“Don’t!” Aggie chirped, flying around my body in agitation. “Don’t let her see him!”
“Dash!” the blonde woman yelled from inside the room, she was run-dancing to the door.
“Holy crap, what’s going –?” I started.
“Hee-yah!” Noctorno barked, slapping his hand hard on the white horse’s rump, so hard, the sound of the crack of it hurt my behind and the white horse took off running.
“Gods! Don’t let her –!” This was the voice of the gray hatted man but it came the second the blonde woman reached the balcony and shouted, “Dash! My love!”
“No!” the white hatted man’s horse had started galloping away but he swung it around, shouting deep and imperative and started galloping back but I was only paying scant attention.
That was because the minute the blonde hit the balcony and shouted her words, everything changed.
Just like that.
Snap.
One second, the flowers were bright, the sun was shining, the day was beautiful.
The very next second, the skies were dark; a pall was cast on the house, the flowers, the mountain-hill, the forest and the river. All that was once vibrant and breathtaking was now shrouded in darkness and gray.
And what made matters worse was that in the very instant the darkness fell, thunder rent the air so loud and eerie I, who had never in my life been frightened of thunder, was instantly terrified (the immediate change of my surroundings helped). Lightning cracked through the sky, multiple flashes coming so fast it was like a strobe.
“Holy crap,” I whispered. “What on earth?”
“Cora,” the blonde whispered, “what on earth?”
Trust me to have a cool dream turn to complete shit.
“Tor, Orlando… go!” I heard and looked down as the blonde’s arms wrapped around me and the wind came up, whipping our hair and our nightgowns so violently, the material of our gowns snapped and cracked, biting into my skin where it hit.
Yes, biting.
And that was kind of painful too.
What… on… earth?
I held onto the blonde and looked down to see the gray and black horses were riderless and the white hatted guy, who lost his fancy hat in the wind (by the way) was dismounting.
“Cora! Get her away from the window. Close it tight! Hurry!” he shouted up to us before he darted into the house.
“Now, Cora!” Aggie chirped before his little body was swept away by the power of the wind.
“Aggie!” I yelled, reaching out to him as his little body reeled away. As I watched him go, I knew at once there was no hope to save Aggie so I had to save the blonde. “Come on! Get inside!” I shouted over the wind and thunder, the strobes of lightning flashing eerie on her hair and skin. “Hurry!” I yelled, pushing her inside, “Now!”
I shoved her inside and was stepping over the threshold at the same time reaching for the French doors when I heard it. Over all the noise of the sudden storm, I heard a cackle. An evil, bone-chilling cackle.
I turned and looked over my shoulder into the air outside the balcony and at what I saw I screamed bloody murder at the top of my lungs.
Chapter Two
Love Match
We were racing through the forest, me and Noctorno on his velvet black steed.
And I knew I was not dreaming.
I knew this because I could feel the horse’s power pounding beneath me. I could feel Noctorno’s strong arm clamped around my waist. I could feel the heat and solidness of his body. I could feel the branches whipping at my face, my hair, my body. I could feel the driving, relentless rain beating into my flesh.
I could also hear the ongoing thunder, see the continued lightning, hear the horse’s hooves thudding against the forest floor.
And none of this was pleasant.
And all of it was lasting a long, long time.
I didn’t know where I was. I had no idea how I’d gotten here. I just knew I was there. This was not a dream. This was real.
And it was a nightmare.
Lastly, I was fah-ree-king terrified.
“Duck!” Noctorno barked in my ear but he didn’t give me the chance to duck. His muscular chest pressed into my back, pushing me down and I heard a branch whip over our heads.
He lifted up, taking me with him but I closed my eyes.
And I saw that… that… thing sweeping away the blonde again.
I opened my eyes and bit my lip hard in an attempt not to cry.
One of those things almost got me. If Noctorno hadn’t made it to the bedroom and caught me about the waist, pulling me back at the same time yanking a blade out of his belt and slashing at it causing blue sparks to fly out of it rather than blood, I would be gone like the blonde.
Gone over the side of the balustrade even though the gray hatted man (otherwise known as Orlando) tried to hold onto her as Noctorno was busy struggling against my attacker.
But she didn’t fall to the cobbles. She flew through the air, held by one of those things.
And then she disappeared.
Poof!
The white hatted man, the man known as Dashiell, was too late and he stood on the balcony and shouted his heart wrenching fury but Noctorno didn’t watch. He battled the monster that had hold of me until it yelped and slithered away so fast it was almost like it wasn’t ever there.
“Safety!” Orlando shouted at Noctorno, already running out of the room, pulling Dashiell with him. “Get her to safety. The curse is upon us and no matter how you feel about her, Tor, they want her too!”
“Gods, man, I know!” Noctorno shouted back and carried me bodily out of the room after them, down the hall, down the stairs and out the front door where he threw me up on his horse, swung up behind me and away we went.
But I couldn’t think of that. It was too horrific. It was too frightening.
I had to concentrate on not crying, not trembling even though I was wet through and only wearing that damned thin nightgown. I had to try and figure out how one night I went to bed in my not very fabulous apartment after a day of my not very fabulous life only to wake up in another fucking world!
I mean, I was an administrative assistant! How did I end up on a horse, in a forest, in a hellacious thunderstorm with a man wearing breeches, for God’s sake?
As I struggled with these thoughts, the horse drove ever onward and we rode silently through the forest as the rain pummeled our skin.
Then Noctorno turned the animal and we started climbing the mountain-hill. Except here it was less of a hill and more of a mountain. The terrain was part-scrub, part-trees and part-rock. We climbed and climbed, the horse laboring with the effort and our weight but it seemed to know where it was going.
Then suddenly, we were in a big cave.
And just as suddenly, Noctorno was off his horse and his huge hands were at my waist and he was yanking me down.
Yes, yanking me down. He didn’t take any care at all and I yelped in surprise and pain as the cold stiffness of my limbs uncurled and my bare feet hit the shards of stone that was the cave floor.
Then he grabbed onto my upper arms and shook me.
Shook me!
My head snapped back and forth and everything!
“What are you doing!” I screeched, grabbing onto his (steely, might I add) biceps to try to get him to stop and to try to hold myself steady.
He stopped shaking me and his dark face came to within an inch of mine.
“How could you be such a fool?” he barked and I shrunk away from the fury in his voice and on his face.
“Wh… what?”
“You knew she wasn’t supposed to see him on her wedding day,” he clipped, his strong fingers still gripping me tightly.