Read Cora's Kismet (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 1) Online
Authors: Cheryl Davis
Thomas smiled when he saw her standing there and moved back
to let her enter.
“Good morning Cora, how are you holding up?” he asked her
with compassion written on his face. Cora’s eyebrows almost shot off of her
forehead. ‘
Since when is he so caring?’
She thought to herself.
“I’m fine. I wanted to talk to you about the unbinding
ceremony, since we missed the opportunity last night. Also, I’d like to set up
a training schedule to get started on,” Cora said, cutting straight to the
point.
She saw Thomas and Angelica exchange a concerned look
between them before Thomas responded.
“We can perform the ceremony tonight, but only if both you
and your sister are present. Viola has already stopped by here and informed us
of the ultimatum she has issued to you and there was nothing either of us could
say or do to convince her to do the unbinding ceremony regardless,” Thomas
said, sounding rather respectful of Viola’s decision, which grated on Cora’s
nerves.
“It sounds like you are agreeing with her,” Cora said,
becoming defensive.
“We think the two of you need to talk through this. Avoiding
Liam, as you are doing right now, is not going to help anyone now, or in the
future. You are mates, it will only create more problems if you try to stay
away from each other,” Angelica said, trying to make her daughter understand.
“Why won’t everyone just back off and let us handle this
however we feel we need to?” Cora asked, her voice elevated in frustration.
“Because you’re being stubborn and unreasonable right now,
and it’s only going to hurt us all. The sooner you face this young lady, the
sooner we can move forward,” Thomas replied in a very stern voice. “I love that
boy as if he was my own son and seeing both of you hurting is killing us.”
Cora could see how hard it was for Thomas to make that
admission to her, but she still couldn’t back down from the plan she’d already
laid out. She knew if she talked to Liam, she might back down and that wasn’t
something she could afford to do.
“I can’t, why doesn’t anyone understand that?” Cora asked,
and flopped down onto the couch she’d sat on just yesterday, comfortable in
Liam’s arms. The memory making her feel even more alone than she’d already
felt.
“Why can’t you Sweetheart?” Angelica asked, sitting down
next to her.
“Because… Just because,” Cora said and threw her hands up.
“Because why? There’s something holding you back, what is
it? Maybe we could help.” Angelica continued trying. She hated watching Cora
close herself off to the people around her.
“I can’t face him after everything that has happened. I know
he thinks I am a horrible person, who lied to him and cheated on my boyfriend.
What can I say to that? He’s not far off from the truth,” Cora spoke, her voice
trembling.
“He’s so far off from the truth it’s not funny, but he’s not
going to learn the truth if you don’t talk to him either. Staying away from him
is killing you inside, I know it is. Just go to him. If you go to him, and he
doesn’t want to talk to you, then we will go ahead and schedule the unbinding
ceremony for tonight as you have requested,” Angelica urged Cora.
“What about Viola?” Cora asked, her curiosity peaked.
“Viola already agreed that if you tried, and he refused,
then she will participate of her own free will,” Thomas spoke up from behind
Angelica.
It seemed that everyone had teamed up against her and her
shoulders slumped. “I guess I don’t have much of a choice in this do I?”
“It’s not so bad Honey. All we want is for you to be happy,”
Angelica cooed at Cora, drawing a dirty look from her.
“Whatever,” She said, feeling indignant.
“Would you like me to walk over with you?” Angelica offered,
blowing off her daughter’s mood.
“Nope, not at all,” Cora said, standing and almost stomping
over to the door like a child.
“Ok. I understand,” her mother said, sounding dejected. Cora
could tell Angelica was hoping she would say yes, but as ganged up on as she
felt at the moment there was no way she could back down to make her mother feel
better. Instead, she continued out of the study and closed the door behind her
with a soft click, instead of the loud jarring bang she felt like doing.
She took a deep breath and headed into the kitchen to drop
off her mug of, now cold, coffee. She dumped the coffee down the drain, washed
the cup, dried it and put it back up into the cupboard, ignoring the fact that
Sage was still sitting at the island watching her.
