Beautiful Salvation (36 page)

The rustling of large leathery wings and a chilling breeze preceded a jovial voice. “Make sure you get lots of peppermint bark. Christmas isn’t Christmas without peppermint bark.”

Kirill cursed the entire
kingdom
of
Nysa
as Irina slipped from his arms to greet their guest with a warm smile on her beautiful red lips. If there was one thing he resented more than capitulating, it was being robbed of the reward his wife usually bestowed upon him after capitulating.

“Adonis, how wonderful to see you.” Irina glided over to envelope the prince of Nysa in a hug. “It’s been too long already.”

The demon’s wings wrapped around her as he happily reciprocated the gesture, the towering bone and leather almost swallowing Irina’s cloaked body in their folds. “Always a pleasure, Irina.”

“Adonis, you have exceptionally poor timing.” Kirill paused, the incubus’ words coming back to him as an afterthought. “What is peppermint bark?”

As Kirill repositioned himself to face his visitor, he noted with amusement that the dwarves were brandishing their mining equipment at Adonis. Small faced lined with wary distrust peered from the dusty atmosphere of the mine, the air stirred by the prince’s arrival. Pick axes and shovels hovered in the air before them, ready to fly at the intruder upon the slightest provocation. Kirill couldn’t help but wonder if the incubus prince had ever seduced one of the dwarf females in his wild days before he’d met his wife.
Or perhaps dwarves just don’t trust demons.

The demon’s wings twitched as he settled them against his back, his usual smile undeterred by the bristling dwarves. “Peppermint bark is delectable white chocolate sprinkled with shards of mint flavored candy canes,” Adonis explained. He tilted his head, eyebrows furrowing at Kirill. “Which, in retrospect, would be irrelevant for someone who doesn’t eat solid food.”

“It may behoove you to travel in more human form,” Kirill observed, gesturing for the dwarves to lower their pickaxes and get back to work. “Surely the wings are attention-grabbing enough, the horns are unnecessary?”

Adonis tilted his head, letting the firelight from the lanterns cast shadows on the large horns curling from his temples around the sides of his head before arching up into wicked points. “I spent years trapped in human form. If I choose to keep my own form now, then I don’t see how anyone could begrudge me that.” The demon slid his attention from Kirill back to Irina. “May I say, Irina, Ivy and I are both terribly excited about dinner tomorrow. It was such a pleasure to get your invitation.”

Kirill arched an eyebrow at his wife. “The invitations have already been sent out. Not exactly pining away as you waited for my answer, were you?” He shook his head. “I must have done something terribly wrong to imbue you with such confidence that you could get your way.”

Irina waved him off as she stepped back from Adonis. “I knew you would give me Christmas. You’re not nearly as frightening as you think you are.”

Kirill sketched a mental note to speak with Irina about brushing him off in front of his subjects. Bad enough he’d never been able to intimidate her, he did have a reputation he needed to keep up. He hadn’t had to kill anyone to maintain his reputations in ages, and it would be a shame if he had to start now.

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Jennifer Blackstream is a psychology enthusiast with both a B.A. and M.A. in Psychology. Her fascination with the human mind is most appeased through the study of mythology and folklore as well as any novel written by Sir Terry Pratchett.

Jennifer enjoys listening to Alice Cooper, trying new recipes (to which she will add garlic whether it calls for it or not), watching television with her family, and playing with her woefully intelligent young son. She lives in
Ohio
.

Jennifer spends most of her time drinking coffee from her X-Men mug and desperately trying to get all her ideas written down before her son can find that all magical button on her laptop to make her latest work vanish.

To learn more about Jennifer Blackstream and her novels, visit her website at
http://www.jenniferblackstream.com
.

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Beautiful Salvation

©Copyright Jennifer Blackstream 2014

Skeleton Key Publishing

Cover Art Elaina of For the Muse Designs © 2014

This is a work fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is purely coincidental.

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Published in 2014 by Skeleton Key Publishing,
Norton
,
Ohio
,
United States of America