Robin Owens - Enchanted Ever After

Magic was just around the corner.…

Kiri Palger knew the difference between reality—new house, hard work and not too many friends—and fantasy—the fun she had playing online games. So when the chance to work for the best gaming company in the world came up, giving her a chance to merge business with pleasure, how could she not apply?

Suddenly she has more friends, interesting neighbors and an intriguing love interest. But when the game begins to awaken something inside her, Kiri is shocked by the talents she never knew she had…and an evil she’d never imagined.

Her nice, safe life is imploding around her—and if she takes up the mantle of her powers, it will never be the same again….

Praise for the novels of

“RITA® Award-winner Owens offers a world strongly imbued with a sense of magic in this contemporary fantasy series launch.… Romance and fantasy fans

will enjoy Jenni’s preparation to enter a new world of compromise

between the Folk, humans and technology.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review, on Enchanted No More

“A multi-faceted, fast-paced gem of a book.”

—The Best Reviews on Guardian of Honor

“This book will enchant readers who enjoy strong heroines.”

—RT Book Reviews on Sorceress of Faith

“Fans of Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey will appreciate the novel’s honorable protagonists and their lively animal companions.”

—Publishers Weekly on Protector of the Flight

“Strong characterization combined with deadly danger make this story vibrate with emotional resonance. Stay tuned as events accelerate toward the final battle.”

—RT Book Reviews on Keepers of the Flame

“A glorious end to the series.”

—Wild on Books on Echoes in the Dark

Enchanted Ever After

Robin D. Owens

www.mirabooks.co.uk

To Kaia and Jane and Rose,

Thank you.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Mid-September, Denver, Colorado

LIFE WAS NOT a game. If life were a game, Kiri Palger would ace it...or reach level sixty-five with massive amounts of gold, arms and armor, not to mention a fabulous wardrobe.

But real life had no do-overs. She couldn’t go back two years and not take the energy and soul draining computer support job with a national company in downtown Denver. Big mistake. Especially when she trudged home at seven-thirty on a Friday evening too exhausted to enjoy the thought of the weekend.

Though buying this house in Mystic Circle had definitely been the right thing to do.

Her hands were full of keys and key card and she was punching in the security code when her phone rang. She swore and went in, laid the keys and workbag on the rickety console table next to the door.

The phone was not in its proper pocket, but had migrated to mix with stuff at the bottom of her tote. She found her cell after the call had gone to message. Her best friend Shannon had called—all right, her only good friend, someone she talked to a couple of times a week. Kiri could always count on Shannon, and her friend could always give her a lift.

“Hey, Kiri, it’s Shannon. Sucky that you had to work late at the sucky job and can’t play Fairies and Dragons with me tonight. I know how much you want that new job so remember you promised me you’d go to your block party tomorrow and meet Jenni Weavers. Don’t duck out of it! And, no, I can’t make it, Averill has a family thing. Tell us all the deets Sunday brunch. Smooches!”

Kiri’s smile faded. She always liked backup when entering a new social situation. She squared her shoulders. Much as she might want to, she wouldn’t skip the party. It was important on two levels—really interacting with her neighbors and meeting Jenni Weavers, Kiri’s heroine.

Her gaze went to her computer set up in the bump of the side bay window. She’d stay out of the game, Fairies and Dragons, tonight—sometimes the game beckoned more than reality. And once you began spending more time in the game than anywhere else, you were in trouble. Not in control.

She sighed. Her living room was bare—she had a lot of house and not much of anything else, like furniture.

But quiet and peaceful. Her shoulders relaxed more than just from the release of the bag’s weight.

A soft golden sunset slanted through the window. The smack of an early autumn had already swatted summer evenings gone for the year, but there was still enough light to walk around the cul-de-sac, Mystic Circle, to wind down from work. Get the kinks out. She was at the age, twenty-six, where she considered how wide her ass would spread if she stayed in a chair all day long every day.

And she’d check on the fabulous koi in the center park’s pond.

She’d recently moved from concrete and asphalt near Capitol Hill and the beautiful fish captivated her. With a smile, she slipped back out into the cool evening.

Hers was the first house of the cul-de-sac, Mystic Circle number one, located on the southeastern corner. The craftsman bungalow was the smallest home and slightly more than she could afford. But, if she could land that new job, maybe... She wanted to love her work. To live her job, not do it.

Like much of Denver, the homes in Mystic Circle were a variety of styles, each house different. She’d passed the small house named “Fanciful,” the Spanish-influence two-story with orange-tiled roof; the redbrick four-square with the many window-paned porch and neared the top of the Circle and the Castle. She walked quickly, the day dying faster than she’d anticipated with thick gray clouds blocking the sun.

A movement caught her eye and she glanced toward the round center park.

The first thing she noticed about the pale man with the pale hair was that he was tall. The next was that he had pointed ears...like a Vulcan...or an elf...and a certain shimmer like a famous vampire.

Halloween was a month and a half away.

He stepped from the shadows of the tall pine, almost as if he’d come from the pond, but there was no splashing.

“Kiri Palger?”

How did he know her name? She hadn’t seen him before, and though she hadn’t met all her neighbors, she knew them by sight.

Kiri scanned the area. No one was around. Mystic Circle was safe, but... He didn’t live here and he’d been lurking in the dark shadows of the park. She backed up to the far edge of the sidewalk. No help from the Castle residents—the owners were never home.

“I was told to approach you tomorrow, but since you’re here tonight...” He shrugged elegant shoulders under a thick capelike coat.

Not overly broad shoulders, a runner’s body. And not threatening, but she’d moved from a rather dangerous neighborhood and was wary.

Should she yell? The houses were old and nearly soundproof. There were lights in several of the homes, and if she zoomed... But the guy had a runner’s musculature. She didn’t think she could beat him.

“Pardon me.” He dipped a hand in his pants pocket. When he brought it out—something funny about his hand, too, like he might have more joints than the norm or more flexible bones—he held out a card. “I’m with Eight Corp. Human resources.”

He put an odd spin on “human.” Had some sort of soft, lilting accent she couldn’t place.