“They are said to be a love match, she is revered as a goddess, so yes, I would assume she’s happy,” Tor replied quietly.
She nodded then enquired, “Is Korwahk far from your kingdom?”
“Very far,” he answered and she looked disappointed but nodded again then she licked her lips and looked away.
So I called her name and when I had her eyes, I asked, “Is there something you want?”
Marlene studied me. Then she nodded.
“I’d like to get a message to her, just… to let her know I miss her and I’m glad she’s happy,” Marlene said quietly.
Hmm. Marlene was sweet and seemed quiet, unlike Phoebe who was a different kind of sweet but not all that quiet but it would seem Marlene was Circe’s BFF just like Phoebe was mine. This made me smile at her but it also made my hand grow tighter in Phoebe’s.
“We will see to that upon our return,” Tor offered and Marlene looked hopefully at him then Tor went on, sharing honestly, “However, this land is far away, routes of communication are not dependable, this king is nomadic and therefore I cannot assure you it will reach her but I can assure you we will try.”
I fought the urge to kick him under the table for it was cool he was being honest but she didn’t have to know about the undependable routes of communication, for goodness sake.
She nodded at Tor then looked at me. “He took her when I was with her. I was actually standing right next to her. I saw her disappear. She just… melted away.” Holy crap! There it was again! “And we’d just been talking about how she didn’t want to go back when, suddenly, she was gone.” At this, Phoebe clenched my hand and I clenched hers right back. “I know everything is okay with her now and she’s happy but… it would have been cool for her to, you know, meet someone from home, to, like, know she wasn’t alone. It sucks your kingdom is so far away.”
“Maybe, after I have the baby, Tor and I can take an adventure,” I suggested to bring that hope back to her face, it worked, her face brightened but Tor’s grew dark. “Just saying, maybe…” I muttered in his direction.
His eyes went back to the ceiling.
When Marlene left she promised to do what she could to find this Clarabelle and get back to us tout suite.
But my thoughts were, Clarabelle was AWOL and I had been on Tor’s world for nearly two months. This meant we could be here that long, or longer. And who knew when or if we would find Clarabelle.
So, as far as I was concerned, I was moving forward, business as usual.
“Sweets?” Tor called and I looked from my list to him. “Put down your paper and come lie with me,” he commanded.
I looked at the TV then back to him.
“I’ve got to do this and I’m not into baseball,” I replied.
“I’ll change it,” he returned.
“I’ve got to do this,” I told him, his eyes went to my knees then back to mine.
“You can do it later,” he stated.
“No, I want to get it out of the way.”
He turned to his side, gave me his full attention and when he did I noticed the change in his eyes and I noticed it in three specific parts of my body.
“Put it aside,” he said softly, “and we’ll both go to your indoor waterfall.”
Those three specific parts of my body twanged at the thought of a shower with Tor.
“Five minutes, honey,” I replied just as softly. “I’ll be done and we can shower.”
He rested his head on his hand, elbow in the couch. “What are you doing?”
“Making lists,” I answered, looking back down at my paper.
“Lists of what?” he asked and I looked back at him.
“Contingency plans.” His eyebrows rose so I explained, “We don’t know how long we’re going to be here. So, if we’re here awhile, like I was in your world awhile, there are things I have to do and things I don’t want you to miss.” I looked back down at the paper and started enumerating. “I have to go to the doctor, get the pregnancy confirmed medically, get some vitamins or whatever, start that whole gig. I want you, Mom, Dad and me to go to the seafood place where Dad asked Mom to marry her and where we go every year for all our birthdays. I want to take you for a drive down the coast so you can see all my world isn’t dreary and some of it is actually really gorgeous. Since you’re interested in baseball, I want to take you to a Seattle Mariners game before the season ends. And I want you to go over to Phoebe’s so she can make you one of her dirty martinis, which are divine. And I forgot to buy you gum at the store so we have to get you some gum so you can try –”
“Cora,” Tor cut in and my head came up.
“What?”
“Put your list aside and come here,” he ordered.
“Tor, I have to put this down on paper so I don’t forget anything.”
“Put it aside and come here,” he semi-repeated.
“Honey, you took time out in your world to show me places and allow me to meet people and I want to give you what –”
“Love, put it down and come here.” His voice was very firm and I’d been so intent on my list, I’d missed the look on his face.
But I wasn’t missing it now.
I put the list down and went there.
When I was stretched out full on top of him, he lifted both sides of my hair and held it at the back of my head with one hand, his other arm closing around my waist.
“You can go back to your list in a second but when you do, you need to change it. You need to list all the things you want to do, people you want to see, in order of priority. Then we will do these things and see these people,” he told me.
“But I want you –” I started but stopped when his head lifted and he brushed his lips against mine.
He dropped his head and whispered, “It is not me giving up everything for love, my sweet.”
My heart clenched just as his arm tightened.
Tor kept talking and he did it with that tender look in his eyes and a low rumble in his voice. “You must fill the time you have left here with the people you want to see and places you want to be and I’ll experience your world through that. I want you to have that. You’ll need it. And it will allow me to feel more at peace as our decades together pass in my world knowing that I was able to give that to you before you gave everything for me.”
Tears suddenly and swiftly filled my eyes.
God but God, I loved this man.
“Baby,” I whispered as one slid down my cheek but it didn’t make it very far before Tor let go of my hair and his thumb swept it away.
“Now, kiss me, my love, and then finish your list so we can shower together.”
I stared down through my watery eyes at my gorgeous warrior prince.
Then I dropped my mouth to his, both of his arms closed around me tight, I tipped my head to the side, he slanted his the other way, my mouth opened but before his tongue slid inside and I could taste the gloriousness of him I felt myself flying through the air.
Yes, flying through the air!
I cried out in shock but my cry stopped abruptly when my back slammed painfully against the wall and blue sparks shot out around me.
Oh God.
I knew what that meant.
Oh God!
No!
“Tor!” I shouted after I slid down the wall, landed on my booty and lifted my head.
But the couch, the whole couch, was shrouded in blue mist. So shrouded, I couldn’t see him, not even a little bit of him. Nothing.
