Page 72 of The Beast King's Bride

“I’m so glad you decided to go,” Auria says, retrieving a pair of matching blue slippers and a diadem for my hair. “The king has been so worried lately. He tries to hide it but his strength is failing him. He has been fighting the curse for too long and—”

“Daughter,” Zylphia snaps. “These aren’t matters we should be discussing.”

Auria ducks her head and scurries away, murmuring something about finding me a cape.

“Forgive her,” Zylphia says. “Auria is young and full of optimism.”

“I don’t think that is a flaw,” I mutter. “I want to know more about the King.”

“My lady.” She curtsies. “We thought that you didn’t want to hear about him.”

Because that was what I’ve been telling them in the past few days. My fault.

“When she says he’s been fighting the curse,” I say, “she means when he goes out on patrol every day?”

She nods, though a look of uncertainty passes through her eyes. “He fights it on every front,” she says, as ambiguous as can be. “Within and without.”

Yeah, that was so clear.

“Tell me about the horns he has… That’s not normal, is it?” It had been on my mind since I saw him.

“No, my lady. Only Lesser Faeries display animal parts on themselves.”

“And why do they?”

“Lesser Faeries are closer to what we used to be in the distant past. The animal parts on them are a clue as to which animal they can shapeshift into. We lost that ability thousands of years ago, we the Greater Fae.”

“So why does he have them? Is it the curse, then? Is that how it affects him?”

“My lady, I cannot tell you how the curse works.”

“But—”

“Now let me bathe and dress you. I really shouldn’t have spoken out at all.”

Since the incident with the sark, the bathhouse has been declared off-limits—so a copper bathtub is carried into my room and then filled with hot water and rose petals. Zylphia grabs a sponge and a bar of hard soap that smells of jasmine and bends to scrub my back.

She doesn’t speak another word about the king and the curse, no matter how I beg her, and after a while, I stop when it becomes obvious she won’t say more.

It’s time to get ready.

Auria returns, her mouth set in an unhappy line, but she brightens again as she helps dry me and get me inside the gown.

“Oh, if my Liftian could see you!” She claps her hands excitedly when I’m finally inside all that shimmering fabric that looks like silk but is much thicker and shinier. “You’re so pretty and it’s such a pretty gown.”

“Liftian is your daughter?”

“My son. He likes dresses. Don’t boys like dresses in your world?”

I shake my head. In my world, it would be considered strange and inadvisable. Dangerous, in a place where people hate anything different.

But yes, why can’t boys like dresses? Why can’t women speak straight to men as I am allowed to do here? I don’t notice those little things anymore—because I’m not confronted with limitations every day, with rules that make me feel like a lesser being, because here I feel free to learn my letters and walk about as freely as any male Fae—except for where the monsters roam.

Here I was—in the end—given the choice as to whether to attend a ball and help save a kingdom, where I was given the key to my room. It hadn’t felt as much of a win because I keep feeling imprisoned here, but I am starting to see that if not for the curse, I might have been free to roam as I pleased. Already I’ve spent hours exploring the palace during the daytime, making sure to step outdoors only when guards are nearby.

The king gave the orders for me to be given that freedom.

He sent the tutor to me.

A warmth spreads in my chest as Auria brushes out my hair, braids it, and lifts it with pins and ribbons. The moment I let myself feel, acknowledge those feelings, I have to admit he has been kind to me. He has been attentive, patient, gracious. He tried to see my perspective.

Gods, it’s so easy to slide back into love and heartache.

It’s going to be so much harder to climb out of that hole again.

The tiara is tucked into my hair to hold it in place, curving around the twist of braids on top of my head. Bright gems go on my ears, around my neck. When she twitches away the cover of the mirror, I stare at myself. Apart from the familiar face, I see a queen bedecked in silks and jewels, the blue gown dipping in the front, almost all the way to the tops of my breasts, then flowing over my curves like water and dripping down to the floor. I feel like a water Fae rising from a lake. I’ve never seen one but the stories say that sometimes they have fish tails and fins and—

“My lady.” Auria curtsies. “I believe that the ball has already begun, so if you would like to wear your cape, I’ll find the guards to lead you there.”

It’s time to face the music.

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