Page 9 of Beneath the Cursed Veil

Kaia went stiff. “You arenotyour father.”

“His insanity started the same way. Like it or not, we can’t deny the facts.”

“Deimos was a sociopath. He was mad. There were obvious signs of it well before the massacre or the dreams.” Her stern tone left no room for an argument. I shrugged.

“Promise me you won’t let it get that far.”

“No.”

“Kaia—”

“It won’t, because we’re going to find her.”

I laughed bitterly. “I’ve been trying for years. Even Drayden hasn’t found a lead. I’m not sure what else I can do.” If Kaia was considered my second-in-command, Drayden was next in line after her. They were the only two I trusted. He was currently searching for my dream girl, and he knew how important she was to me.

“Drayden is due back in a few weeks.” Kaia rolled her shoulders and ran her thumb over her bottom lip in thought. “After he gets back, you’re going to announce that you’ll be taking a tour of the kingdom. It’s been over a decade. This will give you a chance to search every major town and fulfill your role as king at the same time.”

“And if she’s not in this realm?”

She shifted side to side, seeming to consider something. “I’ve heard rumors . . . of a leprechaun that can find anything. For the right price.”

I tilted my head, regarding her. “You think that extends to people?”

Kaia shrugged. “Maybe. Only one way to find out.”

“Why haven’t you mentioned this before?”

Kaia looked away, not in guilt per se, but definitely discomfort. “Two reasons. The first, I only heard about it six months ago.”

“And the second?”

“He’s a fugitive you banished from Faerie.”

That would be a problem. “Which makes him unlikely to help, assuming he even can.”

Kaia nodded in acknowledgement. “It’s a last resort option. Let’s get through this and schedule your tour, then I’ll see if I can hunt this guy down. Okay?” She reached out to grip my bicep, giving me a comforting squeeze.

“If this doesn’t work . . .”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it and not a second earlier. Now, if you’re ready—you have a ball to oversee and a woman to find.”

Chapter 4

Meera

Snow crunched beneath my leather dress boots as I approached the palace. The gates were lifted, and the courtyard had been opened for guests to enter. Footmen opened doors to grand carriages. Lords and Ladies exited gracefully, not looking at anyone around them. For a brief moment, I felt so out of place, I wondered if Sadie had been right. Disguising myself as one of the castle servants might have been better, but I also knew it was my nerves talking. I was exactly who I needed to be for the evening. Sexy. Seductive. High class.

Why?

My target was the fucking prince, and he would never give a servant—or a commoner—a second look.

The king’s annual masquerade was really the only easy chance I had to get his nephew’s attention. Events like this weren’t frequent in this realm. Famine and economic struggles tended to be a downer for parties. Go figure.

The entirety of Faerie had been invited this year. The only stipulation was that you had to be at least part fae to enter. The big question on everyone’s mind was why thesudden change. Rumor had it that the fae king was working toward a more equal system. He couldn’t abolish the millennia old classism that ran deep in our society, but he aimed to minimize it.

It wasn’t a bad idea, but a ball couldn’t exactly fix the years of inequality. While the vast majority of the populace lived in poverty, the high fae court didn’t have to suffer the same, and it showed. While they never had an overabundance of food, their families never went without. The injustice had caused riots in the past. Deaths. The usual. All the things that happened when people were pissed off in the human world happened in the fae realm too.

The reality was, even if those handfuls of high fae families did share in the hardship—it wouldn’t change anything. Faerie was cursed. The kingdom couldn’t support and feed all its occupants.

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