by Madison Faye
Isla was still curled in my arms, her hand tracing my muscles and her lithe little body so warm against mine, and I scowled at the distraction of the phone. My teeth gritted, and the red anger came bubbling back up.
Fuck.
For one fucking second, I was pretty sure I’d been cured. For one moment, with her, laying in the afterglow of that moment of making her come and spurting my seed cross her belly, I’d been me again. No rage, no anger, no beast lingering beneath the surface. The phone brought him back though. The distraction killing whatever break in the clouds I was starting to see.
I almost tossed the fucking thing over the railing, when I noticed who was calling.
Cade.
“What,” I snarled.
“Logan.”
“Yes?” I hissed.
“Your presence is missed, my friend,” he said, his voice low and measured.
“Deal with it. I’ll catch up with you later—”
“Your disappearance has been noticed,” he hissed. “As has Princess Isla’s.”
My jaw tightened.
“Logan.”
“Yeah?”
“Have you doe something supremely stupid?”
“How much time do I have?”
I could hear Cade swear under his breath. “They may or may not be going room to room at this very moment.”
Fuck
“I’ll meet you by the main entrance in ten.”
I could hear my friend blowing air through his lips. “Lucian isn’t the forging type, buddy. If you’ve been screwing around with his daughter and just trying to get your dick wet—”
“It’s nothing like that,” I roared, startling Isla almost off my lap. I quickly locked eyes with her, my arm holding her tight. “Sorry,” I whispered into her ear.
She just smiled. And again, that light came through the clouds.
“Get moving, Logan,” Cade hissed. The line went dead.
“Isla.”
I met her eye. “We have to move, now.”
“What’s going on?”
“Your father’s guards are looking for you.”
Her eyes went wide, the color leaving her cheeks.
“For us actually.”
“Oh my God!”
She stood, quickly, trying to straighten her dress. I hated that this was ending this way. Hell, I hated that this was ending at all, actually. But I knew the reality. If I was caught out here with her, like that?
I’d be leaving in a bag, without my cock, I was betting.
I yanked my pants on and glanced over the railing. Two stories. Fuck it. I turned and suddenly grabbed her, pulled her against me, and kissed her.
Hard.
I kissed her with fucking everything, melting into that damn kiss like it was my last breath of air.
“Stay here,” I said urgently. “If they find you, just tell them—”
“I was just getting some fresh air.” She said it coyly. “Dad knows I hate dances.”
“You hate dances, huh?”
“This one’s seriously turning my opinion.”
I grinned, kissing her again and holding her little body against mine.
“I’m not done with you.”
She blushed, her eyes wide as she nodded and looked up into my gaze. “Good.”
“Tomorrow,” I growled. “Fuck, no, tonight. Put a green light in your bedroom window or something and I’ll climb up and—”
“It’s at the top of the west tower,” she said with a wincing look. “Trust me, you’re not climbing that.”
I growled.
Suddenly we could hear a door banging open nearby, and voices barking her name on a neighboring terrace.
Shit.
“You should go,” she whispered.
“I will see you again,” I said tightly my eyes fiercely burning into hers. “And soon.”
“I know you will,” she breathed.
“Remember, Princess.”
I swung a leg over the side of the balcony and grabbed ahold of the ivy.
“You’re mine.”
I grabbed her, kissing her. “These lips are mine.”
“All yours,” she whispered.
“This,” she gasped as I cupped her pussy through her dress, making her whimper.
“This is mine.”
“Yes,” she husked.
“Soon, Princess Isla.”
There was a bang on the door, and with that, I was gone — over the edge, hand-over-hand and half jumping down the two stories to the ground. I was just behind the hedge as a light shone down, my pulse pounding.
Not from almost getting caught
From leaving her.
“The fuck were you,” Cade hissed, stepping down the front steps of the main palace entrance to meet me.
I nodded subtly at the two guards standing post at the bottom of the stairs before shrugging.
“Just came out for some air and a smoke,” I said casually, ignoring the fact that my bow tie was gone somewhere and my shirt was half untucked.
“You don’t smoke,” Cade muttered as he approached. He glanced sideways at the guards. “They see you leave, buddy?” he growled lowly so only I could hear.
“Leave it,” I hissed back.
My eyes suddenly dropped to the collar of his shirt, and I smirked.
“You fucking hypocrite.”
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“What is you’ve got some of her lipstick on your fucking collar, dick. Whoever her might be.”
He stiffened.
I liked busting one of the Charmings doing something bad. It reminded me they weren’t actually Ken dolls. It also was fun as shit to witness that took on their faces when you caught them with their hands in the cookie jar.
“Leave it,” he growled.
I chuckled.
“Well, at least you’re laughing now.”
I smiled. “Indeed I am.”
“We should go back inside. C’mon, the ball is still going.”
I eyed him. “We should get the fuck out of here, believe me.”
