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All of it

Even her eyes

Not fake

She liked me!

They all did

Hurrah!

I smiled at all of the the cake as I went thinking joyous thoughts thatto be really happy in this fairytale world

About ten seconds later, however, I was cursing how far away our rooms were (because, seriously, it was a trek) when I made it there only to find the candles lit all around the room but there was no Tor to be found

I checked all the roo rooet the picture), he wasn’t anywhere

Shit!

Was I supposed to go somewhere else?

I stood by the bed and tried to think of where I o and it hit me that the balcony off his study faced the city proper, not the sea like the one off our roo the cake carefully, I lifted my skirts in one hand and ran to his study as fast as I could without dropping the cake

When I got there, the double doors were mostly closed, one open an inch I turned and put ht the candles later, soreveal, I didn’t have the tiernon’s voice

“I apologize for calling you out at this hour but with her performance today…” he paused, “Well, as you know, theShe’s not herself So not herself, it’s strange”

And Tor’s answer made my entire body lock

“She says she’s from a different world”

Uh…

What?

I said I was froht he’d coernon’s sharp bark of surprised laughter before he asked, “A different world?”

“Yes A different world,” Tor replied “Gods, it’s unbelievable She lives it and breathes it She’s even created words to go with it She tells me extraordinary stories of the ets they have in her world” He paused and ust at the sahts over dinner or ere in bed when I’d tell his in it when he went on, “Ihow clever she is, how sharp her ets a word of it She has to bebut every lie she tells, she reain”

Every lie I tell?

“How bizarre,” Algernon muttered

“It’s remarkable,” Tor said hat, if I wasn’t about toheartbreak, I would have noted was clear respect

“So she’s playing you?

“Indeed,” Tor answered “I gave her permission to do so and clearly she took me up on the offer”

I stepped away froainst the wall beside it sohi hiht I was playing hiernon sounded shocked

“Certainly It’s living a lie but living Cora’s lie is better by far than living with the old Cora”

“It doesn’t ernon asked

“Gods no,” Tor replied “It co ue and the possibility that she’s already carrying my heir”