Every Way Love Can Be

Franka

 

“I would say that’s a job well done,” Valentine noted.

We stood, Valentine, Lavinia and I, on the pavement across from the restaurant where the maintenance man and the woman who’d loved him from afar, the woman who had loved him so much she scrimped and saved to buy his love for her in return, were sitting at a table at the window eating hamburgers.

Their first date.

I was aghast.

Surely, my magic said more than hamburgers for a first date.

“I find this highly disturbing,” Lavinia murmured.

I did as well.

I mean, hamburgers?

Valentine and I turned our attention to her.

She shifted her eyes from the couple to us. “All the beauty you can make with your magic, you use it to meddle in people’s lives?”

“We give them what they want,” Valentine replied.

“And that man,” Lavinia gestured to the restaurant across the street, “did he want her?”

“He does now,” I shared the obvious.

Lavinia rolled her eyes skyward.

Even though we’d just started, Valentine made it known that she was quite done talking about this.

“We’ve a booking at Arnaud’s in half an hour. Noc, Dax and Circe are meeting us there. We must be going.”

Lavinia sighed and we all moved to where Valentine had parked her car.

“These conveyances, I cannot get used to them,” the other-world witch muttered as we did.

“I felt the same,” I shared. “As you seem to enjoy spending time in this world, we’ll teach you how to drive. Trust me, it’ll make it better.”

Lavinia cast horrified eyes to me.

I smiled a small smile.

The car made a noise while its lights flashed, telling us the doors were open.

Valentine headed to the driver’s side speaking.

“That job complete, having been away, I have many lined up, Franka,” she said to me. “Are you ready for your next?”

This one was hardly a challenge.

And it ended in hamburgers.

I was very much ready for my next.

“Of course,” I replied to her over the roof of the car. “Do you have one in mind?”

“Yes,” she stated.

I studied her face and the look on it made a thrill gather at the small of my back.

“Your next client seeks revenge,” she whispered.

I held her eyes, and at her words, my smile was still small.

But it spoke volumes.

 

* * * * *

Korwahk

 

“Stop drooling, sugarlips.”

“Mm?”

“Babe.”

“Yes?”

A shaking “Frannie,” mingled with an arm tightening around my shoulders, curling me to Noc’s front meant I was forced to tear my eyes from the Korwahk warrior.

Oh so many moons ago, I’d briefly met him back in Fyngaard, although after the troubles he’d quickly been away home.

He was one of Lahn’s most trusted lieutenants.

His name was Zahnin.

And his ferocity of appearance was a match for Lahn’s. I’d found him most frightening, and as lovely as many things on him were to look at, at the time I did not admit to the relief I felt when I heard he was gone.

But now, here, in his homeland in its capital city of Korwahn, standing on its Majestic Rim, awaiting the ceremony that was soon to commence, he was with his wife.

And his children.

Before Noc pulled me away, I’d been watching the little boy crawling up his long, stout leg while Zahnin was tickling, squeezing and throwing up in the air his baby girl, catching her as she giggled uncontrollably. And she kept doing so while he blew kisses into her neck.

Then, easily tucking her in his long, strong arm, he’d bent to haul up his toddler son, the boy going up shrieking his glee, and the warrior juggled them both against the large expanse of his bare, brown-skinned, painted chest, to their abandoned delight.

Through all this, his exceedingly pretty Fleuridian wife, Sabine, stood pressed close to his side, both her arms wrapped around his middle, and looked on with unconcealed adoration.

Of her children, of course.

But mostly her husband.

I could understand this.

His smile was white and wide, transforming his face.

There was no fierceness there, not now.

Only love and happiness.

Something that veritably beamed from him when he’d finally turned his attention from their children and gazed with open and frank devotion at his wife.

Right then, I looked up to Noc and saw no fierceness either.

His smile was white and wide but it didn’t transform his face.

My Noc always showed me his love and the happiness I gave him.

And the devotion he gave to me.

Thus I melted into his body.

“Would be jealous you’re pervin’ on that guy if you didn’t wake up happy to be back in your world and feelin’ the need to go down on me,” he noted.

I frowned.

Noc kept smiling. “You told me a year ago that I’d be in an adobe house that had running water only because it was fed direct from a river, that house in a parallel universe, waking up in that place to get the best blowjob of my life, I’d be intrigued, but I’d think you were crazy.”

“This is hardly the topic for discussion on a day like today,” I snapped. “Circe and Lahn haven’t invited us here for you to be rude.”

He dipped his face closer to mine, still smiling. “Babe, first, no one understands a fuckin’ thing I’m sayin’ seein’ as no one speaks English. And second, you think there aren’t gonna be a lotta blowjobs goin’ around today, you’re very wrong. Weddings make people horny.”

Well!

“That may be so but you don’t discuss it moments before the joyous festivities begin.” I admonished. “Regardless if people don’t understand you, that wolfish look on your face speaks volumes.”

