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

familiarity for a man twice her age. Unfortunately, he was a pompous ass with power in this backwater part of the world. This village might be the ass end of the plane, but Torin still had some measure of control through the officials even here.
    Bron set the brownie on her feet. “Did your mum know why he’s coming?”
    Of all the people left on the plane, only Mags had figured out who she and Gillian were. The brownie, who sometimes helped with the house and the fields, had slipped up once a few years back and called Gillian by her title. It seemed she’d been born on the Unseelie plane. Bron had despaired in leaving her tower since it had become her home, but Mags had taken to one fragile knee and pledged to defend the Unseelie princess with her life. It had satisfied Gillian, and then they’d had an ally.
    “Mum said she overheard there was talk of new restrictions.” Ove’s eyes grew round, a wealth of fear.
    Bron took a deep breath. New restrictions meant new laws against magic and non-sidhe creatures. She took Ove’s hand and began to wind her way out of the field. She needed to change clothes if the mayor was coming. He tended to call her to task when she was seen in public in the soft leather pants she’d come to favor.
    She regretted leaving the field. She could think out there among the wheat she’d planted. She could close her eyes and almost feel her Dark Ones. What would the mayor think if he knew she dreamed at night of two lovers, one with dark powers and the other who could light up the night?
    He would be horrified and possibly accuse her of witchcraft. It was what they accused everyone of these days.
    When she travelled to sell her wheat, they were everywhere—bodies strung up on the side of the road. Witchcraft. Collusion. Improper contact with non-sidhe creatures. Whispering the names Beck and Cian. All offenses punishable by hanging.
    There were rumors that the ones who had been hanged were the lucky ones.
    Gillian stood at the edge of the field, a stern look on her face. She’d dressed for the occasion in a sturdy but respectable gown that would prove completely impractical in the fields. “Where have you been?”
    Bron looked back at the field pointedly.
    “None of your sass, girl.” Gillian sighed and shook her head. “If your da could see you now.”
    He would be perfectly horrified, but the thought brought a bit of a smile to Bron’s face. “He would demand to know where his daughter was. Well, if he noticed at all. Now Mama, on the other hand, would have a fit of vapors, and my brothers would laugh.”
    “Go on then, I see the little ones have already brought the news.” She winked down at Ove. “Go back to your mum.” She passed her a small container. “Morning milk, to thank her. Stay out of sight. The less they remember you exist, the safer you will be.”
    Ove nodded her scraggly head and took off, the shafts marking her progress.
    Bron was halfway up the stairs when Gillian caught her.
    “You have to be more careful. If the guards caught you holding hands with Ove, they would have every right to arrest you.”
    Anger curled in Bron’s stomach. “Then perhaps we should do something about the guards.”
    Like gather together and show them what a mob could do .
    She marched to her room and flung her clothes off with a reckless hand. She slammed open the door to her dresser and pulled out her work dress.
    Gillian sat down on the edge of the bed. “Could I talk you into the blue cotton?”
    The blue cotton was her best dress, the one she wore to weddings and festivals. “I won’t waste it on him.”
    She hated the mayor with his covetous eyes. She’d selected her work dress because it covered her chest and masked her curves. The mayor was looking for a wife, and he’d already asked Bron. She’d been trying to put him off.
    “Will you please try to remember what your main job is?” Gillian asked.
    This was a lecture Bron had heard almost every day of her life on the