Mirror of Dreams - Chapter 19

19

I found a flaw in my plan. As I sorted through my belongings, packing up what I wanted to bring with me, I realized that it was unlikely that I would be in my home world for only two days. If I took a flight with my husband tomorrow and had Ian drive with my mirror, it might actually be almost a whole week before I returned to my palace.

To my relief, Andrew called to tell me that he pushed our flight back until Tuesday night – technically the wee hours of Wednesday morning – because he had way too much stuff to pack as well. We wasted a massive amount of time simply talking on the phone, telling each other jokes and making plans for our future.

As we talked, I continued to sort through everything I owned. Strangely, after wearing Lady Leeza fashions in the palace for so long, most of what I owned in the real world just didn't suit me any longer. By the time I was done, I had a large pile of things to donate to charity. I had a decent sized pile of things to store here – childhood mementos I wasn't ready to get rid of but also didn't want to bring with me – and a shockingly small pile of things to bring with me.

“I think I'm just going to bring what will fit in a carry on bag and send the rest with Ian,” I suggested aloud to myself.

“What's this about Ian?” Andrew asked curiously.

“Oh, just that I have something very precious to me that I don't want to risk breaking, so I asked Ian to drive it across country for me. I think I'll have him drive my car, bring the rest of the stuff I want, and then fly home. That way I'll have my car too.”

Andrew chuckled. “I thought for sure that you'd want to buy a new car.”

“Are you crazy?! I love my car!” I blurted out incredulously.

Andrew laughed. Considering that he always came to pick me up when we went out, I'm not actually sure he'd ever seen my car. His was a nice Porsche and I already knew that he was having someone drive it out to him eventually, but for now, he had another car already there waiting for us.

“You love your car so much that you'd pass up the opportunity to buy a new one?” He asked, sounding highly amused by this concept.

“Hell yeah! It's a Tesla!” I exclaimed.

“Oh... That's cool. I've never driven a Tesla before.”

“It's actually pretty sweet!” I informed him. “You'll see; you'll love it so much that you'll want one of your very own.”

“I'm sure I will,” he agreed and I could tell that he was smiling and rolling his eyes.

I yawned so hard that tears poured from my eyes. “I should probably go to bed.”

“Yeah, me too, but I've got too much to do. Why don't I let you go so that you can sleep and I can hopefully make a dent in all this?” Andrew suggested.

“Don't push yourself too much,” I advised in concern. “Love you!”

“Love you too!” He said and then hung up.

With another yawn and a series of stretches, I crawled into bed and went to sleep.

***

The next day, I went to Andrew's to help him finish packing. He definitely was bringing more stuff than me! I looked around in amazement at all the collectible memorabilia, wondering if the house we were moving into had enough room for all of this.

He greeted me with a toe-curling kiss, and then swept me into a light and romantic dance. “I can't believe that we'll be living together in just a few days!”

I giggled and decided to tease him. “That's if we can get all your stuff packed up by then!”

“Ha!” He snorted in amusement. “But you know what just occurred to me? You should probably go online and find a furniture store close to our new house and order a bed to be delivered when we get there, otherwise we'll be enjoying the comfort of our bedroom floor!”

“Got it!” I said and rushed to grab his laptop.

It took very little time to search for places near our new address, and then I got lost looking through all the choices. Thankfully, there were plenty of reviews to help with my decision. I narrowed it down to the three best choices.

“What do you think? A King-sized pillowtop?” I asked, pointing to it on the computer. “Or a Tempurpedic? Or – ”

“Ooo! The reviews on the pillowtop are promising. Let's try it!” Andrew said with a small cheer. He reached over my shoulder to click on a folder and type in his password. Then he clicked on a note that was called Baseball Stats.

I raised an eyebrow at him, wondering what could possibly be so important about some baseball stats that he had to put them in a locked folder and pull them up now.

“Here's all my credit card information,” he explained. “Just copy and paste it into the order form.”

