
“What do you know about the hag?”
His glass stops halfway to his mouth. “The hag?”
“The one with the tarot cards.”
Louis chuckles and then bursts into laughter. “You saw the Faery court, you made love to their princess, one of the highest, most beautiful beings on this Earth, and you want to know about some hag?”
Lilith is their princess. I vaguely remember the voices in her bower whispering something like that. I never paid much attention. “I think the hag—”
Louis hurls the glass at the hearth. It shatters in the flame, making it flare up higher for just a moment. He shoves to his feet and self-preservation forces me to match him. “She offered me immortality,” he snarls in my face. “I was this close to becoming one of them before you waltzed off with her.”
He can’t possibly have believed her. A creature like Lilith doesn’t consort with beings lesser than her except for temporary entertainment. Was Louis in love with her? Blinded by his own foolish emotions, did he swallow every lie she told him?
“I may not have lasted very long, but at least I had her respect,” he rants. “You are nothing but her pet. She will tire of you soon enough, and when she does, oh, my dear boy, mark my words, you will rue the day you laid eyes on her.”
I already do. “And when she rains down her punishment upon my head,” I say dramatically, “will you be satisfied? Will you put this behind us?”
Louis pulls back, surprised out of his anger. “Yes.”
I nod. There is nothing left to say, then. I take my leave without another word.
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BASTIEN
Boredom can be a dangerous thing. Lord Bastien Sauvage has been driven nearly out of his mind with it, retired to his castle in the country. By now, he is willing to agree to anything for some entertainment, no matter how ridiculous it may seem. With his trusted friend at his side, there is no mischief they can’t get into, or trouble they can’t get out of. The world is theirs for the taking.
But on a night made dark with powers beyond comprehension, all it takes is one choice, one turn of a card, to change Bastien’s fate forever. He should have heeded the hag’s warning. Now it’s too late. Seduced by the Faery princess, haunted by dreams of a woman he can never have, Bastien discovers that there are things in this world far worse than boredom. History is penned in a human hand. Legend carries on the wicked whisper of a Faery wind. This is the story of Beauty’s Beast—told his way.