He scowled. “No, we shouldn’t, because it looks guilty.” He raised a brow at me. “Not like you’ve got anything to be guilty about since you were just out here enjoying the wonderful Avlion night air.”
I sighed.
“We go back inside, we mention that you were out here smoking or whatever. It looks better.”
“Fine, you’re the good boy.”
He frowned, and I eyed his collar again with a smirk.
“Well, or maybe not.”
He grinned before quickly hiding it.
“That was quite a stunt,” he muttered as we headed back to up the stairs. “You really run out of one of King Lucian’s exclusive balls with his fucking daughter?”
I didn’t say a word. Because I had. I’d run off with her alright, and I’d found something I never thought I’d ever find again. And now I was running back to her.
Because I’d gotten a taste, and I wanted more of that.
Hell, I needed more of her everything.
9
Isla
I was glowing. Buzzing, really. After my father’s guards, along with his head captain walked out onto the terrace to find me alone and busy innocently reading a book on my phone, the alarm was called off.
My father and my mother both gave me strange looks when I was escorted back to the ball, but when I just plainly said I’d been bored, they got it. My father smiled, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
“You know tonight’s important, Isla.”
“I know, I just—”
“You just love your books, I know.” He smiled at me, bringing a hand up to stroke my hair. I was glad neither one of them mentioned or noticed that my big dramatically pinned up hair was now free and cascading down my shoulders.
“I’m glad I have a smart woman for a daughter. I just want the best for her.”
“I know, daddy,” I said with a smile.
“I was worri
ed, you know.” His brow furrowed. “I saw your choice in dance partners.”
“Oh?”
His jaw tightened. “Mhmm.” His eyes focused sharply on me. “Stay away from that one, Isla.”
“Who, Prince Logan?”
“Yes, him.”
“Daddy he’s really not so—”
“He’s a brute. A savage.”
“Dad, he’s been cursed.”
He rolled his eyes. “You don’t believe that garbage, do you Isla? He’s just a mean-tempered ruler who blames some witch story as an excuse for his horrible behavior.”
“Daddy, he’s not—”
“Well I’m happy to have just been told that he was outside by the main gates, smoking or something, not with my daughter.”
“Nope,” I said quickly, a shiver running down my back. “Not with me.”
“Good, keep it that way. You’re such a good girl, Isla.”
Except good girls don’t walk around a royal ball without any underwear on.
It was a horrible, naughty, sudden thought, but there it was. Because there I was, back at the royal ball, sans panties. Logan had torn them from me, and I’d kicked them under the stone bench when he’d left.
Panty-less, and covered in his sticky cum.
I felt so dirty, and yet so alive. And I was dying to tell Ilana and Imogen about it all. As I scanned the room, I noticed Adele quickly making her way through the crowds and the dancers to get to where I stood by my parents. She looked strange, like she was hiding something. Her eyes were wide, and her cheeks were flushed.
“Hey!” I grinned at her. “Have you seen Ilana or Im—”
She shushed me with a look, raising her brows at my parents before nodding me away.
“Where’d they sneak off to?” I whispered when we were away from earshot.
Adele’s eyes were wide and there was this glow about her. I suddenly dropped my eyes to her neck and gasped.
“Adele Thompson White!”
She went red, quickly bringing a hand up to her neck.
“Where have you been?” I hissed. “And with who?”
“Me?” she squealed, still blushing fiercely. “Where have you been?”
“Nowhere,” I said quickly.
“Nowhere with Prince Logan?”
I blushed, and there was no way I was even going to hide it.
Adele’s jaw dropped. “Oh my God Isla! Are you okay?”
I bit my lip, the heat flushing into my cheeks.
“I’m very okay,” I gushed with a big stupid grin on my face.
I eyed her bruised neck again. “Those are totally hickeys.”
“They are not,” she said primly.
“Where’re my sisters?”
Adele’s eyes went even wider, as if that was even possible at this point.
“What? Tell me!”
Her face went even redder, like she was utterly scandalized. “Isla,” she whispered, leaning close. “Ilana’s with—”
“Are you enjoying the dance, girls?”
We both jumped back at the sound of my mother’s voice. We whirled to see her smiling with a glass of champagne in her hands.
“It’s lovely, Your Highness,” Adele said quickly
My mom laughed. “Right, public event. The Highness stuff.”
Out of the spotlight, and out of events like this, my mother was just Jessica to Adele and other close friend and family. Just like my dad was just Luc. They were actually pretty cool parents, which couldn’t have been easy with being regents of a Kingdom and all that. But you hear stories of modern royalty being ass-backwards and weird and cold and disconnected. My parents were none of those things, just strict about boys around their daughters.
“Well, enjoy!” She winked at both of us. “Go find some cute dance partners! That’s why we’re here isn’t it?”
“Going to find yourself a dance partner, Jessica?” Adele said conspiratorially, eliciting a grin from my mom.
“Oh, I’ve got a great one.” She smiled as she reached over and hooked an arm through my father’s elbow, whirling him around with a surprised smile on his face. “Shall we?”
