I show him the ignition and the turn signals and,” I lifted a hand and snapped my fingers, “he’s driving a car. We need to change a lock, we go to the hardware store, get the stuff, go home and,” I snapped again, “he’s changed the lock. I’m telling you, it drives me mad.”
Tor called my attention to him by asking, “Sweets, would you prefer that I was quivering, scared of my shadow and incapable of providing for you?”
“No! But you could give me something.”
“Why? You didn’t give me anything. You kept the fire burning. You cooked the rabbits on the spit. You cleaned the cave. You say you were a wreck, my love, but I saw none of that. By the gods, you wielded a blade and fought the vickrants with me.”
“A blade?” Mom whispered.
“Your daughter is handy with a dagger,” Tor informed Mom proudly and I turned and grinned down at her.
“Totally, Mom. You should have seen me,” I bragged then pointed at myself. “Warrior princess, in the flesh.”
“Bloody hell, warrior princess,” Tor muttered and my eyes shot to him.
“Well, I was! You even said so!” I cried.
“I need whisky,” Dad put in at this point, my body went ramrod straight and I looked at my father who had an expression on his face I’d never seen before. I was guessing he now wished that I was actually simply insane or had hooked up with the leader of a cult who seduced feeble-minded women and convinced them he was from an alternate universe instead of being hooked up with an actual warrior prince from a parallel world.
“Dad –” I started but Dad was looking at Tor.
“Do you drink whisky?” he asked Tor.
“I do,” Tor replied.
“Comin’ right up,” Dad muttered and turned to the liquor cabinet on the wall.
My eyes went to Tor and his came to me. Then his face went soft, one of the sides of his mouth curled slightly up and he winked at me. I took in a deep breath and smiled back. He tipped his head to my chair and waited until my bottom was in it before he resumed his seat.
Dad came back with two whiskies and he brought the bottle. Mom refilled her and my wineglasses.
Dad threw back his whisky like he was doing a tequila shot then refilled his glass.
Then his eyes came to me.
Then I watched him take in a breath.
Then he said quietly, “All right, sweetheart. Let’s start at the beginning.”
I pressed my lips together and looked at Tor. He sat back and sipped his whisky, his eyes watching me over the rim of his glass the entire time. I took a sip of wine, looked between my Mom and Dad and then I started at the beginning.
Dad and Tor were in the dining room, drinking whisky.
Mom and I were in the kitchen, doing the dishes.
I didn’t want Mom to have to do the dishes by herself but I didn’t think it was wise leaving Tor with my Dad.
I’d told our story and my parents believed it. They were shocked by it, but they believed it.
This was good.
I had left out the part of Rosa being kidnapped by the evil Minerva but Tor had gone into some detail of what a sweet-tempered, lovely young woman she was, how she was destined to marry his brother and how much she was loved by her family, those around her and especially her husband-to-be. This made both my parents’ eyes get wet. It also, with the information I’d already communicated about Tor taking care of and protecting me, made them like him. And from the way they were looking at him, I was guessing they liked him a lot.