“So what’s the game plan Little Sis?” Sage asked, leaning
forward on his elbows.
“Game plan? When did I become your ‘Little Sis’?” Cora
turned around and snapped at him.
“Well, when you and Liam discovered you were mates I
welcomed you to the family didn’t I? That makes you my little sister in my
book. As for the game plan, are you preparing for an unbinding ceremony or
going to visit my brother?” Sage said, lifting his eyebrows, waiting for her
response.
“I guess I am going to visit Liam at the moment, since
everyone has taken it upon themselves to turn against me,” Cora huffed and
headed toward the back door. She looked over her shoulder when Sage stood up to
follow her. “What?”
“Just thought I’d walk with you is all,” Sage said, feigning
innocence, which Cora didn’t buy for a moment.
“More like babysit me to make sure I go to see Liam and not
walk the grounds and pretend like I went to see him. Wow, everyone thinks so
highly of me around here, I’m honored!” Cora yelled, throwing the back door
open wide and marching all the way down to the hospital with Sage keeping a
safe distance behind her.
When she reached the hospital, she stormed through the door,
but caught herself before barging into Liam’s room in her current state. It
wasn’t his fault everyone had turned against her, and he didn’t deserve for her
to take it out on him.
Instead of heading straight to his room, she veered off
towards the bathroom. Once inside she splashed cold water on her face and dried
it off. She looked up into the mirror and almost didn’t recognize her own
reflection.
Her eyes were bloodshot from emotion and lack of sleep. Her
skin was pale and without color, almost like a ghost. Her cheeks were also
sunken in, and she didn’t know the reason for that particular ailment. She
gripped the sink until her knuckles turned white and closed her eyes. Then she
began using the breathing techniques she’d learned over the years to calm
herself whenever life was overwhelming her, as it was definitely doing right
now.
Once she felt like she’d calmed her inner self enough to
talk to Liam, she opened her eyes and released her grip on the sink. Standing
straight, she walked over and through the door heading straight for either
heaven or heartbreak.
When she reached Liam’s door, she paused and took a deep
breath to steady herself. She was stunned to realize she was terrified to walk
through that door and face him.
“The sooner you face him and get it over with, the better
off both of you will be,” Sage said from a bench a few feet away.
Her head shot up in his direction and nodded in a jerky
motion before turning the knob and inching the door open with dread filling
her. Her heart jumped in her chest, as if it hadn’t beaten in forever, when Liam’s
eyes looked up and met hers. It felt like an electric current was running
straight through her, lighting every nerve ending in her body up like Christmas
lights.
“Uh, hey, can I come in?” she asked, hoping he didn’t say
no.
“Of course, I was starting to think you were avoiding me.”
Liam looked up at her and she could see the pure honesty, and hurt, in his eyes
as he said the words that were truer than she cared to admit to him.
“I can’t tell you you’re wrong there,” she admitted with
difficulty.
“Please come over here and sit with me. If you hadn’t come,
I would have come to you. I have so much to say, and I don’t have the slightest
clue where to start,” Liam said, reaching for her hand. He was sitting with the
hospital bed propping him up. She took a hesitant step forward and then another
one, pushing herself forward until she was next to the bed. She sat down in the
chair right next to him, where she’d sat waiting for him to wake up the night
before.
“You can’t leave yet, you’ll hurt yourself again. The doctor
wants to keep you here for a week for you to heal,” Cora said in a concerned
voice. He reached out his hand for hers but when she didn’t take it, he dropped
it down on the bed.
“Cora, I am so sorry,” Liam said, looking up into her eyes.
“For what?” Cora asked, shocked.
“I am so sorry for being a complete jerk. I should have
listened to you instead of running out the way I did,” Liam said, and she could
tell his apology was heartfelt. “Sage is right, I behaved like a spoiled
child.”
