This blog is for those 18 and older.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Guest Author Interview: Calisa Rhose

Today we are interviewing Calisa Rhose, Romance author.

Alexis: Hi Calisa, Thank you for visiting Happily Ever After Thoughts :-) 

Calisa:  What a treat to be here Alexis! Thanks for the opportunity to talk about my debut release, HOME.

Alexis: You have a lot of stories in the works. What subgenre of romance do you feel most at home in?

Calisa: I do. Between contemporary cowboys, firemen and my paranormal series I stay busy. And then, of course, there’s my one-time vintage historical, HOME. But I am probably most comfortable writing contemporary. Paranormal is relatively new for me but I’m having a blast figuring it all out.

Alexis: Hmm, so HOME is your one-time vintage historical.  Now, I'm curious. Can you tell our readers a little bit about your new release, HOME?

Calisa: I wrote HOME as part of a series Tales of the Scrimshaw Doll. In sequence my book would come in around the fifth book I think, but it was the first release in the series so they are not coming out chronologically. My story is about a Vietnam veteran and a gypsy who have nothing more in common than growing up in the same town. 

When Sam returns from his stint in the war it seems the town who idolized him as their football hero before the war not has turned its back on him. Only Poppy steps up and accepts him home with open arms and love grows between the unlikely couple. Poppy has her own stigmas just being a gypsy in a time when her ‘kind’ are frowned upon and Sam realizes they aren’t as different as he’d always thought.

Alexis: Interesting premise. Where did you get the idea for this story?

Calisa: I honestly don’t know. I don’t write historical. Though I grew up as a little girl in the 60’s, I don’t remember much so when these two came to me asking that their story be told I was kind of surprised. But I had so much fun writing HOME.

Alexis: Ah, then it must have been fate :-) What are your favorite character traits of Poppy and Sam?

Calisa: I love Poppy Tippen’s seeming unflappable nature. She’s been through a lot as an outcast, but she doesn’t give up on her secret love for the town hero. 

I learned to respect Sam Callahan for his ability to accept who the war made him and to fight to overcome the dark that threatens to rule his life. In the end they both become a strong force of support for one another and that’s important in any relationship, in any era.

Alexis: So, what made you choose this particular era?

Calisa: Again, I don’t think I chose it so much as it chose me.

Alexis: I love that! It's a story that needs to be told. What can we expect next from you? Do you have any new releases coming or a work in progress?

Calisa: Nothing up for release just yet. Life kind of got in the way since HOME sold and I haven’t been able to write as much. But I do have a couple of things in the works. When TWRP put out a call for cowboys for the Honkytonk series I jumped at the chance to write what I love most. I’m writing a story that I hope will be contracted for this series. It's called CHAMPAGNE TIGER.

Kelly Donovan is running from an abusive husband who wants her dead and hides behind the law enforcement he works for to avoid prosecution. Mace Dalton is a small town sheriff who rescues a stranded stranger and realizes how easy she is to fall in love with. When Kelly discovers Mace is the same type of man (lawman) she’s running from she has to make a choice. Trust the law that has always betrayed her and let Mace save her, or keep running and take her chances that her husband will eventually be stopped. There’s a little twist that I won’t spoil for readers.

Alexis: CHAMPAGNE TIGER sounds promising. I wish you luck with it :-) Thank you so much for sharing your romances with us. It's a pleasure having you visit.

Calisa: Thank you! I’ve had a wonderful time today.

Alexis: For a chance to win a PDF copy of HOME, be sure to leave a comment for Calisa.  If I have contact information I will let you know when you win, otherwise, check the side column for your name on Wednesday under WINNERS :-)

For more information on Calisa’s Romances go http://calisarhose.wordpress.com/ 

Alexis: Check out this excerpt from HOME.

Excerpt:
 “I’ll always want you, Poppy.”

