When Tinker Met Bell Page 14
Eyes closed in bliss, Tinker smiled. “Ambassador-Boyfriend,” he clarified. “I’m sure Retcher would be proud of that too.”
“Of course he would,” said Hubble. “Especially after all the trouble he went to setting the two of you up in the first place.”
Tinker’s eyes flew open. Bellamy’s fingers stopped making their gentle circles on his head.
“Why are you both looking at me like that?” Hubble asked. “You’re weirding me out.”
“Retcher raised me and facilitated my admission to Harmswood,” said Tinker. “He’d never been here before. There was no way he could have known I’d become best friends with Bellamy. I didn’t even tell him about my feelings for her until last summer.”
“Shortly after which, you found yourself tapped to become Goblin King, the one man in all of Goblin City who can touch a fairy without being poisoned. Convenient, don’t you think?”
Bellamy slid down to sit on the arm of Tinker’s chair, hand over her mouth.
Natalie twisted the bit of tin on her necklace as she eyed them both. “You never put that together? Neither of you?”
Tinker shook his head. Beside him, Bellamy did the same.
“I may be a great director,” said Hubble, “but I could take a few pointers from that guardian of yours. He’s the tops.”
That explained Hubble’s deep bow to Retcher before leaving the Goblin City! Tinker had been wondering what prompted that, but he’d ultimately written it off as a general show of respect on behalf of the flamboyant kobold.
“I don’t know,” Natalie said. “I’d say dressing them both in costume and shoving them in a snow globe ranks pretty high up there as well.”
“Thank you,” Hubble mimed tipping the brim of an invisible hat.
“I still haven’t heard that whole story,” said Quin. “Looking forward to it.”
Bellamy’s hand dropped into Tinker’s chair and he slid his fingers in between hers. His dark green eyes met her brilliant blue ones, and he knew what was going through her mind without even speaking. They’d had this conversation once before, in a dream, where they discussed being pawns in everyone else’s games. They had chosen to be together. Bellamy, sitting here beside him now and holding his hand, was still choosing to be with him.
“Hey, Tinkerton!”
Tinker looked up to see a small pack of wolf-shifters passing through the common room. He mustered up the energy to respond with a decent amount of enthusiasm. “Hey! What are you guys doing back so soon?”
“Snow,” they said in unison.
“My family decided to go to Aspen,” said one were.
“Mine are in Stowe,” said another.
“Mine too,” said a third. “It’s just dumb. Everybody knows snow runs in the Falls are the best.”
“If you say so,” said Tinker. “I prefer my spot here by the fire.” He wrapped his arm around Bellamy to illustrate his point. The wolves whistled and howled teasingly. Bellamy’s blush was adorable.
“I hear you’re not a prince anymore,” said the first were.
“What happened?” asked the second. “Couldn’t cut it?”
Tinker smiled at the boys’ ribbing. The jabs and jokes didn’t sting like they might have only six months ago. Tinker had been on an amazing adventure and had done amazing things, and he’d come out the other side with a different perspective. These jokers—his friends—were completely harmless. Beneath their massive strength and claws and teeth, they were messed-up teenagers, just like him.
“You are right,” said Quin. “Tinker is no longer the Goblin Prince. I am. Be sure to get that straight.”
The wolf-shifters oohed and bowed comically to Quin.
“So what does that make you then?” the third were asked Tinker. “First place loser?”
Tinker opened his mouth to explain his exhaustive role as ambassador to Goblin City, but Hubble jumped in to answer instead.
“King,” said Hubble.
“What?” asked the weres.
“While Tinker was in Goblin City, he was king,” explained Hubble. “Once a king, retired or not, always king. That’s just how it works.”
“Oh, snap,” said Natalie.
Tinker shrugged. “He is right.” Sure, he’d been king for all of five seconds. He had never fully wielded the magic that was rightfully Quin’s. And now, without the crown, he was as human as Natalie. An ever-so-slightly green-tinted human.
But the rest of Harmswood didn’t need to know all the details.
The wolves all patted him on the back. “Way to go, man!”
“Congratulations!”
“Good to have you back, Tink. See you around.”
“Yeah, see you!” Tinker called after them.
“Well, how about that.” Bellamy slid down into Tinker’s lap and put her arms around his neck. “My boyfriend is a king.”
“Ambassador-Boyfriend King,” said Tinker. “Or would it be King Ambassador-Boyfriend?”
Bellamy smiled. “We’ll figure it out.”
Honestly, it didn’t matter what she called him. That smile of Bellamy’s made him feel a hundred feet tall. He was back at Harmswood where he belonged, surrounded by friends and love, with a bright future ahead for him and Goblin City alike.
It was the best day ever.
Want to Know More About Sam and Natalie?
The characters of Sam and Natalie originally appeared in a short story of mine called “The Were Four.”
“The Were Four” was written specifically for an anthology about were-beings. I had a great premise: Four super-lame teen were-boys have a terrible band, and they want to compete in a local Battle of the Bands. I even polled a panel audience at DragonCon that year and chose from the worst were-forms they could come up with: a platypus, a mosquito, a sloth, and a piranha.
