Sleeping Beauty (Not Quite the Fairy Tale Book 7)(5)

“Your eyes?” she asked.

“They hurt like a motherfucker.”

Shit. That wasn’t part of the plan. What if they’d been damaged in the process?

“Open it,” she ordered Bastian, who promptly obliged.

Hugo Ross stumbled out, falling to a crouch, then, slowly, he straightened his spine and stood in his all glory, completely unashamed. Not that there was anything to be remotely ashamed of; the man was built like a statue and had just about as much fat on him as a piece of marble. Biceps, triceps, lats, deltoids, pecs – every single one of his muscles was defined and delectable. She was pretty sure all the females, and some of the males, in the room licked their lips.

“Damn, I feel like I’ve been trampled on by an angry horde of bulls.”

“You’re doing very well,” she assured him.

In fact, his performance was practically superhuman. No one had expected him to stand up by himself, hence the wheelchair next to his capsule. His speech was also incredibly good; the slurring was minimal, almost non-existent.

“We’ve got a plasma thermal bath ready with your name on it.”

“I knew there was a reason I liked you, darling,” he said suavely.

Gone was the disturbed, frightened, unstable man she’d met two years back. This Hook was the one everyone at school raved about, the one who had good girls wanting to be very bad.

“My sentence is carried out.”

It wasn’t a question, but she nodded and replied, “Yes. You’re a free man, Captain.”

He breathed out in something akin to relief, slowly opening his deep brown eyes.

“Can I borrow your phone?”

Beaming as he effortlessly answered any question the Council could have come up with by displaying his perfect understanding of the world around him and his sound state of mind, she handed over her mobile.

He looked at the date first, and then went directly to check social media; he didn’t bother to disconnect from her account, simply typing “Hook is back” as her status.

Within seconds, there were more interactions than she’d ever received: comments full of hearts, fireworks, and encouraging messages.

Aurora wondered what it was like; she’d never been loved like that, not even by one single person. His popularity was a foreign concept.

“Okay, let’s go take this bath. My ship will be here within the hour.”

In fact, his ship was there twenty-three minutes later.

Aurora had been in plenty of boats, and the occasional plane, too, but Hook’s vessel was something else altogether. It mostly looked like a sailboat, and she might have mistaken it for one if she’d seen it on the sea; given the fact that it floated above firm ground in front of the royal palace, she was missing something.

She didn’t get to say goodbye to Hook, unlike the rest of her team; there were more important things to do today. Reluctantly, she followed the Councilmen back to the throne room, where she awaited their decision.





Chapter 4





Wise Advice





Then.





“It’s been confirmed,” his advisor said darkly, obviously uncomfortable about discussing the matter.

Warner Stephenson was nothing if not proper; speaking ill of either of his monarchs wasn’t an easy task.

“The Queen is…”

As the word didn’t easily fall from his lips, Rupert gave the poor guy a helping hand and said it himself, “unfaithful. You can say it, I’m hardly surprised.”

It wasn’t like he cared; Rupert had shared his wife’s bedroom once – one time too many as far as he was concerned. He couldn’t exactly blame the woman for seeing to her needs elsewhere. He certainly did. The issue was that Marina didn’t have the sense to be circumspect in her affairs. She flaunted her lover at court, something he couldn’t tolerate.

“We’ll have to have words about discretion,” he sighed.

Having words with his wife was as pleasing as pulling a tooth out.

“But what if she is with child?” Stephenson pointed out, raising another point.

He hadn’t thought of that, for surely the woman wasn’t that dumb, was she?

Damn. She quite possibly might be.



Now.



Aurora Stephenson considered herself a calm, reasonable person, but if the heavy, plush, off-white envelope in front of her was covering yet another wedding invitation, she was going to scream.

“I may be mistaken, but I don’t believe that staring at a piece of paper will change its contents, dear,” said her ever annoyingly cheerful Aunt Fae.

Aurora was entitled to a little bit of glaring and muttering, in her opinion.

Twice. She had been engaged twice, and not once had she had the occasion to send letters of this sort. Yet since the end of her last engagement, she’d been invited to a good half dozen royal weddings.

Why was everyone else getting hitched around her? It was all very inconsiderate.

She finally cut the envelope open and groaned at its contents. Worse than a wedding; she was invited to a bloody christening. Lana and Chase Hunter hadn’t been married for a year yet, and they were already popping out their first-born.

Aurora huffed and puffed, knowing all too well that she would go; she’d instantly clicked with the she-wolf who ruled Ennom when they’d met. The woman hadn’t seemed to care that she didn’t dance, smile, or discuss shopping. She’d asked about her job and listened with a keen interest. She might be mistaken, but with a little bit of effort, there was a chance that she might manage to cultivate a friendship. Possibly. Maybe. She wasn’t all that skilled in the art of socializing.