Her head shook in automatic denial. “You’ll want a girl who fits your life. Not some gypsy with no family lineage to brag about. Your momma won’t accept that, either. She’ll make you choose someone like Connie, someone who fits into your world. Not the girl everyone avoids and whispers about behind her back. You’re gonna be the town’s doctor. You need an uppity wife who will make you proud.”

When Sam laughed, his chest shuddered against her back. Deep, husky, real. He turned her in his arms and looked down at her, smiling. “Poppy, do you honestly think I give a damn what people think? Look at me! I’m the town outcast, the survivor who should have died saving the others, not be here planning a future that includes a wife, a medical practice. “I shimmy under park benches, run from my mother’s lipstick, for God’s sake. I wake up screaming and crying over nothing in the middle of the night, crawl under my bed and hide, shaking, until morning. Hell, I can’t even be a doctor because I haven’t finished school yet.”
 
“I didn’t know. It must be awful for you.” No matter how it hurt Poppy to know he used her, it felt much worse to know how he hurt alone. “The only time it isn’t awful is when I’m with you. When I think of you.”

You can get your copy of HOME at The Wild Rose Press and Amazon and B&N.

Small-town country girl Calisa Rhose lives in a semi-remote area of Oklahoma with her husband, four small dogs, one cat and a horse. All three of her daughters and their families live within throwing distance. She’s a member of RWA and the local chapter OKRWA. She intends to nurture and continue to grow as an author with the help of her family and supporters.

Follow Calisa on twitter @Calisa_Rhose and Facebook/Calisa Rhose  She loves to hear from readers so drop her a line at calisa.rhose@gmail.com


And don't forget, for a chance to win HOME, leave Calisa a comment :-)

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Review: DANGEROUS DESIRES by Dee Davis


Being loyal to your family can really put you in the hot seat when living a life of danger in the Columbian jungle.

Madeline Reynard is a perfect example of all of the above.  She started her misadventure in a Columbian prison, had a friend who gave her a “get out of jail free” card, and then moved on to work for a crime lord.

She doesn’t sound so desirable until we find out she obtained her distasteful work in order to save her sister’s life. 

As she begins another run for her life, Drake, strong, powerful, and smart-yes, that’s an attraction too- is assigned a mission to bring her back to the states.  Drake and his team arrive along with a host of complications, which result in Madeline and Drake fending for themselves against mercenaries in the heated jungle.

And they don’t ignore the dripping wet clothes clinging to their bodies.    

Davis story is fast paced, gripping, and dangerous with every turn of the page.  Family loyalty runs throughout the story causing life threatening situations, yet it triumphs in the end, one way or another.

Dawn   

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Guest author Eliza Knight: Where The Magic Happens . . .


Where the magic happens…

I love that show cribs, where you get see where actors, models and other famous people live. I wish we could see author houses!  So today, I’m going to give you my “office cribs”. Here’s where the magic happens…

You see a lot of writers having these beautiful writing spaces. Not me. My writer space is in utter chaos… I have no problem confessing that my space gives my husband nightmares, and when we have guests he begs me to clean it up. (And believe it or not, the rest of my house is actually quite neat!) But it is my functioning chaos, lol. I did not bother to clean up before I took the picture to show you, because I thought you should see it in for what it really is!

My “office” is in my kitchen—I’m lucky that my kitchen is large enough that I was able to commandeer part of it for my work. I used to have an office, but then we had three kids… and well, they needed bedrooms right? J But honestly, it is the best place for me. It is central to the house, and since one of my little darlings is still at home, and she hangs out in the kitchen a lot, it’s easier for me to work there. I can also hear the kids upstairs or if they are playing in the family room in our basement. It is also very close to the Keurig for instant refills on coffee.