His wolfish look got even more wolfish (which I had to admit, though not to Noc, was most attractive). “If they had airplanes here, I’d hire one to skywrite how good my woman is at giving head.”

Although I was most pleased I could pleasure him so thoroughly in this way, I batted his chest.

He started chuckling.

At that moment, a hush fell over the crowd.

Noc lifted his head and we both turned our attention to the colossal lip of sand-colored rock that jutted out over the city of Korwahn creating its Majestic Rim.

There we saw Korwahk’s Dax Lahn, his chest and back painted in blacks and golds, striding to the clearing before us where his throne and that of his queen were sitting.

The Golden Queen Circe was at his side, in extraordinary regalia, including a band of glittering golden feathers around her forehead.

And loping next to her like a trusted pet (something I’d found last night when we’d arrived and I was introduced to it that it was) was a large, grand white tiger.

Following them, under a drooping shade of golden silk, was a young couple, the pretty, plump woman beaming happily, the lean, tall man at her side looking serious.

The shade was held up on four poles by four young women, all practically skipping in their excitement.

Coming up the rear was a regiment of Korwahk warriors, all wearing black and gold paint.

Just off to the side of the clearing, Lahn and Circe’s three children were being looked after by Circe’s friends, Narinda and Nahka (women I’d also met last night), who had their own children with them, this large brood easily managed considering Narinda’s husband, Feetak, and Nahka’s husband, Bohtan, were keeping a stern eye on the crew.

Circe and Lahn made it to their thrones just as Diandra, Circe’s best friend, a kind and exceedingly attractive Valerian woman (which meant she spoke Noc and my language), sidled up next to us.

I looked to her and returned her smile before my gaze shifted back to the rim to see Circe seated in her throne made of white horns.

The honor guard had lined up behind her.

Lahn’s throne, made of massive black horns, was empty for he did not seat himself. He stood, hands on hide-covered hips, looking like he was scowling down at the couple who were now situated in front of their king and queen, facing each other, the four women still holding the shade over them.

“Iykoo!” Lahn boomed.

“Kneel,” Diandra whispered in translation.

I at once had the urge to kneel, but as the throng around us did not, I stayed where I was, in the curve of Noc’s arm, and watched Jacanda, Circe’s trusted slave girl, kneel across from her soon-to-be-husband, Derahn.

The instant they settled on their knees, a collective gasp came from the crowd as a shower of flower petals in the colors of yellow, orange and deep pink fell from the underside of the awning held over them, raining down on the couple below.

Feeling my lips quirk, knowing that was the queen’s magic, I looked from the couple to Circe, seeing her mouth curved up in a soft, indulgent smile, her eyes glued on her slave who was also her friend.

And I noted it again.

Since arriving the day before, I realized in her home, she was the Circe I knew. My friend. A woman from my new world living in a savage land in my old, a woman who was giving and amusing and kind.

But when she walked out of her home, she was the Golden Warrior Queen of Korwahk.

It was her way that this distinction was rather vague.

But it was nevertheless unmistakable.

Now she was queen.

And she was a sight to behold.

Even so, I tore my gaze from her to another sight that was always one to behold and saw her husband, his torso twisted so he could look at his wife.

When he turned back to the couple, he was shaking his head but doing it quite clearly fighting a smile.

Lahn was not one for flower petals.

But he liked that his wife was.

He became serious again when he looked to the subjects kneeled before him.

Then he opened his mouth and started speaking.

Diandra translated as he did.

“Today, the slave Derahn takes to wife my queen’s servant, Jacanda. Today, he gives his oath that he is now her possession. She owns his body. She owns his spirit. She owns his seed. And today, the queen’s trusted servant Jacanda gives her oath that she is now Derahn’s possession. He owns her body. He owns her spirit. He owns her womb. They will take no other until death. They will be owned by no other until death. Derahn will sow children into Jacanda and he will offer protection and guidance to the family he creates until his final breath. Jacanda will deliver him these children and offer nurture and care to them and Derahn until her final breath.”

As Lahn paused, there seemed a stirring of the warriors both behind Circe and Lahn’s thrones as well as those painted for the ceremonial day who were standing amongst the crowd (including, I noted with a sidelong glance, Zahnin, who had transferred his children to his wife, and was now looking much more alert and back to fierce).

My gaze returned to Lahn as he spoke again.

“And they will do this as free man and woman…”

The stirring around us increased as Noc’s hold on me tightened because this stirring was not only of the warriors, but also the entirety of the crowd.

Lahn spoke through it, I had no doubt noting the feel of the gathering, but ignoring it entirely.

“Owned from now to their death by no merchant, no man, no warrior. Owned only by each other. This is my decree. This is the decree of my golden queen. And this will be done. As their oath is now done and they are man and wife to each other from this day until they burn on their pyres.”

I shifted my gaze to the couple to see that this declaration of freedom was another gift bestowed on them that was a far sight sweeter than flower petals falling. They were staring up at their Dax in open-mouthed wonder.

Apparently, slaves were rarely freed in Korwahk.

