Page 1 of Feeding Beauty (The Lost Girls #5)

Best Seat in the House

TALON

A urora’s face twists into an expression of concentrated ecstasy as he licks up her dripping sex with the fervor of a starving man.

Through the slats of the viewing screen, I watch him spit on the pink petals of her slit before guiding two fingers inside her.

Aurora cries out, hips bucking as her eyes glaze over.

I swallow hard and try to focus on my duty instead of wrapping my hand around my rock-hard cock.

There’s time enough later to run my aching dick in my palm as I replay every micro expression the princess makes as her thighs shake and quiver under the man’s onslaught.

She reaches up to pluck her pert pink nipples, desperate to give herself relief.

As always, the sight of her burns into my brain, adding to the never-ending catalogue of these moments.

If it were me, I’d make sure my fingers were slightly curled. That evokes the most delicious sounds from her.

Her long waves of cotton candy pink hair fan about her head.

Her golden skin glistens from the sheen of sweat covering her, turning her luminescent.

Thin ropes of diamonds glitter in the low light and drape her body.

The deliberate way they gather at the curve of her hips and slide down the slopes of her thighs creates an illusion of luxury. They might as well be chains.

When she first stepped out from behind the curtains and invited the John to her bed, she appeared like a goddess bestowing a gift upon a mere mortal. Touching her, tasting her, is a prize he doesn’t deserve but is given anyway.

He’ll pay the price for it though.

“I still can’t believe it,” the John says, shaking his head, staring down to watch his fingers slide in and out of her perfect body.

“I can’t believe I finally killed my bitch wife and here I am.

I thought I was going to be taken to the monster of the castle everyone whispers about.

” A half-hiccup, half-laugh of disbelief jerks his ribcage.

“But I’m about to have sex with the untouchable Princess of the Realm of Roses.

If I’d known this would be the prize, I would have killed that useless whore years ago. ”

Behind the partition, I don’t have to hide the sneer that spreads across my face.

You fucking idiot.

Aurora’s lashes flutter, a languid blink that could be mistaken for pleasure as he climbs up her body. Too wrapped up in his own need, the John doesn’t notice the unsettling cold beneath her inviting smile as she meets his gaze.

I know her sense of justice wars with her disgust every time we have to do this. Her feelings knot and tangle within her until they’re an impossible boulder crushing her chest.

I feel it too.

Pushing her legs up, he slides his hard dick into the princess as he begins pumping furiously. She cries out louder and louder.

His ass cheeks ripple from the continued impact into her perfect body.

Aurora claws at the back of his head as he kisses her fiercely. Little whimpers and moans emit from her throat.

My fingers unconsciously tighten through the slats.

It’s going to take more than that for her to come.

He doesn’t have the right angle to do the job. She’s going to need to change position if she wants to finish this.

The princess uses her knees to push him out of her and guides him onto his back. She crawls over to straddle him on the massive silk covered bed. The many candelabras flicker with innocent warmth all around them.

“Look at me,” she says to the John, spearing her own fingers through those glistening lips. She spreads her fingers apart, putting herself on display.

I lick my lips, mouth suddenly dry. My tongue is sandpaper as I focus on her visible clit. It’s red, aching, and so very needy. If I could just. . .

Both hands now gripping the slats, I watch, fixated on her with a familiar hunger so deep I sometimes think it will kill me.

“Fae fucks, that’s hot,” the John breathes, taking in the salacious view.

Teasing them always makes it more delicious.

It’s been nearly an hour of teasing. This one has a lot of fortitude for being a scumbag murderer.

“Tell me you want this,” she says in a whisper, her gaze lowered.

Oh, Aurora.

Something in my chest twists with extreme violence.

“More than anything, princess.” His thumbs rub along her hips as he gulps.

With a slight nod to herself, she slides down, impaling herself.

They both let out a shout as he fills her again. Aurora leans over to kiss him deeply before sitting up. Bracing her palms on his chest, she sets the perfect rhythm.

Those gray eyes turn up, colliding almost violently with mine. Despite the slats, I know she sees me.

My breath freezes in my chest. Her irises are the color of light passing through smoky quartz, and I know them better than my own. My heart swells and beats so hard it threatens to break my ribs so it can fall at her feet.

Aurora bites her lip, and I know that means she found the angle where she can repeatedly rub her clit roughly against his pelvic bone.

Her pink hair is wild and tousled, a waterfall down her back, making her look all the more a sex goddess. The John curls up to capture one of her nipples in his mouth.

Fae fucking hell . What it would be like to know how they taste...

Her pace picks up as she rides him harder, faster. Her gaze never leaves mine, and I don’t look away.

I’m with you.

I’ll always be with you.

It’s okay.

I don’t say the words out loud, but I know she hears me all the same.

Her breath hitches and her rhythm stutters.

“Wait, what?” The John has finally noticed the glow around her body.

He must feel it now. Maybe he even knows what’s coming, but I doubt it.

Those gray eyes begin to glow pink, several shades more intense and vibrant than her hair.

“Wait, stop,” he begs. His voice has already turned thready as she feeds on him.

She’s been feeding on him. He just hasn’t noticed. Like taking sips from a glass of water before she downs the rest of her cup’s contents in one go.

Her expression glazes over as she sucks in her fill, feeding off the John’s lust, the sexual energy crackling between them, circling like static.

He only now understands he’s dying. Fingers claw weakly at her shoulders, but his hips still move in tandem with her like he can’t help himself.

“ Ungh .” Aurora cries out, throwing her head back, coming with a burst of invisible energy. Gooseflesh rises along the nape of my neck as it washes over me.

And then it’s done.

The silence presses in, the room’s color drained to gray. Only the candles flicker.