Let me walk you through my space…

I use a desktop—although I have a couple laptops loitering around the bottom of my desk that I use from time to time. I sit upon my “Queen” chair, as I call it. My mouse pad was made for me by a lovely author friend of mine, BJ Scott. I love it! It has my book covers on it and pics of my girls, and it says my name and Author & Mom. See my printer??? Would you believe I lived as a writer without a printer for years? I just got that printer about 6 months ago. As a primarily digital author, I didn’t need a printer. If I had something to print, I just used the printer at the local copy office or at the library.

Moving on… What is all that paper???? Like everywhere????  I tape all sorts of things onto my desk—lists, words I like, phrases, schedules, pictures. Research papers, notes, there are books and magazines and notebooks buried there that I am using. You see an ARC I just finished reading that I have to review. Front and center (Right below the ARC) is my planner.

My coffee has a place on the desk. A prominent place—easy for grabbing.

Right beside my desk is my bookshelf—filled front and back with research books and books to review. (I would be lying if I said that was my only bookshelf… In our family room I have two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled… I also have commandeered ½ of my china cabinet for books and I have another bookshelf in my bedroom, and a bin under the living room couch filled with books. I am a book hoarder, no doubt. 

Between my desk and the bookcase are boxes of my own print books that I take to signings or give away.

So while some of you may look at this picture and run screaming, I say to the rest of you—this is how I write, and as a prolific writer, it seems to work for me :-)

What would be your perfect writing space? One lucky commenter will win an ebook copy of my new release, LADY SEDUCTRESS’S BALL.

Eliza Knight is the multi-published author of sizzling historical romance and erotic romance. While not reading, writing or researching for her latest book, she chases after her three children. In her spare time (if there is such a thing…) she likes daydreaming, wine-tasting, traveling, hiking, staring at the stars, watching movies, shopping and visiting with family and friends. She lives atop a small mountain, and enjoys cold winter nights when she can curl up in front of a roaring fire with her own knight in shining armor. Visit Eliza at www.elizaknight.com or her historical blog, History Undressed, which was recently mentioned in a feature article in The Wall Street Journal. www.historyundressed.blogspot.com

Blurb:
Invitation to Pleasure
As the wife of the elderly Earl of March, Olivia Covington has never known the intimacies of the bedroom. Though her curiosity is piqued by the shocking whispers of society ladies, she is too wary of causing scandal to indulge in an affair. But Tristan Knightley, Earl of Newcastle, tempts her to throw off propriety.

Tristan wants Olivia for his own, and has sworn off all others until he can rid himself of the obsession. He is sure once he has a taste, he will tire of her, and can return to his rakish existence. Unable to wait to have her in his bed, he invites her for a tryst at Lady Seductress's Ball.

Excerpt:
Oh, if only circumstances and the situation were different.

She hurried down a dark corridor toward the back door, where she could seek solace and fresh air in her gardens. The house was just too stuffy and warm. What she really wanted to do was have him follow her up to her bedroom and reenact all of her dreams, only this time have it end with a deep and thorough plundering.

One must not covet what one cannot have. The voice of her governess popped into her head. Had that woman ever dealt with this type of situation? A short laugh burst from her as she imagined her stiff, gray governess. She doubted it. If she had, the woman certainly would never had said that to her.

Olivia did covet exquisite lovemaking, lovemaking that left her warm and sated, and she wanted it with a dark and handsome man. One filled with muscle and sensual magnetism.

She opened the door and a gush of cool evening air flowed over her flesh. She breathed in the smell of her flowers and all the scents spring brought with it. The sun had long since set leaving the sky a sparkling mirage of stars and the moon—oddly visible through the London smog. The moon afforded her the light she needed to walk the garden path to her gazebo. It was a tranquil place that she often came for relaxation. She needed that peace now more than ever.

Her dreams tormented her and the man himself tempted her.

What was she to do? A moral woman wouldn’t even think twice about it. Perhaps she ought to start taking a sleeping draught so as not to dream about him. When her mother had taken the tincture, she slept like the dead, saying her dreams were all but nonexistent. Of course her mother was having night terrors and not the scandalous couplings Olivia’s dreams embodied.