“And as a gift to Jacanda,” Lahn roared on while Diandra translated, sounding surprised herself (a secret well-kept, clearly, for Diandra was much beloved and trusted by Circe), “a loyal slave to your queen, a slave who has stood by your queen’s side in womanly ways that mirror the actions of a warrior of the Horde to his brother, it is the will of your king and his golden queen that every merchant, man and warrior give liberty to those who serve them with steadfast allegiance.”

I felt my frame stiffen.

Was he…?

I stared.

By the gods, Lahn was freeing the slaves!

The stirring increased as did the tightness of Noc’s hold, and a shocked murmuring broke out amongst the crowd.

“It is our will, the will of your king and your queen,” Lahn thundered over the low sound. “It is the seal of the Golden Dynasty. Fidelity is rewarded. Freedom is granted. We build the Korwahk the prophets have foreseen and that Korwahk will flourish and thrive under the reign of the Golden Dynasty,” he suddenly lifted a hand and beat it to his chest, “my Golden Dynasty. The dynasty pouring forth from my seed planted in the fertility between the legs of my,” another chest pound, “golden warrior queen.”

My eyes shot to Circe to see her rolling hers at Lahn’s bold assertions.

But she was doing this grinning.

Lahn just kept speaking.

“All of those within our borders that your Horde protects from this day walk free, and they do it vowing allegiance to the sand and rock of this proud country.”

There was more murmuring amongst the gathering, but as I glanced around, held close in Noc’s hold, I noticed it was only murmuring. To my shock, although this was a declaration that would change the fabric of their daily lives, most everyone (but the warriors) looked surprised, no one looked angry.

This was undoubtedly because every warrior amongst them had clearly been told this was happening today and they not only wore their paint, they wore their large swords at a slant across their backs.

I’d thought this was all ceremonial.

I realized then it was not.

So apparently, when told to free your slaves, you were quite all right with that because your alternative was to demur and have a Korwahk Horde warrior carve you asunder.

I felt this was an appropriate reaction for a variety of reasons and turned my attention back to Lahn when he again started speaking.

“It is the way of my wife’s people that you kiss to seal your oath,” Lahn said, now only speaking to the couple. Then he ordered, “Do that now.”

I heard Noc chuckle as I felt him relax, and it took a moment for Jacanda and Derahn to pull themselves together, but once that moment was over, they hesitated no further and fell into each other’s arms.

The kiss was not chaste.

Indeed, it was so not chaste it didn’t end at all but continued with Derahn twisting Jacanda to her back on a bed of petals on stone, covering her with his body, and a cheer rent from the crowd.

Suddenly, golden panels until then unseen (in other words, Circe conjured them), fell around the couple, hiding them from view.

“That, sugarlips, is precisely why weddings make people horny,” Noc murmured amusedly in my ear.

I twisted my neck and gave him a vexed look.

His gaze drifted upward and his lips muttered, “Fuckin’ hell.”

At his words and a new shout from the crowd, my gaze drifted upward too.

And there, arcing over the gathering, indeed the entirety of the Majestic Rim, glinting like it dripped pixie dust, was the brightest, clearest, largest rainbow I’d ever seen.

I again looked to Circe who now sat by her husband. Lahn had taken his own throne and was jerking his head tersely to a hovering servant, telling her without words to pour the libation she’d brought for his wife first.

She scuttled over to Circe.

I watched her accept the chalice of wine like she was taking a glass offered to her while she was seated at Noc’s island.

And I knew.

Lahn did not free the oppressed of his country.

His wife did.

By talking her husband into doing it.

Oh yes, the golden warrior queen of Korwahk was quite something.

“Seems we weren’t invited just for a visit with the excuse of the wedding of some chick we didn’t know,” Noc remarked, bringing my eyes to him. “Seems we were here to witness something really fucking cool.”

It would seem he was correct.

“I wish the others were here,” I replied, meaning Frey and Finnie, Tor and Cora, and even Maddie and Apollo (these last two for Noc, I didn’t think they liked me much, but my Noc liked them).

“If they were, I wouldn’t have an excuse to take you to Fleuridia, Bellebryn and Lunwyn,” Noc returned.

“True,” I murmured.

“Babe,” he called even though I was right in his arms, looking into his eyes.

“Yes, my darling?”

“Feel like sealing our own oath?” he asked, his stunning blue eyes now dancing.

“I always feel like sealing our own oath,” I answered with the gods’ honest truth.

Noc smiled down at me.

Then he kissed me.

Unfortunately, for the sake of politeness, he ceased doing this when Diandra’s husband, Seerim, and her daughter, Sheena, joined us, carrying resin cups filled to the brim with Korwahkian wine.

When I took mine from Sheena with a soft, “Shahsha,” (“thank you” in Korwahkian) the pretty girl grinned at me.

“I can see Lahn has it going on,” Noc said to Diandra, who looked confused for a moment but her lips still moved, uttering Korwahkian, translating for her husband and daughter. “Not many leaders, no matter they can tear a man’s head off with their bare hands, could pull that off by just saying it’s gonna be done.”