Aurora rises, careful not to look at the John’s face as she steps down from the dais. I move from my place in the shadows, her robe in my hand. Black claws extend from my fingers and pierce the fabric.

When had that happened?

Aurora turns away from me, and I help her into the silk garment. I’m careful not to touch her as I drop it onto her shoulders.

“Does it help?” I ask. “Asking them if they want it?”

There’s no answer for a long beat. I wish she’d face me.

Aurora finally twists to catch my eye. There’s an unnatural coldness in her gaze. A hardness she’s constructed and keeps reinforcing, just to stay sane. A spark of resentment in her expression at my question.

“I’m just saying, he deserved it. They all deserve it. I make sure of that, Aura.”

I'm not sure if it’s my words, or my nickname for her that does it, but that cold resentment cracks. I see the deep grief that’s plagued her since the day I met her.

The arousal still coursing through my body is immediately extinguished.

“I know you do,” she says quietly. Her gaze slides over to the John’s corpse.

I step in the way, blocking her view. “Hey. Don’t.”

Suddenly we are inches away. She smells like sex and candy, and shamefully my dick twitches as blood rushes south again.

Those impossibly long, dark lashes sweep down as she takes in my bare chest. Obsidian black scales cover half my shoulder and sweep down over the front of my body, fissures of bright red heat cracking through them.

“I’m not sure how much longer I can do this. I’m not sure how much longer they can keep me in this castle.” She says it to my sternum, not looking up.

“Your parents care about you. I care about you.”

Her lashes sweep up at that, brows snapping together. “Don’t say that. I can’t hear that right now.”

Aurora jerks away to storm off. On instinct I tug her robe, and she twirls around. Too late I’ve realized my mistake. She loses her balance and trips. My throat closes off as my muscles tighten, bracing for impact. Helplessly I watch as her hands land on my bare chest.

The startled animalistic scream of pain she releases lodges itself between my ears in a way that will forever haunt me.

She scrambles away and pulls her hands into her body.

I move toward her, overwhelmed by the need to soothe her pain. She jerks, and I freeze.

“Let me see.” It comes out a desperate rasp.

“It’s fine, Talon. I’m fine,” she says hurriedly.

“Aurora.” Her full name bursts out of me with equal parts command and fear.

With a sigh, she unfurls her trembling hands from her chest. She winces. Violent red blisters mar her burned palms from where she made contact with my flesh and scales.

I’m a fae fucking idiot. Self-reproach hammers my brain and body until I’m almost forced to my knees.

“I’m sorry.” I retreat on shaky legs, raking my hands through my shaggy hair. “Fae lords, I’m so sorry, Aura.”

Tears gleam in her eyes, but they don’t fall. Her robe has fallen open, revealing the glittering threads adorning her naked body. I know they are as much decoration as they are symbolic of chains holding her down, holding her back.

For a moment I’m struck by how we are both imprisoned by our forms. The awareness that neither of us can change our nature is too bitter of a pill to swallow at times.

This is one of those times.

She’s a Succubus who has no choice but to feed to stay alive. And she can’t feed without killing.

I’m a Dragon—perhaps the last of my kind—and my flesh burns all who touch it.

We are each one of a kind. Alone. Together.

Most of the time, we find consolation in that, but moments like now make it nearly impossible to bear.

My molars clench so hard they threaten to crack under the force. The internal pressure threatens to blow me apart.

“Shh,” she hushes in a soothing tone. “I’m okay, Talon. It was an accident.”

She shouldn’t be comforting me. Something snaps tight in me as I focus on my job and become what she needs me to be. “As soon as I clean up here, I’ll call a handmaiden to help tend to that,” I say, with a jerky nod toward her hands.

Aurora licks her lips, and I swear she wants to say something, but she holds back.

A long pause beats between us again as I give her the space to say it. My heart falls in that space every time. Then she shakes her head ever so slightly.

“Thank you,” she mutters before disappearing to the bathroom.

There is a finality to her words tonight. Like her frustration is boiling over into something dangerous. For the first time, I wonder if the endless cycle we have built, feeding, surviving, pretending it is enough, is hurting her as much as it’s helping.

If I could fix it, I would. I would go to hell and back for her, even if it was simply to make her smile. But I don’t know how to help her more than I am.

I stalk toward the shriveled body of the John, ripping off my leather jacket. His desiccated cheeks are sunken in his head.

He weighs next to nothing as I grab him and throw him over my shoulder and head to the balcony.

I can’t call the handmaiden until I get rid of the body because no one knows about Aurora’s condition. Her curse. Only her parents and I know, and it’s my job to keep it that way. It’s been that way for six years. It will be this way for as long as we both live.

No matter how much the tension sizzles between us more with each passing year, cranking tighter and tighter, putting us under more pressure to cross an impossible boundary.

No matter how much she wishes she didn’t have to feed, I’ll be here to make sure she does, to make sure no one hurts her, and to clean up the mess so no one finds out.

I step onto the railing and look out on the moonlit expanse of the Rosari Kingdom.

The village is quiet and dark below. Tomorrow the sun will rise.

The residents will wake up and open the market, converse and drink in the tavern, and never put together that their whispered conspiracies about the monster lurking in the castle are actually about the Princess of the Realm of Roses.

I’m not sure how much longer they can keep me in this castle.

What could she mean by that? There is nowhere else for her to go. This is her life, our life, and there is no changing that.

No matter how either of us wishes we could.

My foot falls off the ledge, and my body plummets as I keep hold of the body on my shoulder. I wait dangerously long before my wings snap out and I catch air, gliding upward.

We’ll love each other till the day we die and never once be able to touch.

I tell myself that’s enough.

Because the only thing worse than wanting her…is the thought of losing her.