The Changeling Soldier Read Online Free Page B

a fairy setting up an elaborate scheme to trick and trap an opponent. Had she really spent so long away from Court that a mortal could almost best her?
    The smart thing to do was quickly give Melody exactly what she wanted—a dress that would be talked about and remembered—sometimes playing along and letting her opponent think she was ahead was the best way to act. “You need to wear green.”
    “Green?” The girl looked aghast. While she wasn’t really a girl, in Ella’s mind she was and despite her hunger she had no patience or will.
    “Not dark emerald or anything so bold.” Those colors would wash her out.
    “But I want to stand out. Why not red or bright pink like that TV lawyer wore?” Melody almost sounded like she was pleading.
    The pink had been beautiful, but her dresses were one of a kind. She liked that the other women who’d worn her dresses had gone on to good things. A little bit of magic in her sewing went a long way. Some of them had become repeat customers. If they were kind, she gave them another touch of magic. Gracing their lives, even though they didn’t realize where their luck came from. She hoped the good she did would offset the times when she’d taken souls and made deals that had ended badly for the mortal.
    Making a deal with a fairy was a double-edged sword; one that a mortal couldn’t hope to hold without getting cut. They got what they asked for, but not in the way they wanted. Their enjoyment would be fleeting and followed by death, depression or bankruptcy. Fairy magic didn’t last in the mortal world, and like any fairy gem, it would turn to coal after a time.
    In the mortal world, she’d gambled in the finest royal courts, made and broken fortunes of courtiers and had taken more lovers than a mortal could imagine. Sometime over the last century she’d realized mortals were not elaborate dolls for fairies to trifle with. She’d grown a conscience and wasn’t entirely comfortable with its prickly presence.
    “There are other ways to stand out.” And not all of them good. “Pick a color that makes you shine, a cut that draws the eye so it lingers.” Ella moved a few of the sketches and fabrics around until she found something that pleased her. Then she held the swatch up to Melody’s face. She was wearing too much makeup, hiding the natural color of her skin. “I think this one. Some scattered beading across the front?”
    Ella could visualize it easily. While mortals marveled at her designs and the delicate work, in Annwyn she’d be nothing special. Not anymore. No one would want a favor from her. Her whole life in Annwyn had been built around who her father was, not who she was. In the mortal world, her life had been of her own making. She was going to miss it in Annwyn. The same way she missed Annwyn while here. Being immortal among mortals was lonely.
    Melody fingered the fabric. “Really? I’ll look enchanting in this?”
    “You will attract everything you want.” Ella smiled. Sometimes playing fairy godmother to the unsuspecting mortal was fun. This time she wasn’t so sure the mortal was unsuspecting.
    Melody didn’t appear to be convinced. “I’m not sure pastels are in.”
    “They will be after you wear them. Besides, fashion is about making you look fantastic, not about slavishly following.”
    “And I’ll look like a seductive nymph?”
    Again with the fairy reference, though she obviously didn’t know the difference between wild fae, the kind who still lived in the wilds of the mortal world, and the fairies who lived in Annwyn and ruled the gap between life and death. A nymph was a wild fae, and they rarely took human form.
    “With the right makeup, I think so.” Ella bit her tongue to keep from laughing. She doubted Melody would go all out and paint her skin green and mottled brown to look like a true nymph. “So, I’ll measure you up, take a deposit and come back next week for a fitting?”
    “That would be wonderful.” Melody beamed