Holy crap!

“So you’re getting something out of it,” Algernon stated.

“Every bloody night,” Tor replied and I felt pain sharp in my gut, like I’d been punched. “And if my wife lives and breathes her deceits with exuberant imagination out of bed, you can well imagine what she treats me to in it.”

Algernon chuckled a low, manly chuckle.

But I closed my eyes. Slowly.

He thought I was the Cora of this world.

He didn’t believe I was me.

I was falling in love with him…

Fucking shit, I’d already fallen in love with him.

And he was using me.

Using me!

Using me to get his heir.

He was trying to get me pregnant and enjoying himself doing it. And I was letting him.

And enjoying myself doing it, too.

But I loved him.

And he did not love me.

He didn’t even like me.

He was playing me!

Why, why, why did guys have to be dicks in my world and in fairytale world?

Why?

“Well done, sir,” Algernon stated as I made up my mind, straightened from the wall and then walked right into the room.

Both men started when I did, their heads swinging in my direction.

But I only had eyes for Tor as he stared at me walking across the room carrying the swirly, creamy frosted cake with its blue birthday candles that I’d wanted so badly and worked so hard to make for him (seriously, the kitchens in his castle were warm and jolly but the utensils and appliances were so far away from KitchenAid it wasn’t funny).

“Happy birthday,” I whispered and even I heard the ache in my voice.

When Tor heard it, I watched him flinch and the flinch was so reactionary he had no hope of hiding it.

He knew I heard.

Good.

“Cora –” he started.

“In my world,” I cut him off and moved my what I was sure were heartsick eyes to Algernon, “we don’t serve birthday tarts with birthday sparklers, as Perdita told me you do here. In my world,” I looked back at Tor who was frozen to the spot and watching me stop at his desk and set the cake on it, “we serve birthday cake with birthday candles.”

I touched the stick to a candle on his desk, lit it and started lighting the birthday candles as I kept explaining.

“So, for your birthday, since I have no money but I wanted to do something special, I decided to give you something that was special to me, a piece of my world, kind of literally. I scoured the city to find all the right ingredients and Perdita had the candlemaker make special candles. So here you are.” I gestured to the cake with a flick of the stick. “A my world birthday cake.” My eyes went to his. “My birthday present to you. And now what you have to do is make a wish, blow out the candles and your wish is supposed to come true.”

Luckily, there were only ten candles (I guess I didn’t explain very fully to Perdita). I’d finished with them so I blew out the stick and set it on the desk.

“Cora –” Tor started again, beginning to move toward me.

“No!” I cried, lifting up a hand and he stopped.

“I’ll just –” Algernon began, my head snapped to him and I dropped my hand.

“Please, don’t go, you must have some cake,” I whispered, his eyes shot to Tor but he didn’t move.

I looked back at Tor.

“You need to make your wish,” I told him. “Then blow out your candles.”

“Sweets –” he started, my eyes closed and that tear in my heart didn’t split, it didn’t gently rip deeper.

It slashed through my heart, rending it in two.

I opened my eyes, locked them on Tor’s beautiful, blue, playing, deceitful ones and I felt mine fill with tears.

“Make your wish,” I whispered.

“Cora –”

A tear spilled over and slid down my cheek.

“Make your wish, honey.”

I watched his eyes follow the trail of my single tear then they came to mine then he came at me.

I whirled, picked up my skirts and ran.

“Cora!” he yelled as I dashed out the door and down the hall. “Cora! Gods damn it, stop!”

He was right behind me.

Shit!

It sucked that he was so tall and his legs were so freaking long.

The staircase was in sight, the winding one that skirted the circular wall of the mammoth circular hall that led to the front doors. A hall floored in gleaming black marble veined with silver and blue. A hall that could house at least a hundred bodies whirling around in a waltz.

A fairytale hall in a black, hideous fairytale.

I didn’t make it to the staircase though. I was caught by the arm and pulled around.

“Take your hand off me!” I shrieked.

“Cora, calm down,” Tor ordered gently.

I stilled and tipped my face to look at him, “Fuck you! Fuck calm! I’m going to find a wizard right now! And don’t you f**king stop me!”

“Cora, gods, calm the f**k down!” he yelled back and it pissed me off that he’d picked up some of my language from my world that he didn’t even believe f**king existed that I wanted to go back to and I didn’t want him to have any part of.

“Take your hand off me!” I screamed again, trying to pull away but failed when he let me go and his arms locked around me.

“Listen to me,” he commanded.

“No! No way! You’re not a jerk. You’re a dick! You’re a player! I f**king hate you! Which really sucks because about ten minutes ago, I f**king loved you more than anything in this, and my, whole, f**king worlds!”

His body went solid and I took advantage, wresting out of his arms, I turned instantly and started running.

“Cora!” he shouted as I made it to the top of the staircase and I looked back over my shoulder.

“Don’t come near me!” I yelled, starting to race down the steps.

“Cora! Gods! Mind the –!”

That’s when it happened.

I tripped.

Stupid, stupid, stupid me, running in an emotional state down a flight of stairs.

And down I went, crashing, bumping and whirling down a silver and blue veined set of winding, black marble, fairytale castle stairs.

I landed at the bottom feeling pain in every inch of my body but most especially my head which slammed, rather violently, against a number of steps on the way down.

Fucking great.

I felt Tor crouch at my side and carefully and tenderly (the ass**le), he lifted my torso in his arms, cradling my head in the crook.

“Sweets,” he whispered, I opened my eyes and I looked into his f**king unbelievably beautiful eyes and that was when my vision started to fade.