If we waited too much longer it felt like I would explode.
Leo groaned. Stood. Kicked off his boots and his pants. Then climbed back on the bed, placing himself between my legs.
“The first time can be really intense. Just ride the emotions; don’t press against them. Allow them to caress and find a place within. Okay?”
I nodded. “I will,” I said, even though I had no idea what he meant.
He was holding himself above me, his arms bulging with muscles as he kept his body hovering above mine.
I reached out and touched him, trying to pull him down. I wanted his body touching mine everywhere, all at once. “Leo,” I whispered.
Slowly, he lowered his body onto mine. It was like fireworks. Crackles of electricity ignited and sparked all around us. Heat, like the kind that comes right before a heavy storm, surrounded us.
It was overwhelming and amazing.
Every sight, every sound, every smell seemed to intensify and slow. His lips gently pressed to mine. He opened my mouth and our tongues danced a slow blazing waltz. A hand gently brushed against my breast. His hips pushed against mine.
We explored each other. Touched. Caressed. Kissed.
In that moment I knew I would never be the same.
He was mine.
I was his.
Return
The next day we returned to Snow’s castle. There’d been clothes in the cottage. We left our party clothes and exchanged them for tan breeches and cotton long-sleeved shirts.
“Cindy, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Snow said when she saw us.
“Sorry, we…” I paused and looked at Leo.
It was obvious we were changed. Leo had been right. I knew everything about him and he knew me. It was as though we were one, but still separate. Instead of combining, we had become more like bridges, information flowing from and to each other. He had my hand in his. The electricity was mostly gone. Leo explained that the more we made love, the less often we’d look like a shorting electric outlet. I’d been sad, telling him how much I enjoyed the electricity and then demonstrating how much I liked it again and again until we were both spent.
This morning he told me it wasn’t a bad thing, but it would continually change and grow. He compared us to a newly planted seed. The more we fed and nurtured our love, the stronger and more beautiful it would become. I glanced up at him. His eyes were on mine. I squeezed his hand.
I intended to do a lot of feeding and nurturing.
He squeezed back.
“Wow, you two are…” Snow blushed. Her face actually changed from a creamy white to a burgundy red.
I laughed. “We’re what?”
She turned away. “Intense.” She chuckled. “Have you figured out how you’re going to defeat King Loyalor and his son?” She glanced back.
I shrugged. “Not yet.”
“I think I might have a plan,” Leo said.
“Really? When did this happen?”
He smiled and I felt his plan as it formed in his mind. It revolved around returning to Polonias and making them see.
“Since we’re married and you’ve been thoroughly kissed, Polonias should be healing up nicely. The King, my father, has no right to continue to rule.”
“You think?” I wasn’t so sure. In fact I felt a little sick inside, like something terrible was wrong in Polonias.
“There’s only one way to find out.” He glanced at Snow. “Thank you for allowing us to spend some time in your beautiful land. Good luck on your dealings with the chayot. If you ever need assistance, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
Snow gave Leo a warm smile. “You’re very welcome. I’ll keep your very generous offer in mind.” Her strange eyes turned from Leo to me. She threw her arms around me. “I love you, Cindy. I’m so happy you found the love of your life.”
“Me too,” I said, hugging her back.
Snow hugged Leo.
“Where’s Dorian?” I asked, looking around the cozy living room we were hanging out in.
Snow smiled. “He’s with Jasmine. They’re working on some of…” She paused and cleared her throat before continuing. “…her more interesting abilities.”
Leo and I looked at each other. “Sounds mysterious.” I laughed. “Tell him I said good-bye.”
“I will.” She patted my shoulder. “And I’m sorry about Gabe too.”
“It’s okay,” I replied. “He was a jerk, but nothing I can’t handle.”
Snow snorted. “I hope I can handle him and that we can work something out between the humans and the magical creatures of Sharra.”
“I hope so too.” I hugged her again. “See you soon.”
Leo placed his arms around my waist and spoke the word for us to return to Polonias.
We travelled quickly and, before I knew it, we were passing through the mists. Stryker was there and waved. His evil features appeared sad. I wanted to ask him what was wrong, but we were out of the mists and in the lands of Polonias. Except something was wrong.
The sky was dark, and not dark like it was nighttime, but dark as in no light.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
Leo held me close. “I don’t know.”
We stopped. I stepped away from Leo and looked around. “Where are we?” The land was stark. It was as though our colorful world had been changed into black and white.
“This is supposed to be the Heart. Polly’s place.”
“Polly!” I shouted, searching for her. I fell to my knees and was immediately covered in ash. “Polly!” I yelled.
“Polly!” Leo called and fell to his knees beside me.
I frantically dug around on the ground in the place where I believed Polly usually burrowed herself.
“I can’t find her,” I said. Tears streaked my face and fell hot into the ash.
“She’s got to be here. Somewhere. If she were dead, then Polonias wouldn’t be here.”
That gave me a little courage. “Polly. Polly. Polly.” I was sobbing now. Was this my fault? Had leaving Polonias and running away done this?
