Stealing Beauty

by Madison Faye

  “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 worried, 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.

  It’s probably the wind, or this old castle creaking, you wimp, I told myself. You’re imagining things.

  But there it was again, and this time, the sound of footsteps was unmistakable. I sat upright on the couch, wide-eyed and breathing quickly. My gaze darted to my cell phone, and then to the emergency line by the door to my room. But the top of the west tower was a far climb, even for guards rushing to save a princess. And whatever was behind my bookcase was definitely going to get to me first.

  Fear shot through me as the bookcase-door rattled, as if being pushed from behind. I briefly hefted the tablet in my hand, wondering if it was heavy enough to maim or kill if necessary.

  Probably not.

  There as a crashing sound now from the passage, and the bookcase shuddered as something slammed into it. The panic rising in my chest, my eyes flailed around the room looking for something, anything to defend myself with. Haltingly, my gaze landed on one of the old swords and crests hung on the far wall above my fireplace. I knew it had to be dull, being ornamental and all, but still, it was something. I darted to the fireplace and tore the sword and shield from the wall, letting the shield clatter loudly to ground as I slammed the emergency button by the door.

  I whirled back to the bookcase, brandishing my dull, ancient sword like some sort of crazy person. It was heavier than it'd looked, but I hefted it menacingly as I turned towards the front door and the heavy footsteps beyond it. I already felt braver, stronger, and more ready to defend my place and my female parts.

  There was a moment of stillness and the shuffling sounds quieted. But then suddenly with a smashing bang, the hidden door flung open, sending books and trinkets scattering across the floor. I shrieked, raised the sword high in my hands, and swung it crashing down as I charged right at—

  Logan.

  I knew it was him the second I heard that growl from his lips. I knew it was him the second I ran right into his immovable body, knowing that scent of him anywhere, and knowing there wasn’t another person on earth as broad and muscled and as solid as him.

  The sword, still on my maniac downstroke, whacked him on the shoulder, making him grunt as the thing spun out of my hands and clattered to the ground.

  I was suddenly very glad the thing wasn’t even remotely sharp.

  “Hell of a welcome, Princess,” he growled.

  I gasped, my hands landing on his powerful chest as I tumbled into him. I looked up into those fierce, piercing eyes, feeling the heat and the draw of him enveloping me like a blanket.

  “It’s you!”

  “You were expecting someone else?”

  I grinned breathlessly. “I wasn’t expecting anyone.”

  “And I wasn’t going to walk away tonight without seeing you again.”

  “How did you even get up here?”

  He flashed a quick grin. “Your father has two guards who’ll be waking up in a few hours with very bad headaches.”

  My jaw dropped.

  “They held their posts valiantly, but...” He shrugged.

  “But you’re stronger than two guards.”

  “Basically.”

  I felt my lips pull into a smile, my heart starting to beat quicker inside my chest.

  “I can’t believe it’s you.”

  “I can’t believe how messy your escape passage is,” he growled. “It’s a death trap back there.”

  “It’s my second closet.”

  He raised a single amused brow. “A royal princess without enough proper closet space?”

  “No, a royal princess with entirely too many clothes.”

  I bit my lip, looking up into his eyes. “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I couldn’t leave, not after earlier.” His jaw tensed, his eyes blazing into mine. “What happened earlier, Isla—”

  My heart sank a little. This was why he was back, to tell me it couldn’t happen again. Or to tell me it was just something casual for him. And for a second, I hated myself for being naive enough not to see that as an obvious outcome from us coming together like that.

  “I understand,” I said stiffly, putting on my bravest face. “It’s fine, you didn’t have to come up here just to tell me—”

  “That I’m in love with you?”

 
Time froze.

  “Yeah, Princess, I think I did.”

  I blinked, my lips moving without words and my head slowly shaking from side to side.

  “What?”

  “I love you, Isla,” he said softly. “I love you suddenly, fiercely, and without even knowing where you came from. You hit my world so hard the second I walked in here tonight. But I knew the minute I saw you. I knew the minute my hands touched you for that dance, and it was sealed beyond reproach the instant your lips touched mine.”

  His hands moved to circle me, pulling me tight against his body.

  “You bring a light back into my world I never thought I’d see again. You make the beast inside quiet, and bring back the man I was.”

  His eyes burned into mine as my heart threatened to pound through my chest.

  “I love you, with everything I have, Isla,” he said fiercely.

  “You love me…”

  I said it in a daze, my heart going nuts inside my breast and an indescribable feeling of just glowy warmth spreading through my whole body.

  “Now, always, and forever. I’m not interested in courting you,” he growled. “I have no interest in taking this slow, or ‘seeing where it goes.’ I want you,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion and tinged with a growl. “I want you as mine, always.”

  I gaped at him, my eyes wide and blinking, like I couldn’t even fathom what to say in response to that.

  “Say yes, Princess,” he said softly. “Say yes, or I’m going to go ahead and take you anyways,” he growled. “Say yes before I—”

  I didn’t let him respond. I just grabbed him by the shirt collar, pulled him down, and kissed him as hard as I could.

  He came alive, his huge, powerful hands pulling me tight, his groan vibrating through me.

  “I love—”

  “Princess Isla!”

  There was the sound of a bellowing voice at my door, a hand pounding on it.

  Shit.

  “Crap,” I hissed, whirling towards the noise.

  “Princess Isla! Respond or we’re going to break the door in!”

  Logan tensed next to me, snarling as his hands closed into fists. “I’d like to see them fucking try—”