Diandra kept talking, and when she was finished, Seerim started.

Diandra translated.

“There will be uprisings. This is only the beginning. The Horde has been warned and they are aware. It will not be this easy. What it will be, eventually, is the legacy of the Golden Dynasty.”

“Don’t doubt that,” Noc replied.

Diandra translated what Noc had said then shared her own words, “It helps matters, I’m certain, that all the rulers of the Northlands have declared their alliance with this new creed and will block trade with merchants from Korwahk who won’t follow it. Rulers who have also vowed they’re prepared to ride with the Horde for those who take up weapons in an effort to defy it.”

In other words, Queen Aurora (with the support of Frey and Apollo, no doubt), Prince Noctorno, King Ludlum and whoever was ruling Fleuridia now (I was out of the loop, I’d heard there was a coup in the last conversation I’d had with Cora through my crystal ball, but it was no longer my world so I didn’t pay it much mind) were on board with Lahn’s decree.

“Not bad backup,” Noc muttered.

Diandra nodded.

Sheena said something and Diandra looked toward the thrones before saying to us, “Our Dax and Dahksahna wish our presence.”

I looked to the thrones too and saw now that the king and his queen had been reunited with their family.

Thus Circe was waving us her way even as she seemed to be attempting to control a very active Ashur in her arms (this effort failing as she was also holding her chalice of wine and the child very much wanted to launch itself at the white tiger, who was engaged in the activity of licking the baby’s leg).

This was happening while Lahn had his dark-haired toddler Tunahn riding his broad shoulders, the boy looking to the expanse before him like he already ruled the people milling about in it.

But his golden-haired daughter, Isis, had plastered her front to her father’s massive chest, blurring his paint, which was now smudging her golden garments, and giggling while she pulled at his beard.

Lahn felt no need to appear kingly with his daughter pressed to him, pulling at his beard. He’d just wrapped his strapping forearm under her bum, held her to him, and smiled wide into her beautiful little face.

“Time to attend the king and queen,” Noc said in my ear, putting a hand to the small of my back and starting us that way.

He was right, of course.

In a way.

But really, it was time to be with our friends and celebrate a momentous occasion.

The first new creed as proclaimed by The Golden Dynasty.

I took a sip from my cup as I moved, and thought, May it be one of many.

 

* * * * *

Fleuridia

 

I plucked a piece of lavender as I ambled down the lane beside Maddie.

I’d asked for this stroll.

Now I didn’t know how to go about the business of why I’d done that.

During our visit to my world, Noc wanted to see everyone, including Apollo and Maddie.

I’d said no words against it, even if I felt no small amount of concern that I knew Noc would be welcomed, but I likely wouldn’t.

This did not occur. Both Apollo and his Maddie were very cordial with me.

Cordial.

Not friendly.

It was clear they most enjoyed seeing Noc.

But they were very poor at hiding they were not the same with me.

Apollo was formal and terse, if not outwardly unwelcoming.

Maddie was hesitant and watchful.

We were only staying but days before being spirited to Bellebryn as arranged (and paid for) with Valentine, and I had thought to simply get through it and then move on with our holiday.

What I didn’t factor was the fact that Noc was as he was.

Highly perceptive.

At first, he seemed keen on the course of attempting, with his good humor and easy manner, to sweep away the awkwardness.

When this didn’t occur, and regardless that I tried to hide my discomfort, he started to get frustrated.

Then angry.

I feared he’d demand words with Apollo, and before he did something like that, altering a relationship I knew they both enjoyed in a way they would cease doing that, something had to be done.

And I had to do it.

Thus I’d asked Maddie on this stroll.

And I couldn’t begin to know how to sort through the matter at hand.

I just knew I must.

For Noc.

And, to be quite truthful, for Maddie.

I stopped, twirling the stem of lavender in my fingers, and called quietly, “Lady Madeleine.”

She stopped too, having walked on several strides, and turned back to me.

I decided to face it head on.

“When I said what I said to you at Brunskar, I know my words harmed you,” I declared.

“Franka,” she said my name uneasily.

“This has been made very clear to me,” I shared.

She seemed at a loss before she replied, “Things were very…emotional at the time.”

“They were indeed,” I agreed. “This does not erase the harm that I’d done.”

She took a step toward me, saying again, “Franka.”

“Those I care about, who care about me, call me Frannie.”

She stopped and stared.

“Even if I would never speak it aloud, until now, I’ve always admired Apollo for many reasons. His service to my country is one. Another is the love he has for his family.”

She looked to be fighting turning her gaze away and she won, holding mine steady but saying nothing.

“This man I’ve long respected, it’s good to see him again happy,” I declared.

A startled warmth moved through her gaze as she took the last step toward me, reaching out to wrap her fingers around mine.

“That’s kind of you to say,” she replied quietly.

“Perhaps, but mostly it’s true,” I returned.

