Page 40 of Happily Ever Witch
Trevelyan took his time in deciding about the quality of her work. Nail polish was a horribly harmless profession for a witch, but if she was going to do it, she might as well be the best. The inky shade she’d created was a fair representation of remorseless evil. And it certainly looked lovely on her delicate fingers. And cosmetics did have prices that bordered on villainy. That was always a plus.
“It’s perfect.” He decided grudgingly.
Esmeralda sent him a beaming smile, free of ulterior motives. It took him a moment to process what the strangely innocent expression even meant.
She was happy. He’d made her happy.
Trevelyan couldn’t say why that appealed to him. Why should he care if he made anyone happy? He’d just told her how pointless it was. Esmeralda’s smile did something strange to his insides, though. The lack of guile and the sweetness of it were unique. At least, in his experience.
Who would smile up at a dragon with such… virtue?
He was the best at being Bad. He should be repulsed to see even a hint of virtue aimed his way. Instead, some organ flipped in the vicinity of his chest. Yes. This wasextremelyworrisome.
“Are you hungry?” Esmeralda asked. She was wearing those tall boots again and her skirt was even shorter today. “Iwas going to make treacle pancakes. I already mixed the batter. You can have some, if you want.”
Trevelyan found himself nodding like an idiot.
“Great!” She shined another cheery grin his way. The woman was definitely a morning person. “I love baking. I have a ginger-mutant recipe I’m working on, too. We can eat those later, because I already know this batch isn’t right. They’re never going to become a sentient cookie army, eager to do my bidding.”
“Cookie army?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t that be cool? But the spell is very complicated and I think I’m using too much cinnamon in the dough. For now, they’re just a snack.”
She headed for the stove, the diamond tiara twinkling.
That glittering headpiece distracted Trevelyan from his lustful fascination and gave him some foothold back in sanity. Maid Marion sometimes wore a plastic beauty queen tiara around, but that seemed to be some kind of empowerment statement and/or Marion being predictably eccentric. (Her brain didn’t work like other people’s, which was doubtless why Trevelyan was so fond of her.) Esmeralda’s tiara, on the other hand, was studded with valuable gemstones, imbued with a colossal dose of magic, and assholes seemed willing to kill for it. Why?
“Maybe the Queen of Clubs is after that damn thing.” He gestured at her head. “The Walrus was determined to get it off of you.” Crowns held a lot of power, in the right hands.
Or the wrong ones.
His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Ambushing the Queen of Clubs was the best option he currently had, but it wasn’t hisfirstchoice of countermoves. Trevelyan liked to play offense. If his enemy wanted something, then he wanted it, too. It was leverage. The question was: What was the Queen after?
The tiara?
Esmeralda snorted. “Hell, the Queen of Clubs can have this crown, just so long as she sends me home. It keeps catching in my hair, anyhow.”
Home.To the Enchanted Forest.
Trevelyan’s mood darkened. “We also need to put some rules in place, if we’re going to try this True Love thing.” He decided out of the blue, mostly just to piss her off. Because he was pissed off and why should he be the only one?
“I hate rules. Pretty sure I mentioned that.”
“This one will be simple. I want to outline some monogamy exclusions.” Trevelyan sat down, ready for a fight. Fights made sense to him. “Obviously, having a True Love will dramatically narrow the variety of my sex life.” He believed in loyalty, even if she didn’t. “I expect mostly I’ll be touching you.”
Esmeralda scoffed at that assertion, not looking his way.
“But there is a small group of women, I’m still going to need to pursue. Not romantically. Just for sex. It’s a long term science project of mine.” Trevelyan dropped that gauntlet and sat back, waiting for the explosion.
“So, you want to put rules in place to date other people?” Esmeralda clarified, still focused on her pancakes. She didn’t sound peppy, anymore. He perversely missed her galling early-morning brightness, now that he’d ruined it.
“No. I don’t want todateanyone.” The very idea was revolting. “But I sometimes see women with a strange spark in their eyes. And I want to try one of them, to see what it feels like up-close. It shouldn’t take long. The women all seem to be Good, so I’m sure I’ll get bored quickly.”
Healwaysgot bored quickly. There were a few Good women --just a handful-- that intrigued him, though. When he looked into their eyes, there was an intense light shining out. Unguarded magic, beckoning with the promise of something special.
Life and purity and ideas.
That spark was rare and bright and Trevelyan coveted it. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt important. He’d never been able to touch anyone who actually possessed it. The women tended to have fanatically obsessed True Loves, which led him to believe he wasn’t the only male who could sense the unique sparkle in those girls.