I moved over to where I thought the pool of water was. It was dried out, except in the very center. I climbed down the side. Shells crunched under my knees, and some of the sharp edges pierced my skin. I kept going. She had to be here. She had to be alive. Leo said so.
“Polly,” I whispered.
A sound came from my right. I froze, listening.
“Cin-der-ell-a.” Each consonant sounded like a last gasp for breath. I carefully moved toward the sound and gently brushed away the ash.
She was there, but shriveled into an almost unrecognizable shape.
“You’re the only hope left for Polonias.” Her words were so weak they seemed to enter my mind and not come from her lips.
“Tell me what to do,” I said.
“You have to take my place. It’s the only way. You must become the new Heart.”
“No.” Leo had come up behind me. The word was sharp, final.
“Then Polonias is doomed, as are we all.” She closed her eyes. My pulse pounded against my ears.
“You can’t die, Polly. You can’t. Tell me what to do.” Seeing her charred body filled my stomach with bile. I was going to be sick.
I held her against my chest. She reached out a decaying hand and touched the place over my heart. “You are the Heart, Cinderella.”
A rush filled my ears. It sounded like water. My eyes rolled back into my head. I felt Leo’s emotions charge through me—fear, anger, and devastation. I wanted to comfort him, but I couldn’t. The water seemed to be getting higher and higher. Someone or something held me down. The pressure in my chest rose and grew stronger and stronger.
I was dying.
This was the end.
“Leo,” I tried to cry out, but my mouth was full of something.
I’m sorry, I thought, and felt my body relax.
Dear Diary,
I had it all. The perfect kiss. The perfect guy. The perfect life.
It didn’t last. Perfection never does. It was brief, a beautiful moment in time. As soon as it vanished, I longed for it to come back. Like a butterfly in a net, I wanted to claim it for my own. But then what?
Once the butterfly is caught there are two options. Free it or kill it.
Neither appealed to me.
There was a third choice. Chase it. Pursue it until I caught it.
Holding Leo in my arms, feeling his lips on mine, I would never give up, never stop until we had our perfection again.
No matter what.
And that’s when I realized love doesn’t understand time. There’s no set limit about falling in love. It can happen over time, but it can just as easily materialize instantly. Science might suggest love was nothing more than a chemical reaction, but for me it was deeper, all consuming. I was truly better for knowing him. And being without him hurt, physically and emotionally.
The knowledge was freeing, but it was also alarming. I’d believed myself a woman of the world. I believed I understood the ways of men. That understanding was meaningless now that I’d felt love and been loved by Leo.
Love and hugs,
Cin
xoxo
Heart
It felt like I was drowning in cotton: thick, soft… and extremely claustrophobic. The worst part? I couldn’t see anything, even though my eyes were open.
Leo’s voice funneled through the cottony substance and to my ears. “Cinderella. No. Please! Let her go. Don’t take her from me.” I heard his anguish, sensed the pain and, worse, I felt it. His pain seared my soul. Tears wanted to sting my lashes. I understood his emotions. We’d only found each other and I didn’t want to lose him.
Yet I knew I wasn’t coming back. At least, not as the same person I’d been.
I wanted to respond, give him some indication that I heard him and knew his frustration. I wished more than anything that he could help. If he knew where I was, he’d save me. But no sound came from my mouth. I couldn’t move or shout or even cry.
So I closed my eyes and tried to focus.
In the past, when I was in a dangerous situation, a spell from the Eye of Abernathy entered my mind and helped me out of it. Not this time. Instead I felt empty and endless, like a black hole.
I had a fleeting thought that maybe I’d died. Maybe Polly touching me, telling me I’d become the Heart, had destroyed my body somehow. If that were the case I’d be endlessly miserable without Leo, my mind unattached from my body.
“Cinderella, I’m sorry it’s come to this. I hoped it wouldn’t, even though it was inevitable.” Polly’s voice cut clearly through my mind.
“What happened?” I tried to follow the sound of her voice. The last time I saw her I’d been holding her withered body in my hands. There’d been ash everywhere. It’d been dark. “Is Polonias still… alive?” I wasn’t sure how to ask what the state of the planet and the people were.
“Polonias will live. It was close. If you hadn’t come back when you did, we would all be dead. As it is, I’m too far gone. There is a piece of me that will live on in you, Cinderella. This is how it was meant to be. Kissing your true love, becoming one with him was what our planet needed, but doing so outside of Polonias sped up the planet’s destruction.”
Sorrow filled my soul. Had Mizrabel, the King, and Lawson known what would happen? That Polonias would nearly die? “Where is the King and Leo’s brother?”
Polly shuddered. “They didn’t realize the power you and Leo possessed. They figured with you out of the picture, Polonias would be theirs for the taking. They hadn’t planned on its near destruction. Now,” she paused and I felt her spirit reach out like the roots of a flower. “They are alive, but…”
“But you can’t feel them.” While she’d been speaking my body seemed to grow and extend, becoming one with my surroundings. It was my roots spreading instead of Polly’s.
