Cora's Kismet (The Twin Destinies Saga Book 1) Read online

  “I can’t compete with a guy it’s obvious she cares so much about. She was begging her parents to bring him here to be with her,” Liam spoke, his heartache filling his voice.

  “Where in the hell did you get that dumb idea from?” Sage asked, getting even more frustrated with his idiot brother.

  “I overheard her begging her parents to bring him to her. I was going to fight for her until I heard that,” Liam’s voice hardened when he remembered his overheard conversation.

  “Well, it’s now obvious you suck at eavesdropping, otherwise you would know the only reason she wanted him anywhere near her was to make sure the guy knew, without a doubt, he had no chance with her, and she wanted your sorry butt present for that discussion. Like I said, you threw a tantrum and ran. I can’t even begin tell you just how disgusted I am with you right now,” Sage said, throwing his hands up in the air.

  Liam stared at his brother, stunned at his revelation. ‘Could it be? Is that really why she wanted Charlie brought to see her? I am such an idiot!’

  Sage smirked as he watched the horror of his actions hit home with Liam.

  “Oh man, I messed up big huh?” Liam sighed out. “I need to fix this.”

  “Yeah, you do, so I’d start planning if I were you. You’re stuck here in the hospital for a week so whatever you need help with, let me know, and I’ll do it, but you’d better make this right with her or I’m gonna strap you down to a torture chair and teach you a lesson myself,” Sage told his brother and stood to leave. “I’m glad you’re ok, but I still never thought you were that stupid.”

  “Sage, thanks for helping save my butt,” Liam said.

  “Uh, I’m not the one to thank on that one either. Thank your mate. You called to her begging her to help you, and she put together one hell of a rescue mission in the blink of an eye. When we got there, I hear she was a force to be reckoned with and had Anna pinned against the wall with not only her unbound Solarian powers, but with her bound Lunarian powers as well. It took you begging her not to kill herself while trying to save you, to get her to back down from draining her own life in her attempt to kill Anna,” Sage said, before turning to leave the room just as the doctor entered.

  *****

  After showering and changing into her favorite pair of comfy, faded green yoga pants and a form-fitting tank top, Cora pulled her dark hair back into a pony tail and headed for the kitchen. She needed coffee, and it would be bad if anyone came between it and her at the moment.

  As she entered the kitchen, she was relieved to find it empty and an almost full pot of coffee sitting on the counter. She grabbed a cup and filled it with the nectar of life. Holding the cup up to her nose, she inhaled the aroma in deep through her nostrils.

  “What are you up to Sis?” Viola asked, as she entered and made a beeline for the coffeepot. “Ah, heaven exists.”

  “I’m getting ready to do a workout and then find Thomas and Angelica to reschedule our unbinding ceremony, so we can begin training. Anna is gonna pay for what she’s done and I’m going to be the one to make sure she does. Next time I meet her, she won’t get away because I am too weak to defeat her,” Cora declared, pissed off.

  “Wow Sis, not holding back punches anymore huh?” Viola said with her eyebrows raised.

  “Nope, Anna crossed the line. You and I both know she’s not finished. She will be back with something worse next time. We need to be on top of our game so we can win this war, and save the innocent people who don’t deserve the hell she’d rain down if she was left out there free,” Cora said with more vehemence than Viola had ever heard from her. Something had snapped in her, and she didn’t know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing, but she was going to put it to good use.

  “Yeah, I get that, but shouldn’t you be over at the hospital with Liam?” Viola asked, being very cautious.

  “Why? He’ll be fine, and he told me everything I needed to know when he left. He woke up, so I left.” Cora shrugged, even though she knew Viola could see through her act of nonchalance and right to the core of her pain. Sometimes she hated being such an open book to her sister.

  “Cora you don’t believe that, I know you don’t. Go talk to him. I’m sure all of it was a huge misunderstanding, and you can work things out between you.” Viola nudged her toward the back door of the house.

