Page 24 of Feeding Beauty (The Lost Girls #5)

Outing the Princess

TALON

K ai's words cut through the noise of Poison Apple like a blade.

Everything slows.

Aurora’s hand freezes mid-pour, and the glass in her other hand slips just enough to clink hard against the counter.

Muscles coil tight enough that my glass strains in my suddenly tight grip. I stare at the man through the hair that’s fallen in my eyes. He hasn’t noticed me yet. All of his open anger is pinned on Aurora.

Not just “Kai.” This must be Kaison Charming, the new King of the Midnight Fae, and he’s about to expose Aurora.

Snow’s head whips toward Kai. “What did you just say?”

Ariel returns with an empty tray, looking between everyone, trying to gauge what’s happened in the few minutes of her absence

Kai doesn’t blink. Doesn’t smile. Just stands there, impossibly tall in his tailored black coat, looking down his nose like Aurora is a stain he can’t bleach off.

“I said,” he repeats coolly, “she ruined my sister and broke up my family.”

Aurora flinches.

Ariel is already rolling forward, voice tight. “Wait, what are you talking about? You have a sister?”

“I didn’t know that,” Snow adds, her face gobsmacked.

“Neither did I,” Cinder says, all her focus on Kai now.

It’s then I realize who his companion is.

The human he took as his queen. She’s since been turned into a vampire herself.

I can see the cold energy pulse around them, along with a reddish aura.

Hers is particularly strong, so strong I can smell it.

She carries blood magic, which means she wasn't a human at all. She was a mage before she was turned.

Usually, the scent of a mage absolutely rankles my senses.

They stink to high heaven to a shifter’s nose.

But this mage turned vampire smells more like winter air does when you breathe too deep.

It stings my nose with cold. Beneath it, there’s something old and metallic, like rusted iron under ice.

Vampire and mage magic tangled together, frozen into something unnatural.

My hackles rise. I’ve got a thing against vampires with magic on account of the woman who cursed Aurora.

Though how Mal acquired mage abilities to curse a baby has always been a mystery. Mages don’t typically retain their power when turned (on the rare occasion that happens), and Mal was a born vampire, not a mage. No one knows how she’s acquired magic abilities beyond her fae race.

“We were forbidden to speak of Malixia,” Kai goes on, full attention still on Aurora. “After she was banished from the Midnight Realm by my father.”

Aurora recoils, taking a step away from the bar. Kai’s eyes narrow.

Everyone watches the interaction like it’s some kind of volleyball match, while I wait, ready to take any action necessary. If this bloodsucker even so much as thinks of hurting Aurora, I’ll grab him by the throat and burn him to a crisp, Fae King or not.

Ariel’s steady hand stops Aurora from retreating any further. “What does that have to do with Aurora?” There is a thread of defense in her tone.

“She’s the Rosari princess.” Kai’s eyes flash red.

“Her father was betrothed to my sister. It was supposed to be a political kinship between Midnight and Realm of the Roses. But a week before the wedding, Roland broke it off. A fortnight later, he married someone else. My sister was humiliated .” A sneer appears on the vampire’s face as he leans in to hiss at Aura.

“My father was so livid, he exiled Malixia for not securing the marriage.”

I stayed on the sidelines long enough. I’m up and next to him. “Take a step back.” It comes out low, steady and even, but there is no mistaking the danger in my voice.

At first, he doesn’t move. Then Cinder sets a hand on his shoulder. “Kai,” she says in a low warning tone. He takes a step back.

“You’re a princess?” Ariel asks, studying Aurora with new eyes.

“Explains the skillset,” Snow adds, but wears an equally concerned expression.

Aurora grips one hand with the other, a sign she’s nervous. “I-I wasn’t even born yet when that happened.”

“Your family broke mine apart, with no consideration. Because of your father, I haven’t seen my sister in thirty years.”

“Wait, how the hell old are you?” Snow asks, nose wrinkling in confusion.

“Vampires age slower,” Cinder explains. “He’s eighty err...something,” she finishes uncertainly.

“Whoa, talk about cradle robbing,” Snow says, glance flickering back and forth between Cinder and Kai.

“Or is she grave robbing?” Ariel adds, her grip still firm and comforting on Aurora’s arm.

Despite the colorful commentary, Kai is still coiled as if ready to strike. Anger rolls off him in waves.

“Okay, let’s break this up,” Rap cuts in.

She sidles up from the other side of Kai to stand between him and the counter. Her eyes snap between all of us like she’s already calculating how many bodies she’s going to bury in the alley. “Kai, you need to chill,” she adds in a hushed tone.

Kai’s lip curls, eyes still locked on Aurora over Rap’s mohawk. “I expected you to be better about what trash you pick up from the street and give the name Lost Girl. She should stay lost.”

Heat rolls out of me as anger gets the best of me. “Apologize for that.”

Kai doesn’t even flinch but Cinder’s grip on him tightens as she warily observes me.