Yes, perhaps she would speak to the physician when he came out to see her husband. He would surely agree to it if she explained that she was so stressed about her husband’s health that she could no longer sleep.

He need not know that steamy kisses, wandering hands and seductive gray eyes haunted her sleep. She stepped into the gazebo.

“Olivia.”

She whirled around and jumped a little. Her foot caught on the hem of her dress, nearly tumbling her to the ground. She quickly righted herself, smoothed her skirts and patted her hair before facing the man who’d startled her.

It was the Earl of Newcastle bathed in the sultry moonlight. Lord, he was handsome. And every move he made dripped sensuality. She felt herself taking a step closer to him, if only to feel the heat floating around his hard, lithe body.

“My lord,” she said with a curtsy, her voice a throaty whisper.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Location, Location, Location!


How important is setting to you? To the story? Do you prefer stories set in London or New York? Small towns across America or England? Do you like details of the city or town? The countryside? Is it important that the place is real or exists only in the author’s imagination?
            
 If you’ve read this blog before, you know that I love my westerns…and with good reason. Aside from my fascination with cowboys and lawmen and the feisty women who love them, there’s something about the loneliness of the wide open plains, tall grass swaying gently in the breeze and the majesty of mountains in the distance that speaks to my soul. I love the small towns that spring up in the middle of nowhere, small towns where everyone knows everyone else’s business (Yes, I grew up in that small town where neighbors looked out for neighbors and I love it when an author gives me details of the busy body who lives down the street).  
             
But…I also enjoy stories set in big cities, where tall buildings block out the sun, where there’s more concrete and pavement than tall swaying grass, where people can get lost in anonymity, where the hot dog vendor on the corner offers advice along with your hotdog. (Do you want mustard on that?)  As long as the author can make me smell the steam rising off a hot summer street, or hear the traffic in the background, I’m there. And that’s all that matters.
             
What’s your favorite city or place to get lost in?

Happy Reading!
Marie

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Guest Author Interview: Melissa Mayhue

Today we are interviewing Melissa Mayhue, Historical Paranormal Romance author.

Alexis: Hi Melissa. Thank you for visiting Happily Ever After Thoughts :-) What made you decide to add the paranormal element to your historical romances or was it the other way around?

Melissa: I never really considered it adding one or the other.  They just sort of came as a package deal. :-)  I’ve always loved to read fantasies and happy ever afters and  time travel romances and I particularly enjoyed stories set in medieval Scotland with a hunky Highlander as the hero.  Combine that with the knowledge that I made the decision to write that first book sitting in a place called The Fairy Glen, and the faeries were just a given!  :-)

Alexis: Of course, they were. Those faeries love to be in romance novels. Can you tell our readers a little bit about your latest release, WARRIOR"S REDEMPTION?

Melissa: WARRIOR’S REDEMPTION is an off-shoot from the original Daughters of the Glen Series.  The Faeries are still there, but now we’re adding in the magic and mystery of the Norse Gods and bringing the two together.  This first story in the WARRIOR’S series centers on Malcolm MacDowylt, a character first introduced in A HIGHLANDER’S HOMECOMING.  In this story we get to learn about Malcolm’s family and the consequences of his having gotten what he wanted after  he married Isabella MacGahan in order to become the laird of the MacGahan in that book.

Alexis: That sounds intriguing. Where did you get the idea for this story?

Melissa:  Malcolm was originally created to be a bad guy in HOMECOMING.  But with every scene I wrote, he refused to fall into that role.  [He’s not the first character who’s challenged me in that way!].  And the more scenes I wrote for him, the more interesting I found him; the more I knew he was a man with a troubled background and a sense of honor fitting a hero!  I’d given him a Viking ancestry originally on a whim, based on an article I’d recently read in an archaeology magazine about Vikings having settled in the north of Scotland.  From there, I began to research Norse mythology and… well, one thing led to another and the WARRIOR series was off and running.

