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An Excerpt From: FAIRY DUST
Copyright © TIELLE ST. CLARE, 2008
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing,
Inc.
“Marlena!”
The sharp call made her head snap back.
Damn, she thought, liking the way the word sounded in
her head. She didn’t swear very often—no one did in Fairy Tale Land—but
she’d spent a fair amount of time recently using her Looking Glass to peek
in on the Real World and found some of the expressions used by actual
people quite freeing. Fairy Tale Characters were designed not to think in
those terms.
Pasting a pleasant smile on her face, Marlena turned and
greeted her supervisor. Her brightness didn’t penetrate the dark glower
that hovered over his face. The smooth bald head only served to emphasize
the harsh glare in his eyes.
“Martin. How are you?” she asked cheerfully.
“I’m fine.”
Only he didn’t sound fine. He sounded irritated. And he
looked irritated. The tight squint of his eyes and crinkled line of his
lips warned that he was a long way from fine. Marvin, Martin’s assistant,
stood beside his boss, looking almost as serious though a little less
annoyed. Whatever had called Martin here, it wasn’t good. She clicked
through her recent fairy tales and no, she hadn’t messed any of them up.
They’d all ended as expected. Happily Ever After. Some of them were very
happy thanks to her new dust.
But something had to be wrong. She never saw Martin
unless something was wrong.
“Marlena, we need to talk.”
“Talk?”
“About your HEA Fairy Dust.”
“Oh.” Marlena stood up to her full height and smiled,
pride and pleasure filling her chest. “I’ve been working on my formula.
Tweaking it a bit.”
“We know.”
Two simple words and she could tell he wasn’t pleased
with her changes.
“Is something wrong?”
Martin stepped forward and peered down into the Looking
Glass. With a shudder, he returned his gaze to Marlena. “We’re here to
ensure a Happily Ever After.”
Marlena glanced at the couple in the glass and shrugged.
“Don’t they look happy?”
Marvin crowded his way forward and took a peek as well.
“He looks ecstatic.”
CLOSE WINDOW
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