Beauty [A Faery Story 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Online Free PDF Page A

me?”
    “You are gentle, Shim.” Lach had a smile back on his face.
    “I bloody well am not.”
    “I got to agree, Shim,” Duffy added. “The last time you killed an ogre, you didn’t even eat the heart. Soft.”
    “Ogre gives me indigestion.” Shim frowned. He wasn’t soft. He fucking wasn’t. He just had trouble with his gut at times.
    Kaja’s eyes went wide. “See, Meg, he got to eat the ogre.”
    “No one’s eating ogres.” Dante Dellacourt put a hand on his wife’s waist. “Put it out of your mind, Kaj. And if I see you chasing the brownies, you’ll be over my lap.”
    Dante Dellacourt was a celebrity in his world. Shim and Lach had spent some time on the Vampire plane. They had spent time being educated in more ways than one. They had gone to what the vampires called University, and they had been trained by their cousin, Julian, in the dark arts of Dominance and submission.
    A vision of beautiful Bronwyn tied up and trussed for their pleasure crept over him.
    “Don’t.” Lach leaned in, his harsh whisper pulling him out of his mind.
    Sometimes having a twin who could practically read his mind was deeply irritating.
    “Come along, Kaj. We need to settle into our rooms. We’re going to have dinner in a bit. Your Highnesses, I look forward to meeting with you.” He led his wife away, but Kaja turned, giving them both a smile.
    Meg waved to her friend and then turned back to Shim and Lach. She pointed at the men left standing in the foyer. “Obviously, those two are my husbands. I think it’s safe to say Cian is the gentler of the two. He would never ever eat an ogre heart, but you could talk Beck into it. The vampire with them is named Simon Roan. He leads a group of mercenaries.”
    “Cash-poor royal?” Shim asked. It was a good bet. Vampires weren’t the most compassionate people. When a vampire family lost its fortune, they tended to lose everything. Many committed suicide rather than move to the lower levels of their great cities, but some, like Simon Roan, found another way to replace their lost honor. They took up the sword, or in this case, most likely a whole bunch of high-tech sonic weapons.
    The queen nodded. “Yes. He’s also hungry for a consort, so it’s a testament to his loyalty to your cousin that he’s not fighting for the other side. Torin’s promised the royals one hundred consorts. After a thirteen-year drought, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”
    Vampires, the royal ones, required a consort to suspend the aging process. They did this through the act of feeding from consort blood. Gods, he wanted to taste his wife. Just like that his damn fangs came out.
    Meg giggled a bit, taking another sip of her drink. “It looks like you have that trouble here, too. Why haven’t you taken a consort?”
    “Because we already have a bondmate.” The words came out of Lach’s mouth sounding dismissive, but Shim knew why. He was sure the queen wouldn’t believe them either. Perhaps the queen had been right. Lach was the one with all the insecurities. But then again, he was also the half who didn’t mind a little ogre heart when the occasion called for it.
    “The princess in the tower?” Queen Meg asked.
    It was what they called her now. They knew her name. Had always known her name, but there were too many ears who could hear the secret. Bronwyn Finn was safer dead. Shim might be softer than his brother, but he wasn’t a fool. Even Torin the Wretched Asshole had spies.
    “Julian told you. He doesn’t believe us.” Shim looked at his cousin, who was laughing at something one of the others said. Julian was ridiculously wealthy, ruthless, and intensely perverse. He fit right in with the Unseelie. And Julian had been smart enough to figure out a way to get his own consort off the closed Seelie plane. He’d been set to wed a young bondmate named Daniella when the war had occurred. Nothing so simple as a bloody civil war had ever stopped Julian Lodge. He had his bondmate,