“You did nothing wrong Liam. I’m the one who messed
everything up. I should have told you about Charlie from the beginning, although
I’d already forgotten about him,” Cora said with regret filling her voice.
“I know Sweetheart. That’s why I should have listened to
you. I was so hurt when you pulled away from me like you did, and it made it
seem like you had true feelings for him. I just reacted. I know that’s no
excuse, but the thought of losing you broke something inside of me and I just
assumed the worst.” Liam tried to explain his actions, but Cora still didn’t
believe he’d done anything wrong to be apologizing for.
“I went to find you, but you were already gone and I
couldn’t blame you for that. Here I’d lied to you. For all you knew I had this
boyfriend I was in love with and was cheating on with you. I thought I’d lost
you, and that was the worst feeling I’ve ever had in my entire life Liam. I
swear nothing has ever made me feel so hopeless and lost,” Cora admitted and
dropped her eyes to his hand resting on the bed.
“I just need to know why you begged your parents to bring
Charlie to you,” Liam asked, with a pleading note in his voice. The sheer pain
in his voice forced her eyes up to his.
“Only to tell him there was nothing between him and me, and
there never would be. When I went to find you, I wanted to tell you what Viola
and I had planned, and ask you to be there with me when I did it,” Cora said,
her eyes searching his.
“So it wasn’t because you had feelings for him and wanted
him here close to you?” Liam asked embarrassed.
“Not even close. If I was being honest with myself, I don’t
think I’ve ever had feelings for Charlie. He was just someone who got under
Patrick’s skin whenever I went out with him, so I continued to do so out of
spite. Charlie irritates the crap out of me,” Cora said finishing with a smile.
“How did you know we asked Thomas and Angelica to set up a secure meeting with
him?” Her smile fading as she asked the question.
“Well, I went out to the lake, where we’d had our picnic, to
try to clear my mind. Lying there holding one of the many roses that were left
on the ground, I realized you were my world, and I couldn’t live without you,
so I’d fight to keep you. I came rushing back up to the house and heard you
talking to your parents in the kitchen and thought that, since you wanted him
here, you couldn’t possibly want me, so I left to give you what I thought you
wanted. Believe me, it ripped my heart out to do it,” Liam said lifting his
hand, hoping this time she would take it in hers. His face lit up like the sun
when she reached out and grabbed his hand in hers.
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t assume anything,” Cora said being
smart, and then smiled at him with a radiance that made Liam’s heart swell.
“That’s what Sage said when he ripped me a new one right
after you left. He was right. All of this could have been avoided if I would
have listened. I am so sorry Cora, can you forgive me?” Liam said and squeezed
her hand tight, afraid to ever let go. “Please say you can forgive me.”
Cora looked deep into his eyes and smiled bright. “For what?
There’s nothing to forgive Liam, you did nothing wrong. Can you forgive me at
all?”
“For what Cora? You did nothing wrong either. There’s
nothing for me to forgive you for,” Liam smiled with his response and saw how
relieved she looked. He never once thought she’d been blaming herself for
everything that happened. He felt even more stupid once he realized that, but
didn’t let go of her hand.
Liam looked deep into her eyes, and found himself getting
lost. She was the most amazing woman he’d ever met in his life. She didn’t
blame him for anything that had happened, and was taking the blame upon on her
own shoulders, where none should be at all.
“I love you so much Cora. I am so thankful you are my mate,”
Liam spoke from the heart, knowing anything less wouldn’t be worthy of her.
“Ok, you must have bumped your head somewhere along the way.
Liam, you don’t know me well enough to love me,” Cora said trying to escape the
moment.
“I know all I need to know. You are amazing, smart,
beautiful, funny, loving, loyal, humble and strong. You have a stubborn streak
that reaches for miles, just like I do. The rest is just details, and we have
plenty of time to learn those about each other,” Liam said, pouring everything
he felt in his heart, into his words.
“Liam, I have to be honest with you. I’m scared,” Cora
whispered. “All of this has happened so fast.”
