Beautiful Salvation by Jennifer Blackstream

should not be anything to fear for you.”
     
    “Perhaps, but what about you?” Adonis mused.
     
    “What do you mean? I am not affected.”
     
    “Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. You live here, don’t you? This is where you stay?”
     
    “For the last few decades, yes. I stay here to make sure no harm comes to Aiyana.”
     
    “Well, constant exposure to this level of spell, regardless of who it’s supposed to affect, would be quite a strain. Maybe this is why you are always so…subdued?”
     
    The demon’s suggestion was interesting, though Saamal doubted its validity. It was more likely that the subdued nature Adonis referred to was a result of having half of his lifeforce sucked out of him.
     
    Etienne cleared his throat. “So everyone I encounter should be sleeping. No one here should be awake?”
     
    “Yes.”
     
    Etienne inclined his head once, tilted it side to side, stretching the thick muscles in his neck. The change came over his body in an invigorating rush of energy that Saamal could feel like a warm summer wind, filled with the scent of new leaves and wet earth. Saamal closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath. Being in the proximity of such a rush made his blood flow a little faster, his spirits rising ever so slightly. He opened his eyes in time to see Etienne’s muscles surge under his skin. Brown fur erupted along his flesh, swallowing his human skin in the pelt of a brown wolf. He fell to the ground, hands slamming into the floor as his legs snapped at the knees and bent the other direction, reforming into a quadruped’s form. He bowed his head, chest heaving as he breathed through the change. Sharp claws scrabbled at the stone floor and as the last twitch of his body heralded the completion of the change. He raised his snout and howled. He sniffed at the air and then took off, racing into the next room.
     
    “I assume the lovely Aiyana is in the tower.” Adonis puffed on his cigarette and gestured at the stairs. “Shall we proceed?”
     
    Saamal glanced at Adonis, a quirk in his eyebrow. “How do you know Aiyana is in the tower?”
     
    Adonis swept in the direction of the grand staircase in the center of the room. “The princess is always in the tower.”
     
    Another howl echoed around the castle before Saamal could formulate a proper response. A sudden chill raced down his back like the sharp slide of an icicle. The well of remaining power inside him opened wide and he drew deeply from it as he dashed through the grand hall, following the howl through to the kitchens and down into the servants’ quarters. His heart pounded as he finally dashed into the room the howl was originating from.
     
    Etienne, still in wolf form, was crouched inside the doorway, facing an unconscious servant. The werewolf’s lips were pulled back, white teeth bright in the dim light. The man he was agitated by was average height, as far as Saamal could tell from looking at him lying on the floor, his skin a honeyed brown, black hair cut short and close to his head. He was curled slightly on his side, seeming to have gone to sleep in the middle of dressing for his shift. He wore the uniform of a cook.
     
    “What is it?” Saamal demanded. “One of the cooks?”
     
    Adonis spoke from behind him. “He doesn’t seem any different than any of the others.”
     
    Suddenly, Etienne darted forward, closing his jaws on the footman’s hand in a vicious bite. The man screamed and shot up from the floor. Etienne released his hand and leapt back, still facing the footmen with a menacing sound rumbling in his throat.
     
    The servant clutched his injured hand to his chest and scowled up at Saamal. “You always were a beast, Jaguar King, but now you’ve really gone to the dogs.” The cook’s lip curled up at one side, as if amused by his own joke.
     
    Saamal opened his mouth to respond, but the words died on his lips as the footman’s appearance shifted. The chiseled, pale features darkened into a