He beamed his most kingly smile as he took in my mother. “As my queen commands.”
“Those two,” Adele said with a laugh as they walked off to the dance floor.
“I know, gross.”
“I think it’s sweet.”
“They’re not your parents.”
“True. So?”
I quickly looked away, feigning ignorance. “What?”
“Spill it!”
“There’s nothing to spill” I said primly, despite my mind immediately going to what was spilled all over my tummy and my pussy earlier.
“Liar.”
I groaned. “Adele, I’m not—”
I froze. Because right then, I looked up. Right then is when I looked across the ballroom, and found my eyes immediately held captive.
By him.
There, standing in the doorway across the ballroom, his eyes narrowed right on me like I was prey, was my beast.
And he looked hungry for more.
So was I.
10
Isla
That said, I didn’t get a chance to dance with him. Or talk to him, at all.
It was like things kept interfering to keep us apart. My body yearned for his touch, and our eyes were almost constantly locked and sending little blazes of heat and desire across the room. But there was always my father, some advisers, other members of the court, or some dumb prince I had no interest in being pushed on me.
And despite my father’s off-hand comment about his guards having spotted Logan outside, I couldn’t help but notice a set of guards following my beast’s every move, three paces behind him all the time.
The suspicion was there, and the guilt was plastered all over my face as I stood there having boring conversations with boring princes.
All I wanted was my prince.
My dark prince.
My beast.
I wanted his hands on me. I wanted to feel his mouth on me again. I wanted mine on him.
And I wanted to let it all go with him. I knew how crazy that sounded, what with having just met him, and his reputation, and the fact that my father would have a royal freakout if he knew what Prince Logan and I had done earlier tonight.
Me wanting it to continue only made it worse.
…Or maybe better.
Eventually, the ball was dying down. My eyes locked with his as he paced like a caged animal across the room. I wanted nothing more than to run across the ballroom to him, but I knew that couldn’t happen.
Both my sisters were still missing, I’d long since lost Adele, and I was currently feigning a conversation with some prince whose name I couldn’t remember, all while trying to keep my eyes locked on Logan. He didn’t seem worried though as the music ended, and my father gave a final thanks while guests began to trickle out.
He just leaned against a wall, smirking at me, those hungry eyes devouring me.
But when would I see him again? How would I see him again? How would I even get in touch with him? For a moment, another pang lanced through me — a darker, more vicious thought.
He wasn’t coming over across the dance floor, because he’d already gotten what he’d wanted.
It was a poisonous thought, and I knew it. I knew what I’d felt out there on that terrace was real, and I refused to allow horrible, barbed thoughts like that into my head.
But just the same, what happened now?
How could we be a we?
The dance ended, and then, he was gone.
Books.
Books would make everything better.
With a sigh, I sat back, letting myself sink onto the large, plush sofa in my bedroom, an e-reader in my hand. The doors to my own terrace were open across the room, and with almost all the lights off, the room was bathed in a soft white glow from the moon. A summer breeze blew in, tickling over my bare legs and arms —
still pink from my bath — and teasing up my nightgown.
I bit my lip and shivered.
What had I done earlier? I’d let myself get swept away by the most notoriously dangerous man in the kingdoms. The point of the ball had been to find a match, of course, but Logan Anders was the least eligible man imaginable. And with the curse, I wasn’t even totally sure he was entirely a man at all.
There was a beast inside of him. I’d caught glimpses of it tonight. I’d seen it when he looked at me like he wanted to devour me. I felt it when his huge hands scooped me up possessively, and when he’d growled as he’d claimed my body as his.
I’d met the beast tonight, but the thing was?
Well, the thing was, I wasn’t scared of that beast at all.
…I was drawn to it.
Except right now, I was very suddenly realizing how impossible us being us would be.
I’d texted both of my sisters, and Adele after the ball had ended, and I frowned as I glanced over at my phone. Still nothing back — from any of them!
My thoughts were interrupted by a creaking sound by the far wall of my bedroom. I froze, my head whirling around to stare wide-eyed at the bookcase covering the secret doorway that led to the emergency escape passage. This was a castle, after all, of course there were secret doorways and passages.
But even as secret passages go, this one was a total secret — meant only for me in case of a life or death emergency. The staff didn’t even know about it. Of course, I used it as a spare closet most of the time, but still.
No one should have been back there, and I could have sworn the sound I’d heard was footsteps. And for one brief second, I wanted to hope beyond any rational thought that it was him. I wanted to believe that somehow, despite the impregnable security of my father’s palace, despite having watched him be escorted from the castle earlier after the ball, and despite the fact that my room was way up at the top of the west tower, that the sound I was hearing was him.
But I knew that was impossible, just like I knew seeing him again, or there being anything further with that dark, tortured, beautiful man was impossible.
My heart started to crack all over again, when the shuffling sound came again from behind the bookcase. An icy feeling crept up my spine.