“Yes I know that already. I wasn’t going to tell you for a
while, because I know how hard your life has been, and was afraid I would scare
you away from me, from us. After everything that’s happened in the last day, I
can’t hold it back from you any longer. We did almost lose each other. Even
though you are scared, we can work past that, but I will not hold my feelings
back from you ever again.” Liam pulled her closer and she had to move from the
chair to sitting on the bed next to him, leaning over him. “I was so afraid I’d
lost you forever.”
“I was afraid I’d lost you forever, too. When you started
calling to me through our connection, I could hear the pain and suffering in
your voice. All I could think about was getting to you and saving you from
Anna, because she’s the only one I could think of who could cause that much
agony for the sheer pleasure of it. I wouldn’t let Thomas, Sage and Angelica
keep me here while they ran the rescue mission because I had to see with my own
eyes that you were alright. I blamed myself, only myself for your pain, for
your torture, because it is my fault. After we got you back here and the
doctors were working on you, Sage kept trying to tell me, over and over again,
that it wasn’t my fault, but I couldn’t believe that. I still don’t. Standing
there talking to Sage made me realize something though,” Cora paused and took a
deep breath.
“What did you realize?” Liam asked holding his breath. He so
badly wanted to hear her say the words he was hoping for.
“I realized that I love you, and it scares me more than you
can ever imagine,” Cora said.
“I will never do anything that will hurt you or abuse your
love for me. I am so sorry I was such a bull-headed ass, who assumed he knew
what was going on when he had no clue. I can’t promise I will never make that
mistake again, but I will promise to try. You are my world, my life, my soul,
and without you I would be nothing,” Liam said and watched tears pool in Cora’s
beautiful eyes, highlighting the flecks of chocolate brown that only made an
appearance when she was emotional.
She didn’t get a chance to react though, because there was a
knock on the door and it opened without waiting for an invitation. In strolled
Sage, Thomas, Angelica and Viola, all wearing the biggest grins they could
muster.
“Should I say I told you so now or later?” Viola asked in
her normal cocky manner, smirking at her sister.
“Give it a rest Viola. Gloating isn’t becoming,” Sage told
her, although he had the same twinkle in his eye.
Cora looked back and forth between Sage and Viola but didn’t
say anything. Liam tugged on her arm pulling her off balance so she toppled
over, landing with a perfect fit in the crook of his arm. He wrapped his arm
around her before she could sit back up, away from him, and grinned. The crowd
that had joined them cheered and clapped with joy. What surprised her most was
Thomas’ open reaction. She smiled to see her father coming out of his shell
enough to share this moment with them, touching her heart in a way that made
the moment even more special.
“Are you done being an idiot Little Brother, so you can be
the mate Cora deserves?” Sage asked, as he sauntered over and plopped down into
the chair Cora had been sitting in before.
“Yeah, I think I’ve learned my lesson in assuming I know
what’s going on.” Liam sighed, knowing his brother wasn’t going to let this one
go anytime soon.
“Good, because we have an unbinding ceremony to plan for
tonight,” Thomas said, breaking the jovial mood. “We’ve already lost one day,
we can’t afford to lose anymore.”
Cora and Viola both nodded, ready to take on their new task
of learning how to use the powers they just learned they had a few days before,
and face the prophecy they were destined to fulfill.
Viola walked over and sat down on the foot of the bed
smiling from ear to ear. “When are you ever going to learn not to doubt me Sis?”
“Oh shut up Vi,” Cora said, with her eyes twinkling and a
huge smile on her face.
“So, are we planning a mating ceremony as well?” Sage asked,
already knowing. It almost seemed to Cora as if Sage had been doing a little
bit of eavesdropping himself.
Cora wasn’t sure what the mating ceremony entailed, but she
knew she wanted Liam by her side for the rest of their lives. She looked up at
him hoping he felt the same way.