“Oh!” I purred, impressed. “Mine's not on my computer at all so I wouldn't even have thought to look for it on here. I've got the card number that I shop with the most memorized,” I admitted with a chuckle. “I could type it out faster than I could copy and paste it!” I demonstrated by typing it onto the note he'd opened in about 3 seconds flat.

“Whoa!” He exclaimed, clearly also impressed. He kissed me. “When you're done ordering our new bed, come over here and help me with my sword collection.”

“Got it!” I stated with a smile.

The ordering took surprisingly little time, and I must admit that I ordered all the nice little extras such as a mattress protector and memory foam pillows. When I was done, I stretched and got to my feet. Andrew was currently drinking from a bottle of water, and offered me some. I drank and then kissed him.

When we were done making out about ten minutes later, he led me over to his sword collection. It was pretty impressive. I took one in hand and looked it over carefully. It was a dull edged replica of a famous movie sword. Feeling cheated somehow, I put it back.

“I have boxes and soft foam to pad the swords,” he stated, gesturing to them. I nodded in understanding even as I looked over the rest of his collection.

One caught my eye. It was a dull edged replica as well, but this one at least resembled my sword. Actually, it more accurately resembled my practice sword. I took it in hand and walked through a few basic stances.

“Careful! That one's heavy!” Andrew warned me. “I don't want you dropping it on your foot and hurting yourself!”

I basically ignored him, murmuring: “I'll be careful” as I pictured Sir Barrett in front of me trying to get through my defenses. I blocked a strike with a emphatic: “Ha!”

It took me a good two minutes to realize that Andrew wasn't moving. I glanced over at him to find that he was watching me in amazement. A slow grin spread across his face.

“That's awesome!” He blurted out. “We'll be able to spar! Where did you learn to use a sword?”

I opened my mouth to answer, but he cut me off.

“And don't say Ian,” he stated with a warning frown. “He sounded surprised when we told him that you claimed that he taught you to fight. He also said that the closest he had ever come to fighting was a bad stage production featuring a sword fight.”

I basically held my breath as I tried to think of what to say, but then sort of sighed as I realized that I didn't have a good lie or excuse handy. I shook my head and shrugged.

“You're right...” I admitted. “I didn't learn from Ian, but I sincerely doubt that you would believe the truth, and worse, once I tell you the truth and you don't believe me, you'll think I'm a pathological liar.”

Andrew didn't quite know what to say to that for a moment, but then he gave me a goofy grin. “Alright, I'll consider myself warned. Try me.”

Taking a deep breath in, I wondered if it would be better to tell him the truth or avoid it for now and promise to tell him later. “Well... I... I was pulled into an alternate universe for a while, and while there, I learned how to fight with a sword.” I finally decided on the simplest possible truthful explanation.

Andrew stared at me blankly for a moment before ever so slightly shaking his head, rolling his eyes, and grinning. “Okay, I can roll with that for now.”

“I told you you wouldn't believe me...” I muttered.

“No, I do,” he stated with a wry smile. “It's like a LARP thing, right?”

Live Action Role Playing, hmm... That's not a bad analogy. “Something like that.”

“Okay, cool,” Andrew stated as we started packing the swords away. “So tell me, how did this all start? You were pulled into the alternate universe how?”

“I kissed my mirror,” I informed him with a grin. “And found myself in Rolandia – a Kingdom of swords and magic.”

“With Knights and Sorceresses, no doubt,” Andrew stated, obviously loving this. “I find this so hot! This just proves that we are even more perfect for each other than I thought!”

“Aww!” I purred happily before kissing him. He lifted me until I wrapped my legs around his waist. It quickly became apparent that we weren't going to get anything done until took a break. We threw our clothes around the room until we were both wearing only our underwear.

“Oh for heaven's sake!” His mother blurted out in a clearly scandalized tone. “Newlyweds,” she muttered as she left the room. Apparently she had come in to help out and chose exactly the wrong moment.

