Princess of Shadows: A Dark Fae Fantasy Romance by Olivia Hart (read me a book txt) 📕

“How will she be able to help hide my wings?” Rose asked, running her hand behind her to touch the midnight wings again.

“She’s a full-blooded succubus and extremely good with illusions. I need to leave you here for a few minutes while I get her.”

Rose seemed to think for a moment, but then she took a deep breath and nodded. “Fine. I’ll be okay, but try not to take too long.”

“It may be a few minutes if she’s with a customer, but I’ll try to hurry.” I stepped out of the alley before she had a chance to ask questions. The last thing that I needed was to try to explain that one of my better friends happened to be a whore.

The brothel was as close to an old-world feel as was possible in this age. Everything was made of wood. No paint. Even the floors were wooden and creaked slightly. It was made to be simple. No one was coming for the décor. They were coming for her. For the experience that they’d never get from a human woman.

Slipping inside the building, the sound of men drinking at a bar filled my ears. Humans. Food. How Ast managed to leave them living after she had fed on them was still beyond me. I’d tried time and time again, but they were so fragile, so easily drained completely.

“Look at what the storm brought in,” a waitress said. Barbie. I had no idea what her real name was, but that was the only name I’d ever heard anyone use. The first human that Ast had hired for this brothel and bar almost fifteen years ago. Immortals couldn’t stay anywhere too long, or people would realize that they didn’t age. This particular brothel was fifteen years old, but it was probably her hundredth.

Barbie was a pretty woman, but she was getting older. Her blond hair and round face were still very youthful, but the rest of her body was showing the signs of age. She ran the place when Ast was busy with supernatural things. Or when she was busy with her own clients.

She also happened to be one of the only mortals that Ast trusted enough to share her secrets with. It wasn’t that uncommon to have mortal confidantes for the Fae that lived in the Mortal Realm. Even the Fae needed to share their lives with others.

“Evening, Barbie,” I said with a smile. “Is Ast around?”

Barbie grinned. “She’s upstairs with a guy. I’m sure that they’d both like the company if you’re a little low.”

I shook my head. “I think I’ll pass. I tend to overindulge, and bad things happen, but I do need to interrupt her.”

Barbie just shrugged and handed another beer to one of the men. It didn’t seem as though Barbie was struggling with finding customers because, as she leaned over the bar, nearly all of the men stared at her cleavage.

It was almost sad how easily mortals were seduced. Leaving Barbie behind, I climbed the stairs up to the ‘hotel’ above the bar. Each of the doors would have a woman servicing a man. I needed to find the right one, and I took a deep breath, inhaling the smells of sex, cigarettes, and cheap beer. And power. Only one person in this building had anything more than a spark of power, and she was the one I was looking for.

I opened the second to last door, not bothering to knock. Ast was already getting dressed. The man she’d been with was fast asleep, drained of a fair amount of his life’s energy.

He’d recover it. All beings slowly regenerated their energy. Fae took longer unless they had a source to feed from. It was one of the most important weaknesses of fairies and one of the most important strengths of many of the other Fae. Fairies could not feed on any other source of power while most of the rest of us could draw life from our surroundings.

Bright red hair that seemed to glow ran to her shoulders. Made to stand out, Ast’s features were all slightly more obvious. Like a siren, her body was the bait. Her back was to me, and I could see everything that wasn’t covered in her black lingerie.

Another man would have been entranced by her curves, but I waited patiently, completely unaffected by her body. When she turned to me, I smiled at her. Like her hair and backside, her front was just as obvious. Large breasts, bright red lips, a thin waist. And green eyes that almost seemed to glow.

In actuality, they did glow, but the glow was so subtle that a human would never pick up on it. That subtlety was enough to draw a man’s attention away from the body and let her weave her spell over them.

“What do you need this time?” Ast questioned. Her tone was annoyed, but she had a smile on her face.

“I can’t just stop by to see an old friend?” I replied, giving her a wide grin.

“I’d hope not. Especially with what I’ve been hearing. Is the Assassin’s Guild really on your tail?”

“I was hoping that they weren’t actually still hunting me. Should have lost them yesterday.”

Ast pulled on a pair of tights that hugged her body. Then, she pulled a silver sequined top on. She caught me looking at her pants and turned to shake her ass towards me.

“New ‘exercise’ leggings. Greatest perk of being around mortals. They make the best clothes.” She certainly wasn’t trying to seduce me. Neither of us could feed on the other, and sex was rarely ever for more than to sate the constant hunger.

We were both creatures born to seduce the world, and as one professional to another, I had a hard time denying that the leggings looked good on her.

“Worst perk is that you’re only allowed appetizers,” I noted, giving the naked man in the bed a glance.

“Not all of us want to play in the Courts, Bastian. Come