“I don’t know, everyone kind of interrupted our private
conversation. Wanna leave so we can finish it?” Liam asked, with a sarcastic
smirk on his face.
“Aw come on, it’s not as if we don’t already know the
answer,” Viola huffed out.
“I would like the chance to at least ask her, if that’s
alright with you,” Liam snapped at her, getting irritated at the continued
intrusion.
“Well excuse me,” Viola snapped back with a grin. “By the
way, don’t forget Charlie’s at the main house, and he’s getting more than pissy
about it. You might want to handle that, so he can get the hell out, before I
have to do something about him.”
“Oh crap, I forgot all about him, again!” Cora said and
slapped her head. Liam, Viola and Sage all burst into laughter.
“It must be my irresistible charm that keeps making you
forget about him,” Liam said with his chest puffed up. She could tell by the
look he was trying to hide that it hurt him, so she threw him a grin she knew
would make him happy and help him to relax.
“Oh yeah, that must be it lover boy,” Sage said and rolled
his eyes in disgust at his brother’s antics. “Thanks Cora for mating with him
and taking him off my hands. He’s your problem now.”
With that Viola and Sage got up and left the room. Cora let
out the laugh she’d been holding in while they were exiting.
“What’s so funny?” Liam asked with a frown on his face.
“The fact that I forgot about Charlie, a second time,
because all I could think about was you. He’s gonna love hearing that. That
ought to make him not want me anymore,” Cora said and continued laughing.
“Yeah, I think that would hurt my ego enough to leave a girl
alone. Either that or it would make me chase her harder so she’d notice me,”
Liam said, growing disgruntled at the thought of Charlie chasing after his
mate.
“Oh, got big plans for chasing girls do you?” Cora asked,
leaning up to look him square in the eyes.
“Yes ma’am. Just as soon as I get out of this hospital bed
I’m going to…” that was as far as he got before Cora locked her mouth onto his,
making him forget everything he was about to say to tease her. When she pulled
back, he looked deep into her eyes.
“You were saying?” she asked with a grin.
“Uh, I can’t remember. Maybe if you do that again it’ll jog
my memory,” Liam said and wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“Nope, I believe there was something you wanted to ask me in
private, or did I just imagine that?” she said trying to push her way off the
bed, but Liam grabbed her and pulled her back down close to his body, causing
him to wince a little bit.
“Don’t you go anywhere just yet. I thought I’d lost you. Now
that I know that I haven’t, all I can think about is holding you close,” he
said, closing his eyes and resting his head back against the pillows for a
minute.
“It’s getting a little uncomfortable holding my head this
way,” Cora said, trying to adjust without hurting him.
“Here,” he said and pulled her head down onto a spot of his
shoulder that wasn’t sore. She nestled close and closed her eyes.
They rested in silence, wrapped in each other’s arms for
about an hour before Liam lifted his head to look at her. She looked so
peaceful that he thought she was sleeping. He watched her for a few minutes and
then her eyes opened.
“Are you just going to keep staring at me?” she asked with a
smile.
“Am I bothering you?” he asked, smiling back.
“It’s a little weird,” Cora said and gave him a gentle
nudge.
“Nah, you just looked so peaceful, and beautiful, I couldn’t
speak and didn’t want to disturb you,” Liam said bringing a giggle to her lips.
She’d never thought she was beautiful and hearing it from him made her feel
almost giddy.
He used the arm wrapped around her to nudge her chin upwards
and leaned down just enough to capture her lips with his for a slow drawn out
kiss that had her insides quivering in response. He lingered there, kissing her
like that for a couple of minutes, before pulling away and caressing her face
with his eyes.
“Cora?” he asked in a whisper.
“Yes?” she whispered back.
“Will you be my mate, my one and only, for the rest of our
lives?” he whispered, feeling her love wash over him as he said the words she’d
been longing to hear long before she’d ever met him.
“Nothing would make me happier,” she whispered back, and
kissed him again, reaching up to hold his head to hers.