Enchanted Ever After

His smile was slow and male. His eyes didn’t really linger on her. Not really. “For food? No.” He sat in the last chair, his trousers still with knife creases. Kiri felt a little wrung out, glanced down to see if the slight dampness between her breasts showed. No. Good.

“I am more accustomed to the...ah, game, than you.” He swiveled until he faced her and set his arm along the edge of the desk. The keyboard platform was still tucked under it.

“More accustomed to the game? You don’t strike me as a gamer.”

His smile frosted. “Not often in this alternate reality.”

“Huh.”

His gaze turned considering. “Perhaps I should say that I am more accustomed to a magical atmosphere.”

Like that made sense.

Jenni walked in with a steaming omelet. “Here’s a mushroom, spinach and cheese omelet for you, and an English muffin.”

Kiri stared. “I love mushrooms, spinach and cheese.” She always stocked all three items. Amazing that the kitchen here had something like that.

Jenni’s smile was close to a smirk. She set the plate, a paper napkin and a fork down on the desk beyond Kiri’s monitor. “Eat up. We’ll have to, um, generally keep track of the physical energy drain with regard to the virtual reality of the game.”

Scooting over to the meal, Kiri dug in, but only ate a scrumptious bite before replying. “Like I told Lathyr, losing weight while gaming is one hell of a marketing point.”

“Ah, hmm.” Jenni frowned as she returned to her own seat. Like Lathyr, she faced Kiri and put her arm on the desk. Unlike him, her fingers drummed on the polished wood. “Well, the hardware is very expensive. I’m not sure how widespread we’ll be disseminating the game.”

Kiri stopped midbite. This was her game, her career, her future. “What? It’s not going to be an online massive multiplayer game like Fairies and Dragons?”

Jenni’s brown eyes widened. “Yes, of course, the general software...and available in stores, too, to lead people online to Transformation. But the gloves and visors are currently quite proprietary intellectual property items.”

“Oh.”

“We may allow only some players to buy into the virtual reality aspect of the game,” Lathyr said.

Discrimination. For the rich? Kiri chewed the omelet. The flavor should have stayed the same, but it hadn’t. Bitterness on her own taste buds maybe. “Like who?” she asked.

Again Jenni answered smoothly. “Like those who do extremely well in the general game. This isn’t the only game to have tiers of players, according to who wants to pay and who wants it free,” Jenni pointed out.

“Oh,” Kiri repeated. She drank some raspberry fizzy water—it went unexpectedly well with the eggs. Her taste buds had perked up. “That’s all right then.”

Lathyr snorted.

Jenni chuckled. “I sense a discrimination by skill level, here.”

Kiri nodded. “Choice and skill. You make the choice as to how long and involved you want to be with the game, and develop your skill.”

“Meritocracy,” Lathyr said.

He actually sounded dubious.

“Americans believe in that, even though it isn’t true,” Jenni said, her accent British. And Kiri belatedly remembered that Jenni lived in Denver, but had grown up in England.

Kiri stuffed egg in her mouth, drank and hurriedly finished her meal. “I’m so sorry for this, eating on the job.”

Jenni shrugged. “Not a problem.” She glanced at Lathyr. “We’re easy enough on this project, and have some wiggle room.”

“Thanks.” Kiri stood and picked up the breakfast stuff. “Kitchen?”

“We’ll take care of that,” Jenni said easily. “I’ll show you the bathroom to wash up.”

“Thanks.” And was Kiri going to be embarrassed and repeat the word all day long? She put the plate, crumpled napkin and fork on the counter and followed Jenni down a still-empty hallway with a murmur of voices sounding only behind one door.

“This is the executive area and like many executives, ours work more out of the office than in it,” Jenni said, as if catching Kiri’s stares.

“Um-hmm,” Kiri said. She hadn’t ever worked on an executive floor so didn’t know what to expect.

“What do you think of the game?” Jenni asked.

Kiri didn’t have to fake a smile. “I really like the concept and the taste I got of it.”

“Good.” Jenni waved at the women’s bathroom door.

When Kiri had finished, Jenni was still in the corridor, talking on her cell. “That is correct. Later.” She hung up and smiled at Kiri, stuck the cell in a pocket. “Ready for full-immersion and to start play?”

Sounded a little daunting, but Kiri nodded. “Absolutely.”

Another wide smile with sparkling eyes. “Good.” Jenni actually rubbed her hands. “This project is going to be a winner.”

“I hope so.” And Kiri hoped she was a part of it.

Soon she was back in her chair, green chamois gloves on, visor wrapping around her head.

“Initiating game,” Jenni said, and Kiri heard it both aloud and as words vibrating from the visor.

To her right, Lathyr said, “I’ll accompany you initially once more.”

“Thanks.”

Meld magic swept Lathyr up and to the pocket dimension of the game. Rock slid through him, nastily. At least the transition was fast enough that it didn’t absorb his water magic. His toes—feet in shoes were not as hardy as his webbed ones—tried to dig into the earth, but he found himself standing on the stone bottom of a cave, a place just large enough for himself and Kiri.

“Wow,” she said, sounding breathless. He glanced at her temples and the tracery of veins he used to mark humans’ heartbeats...and had to glance down.

Her skin was brownish, what humans would think of as deeply tanned. Lathyr kept a mild look on his face. Like all Waterfolk the actual color—blue, green, gold—didn’t matter. Her ears were large with fleshy lobes, her features broad, her figure sturdy with not much waist but ample breasts and hips. Lovely, heavily lashed chocolate-brown eyes with split black pupils looked up at him as she smiled at him—with pointed red teeth.

Also beautiful was her golden-brown hair, the color of light honey with hints of true metallic gold and streaks of wheat-blond—all earthy comparisons for an earth elemental.

“You’re a dwarf,” Lathyr said.

She literally jumped, then appeared surprised as she didn’t rise in the air as much as a human would have.

Staring at her feet, she said, “A major earth elemental.”