Andrew and I giggled like naughty kids. “Maybe we should do this in my bedroom,” Andrew suggested, carrying me there.

This turned out to be a good thing since the condoms were in there!

***

That night as I lay in bed, the strangest thing happened to me. I had a hard time falling asleep – even though I was clearly tired – because I couldn't stop thinking about my Kingdom. After sleep finally came, I was terrorized by dreams that my mirror would break and I would never be able to get back.

I sat up, choking back a scream before I woke up my mother or grandmother. My heart was racing faster than I could recall it ever doing before. I was seriously tempted to call the ER, but I figured that once I calmed down, it would return to normal.

I sat with my elbows resting on my knees and my hands in my hair. I had to resist the urge to tear my hair out in frustration! It seems like even here I can't escape my sleep problems!

Eventually laying back down, I drifted back off to sleep. As I did so, I thought about how hard it was on me to travel between two worlds. The worst part was the time difference. If I spent 100 years in that world, but was still only gone from here for a second, that would eventually be highly problematic. I'd look years older than I was supposed to be, and then I'd eventually die. Would my loved ones think I had simply disappeared? Or worse, would they all insist that I go to the doctors and get diagnosed with progeria or something?

I sighed sadly, my last thought before falling back asleep was that I was eventually going to have to choose one world over the other...

***

In the morning, I was still haunted by my nightmare, so I kissed my mirror the moment I woke up and got out of bed.

“Your Majesty!” Lord Antony cried out in delight. “I'm so happy you're back!”

In that moment, I was so happy to see him – to see anyone from Rolandia – that I threw my arms around him and kissed him. He groaned as if he thought I was just teasing him, but then put his arms around me and returned my kiss with equal fervor.

I'd been wearing a pair of panties and nothing else while sleeping, so he had nothing to prevent him from caressing my breasts. He made noises of obvious enjoyment, but then pushed me away.

“Your Majesty well knows that I do not like to rush things. If we were to do this now, it would take hours, and I'm afraid that we don't have that long at the moment,” Lord Antony informed me apologetically.

“Why not?” I wondered with a frown.

“I'm expected at dinner, for one,” he murmured. “But also, Lord Nathan would return before too long, and while I think that he would be able to handle you coming to me in my room, him walking in to find us in the bed that he sleeps in might bit a bit traumatic.”

I stroked his cheek. “You're such a kind man...”

“Thank you,” he replied with genuine pleasure. “So... if you really want to do this, might I suggest that you come to me tonight?”

“That's a great idea,” I replied with a grin. “I'll probably wake up about midnight. I'll come to you then.”

“I look forward to it!” Lord Antony exclaimed with an eager smile. “But now, let me help you into a dress, and um... perhaps you might want to brush your hair?”

I laughed and ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to comb it out. “Sorry, I literally just got out of bed!”

Lord Antony escorted me over to the large vanity where I sat when my maids were fussing with my hair. He then picked up my brush and gently removed the tangles. He worked carefully, looking like he thoroughly enjoyed every moment. My hair fluffed and curled just slightly – having a more or less permanent kink from my usual braids.

He bent forward to press a kiss to my neck. “Do you realize that you are the most desirable woman in the Kingdom?”

I laughed. “Riiight! Compared to a true beauty like Lady Sophia, I'm practically a little brown mouse.”

“Believe what you want,” Lord Antony murmured with a secretive smile. “But it's the truth. You have an inner beauty that shines through and makes everyone who sees you want to bed you.”

“Good thing I really like sex then!” I replied with a chuckle.

“Will you leave your hair unbraided tonight?” Clearly, he was hoping I would.

“Fine... if you do something to it that prevents it from getting trapped under my butt when I sit!” I capitulated with a small smile.

