Page 8 of Her Lion Lover

"This is Tremotino Castle. Enjoy the ball, miss," the driver said, as the doors hissed open.

Lily thanked him as she stepped onto the red carpet. Craig Tremotino had definitely outdone himself this time. She wondered who he was trying to impress. Certainly not the Mirror Academy students, who were waved into the castle without an invitation as though they weren't really guests at all. Given the Academy's reputation for providing brides for rich businessmen, Lily had long suspected the headmistress had some sort of arrangement with Tremotino to matchmake the right couples at these events.

In the past, she'd avoided the wife hunters by spending the evenings dancing with Diana and Arwen, but seeing as neither of them was here tonight, she'd be on her own. Not that it mattered – she was hardly a society bride any more, if she ever was.

When Lily reached the ballroom, it was more packed than usual. An absolute crush. She turned to head right back outside again, only to find her way barred by two servants, closing the doors to the ballroom.

On the stage, the maskless master of the castle, Craig Tremotino, lounged on an actual throne. "Quiet, people!" he bellowed, with all the grace of the absolute boor he was. Rumour had it he'd been born into a bastard branch of the Lustro family, who'd owned this castle for centuries, and when their fortunes had faded, he'd bought the castle to prove to his long-dead ancestors that this bastard did deserve his birthright. What he hadn't been able to buy with the castle were the good manners any halfway decent host would show to their guests.

Rumour had it Candace Tunder had her heart set on marrying the man, though Lily doubted she was in love with him. No, Candace, Anna and Elsa viewed marriage as a mercenary contract, to be entered into with a man who had as much money and as many secret mistresses as possible, so when she uncovered his infidelity, she could divorce him for half his assets, and sell the sob story to the celebrity gossip magazines, and live happily ever after on the proceeds. It was a nice idea, if you could stomach sleeping with a husband like that.

Lily would rather scrub blue milk off the cafeteria floor for the rest of her life than get naked with a man she didn't like.

Luckily, she wouldn't have to do either of those things. Tomorrow, she'd finish her project, and it was only a matter of time before she graduated and was working in her father's office, managing multi-million dollar projects for men like Tremotino or...

"May I present our guest of honour at tonight's Fairytale Masquerade Ball, the birthday boy and bachelor of the year, Leo King!" Tremotino roared.

And there he was, sauntering onto the stage like he owned it. Maybe he did, for he was certainly rich enough to do so.

"I bet all you ladies here tonight would just love to give him a birthday kiss, or something even better, because I have it on good authority he's looking for a bride for his birthday tonight!"

Off came the lion mask and Leo King's roguish smile romanced the room. A trio of girls near Lily sighed and nearly swooned.

"Oh, for fuck's sake, he's gay!" she hissed, just as the room fell silent.

She felt, rather than saw all eyes on her, including the calculating gaze of Leo King himself.

Lily wrenched the doors open and ran outside before he recognised her.

NINE

By the time Tremotino invited Leo up onto the stage, he was ready to leave. The room full of simpering women, all wanting to get their hands on him, made him want to shudder, shift and run from the room. Preferably to go hunt prey. Which he absolutely could not do until he got home.

Then, just as he'd opened his mouth to deliver the speech he'd prepared, the most stunning woman he'd ever seen told the room he was gay.

Leaving him speechless. Because...did she know something he didn't? Was that the reason he hadn't found his fated mate? Leo had never been attracted to a man before, but he'd never fallen head over heels in love with a woman, either. Thrusting his cock into somewhere hot, willing and wet for some much needed release was one thing, but sex had never been more than just satisfying a passing urge.

Now, the only urge he felt was to find her, to ask why she'd said such a thing. He'd heard whispers that there were rare witches who could foresee fated mates, and bring the partners together, and he'd also heard rumours that there was one such witch at Mirror Academy, which would explain their success rate for matching mates, but...was this woman the witch?

If she was and she could tell him exactly who his mate was and where he might find them...he'd give her anything she wanted. Well, anything except his first born, as his mate might not agree to that. Besides, that only happened in fairytales, and his life was definitely not one of those.

If life was anything like a fairytale, he'd have met his fated mate the moment he entered the castle, and he'd already be halfway to happily-ever-after by now.

Logic told him he should cut his losses and leave, but his gut told him to stay. As always, he went with his gut.

Leo sighed. He'd grab a drink, go outside to get some air, and then return refreshed with his mind firmly focussed on his mission. If he couldn't find a wife among these vapid women, he still needed to speak to Tremotino. He'd start by asking about the new village Tremotino himself had planned, the one that was holding up the council in the first place. Tremotino's project wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting as Hea Sanctuary, but it was mundane projects like these that paid the bills whilst he was waiting for the blue sky stuff to pay off. Plus, learning about the pitfalls of someone else's project would help Leo himself to avoid those mistakes in the future.

That was his father talking, of course. He'd often said that the best mistakes were the ones other people made, that you didn't need to pay for. What would his father do in his place, with Uncle Jeremy slavering like a rabid dog for control of the company?

His father would have told him to do what was right, and to listen to his gut.

His gut said to go out to the garden, so outside Leo went. With a pink, fluffy cocktail in one hand that he hadn't been able to refuse, and a glass of water in the other.

Behind him, he heard the music begin again, the bass vibrating through the flagstones beneath his feet. He reached the edge of the terrace, intending to put his drinks down on the low wall as he surveyed the rolling lawns.

But what he saw on that lawn wiped all coherent thought from his head, for all he could focus on was the vision before him.

TEN

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