  “No. I have to concentrate on moving forward and training right now.” Cora maintained her stubborn stance.

  “Fine, I guess you leave me no choice,” Viola said and shrugged.

  “What are you talking about?” Cora asked, a bad feeling rolling around in her gut.

  “If you won’t go talk to Liam, and try to work things out, then I refuse to go through with the unbinding ceremony and there will be no training. End of story,” Viola said, and then strode out of the room confident in her decision, her coffee firm in hand.

  “That’s not fair Vi!” Cora shouted after her.

  “I don’t care,” Viola called back with a chuckle.

  Cora slammed her free hand down on the counter, full of anger and resentment toward her sister. Viola knew how to play her like a fiddle. She slammed her coffee cup down in frustration and cradled the hand she’d slammed against the counter up to her chest, since it was throbbing from the abuse she’d just inflicted upon it, and swore under her breath.

  “Problems?” Sage asked as he entered the kitchen and grabbed himself a cup of coffee, then started another pot when he noticed he’d taken the last of it.

  “You could say that,” Cora muttered, seething.

  “Want to talk about it?” Sage asked, sitting down at the island looking at her.

  “Just my annoying twin blackmailing me. Nothing new,” Cora bit out.

  “Blackmail?” Sage asked, raising his eyebrows.

  “Yeah, she thinks I need to go talk to Liam and work things out. I think he made his decision about us and there’s nothing left to be said,” Cora said.

  “Ok, I don’t get blackmail out of that, although I have to say, I agree with your sister,” Sage said, and scooted away from her to be safer.

  “You too? He left without giving me a chance to explain, I think that speaks for itself. She told me she would refuse to participate in the unbinding ceremony and training if I don’t go talk to him. That’s where the blackmail comes in,” Cora said, and started pacing back and forth, feeling as if her back was pressed against the wall. She needed to train to be ready to face Anna. Without her twin, that would never happen and Anna would win.

  “Things aren’t always black and white Cora, no matter how much we wish they were. Maybe you both need to let the other one explain what you were thinking and feeling. Then see where you both stand. Oh, and for the record, I’ve already read him the riot act for being so stupid,” Sage said, as if it was an everyday occurrence, hoping to breach the wall Cora was doing a pretty good job of building around herself rather fast.

  “The riot act? Why?” Cora asked him, intrigued.

  “Because, like I told you, he behaved like a spoiled child who got his feelings hurt, and I told him so,” Sage said with a smug smile.

  “I wish you wouldn’t have done that,” Cora groaned.

  “Why? Because you insist on taking all the blame instead of placing it where it belongs? No, he needed to hear it to realize just how big of a child he was being,” Sage insisted.

  “The blame is mine Sage. I just wish you would see that,” Cora said, feeling ganged up on.

  “No, the blame is not on you. It never was and never will be. You did nothing wrong at all.” Sage tried to comfort her and get her to see what everyone else already did.

  She shook her head, being very stubborn, picked her cup up from the counter and sipped it without saying another word to him. She just wished everyone would back off and let her handle things the way that she felt was right. She didn’t feel that forcing Liam to be with her, when he’d already chosen to walk away, was the right thing to do.

  “Have you seen Thomas
or Angelica this morning?” Cora asked, changing the subject and daring him to go back to the previous one.

  “Yeah, I had to debrief with them a little while ago. They’re in Thomas’ study, my guess, waiting on you to find out what you want to do next,” Sage said with a shrug, deciding to let her have her way. He knew how wrong she was, and he knew his brother well enough to know he’d find a way to make things right with her very soon.

  “Thanks,” she said, and topped off her coffee before heading out of the kitchen towards Thomas’ study to put her plans into motion, with or without Viola.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Cora knocked on Thomas’ study door and waited with her typical impatience for him to open it. It felt like hours, but was, in actuality, only half a minute or so.

  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 lo
oked 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.