Fantasyland 03 Fantastical by Kristen Ashley Read Free Book Online Page A

gross
because I liked bunnies.
    “No,” I said cautiously as he crossed his
arms on his chest.
    “You don’t want rabbit, love, then you earn
something you want.”
    This definitely didn’t sound good.
    “Perhaps you’ll explain,” I suggested
though, truth be told, I didn’t want him to explain.
    He did as I suggested. “A kiss for a
meal.”
    Uh-oh.
    “I –”
    “You want anything else, like clothes,
you’ll need to get creative.”
    Uh-oh!
    “Noctorno –”
    He leaned forward slightly but ominously.
“I’m certain you can be creative, can’t you, Cora?”
    “I’ve decided I like eating bunny and my
nightgown is perfectly fine, thank you,” I snapped, wrapping my
arms around my belly protectively.
    “You’ll need a bath. You like to bathe, I
reckon.”
    Oh shit.
    I did, indeed, like to bathe. Actually, I
was hoping I wasn’t already ripe.
    “Noc –”
    “You’ve earned breakfast with what you gave
me on the hides. It was so good, love, you earned a trip to the
river too. Anything else you want, you work for.”
    I unwrapped my arms from my belly and
planted my hands on my hips, leaning forward slightly myself.
    “How much more of a jerk can you be?” I
asked.
    “Why don’t you see?” he returned.
    “Ugh!” I grunted, my arms shooting straight
down, my hands in fists, my head going back so I could stare in
disgust at the ceiling. Then my chin tipped down sharply and I
glared at him. “I hate you!” I yelled.
    “You already told me that.”
    “Well, I hate you more than I hated you
before.”
    “I don’t really care.”
    “And I hated you a lot before,” I informed
him.
    “I repeat, I don’t really care.”
    “Well, you’ve made that clear,” I
snapped.
    His head tilted to the side and he
grinned.
    “Is there something you need to do?” he
asked.
    “Plot your murder?” I replied.
    His grin turned to a smile and it sucked
that it was hot.
    “Other than that.”
    Yes, there was something I needed to do and
that something was go to the bathroom. Then bathe (in the river,
for God’s sake, yikes!). Then eat.
    And I needed him for all those things, I was
guessing. I mean, I could do the first and second myself but he had
to protect me from vickrants or whatever else was out there while I
did it.
    I glared at him. He held my glare
calmly.
    Then I tore my eyes from his and asked
myself out loud, “Why did I kiss this jerk? Why? Damn my pride!
Damn it to hell! ”
    “I take it that means you agree to the terms
of our continuing relationship,” he remarked and my gaze cut back
to him.
    “Jerk!”
    His eyebrows went up. “Are you saying you
don’t?”
    “Go to hell!”
    He shrugged and then moved to his shirt.
“You could, of course, go forth on your own. The vickrants will be
hunting you or The Shrew may send toilroys.” He shook his head and
I didn’t like the idea of toilroys. Vickrants were bad enough.
Furthermore, I didn’t know who The Shrew was but any shrew, I knew,
was bad news.
    Damn.
    He pulled his shirt on as I clipped out,
“Fine.”
    He turned only his head to me.
    “Fine?”
    “ Fine! ” I snapped.
    He grinned.
    I glared.
    He grabbed his boots and tugged them on.
    When he straightened, he extended his arm to
the hide-covered opening.
    “Fancy a bath?”
    I growled under my breath and stomped to the
hides.
    From behind me I heard a manly chuckle.
    Seriously, I freaking hated this
world!
     
     

Chapter Six
    Written in the Sky
     
    I had a plan.
    It probably wasn’t going to work but at
least I had a plan.
    See, Noctorno took me outside into the
overcast day. He also took me somewhere secluded and gave me
privacy while I attended to nature’s call while I was in nature –
not my favorite thing in this world or my own, in fact, I never did
it in my own but once and that was bad enough so I never did it
again. But it was the call of nature and nature was my only choice
so I answered the call.
    Then he took me back to the cave, lifted me
onto his horse,