Page 33 of Beauty Sleep

“Ew!” I shove it back at Robby. “Has this been spunked on?”

“No, dumbass. It’s ice cream.”

“And that isn’t a euphemism for a Canadian’s cumshot,” Robby cheerfully clarifies. “But no—look!” He jabs a finger at the photo in the middle of it.

I roll my eyes, look down, and…

My heart just stopped.

Shit.

No. No way. I feel like I’ve seen a ghost.

I rip the flyer right out of Robby’s hands to look closer. I want to shake my head, but I’m almost frozen to the spot.

I know the man looking up from behind a DJ deck like he’s irritated by the camera’s presence.

The headliner tonight is none other than the Daddy-turned-wicked fairy. And pushed up on his forehead so he can see is a feathered red-and-black mask.

His name is DJ Prince. As in…myPrince.

“Holy shit,” I breathe out.

My friends are all waving their hands and talking at the same time, but I can’t pick out voices over the thunder of my heartbeat in my own ears. And I feel like I just got hit by a freight train.

All along, it was the same guy?I should have known. It was too much of a coincidence.

I just didn’t want to see it. But it makes sense.

That’swhy he didn’t want me to see him in the light.That’s why he picked me, of all people, to stop and talk to that first night we met.

Is this supposed to be a punishment for how we treated him? Am I just some kind of joke to him, or a game?

My friends are slowly realizing something is wrong. They’re elbowing each other, hissing under their breath until they’re all just silently staring at me.

“Briar…?” Robby’s brows furrow in confusion. “We—We thought you wanted to talk to him…?”

I do. I mean… Idid. A few days ago, I would have jumped for joy and kissed them all.

But now…

Now, I feel like I’ve given so much of myself—my innocence, my desire, my heart—to a man who was laughing at me all along.

“What—” Robby whirls around, and then I hear it too.

There’s a noise outside. The front door handle is rattling softly, like someone’s just put a key into the lock.

All my roommates are staring at the front door. I’m frozen in my bedroom doorway, the only one who knows who’s there.

Prince is about to step right into the light.

I’m so fucking scared that I’m right about this. I’m scared that the truth that’s about to be exposed will break the fairytale spell between us—and break my heart.

But it’s too late to change course.

The door opens, and here he is.

The Prince who stepped through my window and into all my daydreams... even the soft, tender ones I barely hoped for.

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