“Right. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m no longer part of this world or if it’s because you hold the power.” A bright yellow light flicked awake before my eyes. And I saw Polly. She looked like herself again, but only a shadow or a ghost. I reached out to her, but my hand went right through. “My body is dead, Cinderella, but my spirit lives on. In you.” She lifted a finger and brought it to my forehead. I waited to feel the touch, but there was only cold.
My mind was opened. Thoughts. Feelings. Memories. All of Polly’s long life overtook my senses.
I wasn’t myself any longer. I was Polly, and the Heart before Polly, and the one before her, and before her, clear back to the creation.
If I could’ve gasped in shock I would have.
My roots grew and surrounded the entire planet, connecting me to everything. Every blade of grass, every drop of water, grain of sand, speck of dirt—they were a part of me and I them. I was the tiniest flower and the tallest tree. There was no beginning or end anymore. I was everywhere, in the sky as well as the sea.
And then I was back to myself. The world of Polonias contained within my heart.
“Polly,” I whispered.
No one answered.
Gone
My suffocating prison dissipated. I found myself lifting toward the surface like a shot of lightning; I passed the inner core, then the outer, through the mantle past the regolith into the subsoil, to the topsoil until I broke through the ground.
I heard a sigh escape my lips as I lifted my face to the sun. It was warm, a soothing balm against my skin. I opened my eyes and glanced around. Polly’s Paradise surrounded me.
Light glistened off the waterfall. Dragonflies danced across the water, their silvery wings making small rainbows. I could hear the flowers blooming. I felt the water sway as it roared over the side of the mountain. Trees lined the lovely place where I’d met Polly for the first time. The same place Leo and I had been married.
And that’s when I remembered him.
“Leo,” I whispered, searching.
“Cinderella.” The sound of his voice sent electricity along my nerve endings. His hand touched my shoulder. I turned. His face was filled with wonder and surprise. “It is you, isn’t it?”
I swallowed. “Yes, it’s me.” My voice didn’t sound the same. It was more gravelly, yet somehow lighter.
He went to pull me into a hug, but the lower half of my body was still within the earth. I tried to force myself from its clutches because I wanted to be in Leo’s arms. Something within told me not to, that it wasn’t time.
“I can’t,” I finally whispered.
He stepped back, blinked back tears, and shook his head. “It’s happened. You’re the new Heart.”
I glanced down, embarrassed for some reason. “I am.”
A strangled sob reached my ears. I glanced up. He’d fallen to his knees, his hands out in front of him, imploring. “What does this mean for you and me?”
Sadness reached into my heart and crushed it. “I don’t know.” And I didn’t. How could I? I barely knew anything about the planet I’d become a part of. Although I knew I could learn whatever I needed to. The history of Polonias was within. It held me together, made me whatever I was. I didn’t know what else to say, so I said, “I love you, Leo.”
He crossed his arms. I sensed his immense hurt. His anger. Not at me, but at the situation. He was feeling sorry for himself, which was understandable. He’d been in limbo for years. Then he’d been freed, forced to flee, and now the woman he loved was a flower of some kind—a damn flower. Would we ever be able to have children? Were we too different? So many questions.
“I love you too. There’s got to be a way to remedy this.” He pounded a fist into his open hand. “I’m going to find out how. But first I’m going to take care of my father and brother.”
I reached out to him. His words filled me with sadness. The only way to fix it was to no longer be the Heart, and no longer being the Heart meant Polonias would die. It was clear I’d been selected from the beginning, which was why Mizrabel had hidden me. She hadn’t wanted this for me. I e
ven felt that she loved me in her way. Loved me at least enough to remove me from the planet I was born to, and from the destiny I was meant to bear. “Is what I am really that bad?” I asked, sounding weaker than I felt.
“Cinderella, you’re a…” his voice trailed off. I watched him try to get a handle on his emotions, but one look registered strongly. Revulsion. Horror. Disgust.
“I’m a what?” I asked, even though I knew what he was thinking. A plant, my mind bawled in answer, though I couldn’t say the words aloud. It was too painful to speak. If I tried, I’d cry and then I’d never stop.
And I was more than just a plant. I was the earth, the wind, the air, the very foundation this world was built upon. Even if there were someone else to take my place, a way to fix this as Leo said, would I want that? Would I force the solitary life I was meant to lead on another? I suddenly felt very sorry for Polly. What kind of isolated life had she led? She didn’t seem to have any friends. She knew of every person, every creature, and each creeping thing within the world, but she didn’t know them, nor did they know her.
“You’re different,” he said, trying to sound confident. It didn’t work.
“I understand, Leo.” I couldn’t say more. I wanted to. I wanted to beg him to love me anyway, to keep his heart entwined with mine, to adore me and only me forever. I wanted that more than anything, but it wasn’t my place. So I nodded. I accepted my fate and would try to live out my days, grateful that Polonias would live because I was here to keep it strong. I nodded my understanding. But I couldn’t expect Leo to stay bound to a plant. The very idea was ridiculous. If the roles were reversed I didn’t know what I’d do, but I wanted him to find love with a woman he could have a family with. So I did what I had to.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Leo Loyalor, King of Polonias, I release you from your vow.”
He gasped. “Why?” he asked, devastated.
The Cindy Chronicles: The Complete Set Page 17