Her lips curved.

“It may be the damage my words caused make it so we cannot have what I have with the others who’ve found love across worlds,” I carried on. “But my Noc has grown to care about you both. So although it is not mine to ask anything of you, for him I do so regardless. And what I ask is that we endeavor to get past the awkwardness between us so that Noc can enjoy his time, time that’s rather brief, with the two of you.”

“I know what happened to you,” she whispered.

I fought lifting my chin and replied, “I know you do.”

“My ex, the other Apollo, Pol, beat the absolute crap out of me, doing it repeatedly. Once doing it and I lost the son I carried.”

I blinked in shock and distress.

“When I went to my parents for help,” she continued, “my father closed the door in my face.”

“By the gods,” I breathed.

She nodded and went on to tell her startling tale of woe.

“I went on the run and I didn’t let anyone close to me. Not for ages. Not until Apollo.”

I said nothing.

“In other words, Frannie. I get you.” She looked beyond me, back up to the grand manse in the countryside of Fleuridia she shared with her husband, his children by Ilsa, and their little Valentine, and again to me. “The awkwardness was because, well, even having changed, you’re kind of intimidating and I didn’t know how to broach it with you.” She gave me a grin. “I’m glad you knew what to do.”

“Well, I’m…” I cleared my throat, “glad too.”

Her grin became a smile, she moved into me, coming to my side and hooking her arm through my own.

Thus, she moved us again forward. “So now, tell me. I’m dying to know. How did you react to my old world? I have to admit, I’d love to take Lo there. See how he feels about airplanes and Jacuzzis. You have to tell me everything. What did you think the weirdest thing was? And the most wonderful?”

I shared this with her and she threw her head back and laughed when I told her both were my introduction to the glory of toilets.

And from there, Lady Madeleine Ulfr and I wandered a lane lined in lavender.

And as we did, we became friends.

 

* * * * *

Noc

 

“She’s much changed.”

Noc didn’t take his eyes from the window as he watched Frannie and Maddie wandering down the lane, arm in arm, heads bent together even when he felt Apollo come to stand beside him or when Apollo said those words.

“No, she’s not,” Noc replied

“I knew her well before you, my brother,” Lo stated carefully.

Only then did Noc give the man his eyes.

“No you did not.”

Apollo Ulfr held his gaze.

Then he lifted his chin.

Both men turned their attention back out the window.

And they stood there watching the women they loved wandering a lane, their skirts and the fields of lavender waving about them in a gentle breeze, their bodies bathed in sunshine.

 

* * * * *

Lunwyn

Franka

 

I was riding Noc’s cock, both of us sitting up, our eyes locked, when his arm clamped about my hips and he held me down, full of him, and shifted to his knees.

He then dropped me to my back, covering me and again moving inside.

Through this, my gaze on his never wavered, nor did it when his hand found mine, linking our fingers and pressing them into the bed as his other hand moved, pushing deep, up my spine, the back of my neck, to curl against my scalp.

“Don’t stop lookin’ at me,” he growled.

“I won’t,” I whimpered, arching into him, our position, his words, neither lost on me.

Like our first time.

Exactly.

“So goddamned beautiful,” he grunted as his thrusts picked up speed. “Always so goddamned beautiful.”

“Darling,” I breathed, grinding into him, moving urgently, the need nearly overwhelming me.

“Hold on, Frannie. Not yet. Look into my eyes.”

“You have me,” I whispered, and he very much did, now in every way.

My hands were roaming his skin, hungry.

His strokes gathered power as he drove into me.

I moaned, losing hold.

Noc felt it.

“Don’t lose my eyes, baby.”

“I…won’t, my love,” I gasped.

His face darkened, his fingers in mine clenched, I felt the metal at one biting into the webbing and he groaned, “Now, Frannie. Let go.”

As the sound of his climax powered through the room, the softer wisps of my own filtered through it and I arced into him, pulling him deep, clasping him to me, and Noc poured himself inside me, unhindered.

I was shuddering through the final glorious moments when he collapsed on top of me, sinking his face into my neck.

I took him happily, memorizing the feel of him I’d already never forget, the smell, the sound of his harsh breathing whispering against the skin under my ear.

In these times, we never needed to speak.

And this time, so different, but yet the same, this was something we still did not need.

However, Noc felt something had to be said.

And he said it by raising his head, taking off some of his weight, and then lifting our hands he still had laced together.

He brought them to his lips, his eyes on me, and kissed the large Sjofn ice diamond there that nestled perfectly with the plain gold band underneath.

He wore a band as well, on the hand that still held my head.

I’d slipped it on under the bemused eyes of a Vallee in a Dwelling of the Gods just an hour before.

His gesture was all that needed to be said from my new husband to me, his new wife.

And for long moments as we gazed at each other, his handsome lips to the beautiful rings he’d bestowed on me, that was all that was said.