“Hmm...” he hummed in thought. “I supposed I could do something like this...” Using his magic, he encouraged my hair to form large curls. This shortened the length of my hair just enough for it to reach the small of my back. I thought it looked lovely. However, since I had no bangs, it also looked just slightly off. Seeing this, he took some pins and created just a hint of a poof to where my bangs would be if I had them. He reinforced the pins with jeweled clips, and I think I looked quite glamorous when he was done.

Swirling all of my hair onto my head for a moment, he asked me to stay put. I watched him without moving as he went to where my dresses were kept and selected an interesting one in black. It had a wide neckline that formed a vee from the thin straps at my shoulders to a point that exposed most of my cleavage.

My breasts were a naturally perky B cup or C cup depending on who made the bra. Mostly they were a B, which was perfect in my opinion. They were just big enough to be worth looking at in the mirror, but not so big that I absolutely had to wear a bra.

This dress took full advantage of this fact, although – ironically – it actually covered my areolas and nipples while the knee-length skirt belled out so much that it gave the appearance of layers and coverage even though it was so lacy as to be sheer. Most of my dresses exposed my breasts while more or less covering my womanhood, this one did the opposite, which made me grin. With the dress in place, Lord Antony let my hair back down.

“Lord Antony? Would you prefer if I wore my panties with this dress or not?” I asked him since he had chosen the dress.

“Hmm...” he murmured, tapping his finger to his bottom lip in thought. “I suppose I would have to see it without before I could decide.”

Without a word, I pulled my skirt up to completely expose my panties, and then spread my legs wide. Wiggling my finger, I beckoned him closer, and then quickly pointed to my panties several little times. He took my hint and slid my panties off me. While he was on his knees with his head so close to me, he decided to give me an incentive to remember my plans with him tonight.

I moaned in pleasure as his tongue parted my lips and buried itself inside me. I curled my fingers in his hair and pushed my hips closer to him. He continued his before dinner meal until I was squealing. When he was done, he gently pulled my hands from his hair and sat back.

“I've decided that not wearing panties is the only way that dress is meant to be worn,” he announced.

“Agreed,” I stated breathlessly.

He grabbed a small cloth from a pile I kept near the bed for cleaning up after sex, and used it to wipe his mouth clean. He inhaled through his nose slowly, and then grinned at me. His pale blue eyes sparkled mischievously.

“I'm going to have the most interesting thoughts during dinner!” He informed me. I pointed to the stack of cloths in a silent request for one because I now had a bit of a mess to clean up as well.

“I'm going to have some very naughty thoughts as well!” I exclaimed with a grin.

“Do you ever not have naughty thoughts?” He wondered and I had to think about this very carefully.

“Uh............. Not that I can think of off hand...” I admitted.

Helping me to my feet, he smoothed out my skirt, and then walked a circle around me before nodding in approval over my appearance. Finally, he offered me his arm. “Ready?”

“Always,” I promised, referring to so much more than just going to dinner.

We walked to the dining hall, and to my delight, I heard laughter. As we got closer, I heard Fritz telling a story. It appeared to be from his childhood, and had everyone snickering merrily. Lord Antony paused before anyone could see us coming.

“King Francis has been doing his best to reassure us all that he truly desires peace. He is a man full of humor and loves nothing better than trying to make people laugh. He's a very welcome and entertaining guest!”

“Good to know!” I remarked with a pleased smile.

We stepped forward, and a guard at the door took this as his cue to announce: “Her Royal Majesty, Queen Kaitlynn!” They had a strange habit of doing that only when I least expected it.

“Your Majesty!” The members of my court exclaimed happily – except for Lord Gregory. As I gathered, he had also resisted the temptation to laugh at Fritz' stories. I held up my hands in a clear gesture for them all to remain seated.

“I'll come to you,” I promised.

Nathan was to the right of my empty chair and Lady Sophia was to the left. I started with her and worked my way clockwise around the table. I gave each person a quick kiss – even Fritz to his blushing enjoyment – ending with Nathan. His kiss was not so quick, but then my stomach growled and I giggled as I ended it.

