The Unprevailant | Book 2 |

Chapter 8 ~ The Way of the Glitter

Candles flickered softly, inviting warmth and coziness, as the irangel men lounged comfortably on velvety plush sofas, drinking acai berry juice and enjoying fancy desserts.

Some men were wearing bathrobes, having just come out of the shower or steam room. A few were wearing fancy suits and clothing. Others preferred to wear what they wanted, whether it was stylish shirts and jeans, basic cargo pants, or business casual clothing, but none were in the nude – they privately reserved that explicit view for the ladies.

As they were talking and eating good food, enjoying one another's company, the door swung open to reveal Irina Acai.

Irina's super long, dark brown hair was adorned with a sparkly violet purple ribbon that matched her glittery long-sleeved princess style violet purple dress. Her sparkly light purple heels made an elegant noise on the smooth marbled floor as she ran inside the men's lounge room.

A tirade of hedgehogs followed Irina, surprising the irangel men when they exclaimed, "How could you, Irina! You destroyed the strawberry garden!"

"I didn't mean to!" Irina said in response, narrowly missing a stylishly suited Cydtin holding a cup of coffee.

Irina ran directly into Demian, who started smiling when he heard the thoughts of why the hedgehogs were chasing Irina. Hedgehogs began poking at Irina's heels and biting at her dress, making Irina lean against Demian for protection. Irina murmured an apology as she started to go around Demian, but he held her by the shoulders, saying in amusement, "I think you should confront the yyoziki."

Yyoziki is the plural word for hedgehogs; yyozik is the affectionate term for hedgehog; and yyoz means hedgehog in Russian and Iredescent. The z was pronounced like the ge in the word gorge.

Civic used his telekinetic ability to gently pry the hedgehogs from Irina. "Hey, can you explain what's going on?" Civic asked Irina, wondering the reason for the commotion. Usually the hedgehogs followed Irina with love and adoration, with relaxed quills and noses raised in cheerful delight. Certainly not with spiked-up quills and huffy expressions.

Irina explained, "Ok so, the hedgehogs requested me to build them a replica of Mirror Castle with my glitter manipulation ability. I created the replica, but it expanded so much that it collapsed onto their favorite strawberry garden. One thing you should know about Iredescent hedgehogs is that they love strawberries, especially the tiny ones that grow in the wild."

"Yeah, and now the strawberry garden is drowning in glitter, entirely covered and too deep to dig through," a hedgehog said indignantly.

Irina reluctantly turned to face the angry hedgehogs. "My dear yyoziki, I apologize. I can't restore your strawberry garden, but I can remove the glitter and rebuild the castle, this time in a different location, and I can fortify it so that it won't collapse again."

"Apparently you mistook a glitter castle for a sand castle," another hedgehog muttered ruefully. "We can't enjoy our favorite strawberries because of the glitter."

Civic's brother Teran decided to step in, crouching in front of the hedgehogs. "Tell you what. I know of an irangel who can restore your strawberry garden and make it grander than it was before. He can even safeguard it from any future collapses and forces of nature like thunderstorms. What do you say, yyoziki?"

"We say yes, and no hugs for Irina," the hedgehogs said in response, haughtily lifting their noses in the air and turning to walk away.

Irina stared at the hedgehogs in astonishment before she retorted, "Fine! No warm hoodies for you to snuggle into either!" She turned away, her gaze falling upon the irangel men.