Eventually, Noc pressed our hands to his chest and in the most profound moment of my life (and I’ll note all the others on that list carried memories of him too), he declared, “We are so gonna piss everyone off that we eloped on a parallel universe and we didn’t invite anyone from this world or the other.”

I felt my face form a scowl at his mentioning a discussion we’d already had.

One which we ended in whole-hearted agreement (of a sort, Noc was much the champion of being married, doing it in my homeland, something that he knew meant much to me, and it being rather private—he was not quite the champion of going it totally alone, but he’d given in…for me).

“This is not their moment, Noc.”

“Not sure Sue’s gonna see it that way,” he replied. “Or Dad. Or Dash. Or Aurora. Orly. Finnie. Frey’s gonna give me tons of shit. And I don’t even wanna think how Jo is gonna react.”

“She’s dealing with her own emotion concerning that odious Glover,” I snapped and Noc’s brows rose.

“Odious? How’s Glover odious, sugarlips? It was Jo who dumped him.”

It was indeed.

She’d explained this days prior to our being spirited away for our holiday, stating, “I tried, Frannie. I really tried to see it in him. But watching you and Noc, he didn’t have it. So in the end, he just didn’t do it for me.”

She was falling into our new-world language, then again she would as we’d been in that new world now for many months.

She was also quite right about taking her leave of Glover.

If he didn’t do it for her, it was time to scrape him off.

“It isn’t easy dumping someone, Noc,” I shared. “She feels awful.”

“She should. He was totally gone for her. And he was a good guy.”

“Not good enough, this, I will note, I always knew.”

Noc shook his head but did it grinning.

He was still grinning when he declared, “We need to have another ceremony when we get to Rimée Keep.”

“Whyever would we do that?”

He didn’t answer, he kept on his bent.

“And we need to have another one when we get home.”

“The deed is already done,” I pointed out.

“Right, you tell Sue she can’t wear a crazy hat to some shindig,” he returned. “And by the way, being married here is not legal at home and we get a tax break for being married.”

“We’ll have a ceremony at home,” I stated instantly.

Another grin from Noc as he muttered, “That’s my Frannie. If she can keep her money so she can spend it on herself or anyone else she wants to lavish shit on, she’s gonna do it.”

“I do not mind your government knowing we’re eternally joined. As you say, if I felt it prudent to part with the money it would cost, when we returned home, I’d hire an operator of an airplane to write it in the sky.”

That did not get me a grin.

That earned me Noc dropping his mouth to mine and giving me a deep, wet, heated kiss.

When he lifted it and our eyes opened, he whispered, “Franka Hawthorne.”

That name.

Such beauty.

“That’s me,” I whispered back.

His face started to grow soft when, suddenly, we both stiffened.

This was because the room was tinted green.

Noc lifted up alertly to an outstretched arm, causing me to press my lips together to stifle the pleasured moan for we were still joined and his movements were far from unpleasant, doing this growling, “You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

I pushed up to my elbows and turned my eyes to where my senses were guiding me.

And there, on the table by the window of the lovely inn in which we were staying, was an elegant tea service set out, its porcelain painted in a stunning motif of emerald green.

From the spout, wafts of smoke drifted from the heated brew inside.

Along with a glitter that was unmistakable.

I felt a slow smile form on my lips as the green tint of the room faded.

“Fuck, is she here?” Noc bit off.

“She’s not here,” I answered him and his eyes came to me. “But she knows we’re wed and has left us a present.”

“A present?”

I put a hand to his warm, wide chest. “Are you fatigued, my love?”

“Are you crazy, gorgeous?” he returned but didn’t wish an answer. He kept talking. “It’s my wedding night and I’m feelin’ the need to beat my record.”

My brows drew together. “Your record?”

“Ten times, babe,” he stated, causing a rather delicious tingle at the memory. “Tonight, I’m gonna go for fifteen.”

My attention drifted to the tea.

He would best that.

Oh yes he would.

Splendidly.

And I would best my record of three.

Oh yes, I most definitely would.

And I’d do this splendidly.

It was time for some tea.

 

* * * * *

 

“So this is a bridesmaid dress,” I murmured, staring down at myself.

I was of a mixed opinion.

The design was very fine.

The color—a pale pink—did not a thing for me.

Cora, wearing her own dress, the same exact one for reasons I couldn’t fathom, came to me.

“It is,” she confirmed.

“It’s the same as yours,” I told her something she already knew.

“It’s that too.”

“I must say I don’t quite understand why we need to be dressed identically.”

“It’s just the way it is,” she stated.

“In your old world,” I told her. “We’re not in your old world. Since both Finnie and Circe are bound to this world everlasting, in order that they can be her bridesmaids, my-world Circe is marrying Dax in Lunwyn.”

“Yeah, but she’s giving him his kind of wedding seeing as they’re doing the Justice of the Peace thing when they get back home.”

I knew of this “Justice of the Peace thing.”