I wrote frantically, down to the wire to hit the deadline for submissions. I giggled as I hit Send on the email. My story was different and hilarious and awkward and EPIC.
And then I did the thing they tell you not to do: I read the comments. Buried beneath the submission guidelines, the editor said she was looking for “particularly dark stories.”
Yeah. That would have been helpful to see in the actual guidelines.
“The Were Four” was pretty much the opposite of “particularly dark.” The editor politely declined publication. I tried several other venues, but no dice. I was devastated that my fabulous little story wouldn’t see the light of day.
Eventually, I published enough short stories to create a collection: Wild & Wishful, Dark & Dreaming. In that book I included three stories that were never able to find a home. “The Were Four” was one of those stories.
Fast forward to 2017.
When I was writing the D&D coffee shop scene in Chapter Two, I knew I needed more players than just Tinker and Hubble. It wasn’t more than a heartbeat before Sam and Natalie sat down at that table, like they’d been there the whole time.
I also made “The Were Four” available as a stand-alone story, for those who are simply more curious about Sam and Natalie. I may have loved them before, but I really love them now. I hope you do too!
Click here to read “The Were Four.” And please let me know what you think!
xox
~Alethea
Acknowledgments
As always, a million thanks to Kristen Painter, a fantastic woman who created an even more fantastic world. Bless you for letting me play on your playground.
Venti thanks to Port St. Java, local coffee haunt and writing hangout for a few of us Rocket Girls here on the Space Coast. Here’s to a great future of words written and caffeine consumed on comfy couches! (And if you borrowed this book from the Local Author shelf, please do us all a favor and put it back when you’re done…)
Huge hugs to Keri Knutson, Kat Tipton, and Miya Jones, the team of goddesses who make sure my books and I are in the best shape possible!
And to Casey, my Bellamy, whom I fell in love with at the ripe
old age of eleven. Best friend and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Princess to my Queen of Thieves, and partner on countless adventures—the ones that included dice and the ones that included a stage.
It was Casey who taught me to be an optimist. To see beyond the false walls made by clubs and cliques and create my own tribe. Even now, after so many years, she sees the best inside of me and inspires me to create magic.
May our friendship live on forever in these pages, and the thousands more to come.
Want your very own HALLOWED BEAN Merchandise?
Visit Kristen Painter's
official Nocturne Falls
Swag Shop!
* * *
zazzle.com/kristenpainter1
About the Author
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Alethea Kontis is a princess, a fairy godmother, and a geek. She’s known for screwing up the alphabet, making horror movies with her friends, narrating the occasional story, and ranting about fairy tales on YouTube.
Alethea’s published works include novels, novellas, and companions in the universes of Arilland, Nocturne Falls, Barefoot Bay, and Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunters. She is also responsible for the AlphaOops picture books; Haven, Kansas; Wild & Wishful, Dark & Dreaming; The Wonderland Alphabet; and Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome. Her short fiction, essays, and poetry have appeared in over fifty anthologies and magazines.
Alethea’s YA fairy tale novel, Enchanted, won both the Gelett Burgess Children’s Book Award and Garden State Teen Book Award. Enchanted was nominated for the Audie Award in 2013 and was selected for World Book Night in 2014. Both Enchanted and its sequel, Hero, were nominated for the Andre Norton Award. Tales of Arilland, a short story collection set in the same fairy tale world, won a second Gelett Burgess Award in 2015. The second book in The Trix Adventures, Trix and the Faerie Queen, was a finalist for the Dragon Award in 2016.
Princess Alethea was given the honor of speaking about fairy tales at the Library of Congress in 2013. In 2015, she gave a keynote address at the Lewis Carroll Society’s Alice150 Conference in New York City, celebrating the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. She also enjoys speaking at schools and festivals all over the US. (If forced to choose between all these things, she says middle schools are her favorite!)
Born in Burlington, Vermont, Alethea currently lives and writes on the Space Coast of Florida. She makes the best baklava you’ve ever tasted and sleeps with a teddy bear named Charlie. Find out more about Princess Alethea and the magic, wonderful world in which she lives here: https://www.patreon.com/princessalethea
Want to know when Alethea has a new book out? Sign up for the newsletter! http://eepurl.com/YSmS1
Connect with Princess Alethea Online!
www.aletheakontis.com
akontis@gmail.com
Also by Alethea Kontis
The Truth About Cats and Wolves
Haven, Kansas
Fish Out of Water
Wild & Wishful, Dark & Dreaming
Diary of a Mad Scientist Garden Gnome
Tales of Arilland
Enchanted
Hero
Dearest / Messenger
Trixter
Trix and the Faerie Queen
AlphaOops: The Day Z Went First
AlphaOops: H is for Halloween
The Wonderland Alphabet
Beauty & Dynamite
The Dark-Hunter Companion (w/Sherrilyn Kenyon)
The Simi’s ABCs (w/Sherrilyn Kenyon)
Want to know more about the Wonderful World of Princess Alethea? Get info about new releases & sales, original essays, Princess Alethea merchandise, and videos!
Click here and FOLLOW Alethea on Patreon!