Beautiful Salvation Read Free Page A

flooded the clearing as Saamal clenched his hands into fists. “She has slept for the last hundred years. I have sought out seers to discover how I might wake her up, but only one has had an answer. ‘It is the kiss of Death that will wake Aiyana.’”
     
    “She has to die?” Kirill’s cobalt eyes flashed as he focused more intently on Saamal. “If that is what has kept you from waking her, let me tell you with every confidence, death is not always an ending. In my personal experience, it has actually been quite empowering.”
     
    Eurydice eyed the vampire, searching his face for some trace that he was teasing. The vampire remained composed, observing Saamal intently.
     
    “I am Death.” Saamal drew himself up, in that moment looking every inch of his six foot height. “It was one of my names before…” His shoulders drooped as if he were a puppet whose strings had been severed and his gaze fell away from Kirill’s. “Thus far, I am obviously not worthy to wake her.”
     
    “So you’ve been trying to wake her with a kiss for the last hundred years, but it hasn’t worked.” Adonis tilted his head. “For my own curiosity, how well do you know Aiyana?”
     
    Saamal glanced back at the demon. “I have never met her. After her naming ceremony, my powers were severely reduced. I have many powerful enemies, and I did not want to draw them to Aiyana. I formalized our betrothal and then set out to find someone who could help me bolster my power until the curse could be broken.”
     
    “Her parents simply let you claim her?” Patricio raised an eyebrow.
     
    Eurydice shivered as the god focused that fathomless stare on the angel, his defenses once again in place as his face refined itself into an emotionless mask.
     
    “They did what I told them to do.” His voice was even, matter of fact.
     
    “Interesting.”
     
    The vampire’s musing and the rustling of paper drew everyone’s attention to Kirill. The Dacian prince had a scroll and a quill out and was taking notes. The scratching of the writing instrument over the parchment filled the air, dispelling some of the tension. His eyes had a glassy, far away haze to them and Eurydice could practically see the wheels in his head spinning. Her lips twitched in muted amusement. A master strategist, her vampire. If anyone could think of a way to break Aiyana’s curse, surely it would be him?
     
    “Does the girl know she’s…betrothed, to you?” Etienne crossed his arms, regarding Saamal like a father might view a prospective suitor for his child—a suitor with no money or social position. A suitor who may have been rolling around in a manure pit.
     
    Saamal opened his mouth then closed it. “No.”
     
    Adonis’ eyes sparkled and the corners of his mouth twitched as if he were fighting not to laugh. “So your plan is to wake this woman up and tell her to put on her wedding dress because you’re getting married?”
     
    “At the time the marriage was decided—”
     
    “By you,” Adonis interjected.
     
    Saamal pressed his lips into a thin line and inhaled slowly through his nose. “Yes. By me. At the time the marriage was decided, I was a different man. It was not in my nature to consider individuals. My concern was with the land and the people as a whole. More power for me meant more power for the land, and for the people.” He stepped closer to Adonis, crushing the grass beneath his boots. “I am an earth god, Adonis. I pour my blood into the land, I share blood with the kings and bind them to the earth they rule. I did not ask permission to perform my duties, to keep the kingdom and the land itself alive.”
     
    Seemingly unfazed, the demon peered up at Saamal, his body completely relaxed even with the god looming over him. “And on a grand scale, that makes perfect sense, but on an individual scale—on an individual female scale—‘marry me because I said so’ is more likely to get you a broken nose than a bride.”
     
    “The