But for Noc and I to “make it legal,” at the inflexible demands of his stepmother, my dearest Jo (who was, indeed, very vexed Noc and I had wed without her), and even Valentine (who had reunited with her lover amongst great drama and had become quite the romantic, in a detached way, of course) we had not gone to a Justice of the Peace and then gone somewhere else to have some cake, as Noc shared with them at first we would do (to a calamitous uprising).

We’d had a “shindig.”

A large one.

I got a very fabulous dress out of the situation and we were showered with gifts that were all very lovely, even if we could afford to buy them ourselves. Not to mention, having this gave us an excuse to go on what was called a “honeymoon.” This we did in a tranquil place filled with astounding beauty called the “Caribbean” where we were able to make love on a blanket on a sandy beach with the sea lapping at our toes (amongst other places, a number of them).

The door opened and my brief conversation with Cora was interrupted when my husband entered the room.

All eyes, including mine, Cora’s, Maddie’s, Finnie’s, Circe’s, Aurora’s, Josette’s, and the bride—the other Circe (attired in a dress that was far more becoming than my own)—went to him.

His eyes came to me.

I saw his face go soft, his gaze drop to my gown and his lips tip up before his attention turned to the bride.

A bride he was “giving away.”

Although this was said to be against all tradition, Jo was not only my maid of honor at our other-world ceremony, she’d also walked me down the aisle and placed my hand in Noc’s.

She’d done this sobbing.

Like a ninny.

Gods love her.

“Is he ready?” Circe asked Noc as he approached.

“Babe, you don’t haul your ass into that sanctuary and soon, Dax is gonna tear in here and drag you down the aisle himself,” Noc answered.

Me and my friends all gave each other knowing, delighted looks.

Circe gathered her skirts and her bundle of adela tree twigs and bustled to Noc, declaring, “Then we must go. Dax impatient is not a good thing.”

“Dax impatient to make you his wife is probably a great deal worse,” I shared.

Circe gave me big eyes.

Even so, I noted they were glowing and happy.

Oh yes.

Yes.

I did so enjoy when a carefully crafted scheme succeeded.

At Finnie’s command, we all collected the arrangements of flowers we were to hold in our hands, and we lined up in order to start the proceedings.

I was the last in line before Circe and Noc.

Jo had been my maid of honor but Circe had also stood up with me.

And I was to be Circe’s maid of honor and Josette was also to stand up with her.

And an honor it was.

Indeed.

As we’d been told (and actually practiced the night before, for reasons beyond me—we were all walking down an aisle and then standing at the front of the pews, listening as the Vallee droned on and on, it was hardly worth the military-style drilling Finnie forced us through), we filed out and did as we’d practiced.

We all got to the front and took our places opposite Dax, who was standing alone wearing a well-cut suit, looking impatient (and looking that frighteningly).

He was scowling down the aisle (like Circe was going to do anything but maybe throw decorum to the wind and run down the aisle to him), waiting for the doors Noc and Circe were to come through when something not practiced happened.

This was Frey’s booming voice ordering, “Stand!”

I looked to Jo at my side and then watched as the meager audience (the outside of the Dwelling was heavily guarded, there were two Noctornos, two Dax Lahns and two Circes in that room and it wouldn’t do for anyone who shouldn’t to see that).

After all stood, suddenly, filing in from the side, came Frey’s men. As they moved along the back wall to the aisle, Frey fell in in front of them.

We then saw Apollo’s closest soldiers following Frey’s, led by Apollo.

When they traversed the aisle, Lahn and Tor got out of their pews and joined the men.

They marched up the aisle before Noc even guided Circe into the sanctuary.

When they made it to the front, they lined up around the bridesmaids and to the other side around Dax, turning and standing almost what appeared to be at attention, watching as my husband finally guided Circe into the room and slowly walked the bride down the aisle.

I reached out a hand and found Jo’s, hers already searching mine.

We held on as we watched Circe’s lips quiver while she made her approach, taking in the assemblage in front of her, a woman who was once violently stripped of everything, her family, her virtue, her freedom. She’d had no one to whom to turn. No one she could trust.

And now she had the armies of four countries at her back and six sisters at her side.

I felt my own tears welling when suddenly, the room filled with green.

“Fabulous.” I heard Frey mutter sardonically.

I understood his lament.

Valentine did very much like to cause a drama.

But I heard this at the same time I heard on the other side of me, Circe’s wondrous, whispered, “Oh my God. Pop.”

And then I saw an older man who’d formed from a rise of green mist move out of a pew toward Noc and Circe, who had just made it to the middle of the long aisle.

“If you don’t mind, son,” he said to Noc, his eyes never leaving Circe, “I’ll take it from here.”

“Who’s that man?” Jo whispered to me.

“My dad,” Circe whispered to Jo.

Both Josette and I cut our gazes to Queen Circe who was openly weeping.

And hugely smiling.

We looked back to Circe as Noc took one look at the bride, dipped his chin and stepped aside.

The man I would eventually know as Harold Quinn walked his other-world daughter to her groom, grinning like a lunatic, his eyes filled with pride as they rested on both the daughter he claimed and the daughter he made before he guided the bride to the man she loved.

