Page 8 of Beauty

The queen sighs. “Yeah, well, I’ve been here and do this ona daily basis. Trust me, Kaj. The gruff one is always hiding his owninsecurities. I bet that one there thinks his scars make him unattractive.”

Lach goes a brutal shade of red. “I don’t talk about that. It’srude for you to mention it.”

Queen Meg studies Lach for a moment, not a hint of distasteon her face. “See, I told you. And they don’t. They’re actually quiteinteresting. They give you character. What do you think, Kaj?”

A sly smile comes over the brunette’s face. “I think helooks like a warrior. I find him very attractive. He is the First in thisgroup. He simply hasn’t taken his place.”

I need to get back to something else that was said. “I’m notgentle. For the gods’ sake, woman. Don’t be calling me such names. Do you wantto insult me?”

“You are gentle, Shim.” Lach has a smile back on his face.

“I bloody well am not.”

“I got to agree,” Duffy adds. “The last time you killed anogre, you didn’t even eat the heart. Soft.”

“Ogre gives me indigestion.” I’m not soft. I’m fucking not.I just had trouble with my gut at times.

Kaja’s eyes go wide. “See, Meg, he got to eat the ogre.”

“No one’s eating ogres.” Dante Dellacourt slides an armaround his wife’s waist. “Put it out of your mind. And if I see you chasing thebrownies, you’ll be over my lap.”

Dante Dellacourt is a celebrity in his world. Lach and Ispent some time on the Vampire plane being educated in more ways than one. Weattended what the vampires called University, and we were trained by ourcousin, Julian, in the dark arts of Dominance and submission.

A vision of beautiful Bronwyn tied up and trussed for ourpleasure washes over me.

“Don’t.” Lach leans in, his harsh whisper pulling me out ofmy thoughts.

Sometimes having a twin who can practically read my mind isirritating.

“Come along, Kaj. We need to settle into our rooms. We’regoing to have dinner in a bit. Your Highnesses, I look forward to meeting withyou.” Dante leads his wife away, but Kaja turns, giving us both a smile.

Meg waves to her friend, and then her attention focuses onus. She points at the men left standing in the foyer. “All right, I’ll tell youabout our party. Obviously, those two are my husbands. I think it’s safe to sayCian is the gentler of the two. He would never ever eat an ogre heart, but youcould talk Beck into it. You know your cousin. I assume you know Mr. Taggart.”

“He’s the head of Julian’s security, though I heard he’splanning on starting his own company.” I briefly met the big blond man a longtime ago. “I don’t know the other.”

“The vampire with them is named William Roan,” the queenexplains. “He leads a group of mercenaries.”

“Cash-poor royal?” It’s a good bet. Vampires aren’t the mostcompassionate people. When a vampire family loses its fortune, they tend tolose everything. Many commit suicide rather than move to the lower levels oftheir great cities, but some, like William Roan, find another way to replacetheir lost honor. They take up the sword, or in this case, most likely a wholebunch of high-tech sonic weapons. Taggart started the same way. Julian has asoft spot for those who fight their way back up the ladder.

The queen nods. “Yes. He’s also hungry for a consort, soit’s a testament to his loyalty to your cousin that he’s not fighting for theother side. The same with Taggart and his group. I know many of themilitary-style groups on the Vampire plane have thrown in with the government.Torin’s promised the royals one hundred consorts. After a thirteen-yeardrought, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

Vampires, the royal ones, require a consort to suspend theaging process. They do this through the act of feeding from consort blood.Gods, I want to taste my wife. Just like that my damn fangs come out.

Meg giggles a bit, taking another sip of her drink. “Itlooks like you have that trouble here, too. Why haven’t you taken a consort?”

“Because we already have a bondmate.” The words come out ofLach’s mouth sounding dismissive, but I understand. He’s sure the queen won’tbelieve us either. Perhaps the queen is right. Lach is the one with all theinsecurities. But then again, he’s also the half who doesn’t mind a little ogreheart when the occasion calls for it.

“The princess in the tower?” Queen Meg asks.

It’s what we called her now. We know her name. We’ve alwaysknown her name, but there are too many ears who can hear the secret. BronwynFinn is safer dead. I might be softer than my brother, but I’m not a fool. EvenTorin the Wretched Asshole has spies.

“Julian told you. He doesn’t believe us.” I look at ourcousin, who’s laughing at something one of the others said. Julian isridiculously wealthy, ruthless, and intensely perverse. He fits right in withthe Unseelie. And Julian was smart enough to figure out a way to get his ownconsort off the closed Seelie plane. He was set to wed a young bondmate namedDaniella when the war occurred. Nothing so simple as a bloody civil war everstopped Julian Lodge. He has his bondmate, and he didn’t blink an eye when shecame to him with an extra. Her servant, a young man named Finn, stowed away andfought to remain by her side. In true Julian Lodge fashion, he simply took themboth, and now everyone is happy.

I can’t find my bondmate because I can’t convince my fatherthat she’s still alive.

What if her brothers prove to be more reasonable?

“How old are you?” Meg asks.