His eyes went over my head as I struggled to wrap my mind around what he was saying and as he gazed at his personal princedom, he continued.
“It took five years and too many lives, but we did it.”
Five years!
Tor looked down at me and continued, “And now my people are thriving and safe. As this was the most beautiful of all the territory we secured, I petitioned my father, as a gesture of gratitude to my men, to confer Bellebryn onto me. All my men and their families live here. It is not just mine, it is ours, the sun, the sea, the forest, the town bustling with trade, a kind of tranquility after years of war, a gift for their sacrifice.”
I stared up into his beautiful, scarred facing thinking of the other scars on his chest and back, the way he wielded a sword, how armed his cave was and his recent words.
Oh Lordy. I was thinking that Prince Noctorno Hawthorne was not just not so bad but that he might be pretty freaking amazing.
And I was thinking after all my time with him, all I knew, all I continued to learn, that I was sinking into some pretty deep trouble.
I turned to face forward again and even though my heart was beating hard in my chest and I was finding it difficult to breathe, I felt something should be said.
So I said something.
“It’s beautiful, Tor. Every inch of it. In all the beauty I’ve seen since I’ve been here, this is by far the most beautiful. And I’m glad you have it after what you and your men endured. I hope it brings you peace, being home.”
He stilled behind me but after a second, his arm slid up to my ribs and tightened and I felt his lips touch my neck in a soft kiss.
Then, in my ear, he murmured, “It does, indeed, bring me peace to be home.”
I curved my arm around his, laced our fingers at my side and whispered, “Good.”
We fell silent and I watched the city getting ever closer as the sun set and more lanterns and streetlights were lit, illuminating the city and casting a cheerful glow into the darkening night.
And I watched this miraculous vision thinking I had an additional worry to occupy my mind.
It wasn’t just what Cora was getting up to in my world. It wasn’t that with every passing day it seemed less and less likely I was going home. It wasn’t that with every passing day I felt less and less like I wanted to go home. It wasn’t that I missed my parents and friends and I wished I had the opportunity to say good-bye.
It was that I was thinking I was falling for a black prince who conquered lands, took care of his people, gave in when I wanted to save a tiny bird and took time to show me his world.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, the possibility still loomed that I could go to sleep at any time and wake up back home. Which would mean, if I fell for Tor, I would leave behind the man I loved in a fairytale world I could never go to again.
Which would seriously suck.
Therefore I was thinking I had to guard my heart when another thought shoved into my brain and my body went solid when it did.
Shit.
Bellebryn was his home, his city, his princedom.
And I was his princess.
And I, or the other Cora, had been here.
Tor felt me tense.
“Cora?” he called and I twisted to look up at him.
“Do your people know me?” I asked.
He studied my face and answered slowly, “Yes.”
“Do they know I’m a bitch?”
He hesitated.