Alexis: What a great way to start a new series, a current character and Viking mythology.What are your favorite character traits of Danielle and Malcolm?

Melissa:  I love that Dani never gives up.  Not as a child and not as an adult.  Once she believes in something or someone, she’ll do anything for them.  As for Malcolm, well, he wormed his way into my heart back in A HIGHLANDER’S HOMECOMING.  The minute I started writing the scene where he plotted to let Isabella and Robert “escape” I knew he was one of the most honorable, forward-thinking secondary characters to creep out of my imagination!!

Alexis: This book starts your Warrior series, but you said it started with a book from the Daughter's of the Glen series. Can you tell our readers about that series?

Melissa:  Daughters of the Glen is a paranormal time-travel series set in our world with a twist… Faeries exist.  And these aren’t your basic Disney Faeries, by any stretch.  The underlying premise of the world is that long ago Mortal and Fae coexisted in one place but when their worlds were split, Magic was stripped from the Mortal world.  In the ages since, the Fae have used Man’s world as a penal dumping ground for their rejects and more or less a playground for everyone else.  In the beginning of the series, Magic has returned, but not to the Fae stranded in the Mortal world.  Instead, it’s in the hands of their half mortal descendents.

Alexis: How fun! What can we expect next from you? Do you have any new releases coming or a work in progress?

Melissa: I’m finishing up the next in the WARRIOR series right now, WARRIOR’S REBIRTH, which follows Malcolm’s sister, Christiana and introduces a whole new group of characters!

Alexis: Excellent.  I just love a good series where I can keep coming back to the world an author has already built. Thank you so much for sharing your romances with us. It's a pleasure having you visit.

Melissa: Thank you, Alexis.  I very much appreciate the opportunity to visit with your readers and I’d love to invite them to stop by my website for a peek at excerpts from all the books.  www.MelissaMayhue.com – They can also find me on Facebook [where I actually spend way more time visiting than I probably should!]  http://www.facebook.com/Melissa.Mayhue.Author  

Alexis: For a chance to win Melissa’s WARRIOR'S REDEMPTION, be sure to leave a comment for her.  If I have contact information I will let you know when you win, otherwise, check the side column for your name on Wednesday under WINNERS :-)

For more information on Melissa’s Romances go to http://www.melissamayhue.com/index.html 

Check out this excerpt from WARRIOR'S REDEMPTION.

Excerpt:

PROLOGUE
Tom Green County, Texas
Fifteen Years Ago
     Fairies absolutely were real. Dani didn’t care what her Aunt Jean claimed.
     After Mrs. Palmer down at the new library had loaned her those wonderful books this past summer, she’d known it wasn’t just her imagination. Lots of people believed in them. She’d spent the entire vacation between fourth and fifth grades reading all about Faeries.
     “Dani?” Aunt Jean’s voice carried all the way down to the chicken coops. “Dani! You better hurry up with those eggs, little girl, if you expect to get breakfast in you before the school bus gets here.”
     Dani grabbed the one egg that had been laid already, dodging the grumpy old brown hen’s beak, and hurried back toward the farmhouse. She’d have to gather again when she got home from school, but at least Emma Hen had come through early, as usual.
A furtive glance to the empty corner next to the steps as she approached the house warned her of what was to come.
     “Get your hands washed and sit yourself down.”
     Aunt Jean’s no-nonsense expression was firmly in place and Dani quickly did as she was told, slipping into her spot at the old kitchen table as her aunt slid a warm plate in front of her.
     “What did I tell you about setting a saucer of milk out by the steps?” Aunt Jean waited, arms folded in front of her.
     “Not to,” Dani mumbled around her first bite of thick toast. “Draws snakes.”
     “So it’s not that you forgot. You’ve just decided you’re not going to mind me, is that it? You’re just trying to be bad?”
     “No ma’am, I’m not trying to be bad. I promise.” The Faeries liked milk and bread. It encouraged them to stay. “My book said --”
     “Nuh-uh,” Aunt Jean turned back to the stove, scrambling Dani’s egg, her gray curls swaying with the stubborn shaking of her head. “I don’t want another word of that fairy nonsense, you hear me? There’s no such thing as a fairy, but rattlers are real enough. Those damn snakes will smell that milk a mile off and next thing you know, you or me one will be getting ourselves snake bit. And then what?”
     “The Faeries would keep us safe, if you’d let me feed them,” Dani muttered, tearing a corner off her toast and dropping it into her lap. If her aunt would just believe, the Faeries would hear all their wishes and make them come true. “I read that in one of my books.”
     “Danielle Faye Dearmon!” Aunt Jean turned around from the stove and leaned across the table. “I’ve had just about enough of this nonsense from you. Not everything in books is true just because somebody wrote it down. I’m serious as a heart attack about this, little girl. I want your promise right now that you won’t put any more milk out by the steps for these damned imaginary fairies of yours or else I’m going to have to paddle your butt, you understand me? I want your promise on it, Dani. I want it now.”
     “Yes, ma’am.” Dani didn’t hesitate with her response. She had no choice. Her aunt was really serious this time. She almost never pulled out the ‘paddle your butt’ threat. “I promise.”
     She meant to keep the promise, too. No more milk by the porch steps. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t hunt down a new spot to feed the Faeries when she got home from school this afternoon. A better spot. One that Aunt Jean wouldn’t find.
     Because no matter that Aunt Jean was the best substitute mama on the face of the planet, in this one thing, she was completely wrong.
     Faeries were absolutely real and Dani meant to make sure she stayed on their good side.

CHAPTER ONE
Land of the Faerie
1294 [as calculated by Mortals]