“Sorry!” I hastily apologized. “I literally just woke up and got out of bed back home, so I haven't eaten yet!”

Pulling my chair out myself, I sat down and signaled the maids to begin. Apparently, Lord Antony wasn't joking when he said that I arrived just in time for dinner! Nathan waited until the maid was out of the way, and then took my hand and kissed it.

“You look beautiful tonight,” he murmured, kissing my hand again.

I purred happily. “Thank you! To be honest, the fault is all Lord Antony's. I would have come to dinner in my panties and with a dreadful case of bedhead if not for his insistence that I at least brush my hair!”

“That would have been riveting too,” Sir Barrett stated with a chuckle.

I laughed and turned my attention to him. “So, did anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

They all stopped what they were doing and gave me this look. Even Fritz! I looked around curiously. “What?”

Nathan chuckled in a way that sounded like heh heh. “So I was reading your journal, and... Well I decided I had to call a meeting...”

“Oh Gods! What did I do now?!” I cried out, flinching just a little.

Lady Leeza gave me this evil grin. “It seems that you decided to brew up a special tea and serve it to us...”

I know I looked incredibly guilty for a moment, but then I returned her slightly evil grin. “So... did it work?”

“Far too well!” Sir Barrett blurted out.

Lady Leeza gave me an impressed grin. “It had a hundred percent success rate, which is more than most of my experiments have!”

I felt completely excited. “Really??? You mean to say that you're gonna have a baby?!”

She gave me a soft smile – no evil at all – and nodded her head. “Yes.”

I squealed happily and jumped to my feet and rushed over to glom onto her. “That's so exciting!”

“That's because you didn't drink the tea and then spend the morning with five beautiful women,” Sir Barrett muttered, looking both resigned and hesitantly excited.

I chuckled and rested my arms on his shoulders so I could kiss his cheek. “But I'm willing to bet that you will fondly remember that morning for the rest of your life!”

“I noticed that you didn't do this to Lord Ian,” Sir Barrett pointed out.

“He lucked out,” I stated with a shrug. I can't remember if he wasn't here that day or if he simply wasn't anywhere near me, but he didn't get the tea solely because he wasn't around.

Lady Sophia purred and reached over to take my hand and pull me over to her. “So, now that you know it works, when do you plan to use it and give me a grandchild?”

“Hmm...” I thought this over with a dreamy smile. “Maybe soon. I have to figure out how that would work first. I mean, if I got pregnant here and started showing, my husband might notice and wonder what the hell is going on that every time he sees me I'm suddenly bigger!” I stated with a laugh.

“Husband?” Lady Sophia asked with a confused frown.

“She got married in her other world,” Nathan explained mildly. It was one of the things in my journal that he didn't tell everyone, and I had never brought it up because most of my court tried to avoid talking about the other world. I think they wanted to believe that if I didn't talk about it, I'd eventually give it up to stay here forever.

“You did?!” Lady Sophia asked incredulously.

“Yep!” I confirmed. “His name is Andrew and we're currently in the process of packing and moving in with each other. We've only been married three days in the other world, though it's been much longer than that here.”

“Oh... So that's the wedding you and Lord Ian were talking about,” Lady Leeza reasoned as if solving a puzzle.

“Yep!” I agreed with a grin.

“But why?” Lady Sophia asked in dismay. “You're our Queen for the next hundred years or so, and it's your duty to put this Kingdom first. Getting married in your other world with just confuse and obfuscate you!”

I took hold of her hands and looked her in the eyes. “Getting married is the only thing I have ever wanted to do with my life. I'm willing to spend the majority of my time here and do whatever it takes to guarantee peace and prosperity for the Kingdom, but I am not going to give up the only thing I've ever wanted. Andrew is a good man with a brilliant career ahead of him. He and I make a good couple because we have similar beliefs and interests. My marriage to him will be the fun diversion I need to de-stress when I get overwhelmed here.”

