Wicked Whispers by Nina Bangs

stone by stone. The castle needs more powerful wards.”
    Murmur shrugged. “So why don’t you take care of that?”
    “She won’t let me. Sparkle and Ganymede don’t trust me enough.”
    “You worked for their enemy, so, yeah, I can understand their distrust.” Murmur didn’t try to hide his dislike.
    “That has nothing to do with the castle’s safety.” Zane’s expression said he wasn’t a fan of Murmur either.
    “Maybe Holgarth can—”
    Zane didn’t give Ivy a chance to finish. “My father is a powerful wizard, but he isn’t strong enough to create the wards the castle needs.”
    She didn’t have any other ideas to offer, so she walked over to the computer and sat down. Zane and Murmur positioned their chairs on either side of her. “Let’s take a look at these e-mails.” It shouldn’t take too long to answer them. How many could there be? She just hoped she could get away with general answers. And if she messed up, it was Sparkle’s fault for not giving her some directions.
    She put in Sparkle’s password, clicked enter, and waited for the e-mail list to appear. It appeared. She stared. “Crap. Is this even possible? She has two thousand unanswered messages? How am I supposed to answer all these?”
    “One message at a time.” Murmur reached over to open the first one.
Hi Sparkle,
I was so happy when you hooked me up with Sidney. You can see from my photo that I created a new me. Everything was perfect. The sex was incredible. I fell in love with him. But then I found out he hunted defenseless animals so he could put their heads on his wall. I told him I couldn’t live in a house filled with dead animals. He broke up with me. Sparkle, he loved his ten-point buck more than me. Now I’m so sad. What should I do?
Totally depressed,
Sally
     
    Zane muffled his laughter. She suspected Murmur was doing the same. Jerks.
    Ivy stared at Sally’s photo—really short body-hugging dress that gave new meaning to cleavage, and stilettos with heels high enough to give Sally a nosebleed. Sidney never had a chance.
    “What am I supposed to tell her?” Ivy had no desire to mess around with someone’s broken heart. “I can answer business mail. I can’t answer this.” Ivy looked at Murmur.
    Murmur smiled. “I can channel Sparkle as well as anyone. I’ll take care of this one.”
    Ivy changed places with him and then watched him type his answer to Sally.
Sally,
Accept my deepest sympathy, and now suck it up. Sidney was a loser. He didn’t deserve you. Forget him.
Concentrate on the positive. You look hot, lady. Think of Sidney as a practice game. You know the rules now, so go out and get another man. Just make sure you vet the next guy a little better.
Stay sensual,
Sparkle Stardust
     
    “That is so cold.” Ivy was horrified.
    “That is so Sparkle.” Murmur didn’t sound too concerned. “If you intend to work for her, you have to think like her.”
    “I’ll never do that. I want my seat back.”
    Murmur moved without commenting.
    She opened a few more e-mails. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll answer these if it saves one person from the kind of answer Sparkle would give. It’ll take a long time, though. I’ll have to think about my answers, make sure I’m giving people the right advice for their situations. But it’ll be my advice, not Sparkle’s.”
    Ivy frowned. This would be a monumental job. “I’ll print out twenty of these and take them back to my room so that I can really get a feel for their problems.” She waited as the printer did its thing.
    “Oh, good grief.” Zane shook his head. “This isn’t that deep.”
    She glared at him.
    “Okay, here’s what I’ll do to help you. I have some free time. I’ll go through these and answer only the ones thanking Sparkle for her awesome advice. Will you trust me to do that much for you?”
    Ivy glanced at Murmur. His narrowed-eyed expression said he wouldn’t trust Zane to take out the trash. For a moment, she wondered why he