     Howls echoed through the forest of Wyddecol, so protracted and pain-ridden they tortured Elesyria’s eardrums. Like some animal in its death throes, the screams pitched from fury to terror and back again.
She ran faster through the trees, seeking in vain to escape the torment of those sounds. Knowing she could never outrun that which came from her own throat.
It was her agony, her torment that tore the screams from her lungs as if the pain were a living creature eating at her innards.
Her daughter, her only child, her beautiful Isabella had disappeared from the World of Man.
On she ran, unseeing, dodging by instinct the low-hanging branches and fallen limbs. On, deeper into the forest until at last she broke through into a clearing. Ahead lay the Temple of Danu, golden in its perpetual shaft of sunlight, encircled by its ring of massive stones.
Elesyria pushed herself harder, maintaining her pace up the long marble staircase. Not even at the doorway did she slow. No stopping to shed her sandals, no washing her feet, no bending low to show reverence at the doorway to the inner sanctum. Not this time. This time, for the first time ever, she simply didn’t care.
Her precious Isabella was gone from the World of Man.
“Show yourself, I demand it! How could you allow this to happen?” she accused, ignoring the hysterical echo of her own words in the cavernous rounded room. “You promised. She was to be cared for if I would but leave her with the Mortals and return to your service. You promised!”
She screamed the final words, her voice cracking as she sank to her knees. The until-now strangely absent tears at last found their release, rolling down her cheeks to splatter on the white stone floor at her knees. “You promised,” she accused one final time, her words no more than a whisper against the canvas of her grief.
“You would demand my presence in your world, Daughter of Danu?”
The words echoed off the arc of the room’s high ceiling, bouncing, tumbling in a harmonious melody of sound.
“I do,” Elesyria answered without hesitation. She had no care for the ancient protocols. No time to travel to the trance world. No desire to honor the bitch-Goddess who had betrayed her.
In front of her a pale green mist coalesced, writhing and bubbling, shifting from one form to another until at last a tall, beautiful woman emerged. The Goddess, the Earth Mother, had arrived.
“Then I can only assume these are the direst of times. What troubles you, my child?”
 “The loss of my child.” Elesyria rose to her feet, well aware she breeched all acceptable behavior in doing so. Eye contact with the Goddess was too painful, so she fixed her gaze on the other woman’s chin. “Isabella is dead. You’ve broken your promise to me.”
The Goddess lifted her hand as if to catch a handful of air in the room before rubbing her thumb against her fingers, much in the way a merchant might sample the feel of a fine silk.
“Isabella lives.”
“Impossible!” Elesyria had been to the curtain between the worlds this very morning. She’d stood there as so often she did, stretching out her magic to caress the essence of the daughter she’d left behind. Only this time, there had been nothing. “She’s not in the World of Man. I felt for her myself. That which had been her is gone.”
“Nevertheless, Isabella’s soul has not returned to the Fountain. She lives.”
“How can that be?” Elesyria’s legs buckled, too weak to hold her weight and she dropped to her knees. “The place where I felt for her is as empty as my heart.”
The Goddess lifted both arms and the mist returned, swirling in a sphere between her hands. It moved as if alive, frantic with a billion life forms, its color shifting from the palest green to a brilliant emerald and back again. Then the Goddess clapped her hands together and the mist disappeared as quickly as it had formed.
“Not only does she live, she has joined with her SoulMate. Though, as you say, she is not in the time and place where you left her.”
“What does that mean?” 
The Goddess shrugged, palms held upward. “I cannot yet say. I know only what I feel when I search the Myst.”
Elesyria’s mind reeled in confusion. Isabella’s space on the Mortal Plain was empty. She’d felt that for herself. And yet, the Goddess claimed her daughter lived. Lived and had found the one happiness every Fae sought: her own SoulMate!
“I need answers,” she whispered, as much to herself as to the Goddess standing nearby.
“Indeed you do. Go with my blessings.”
Her blessings? Not enough. Not by half.
Elesyria raised her head, coming as close to meeting the Earth Mother’s eyes as she dared. “After all the years I’ve dedicated to your service, Goddess, I want more than your blessings. I want to travel through the curtain with the power to punish any who harmed my child.”
“Crossing over with your Magic intact is forbidden by your High Council.”
If the Goddess thought to dissuade her with something so trivial, she was seriously mistaken.
“I’ve no more care for the politics of Fae than I have for those of Man. I care only for the child grown to woman who I left behind when I returned to my service in your temple. I must know the truth of her fate. I want to travel through the curtain. With my Magic.”
“And if you find your daughter has not been harmed? If you find it is as I have indicated?”
If, pray the Goddess, Isabella lived happily joined to her SoulMate as the Goddess insisted? “Then I want the power to reward those who aided her.”
The visage in front of her shimmered from green to gold and back again.
“In offering reward as freely as you threaten punishment, Elesyria, you demonstrate your wisdom. So be it. You may retain your powers to use for this purpose and this purpose only. Your years of faithful service watching over my followers have earned at least this much from me. As you go forth, I will set in motion what I can to assist. Travel to the place where your daughter should be. Seek out the Tinklers when you arrive. They are my eyes and ears in the World of Man. If any can guide you to the truth, surely it will be they.”
“Thank you, Earth Mother.”
Elesyria bowed her head, honoring the Goddess before her. When she lifted her eyes once again, she was alone.
Rising to her feet, she squared her shoulders and hurried from the chamber, already seeing the spot she would cross over in her mind’s eye.
She would find the Tinklers the Goddess had spoken of and she would know the truth. She prayed the result would require her to use her Magic for the benefit of one who had helped her daughter, but if not?
Woe be unto any who had lifted a hand to bring harm down upon Isabella. They would feel her wrath even if it should shake the very foundations of the Mortals’ world.  

Alexis: Don't forget.  For a chance to win WARRIOR'S REDEMPTION, leave a comment for Melissa.