Cora's Kismet (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 1) (13 page)

Cora couldn’t contain her gasp of pure joy when Liam peeled
away the blindfold. The scene before her was beyond amazing. They were by a
small lake with trees dotting the horizon in both directions, and sitting a
little closer to the shore was a gigantic blanket spread out with a picnic
basket sitting on it and there were roses in all colors, littering the ground
around them. She let her eyes wander and take in their surroundings, from the
pristine lake to the colorful butterflies fluttering around, before she turned
and smiled up at Liam.

“It’s absolutely beautiful!” she gasped out in awe.

“I thought you’d love it. This is where I’ve wanted to bring
you since the first time I looked into your eyes,” Liam murmured, and brushed
his finger along her cheek.

“So I take it you come to my parents’ house often?” Cora
asked, as she turned her head away and gazed at the ripples on the surface of
the beautiful lake.

“I work very close with Thomas, so yes, I am here quite
often. Does that bother you?” he asked, a bit worried.

“No, just trying to figure everything out I guess,” Cora
said, as she took a small step forward.

“Please don’t pull away from me,” Liam said, and put his
hand on her elbow, turning her to face him.

“Can you say, with complete honesty, that you don’t feel
different about me after everything that you heard this morning?” Cora asked,
her voice rough with emotion.

“Yes, I can say that with all honesty. Now, I can tell you I
feel a lot different about the two who were supposed to be taking care of you
and hurt you in such a vicious way just for their enjoyment. They will pay, I
promise you that.” He placed his finger under her chin and nudged her face up
so her hazel eyes met his blue ones. “I still think you are the most amazing
and wonderful woman in the entire world. You are strong, loving, loyal and passionate.
You protect those you love and I am honored to be your mate. I hope you will
never doubt that again,” he said, with such feeling Cora could not doubt his
sincerity.

Cora felt her breath catch in her throat listening to the
heartfelt words Liam spoke to her. She felt herself drowning in the warm pools
of his eyes. Her lips trembled as he leaned his face towards hers to brush his
lips across hers before grabbing her hand and leading her over to the blanket.
She didn’t respond to his words because she was too caught up in the moment to
know what she should say. No one had ever spoken to her with such love and
respect before, or touched her like she was cherished and loved. This was all
foreign territory and she didn’t want to ruin it.

As they settled down on the blanket, Liam began pulling out
an array of foods and spread them around them. There were sandwiches of
different kinds, pretty much anything she could think of, fresh fruits, salads,
and, of course, desserts.

“Is this all for us?” Cora asked in amazement.

“Eat as much as you’d like, of whatever you like. Anything
left over will be donated to those who need it so it won’t go to waste,” Liam
said, and held a ripe red cherry up to her lips for her to taste. She took the
cherry and savored its sweet juices.

“No one has ever done anything like this for me. This is
truly amazing. I love it,” she said, and picked up a raspberry and slid it onto
her tongue.

“This is how you should have always been treated Cora. This
is how you will be treated for the rest of your life if I have anything to say
about it,” he told her and winked, as he reached for a ham sandwich and
unwrapped it. He offered it to her, but she refused it, reaching for a turkey
sandwich instead.

They ate in silence for a while, Cora enjoying the fresh
fruits most of all, because that was something Anna never provided for them
while they were growing up. They were lucky when they got fruit cups in the
school cafeteria with their lunches. Liam fed her bites of different exotic
fruits she’d never tried before, and she felt like she was almost in heaven.

When they were both done eating, they put all of the excess
food away and leaned back, gazing at the lake and surrounding nature. Every now
and then, Cora would point to a bird she thought was amazing or Liam would
point out a dragonfly or butterfly to her. They chatted with mindless abandon
about different things they liked and didn’t like. Cora found herself laughing
easier and relaxing in a way she could never remember doing before meeting Liam.

Liam looked over at her more often than at the scenery
surrounding them. He loved seeing this soft and innocent side of Cora. The more
he was with her, the more he wondered how anyone could be that cruel and
violent towards her. She was such an innocent, gentle and kind soul.

He knew he was falling in love with her more and more by the
minute, but he didn’t want to scare her away by professing his love too soon.
The complete depravity she’d been subjected to her whole life gave her no
experience to draw on when it came to love for her. He’d settle for moments
like this until the time was right, especially since she’d already accepted him
as her mate.

They sat there like that for a couple of hours, talking,
laughing and getting to know each other better. It was all Liam had hoped for.
He wanted to know more of the details of what they’d done to her, but he was
sure now was not the time for that discussion.

With a gentle hand, he reached over and laced his fingers
with hers and loved the spark that ran up his arm from their connection. She
jumped a little bit but didn’t pull away from the contact, and that pleased him
more than he could ever put into words.

Out of the
corner of his eye he noticed one of the guards motioning to get his attention,
letting him know it was time to head back to the house. He sighed because he
never wanted this moment to end. He nodded to the guard, dismissing him, as he
brought Cora’s fingers up to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.
She looked over at him with a smile that melted his heart.

“I think it’s
time for us to head back. There are a lot of things I’m sure your parents want
to tell you, before performing the unbinding ceremony tonight, that will help
prepare you and Viola,” he said, with sadness and regret filling his voice.

“I wish we could just stay here. My life has changed so much
in the last few days my head is spinning. I’m not sure I can take too many more
changes.” Cora sighed and stood looking at Liam. She felt her heart reaching
for him, but she wasn’t ready to put such faith into someone while her internal
wounds were reopened and raw like they were right now.

“Meeting you has changed my life in so many ways. I will be
here for you through everything if you’ll have me. I wouldn’t go back to my
life before you for anything in the world,” Liam said, with honesty pouring
from his voice.