“But what about...” Lady Sophia paused to choose her words carefully. “Here? Eventually, the Royal Lords will pressure you to get married to a suitable man. They may even choose one for you if you take too long.”

By the shadow in her eyes, I could see that she was speaking from experience.

“I'll do it,” I reassured her with a smile. “I'll marry whoever they choose for me, and then I'll have two husbands. Think about it, my husband doesn't exist here, and your world is not likely to acknowledge my marriage to him as valid, so I don't see that as a problem. I will put the needs of my Kingdom first. Don't you worry about that.”

I stroked her cheek and then gave her a soft kiss. She squeezed my hand and smiled at me. “Well, I guess that I applaud your boldness! Perhaps we should ask our most beloved God to make multiple marriages acceptable.”

“He might actually approve of that,” Lady Leeza added with thoughtful expression. “He has never been one to make a fuss about marriage so long as we eventually do our duty and procreate.”

Fritz cleared his throat, a look of deep interest on his face. “I can't say that I fully understand all of this talk about another world, but I also can't deny that you did actually disappear for several days. If what you say is true that you will do anything for your Kingdom, then may I make a suggestion?”

He held out his hand to me and I walked over to him with a smile, taking his hand into mine. “Anything.”

“Why not marry me?” He asked so unexpectedly that I actually gaped at him. “Think about it, with a marriage alliance, both of our Kingdoms will finally be at peace and we can work together to build something lasting.”

“Oh... I have to think about this...” I murmured, still stunned. “I'm deeply honored.” I reinforced this with a smile and a kiss. “But I don't know if it's the best thing for my Kingdom. Besides, I'm a notorious cheater. Wouldn't your Kingdom expect you to marry someone who is faithful and will provide legitimate heirs?”

“Don't worry about that,” Fritz demurred with a smile. “I already have my heirs from a previous marriage. I was expected to get married and have them the moment I was named as the official Heir to the Throne many years ago.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed softly. “I didn't know that.”

He brought my hand to his mouth for a quick kiss. “As for you, I had already figured out that you're having an affair with everyone in your court. I find that it's part of your charm and would not expect you to change your ways. The very unfortunate fact is that we likely wouldn't be together much at all, but we can work on a solid alliance that will prevent war from ever happening again.”

I looked down as I thought this over. A tiny smile played with my lips. The truth is that I can't think of anything in particular to dissuade him. He made a very good argument!

“Your Majesty, if I may speak?” Lord Antony interjected before I could think of anything to say.

I looked up at him. “You may.”

“Uh, well, most of the time – provided that you chose one of the eligible Royal Lords – whom you choose to marry is up to you and no one would argue with you. However, if you wish to choose anyone not among the Royal Lords, then you'd need to gain approval from them. If the Lords are set against it and you still wish to marry a particular man, you could ask for our most beloved God's permission. In any case, you cannot simply accept King Francis' proposal.”

He turned to Fritz to hastily assure him. “Not that you would be considered unacceptable! I'm sure the rest of the Royal Lords would approve, however, it might take some time to gather them together to discuss it.”

“I see,” King Fritz replied with a smile. “I thought you might say something like that. My own court will likely wish to argue and fuss over this proposed marriage as well. I simply decided that in this one instance, I'll make a stand and remind them that I am the King!”

“Hmm...” I murmured softly in thought. “Sir Barrett?”

“Yes, my Queen?” He answered curiously since he could not possibly be considered part of this conversation.

“Have the open carriage brought around,” I ordered. “I'm going to the Temple to speak with – uh – God...” Then I turned to my maids who were suddenly whispering excitedly in the background. “But I am not dressing up any more than I already am! I look beautiful enough!”

They all groaned in disappointment, but murmured: “Yes, Majesty...”

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