Hellebore’s Holiday by Viola Grace Read Free Book Online

he goes gold where you go more silvery.”
    “Oh wow. You really were a reindeer for a night.”
    “I really was.”
    A knock on the door stopped the party for a moment. Everyone turned as Amaryllis led the new arrival back into the group.
    Hellebore got to her feet. She recognized the breadth of his shoulders the moment he stepped out of the hallway. “Fetu!” She ran through the maze of people and flung her arms around his neck.
    He laughed and held her against him. “Hellebore. I am glad to see you with your loved ones.”
    She beamed and kissed him in front of everyone. Her mother gasped, Abby giggled and the pixies went wild.
    The pixies had been content to sit in the tree, trying on the tinsel for size. The energy that Hellebore and Fetu were putting in the air was too much for them. They spun around them and tied them together with bonds of magic.
    Hellebore pulled her lips from his. “Uh, I am stuck.”
    He smiled sheepishly. “Me, too.”
    Abby got to her feet and snapped her fingers. “Guys. Knock it off. Let them loose.”
    Hellebore heard one of the pixies chattering in defiance.
    Abby put her foot down. “Now, ladies. Back to the tree.”
    The pixies disappeared, and Abby started to pull at the strands. “Sorry about this. They get enthused during the kiss of true love.”
    “Uh, Abby, this is Fetu Larsen. Fetu, this is Annabeth Hanover, the Nexus.”
    “Nexus?” Fetu looked down at her, and he inclined his head before he looked down at Hellebore. “You did mention friends.”
    She smiled sheepishly and shrugged then dropped as the bindings dissolved under Abby’s touch.
    “Everyone, this is Fetu Larsen, the doctor at the prison. Fetu, this is my mom and dad, Amaryllis and John Anders. This is Laura and Verne, Seesee and Mislak, little Gaia, Abby and Xander, oh, and the gloomy gentleman in the corner is Gregori and the woman on his lap is Max. She didn’t even kill me for the insults I had to use to get her to take me being in Santa prison seriously.”
    She stood next to him, and he kept one arm around her shoulders. Her parents looked at her and smiled with the significance of the small gesture. She rolled her eyes and took his hand, bringing him to the kitchen for the eggnog.
    Even with two pixies doing cannonballs in the punchbowl, it was still pretty good.
    “The Nexus, the Oak Point Guard and the Vampire Guild Master’s apprentice, along with the most in-demand midwife in paranormal society. You do get around.”
    She blushed and enjoyed standing close to him with his arms around her. “Thank you for coming.”
    “I had to. I have to ask your father a question.”
    She stiffened. “What?”
    “Is that not how it is done amongst your kind? In human circles, it was common when I was last amongst them.”
    She sighed. “In today’s methods, you ask the lady first then her parents. Of course, in mer society, you would have to gain the Matriarch’s approval to approach a member of her line, but since she has disowned my line, that shouldn’t be an issue.”
    “Well, she is very interested in you.” His tone had a catch in it.
    “You didn’t?”
    “I did. The Matriarch will accept me as a mate for you. Now, I need to get your family on board, and then I can ask you. I do this so that there will be no stress on us from your immediate connections. Friends ebb and flow, family is forever.”
    She couldn’t argue with that. “Dad! Get in here!”
    She left Fetu to face the curious John Anders.
    Hellebore walked around the edge of the island and took turns fishing the drunk pixies out of the eggnog. The diving had spread, and now, there was a lineup of pixies on the edge of the punchbowl waiting their turn.
    Fetu spoke quietly to John, and they moved into the study.
    Max walked in, reached for the dipper for the eggnog, and when she saw the water ballet competition, she paused and started to watch. She jerked her head toward the door that Hellebore was watching. “What are they