“Thanks Liam,
that means a lot. I’m going to need time though. I feel almost like my twin
just betrayed me in the worst possible way, only she really didn’t, because she
has every right to feel the way she does. I guess I’m just so thankful to be
out of that place, that I don’t have it in me to be angry or bitter about the
past. It still hurts, but I’m sure that will pass with time,” Cora told him,
being blunt in the way she always wished she could be. Liam was a bit surprised
she’d even mentioned this morning at all.

“Anytime you need to talk, I’m here. Don’t ever forget
that,” Liam said, with a smile.

Cora smiled back as they gathered the blanket and picnic
basket and headed back to the house, surrounded once again, by guards.

As they walked, Cora remembered something she’d been meaning
to ask him.

“Have you found anything out about your team?” she asked,
worry filling her tone.

“Nothing. It’s like they vanished into thin air. The only
thing I can think of is they flipped to the other side and used that as an
extraction but that doesn’t even make sense.” Liam’s tone turned solemn as he
answered her question.

“Oh I hope it’s nothing like that.” Cora said, her brow
crinkling up in thought.

“We’ll keep looking. Don’t worry about that.” Liam tried his
best to reassure her.

When they reached the house a few minutes later, there was
tension flowing from everyone. Cora couldn’t understand the dramatic change in
everyone.

“What’s going on?” Cora whispered to Liam as they entered.

“I don’t know. Let’s see if we can find your parents to find
out,” he whispered back, taking her hand and leading her down the main hall.

They made it
to Thomas’ study and heard a rather loud discussion. Liam went to enter the
room, but Cora pulled him back. She knew this was a prime opportunity to learn
something about what was going on, and it wouldn’t present itself again. Liam
turned a questioning look in her direction but Cora just shook her head at him,
warning him to stay quiet.

“They are not going to be ready unless we tell them
everything,” Angelica pleaded.

“They have to be ready,” Thomas replied being stubborn. “Our
whole future depends on them.”

“I understand that, but it’s not fair to them to be thrown
into this war blind, with no idea what they’re facing. We need to explain
everything to them and let them make the choice,” she responded with the
fierceness of a mother protecting her young. Cora could tell the conversation
was about her and Viola and it seemed Angelica was on their side, whereas
Thomas wanted to keep secrets. The idea of secrets bothered her.

“We cannot tell them everything. You know that. If we do,
they will walk away and we will all die. Is that what you want?” Thomas
demanded.

“If they find out we didn’t tell them everything, they will
walk away anyway. The truth is better,” Angelica told him, willing him to
understand and make the right decision.

“Do you really
think if we tell two young girls everything, they will choose to do what is
right? Tell two girls, who have nothing invested in our culture, that if they
don’t make this sacrifice, our entire race is doomed forever?” Thomas asked
her.

“After everything they’ve been through, I think they will
understand and make the right choice, but you need to give them that chance or
everything will backfire on us and innocents will die.”

“Do you think they can handle it Angie? I want to believe
they can, but I just don’t know.” Thomas’ voice softened.

“They’re our daughters. They’ve been put through a thousand
hells just to get to where they are now, against everything we tried to make
happen for them. It destroys me inside to know they were tormented and abused
growing up. I think what they’ve been through will help them to understand just
how serious the situation is and they will make the right decision in the end.
That decision has to be made based off of the truth, however. I will not stand
by while you hide things from them.” Angelica’s voice choked up as if she was
trying not to cry.

“The prophecy occurs on their next birthday. Do you think we
can prepare them by then?” Thomas asked, his voice quiet, almost fearful.

“Yes. I think they are strong and can handle anything. Look
at what Cora did to Patrick and she’s bound. I do, however, want to know more
about what Viola meant when she said Patrick
tried
to pimp them out.
Tried infers he was not successful. How would two young girls prevent something
like that?” curiosity filled Angelica’s voice as she voiced this thought.

“Do you think they’ve been accessing their powers, without
realizing it, for years?” Thomas asked her, sounding thoughtful.

“I think it’s a very distinct possibility,” Angelica said
with caution. “If so, they are even more powerful than we’ve ever imagined.
What do you think this means?”

“I think it means we have to be very careful around them. We
have to teach them to control their powers,” Thomas replied, almost as soon as
Angelica had finished asking.

“We’re performing the unbinding ceremony tonight so their
training will begin first thing in the morning. Do you think Liam should be in
charge of training Cora since he’s her mate?”

“No. I want someone else training her,” Thomas snapped.
Liam’s eyes widened in shock at Thomas’ sharp response.

“Why?” Angelica asked, surprised.

“I don’t want
emotions getting in the way of her training. She has to be ready, if he trains
her, there will be too many distractions between them.”

“That makes sense. Who should we place in charge of her
training then?” Angelica said.

“I will think on that. I also think Viola should train
separately from Cora,” Thomas said, his voice tight, ready for argument.

“No. I think it will be more effective if they train
together. They will be less resistant to the training that way,” Angelica
insisted, and Thomas backed down realizing his wife was right.

“I think you’re right. They are very stubborn girls,” Thomas
sounded disgruntled.

“Just like their parents,” Angelica said, and Cora could
hear the smile of pride in her voice. “Do you think we should ask them more
about their past?” Cora stiffened against the wall at that question and Liam
squeezed her hand in reassurance.

“I think we’ll have to, at some point. We need to know more,
they will be resistant to tell us however,” Thomas responded, regret filling his
words.

“It’s painful for them to remember, we can both understand
that. I feel for their pain, deep in my heart. We should have never given them
up. We should have protected them here,” Angelica sobbed out.

“We couldn’t keep them here with us, you know that. They
were not safe here,” Thomas insisted.

“Then we
should have taken them and left,” Angelica said with conviction. Cora warmed to
her mother more and more the longer she listened to the conversation.