“Talon,” Rap warns sharply without looking at me. “You know I don’t care what kind of teeth you have or what crown you wear,” she says to Kai flatly. “If you’re bringing this kind of energy into my house, I will kick your bony ass out myself.”

A long tense moment passes before Kai’s posture finally relaxes.

Cinder stares at Aurora a moment too long before pulling Kai’s elbow. He doesn’t move at first, continuing to glare.

“How about we go visit Red, Brex, and the twins?” Cinder suggests.

His cutting gaze remains on Aurora even as he’s drawn away.

Snow lets out a loud dramatic exhale. “Damn. Didn’t know he had it in him. Normally, the dude is such a delight.”

Ariel now looks at Aurora with new eyes.

Aurora’s lips part slightly, her eyes still locked on the door like he might come back and do something worse.

I hate seeing her so stripped down, so vulnerable in front of everyone.

“Seriously, a princess?” Snow asks.

“Snow, Ariel,” Rap barks. “Get back to work. Aurora, take five. Talon, go with her.”

There is no arguing with the woman. Aurora only moves when I round the bar and press my fingers to her back. I gently lead her through the crowd back to the break room.

“Hey,” I say when we are finally alone.

Aurora won’t look at me.

“You don’t have to tell them anything.”

Her throat bobs. She blinks. “But they know now.”

“Not everything, and it doesn’t matter. They know you ,” I say. “They’ve watched you work as hard as any of them.”

And they don’t know about the curse, which is important. We can't afford for that secret to leak.

Even the emotionally stable Rosari people who live in a calm symbiosis with each other would not tolerate a Succubus in their land, much less as their princess. The Common World would likely react even less favorably.

They’d treat her as a dangerous entity. She would be scrutinized, and the razor-sharp point of fear could lead them to the trail of bodies I worked so hard to incinerate.

Aurora finally looks at me. There’s panic in her gaze, but no fear. Humiliation. Guilt. The echo of a thousand things she’s been forced to swallow. “I couldn’t even defend myself. I couldn’t say that his sister ruined my life.” Anger spikes in her voice.

“I know it’s not fair, but you did good, Aura.”

“It’s not fair,” she adds with a sweep of her arms. “I didn’t do anything, yet I’m the living embodiment of a drama that I had nothing to do with. Mal had me pay the price, but it’s my dad’s fault. He should pay.” Aurora clapped a hand over her mouth, eyes wide with shock at her own words.

“You’re not wrong,” I reassure her. My hands itch to touch her, but I keep them at my sides.

Hand still covering her mouth, she shakes her head as her eyes turn glassy with unshed tears. “I shouldn’t say that. I love my father.”

“You can love him and hold him responsible for what happened.”

Aurora digsher palms into her eyes as she groans in frustration. “It’s so complicated. I hate how messy everything is. I hate Mal. I hate my parents for what they did, and I hate myself.” Her arms open wide. “And Mal’s brother hates me too. It’s only fitting,” she says with a dry laugh.

“He doesn’t know you.” I want to pull her hands away from her face and into mine, but I clench them into tight fists to keep from doing so.

She folds her arms over her body, shaking her head. “It doesn’t matter. It’s never mattered. I’m still judged for what I am, not who I am. I’m a princess, a Succubus, a daughter to someone who hurt his family.”

“Aura.” I get her attention enough that her chin lifts toward me, defiant despite the tremor in her mouth.

“King Charming was not a good man. The previous one,” I clarify.

“He was a cruel dictator, and he’s responsible for hurting his own family.

He didn’t have to forsake his own daughter.

That’s not on you. That’s not even on your parents. ”

“Yeah well, I still get blamed,” she grumbles, rubbing at her face.

“Aura, I?—”

“Break’s over,” she interrupts, whipping the door open and disappearing into the fray.

I take a breath before following her. I watch from the door as I go back to checking IDs. She keeps grabbing the wrong bottles, she breaks two glasses, and her confidence is a muted shadow of what she had.

She’s right, it’s not fair. Life isn’t fair. But I would pay any price to give her what she really deserves.

I all but abandon my duties of policing Poison Apple, in favor of keeping near Aurora. Rap can cut my paycheck. I don’t care. But the bar owner doesn’t give me any flack.

Aurora is a flurry of movement as if nothing can touch her if she keeps going at a breakneck speed. But the second she slows down, the girls approach.

Snow leans in next to her, voice sharp enough that I can hear. “Kai was out of line, and he’s lucky I didn’t stab him with a straw.”

Aurora huffs a single shaky laugh.

“I don’t care what your last name is,” Ariel says softly, rubbing Aurora’s arm. “You’re ours now.”

Behind the bar, Aurora steadies. The next drink she attempts to make comes out right on the first try, but her hands still shake.

She’s desperate to cling to this new life—to the girl she’s become, to the friends she’s made in this loud, glittering place. But for the first time, I don’t fear being the one who takes it from her.

I fear it will spit her out on its own.