Noc moved to stand by Lahn and Tor.

But before I turned to the couple to watch them wed, I caught sight of her standing in the shadows at the back.

She was wearing a fabulous dress of jade green.

Love is everything. I heard Valentine’s voice whisper in my ear. Every way love can be.

And then, a cat’s smile flirting at her lips, she faded away in a beautiful drift of jewel-green smoke.

 

* * * * *

New Orleans

Noc

 

“I say, I’ve kept you up long enough. It’s time for me to find my bed…and my wife, and you yours,” Kristian stated.

Noc, sitting outside with his brother-in-law, having a whiskey while Kristian enjoyed a cigar, nodded.

It was definitely time.

He liked the man but he liked his wife better.

They rose from their padded chairs and lifted their chins at each other as Kristian moved through the courtyard toward the carriage house at the other side where Franka had created a guest suite.

Noc left the bottle and glasses where they were on the table between the two chairs and walked into the house.

He went through it, knowing the doors were locked, the windows closed and latched.

He checked them all just the same. There were precious beings sleeping under his roof, a number of them, and it was the man he was that he’d make sure they were safe.

At the top of the stairs, looking up and down the hall, he saw no light coming from under the door to the master suite, or any of the others.

Except a dim light coming from under one in the middle of the hall, a door that led to a room that was painted pink.

He felt the grin hit his mouth but his body jerked when a different door, the one right beside him, opened.

Noc’s father blinked sleepily at his son then grunted, “Damned bladder.”

And then his dad lifted his hand, patted Noc’s shoulder, and walked the opposite way, toward the bathroom.

Noc walked toward the light.

He put his hand on the handle and turned it, opening the door a crack, doing it silently.

He stopped it at just a crack when he heard his daughter speak.

“Really, Momma?” Amara was asking in her little girl voice.

“Really, my sweetest love,” Frannie replied.

“Daddy did that?”

“Yes, my darling, your father did that. He did that and more. So much more.”

There was a beat of silence before Amara declared sleepily, “Mm, I believe it. Daddy’s so sweet.”

Noc grinned again.

“He is that, beautiful Amara Judith,” Frannie agreed. “He’s also something else.”

“What’s that?”

“He’s my valiant.”

Noc’s body locked.

“What does that mean?” their daughter asked.

“That means, precious girl, your daddy is my hero.”

Noc closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the doorjamb.

“He’s mine too,” Amara declared.

Noc’s throat closed.

“I know, baby,” Frannie cooed. “Now it’s very late. I’ve told you your story. It’s time for you to go to sleep.”

His daughter’s sounded dreamy as she shared, “I can’t wait to find my valiant.”

Frannie’s tone was crisper when she returned, “We’ll talk about that in thirty years.”

Amara’s voice was higher when she asked, “Thirty?”

“Go to sleep, darling.”

“I’m not gonna be thirty-six when I get married.”

“Amara, my love, sleep.”

“All right.” Noc heard his girl mumble.

At that, Noc moved from the door, down the hall and into his and Frannie’s room.

He went straight to the window.

He didn’t pull the curtains closed.

He stood looking down at their quiet courtyard with its riot of flowers, all of it lit by moonlight.

He heard her enter behind him.

“Has Kristian finished his cigar?” she asked his back.

“Yep,” he answered the window.

“Foul things,” she murmured and the door clicked.

Noc stared at the courtyard.

Frannie came right to him, circling him with her arms and fitting herself to his back.

“I love having the house filled with family,” she whispered.

She was talking about Dad and Sue, Kristian and Brikitta and their three boys visiting.

She was also talking about their own five kids.

Four boys.

One girl.

Amara right smack in the middle.

“Noc,” she said softly, “is everything all right?”

He looked from the courtyard to her hands at his stomach, her diamond blinking faintly in the moonlight. He felt her breasts pressed to his back, the belly she’d nurtured his five children in tucked to his ass.

He could smell her.

He could feel her power contained but still emanating through her.

And it took no effort at all to pull her face up in his mind’s eye, that delicate neck, her beautiful mouth, her gorgeous hair.

Her arms around him tightened.

“Darling? Are you okay?”

Noc took her wrist and pulled it to his side, forcing his wife to circle around to his front.

She kept hold of him, and when he stopped her, she tipped her head back to catch his eyes.

He let her wrist go and lifted his hand to cup her jaw.

Holding her there and drawing his other arm around her to pull her close, he dipped his face to hers and studied the woman he loved, so goddamned beautiful, even more right then, lit by moonbeams.

“My valiant,” he whispered.

He saw those beautiful blue eyes of hers warm.

And then he saw them grow bright with wet.

She lifted up on her toes so that fucking amazing mouth was a breath from his.

But she didn’t kiss him.

She whispered back.

Two words he never believed.

Two words he knew she believed down to her glorious soul.

“My hero.”

 

The End

 

This concludes the Fantasyland Series.

Thank you for reading!

 

*****