Chapter 1

ONE

Cassia

I fluff the prince's pillows with a little extra oomph because I'm admittedly pissed. With the fae prince's return, my workload, and that of all the rest of the maids, has quadrupled. All day long, I'm on my hands and knees running after the fae royalty and their retinues while they shout orders and sit on their entitled asses.

"Yes, my lord." "Yes, my lady." All. Fucking. Day. Long.

If I have to pick up one more smelly pair of underwear, tossed by a spoiled fae who uses glamors to make it seem like they know how to wipe their own ass, I'm going to hunt Prince Sulien down and beat him with said dirty underwear. Let's see how handsome and brave he is with underwear streaked with brown smacking him in his royal face. I bet he'd be shrieking like a little girl in no time at all, and showing us how the "big defender" of the realm really behaves .

Though, to be fair, it isn't solely the prince's fault. It's due to the Summer Solstice Ball. The princes from the Fall, Winter, and Spring Courts have arrived at the Summer Court for the big event, which means fae women from all over the four kingdoms have arrived looking for their chance to be queen.

There're also just the fae hoping to match with each other, but no one really cares about them. I mean, the fae don't. I don't care about any of them, royal or not. My preference is just for them to be anywhere but here bothering me.

"And they need rooms. Clean rooms!" Bitterness laces my words, which bugs me, so I try again. "But there'll be extra tasty treats in the kitchen, so it's not all bad."

"You're talking to yourself again!"

Startling, I spin around and spot Beatrix by the door. She's wearing the same thing I am, an ugly dull burned orange uniform with a white apron. Except, while my blonde hair fell out of my bun a long time ago and now spills down my back in a mess, her pale brown hair is neatly done. Oh, and did I mention that her clothes are ironed, and she isn't sweating like a hot mess?

I cross my arms over my chest, giving her a fake glare. "You know, it's not nice to sneak up on people."

She laughs, and the sound is light and beautiful, like her entire personality. "No one has to sneak up on you. When you're in your head, you wouldn't hear a hoard of unicorns stampeding."

I shake my head, even though she's right. "I'm better than you are when you see a hot guy. Didn't you smack into a wall the other day?"

She rolls her eyes. "Never mind that– "

I snort, interrupting however she planned to save herself from that embarrassing story.

"Though," she says, glancing at the door just to be sure, "I could see myself running into quite a few things if I spotted the fae princes."

I groan. "Not you too!"

Every woman seems to be obsessed with the fae princes, even though most of the women haven't actually seen them at the Summer Court in years. For all they knew, the princes could all look like a pile of sickly sticks with tiny limp dicks. Hell, Prince Sulien is the only one who has even been here as an adult. The other three were kids the last time they made their rounds to the Summer Court. So I doubt any of the rumors about their overwhelming hotness are anything but that: rumors.

"I'm just saying, from what I've heard, the only thing better than one of them would be two of them," she says, purring the last words.

"Two?" I throw up my hands. "Why not make it all four of them?"

She gets this silly look on her face. "You say that like it'd be a bad thing."

I laugh. "Talk about a nightmare. Could you imagine all the dirty clothes and bragging? I bet even fucking them is terrible. In fact, I'd bet they watch themselves in a mirror the whole time!"

"Cassia!" She sounds scandalized.

Going to the bed, I start smoothing the blankets again. "I'm just saying, I'd take one hardworking, human man over the fancy-pants royals any time."

There's a sound out in the hall. Faes laughing.

She glances back at me, looking worried. "You need to finish up. We have to move downstairs before the royals arrive."

"Yeah, because if one of them sees us, they'll just die !"

"Cassia…" She's trying to warn me to be good, but she's grinning.

I grasp my chest. "Oh, no! Oh, no! I've seen a maid! Now I know who scrubs my floor! How will I ever survive!" Then, I collapse onto the floor. It hurts, but it's worth it when she comes up and pokes me with her shoe while laughing.

"Are you done?"

I open one eye to see her staring down at me. "Actually, now that I'm down here, I'm thinking a nap's in order."

She laughs. "For someone so obsessed with being the best maid, doing the best job, and rising in the ranks, you're also completely insane."

Beatrix doesn't totally get it. Her mom and dad both work for the fae. She has the privilege of not needing this job. I don't. She gets to use her money for clothes, entertainment, and to save for her life as an adult one day. I get to use it to keep my family fed and to buy my father's potions. So, yeah, I take it seriously. But I also take the rare opportunities I'm given to make it fun too, since this is basically my life.

Her amused expression fades away. "If you take much longer, we won't get the other rooms ready before the fae arrive. And if one of them has to wait for their room…"

They'll be pissed, which will mean our boss, Alexi, will be pissed at us. "I'll finish up and meet you there," I tell her, climbing to my feet.

She grins, calling over her shoulder as she heads for the door. "Don't take too long. "

"Oh!" My word stops her. "Did Alexi say anything to you about getting an advance on my pay?"

Her expression gentles. "She said no. Sorry."

My gut clenches, but I try not to show how upsetting the news is. I was really depending on a different answer. I guess I'll have to come up with a Plan Z. "Thanks."

She looks like she might want to say something else, but then leaves.

Hurrying, I finish making the bed, then check over the room to make sure I've finished everything. Anything I see that needs to be straightened or dusted, I take care of. This is the final check. The moment to make sure that everything is presentable for the precious fae.

Otherwise, we'll hear about it. We always do.

My gaze sweeps over platter after platter of food set out for the prince's return, and my stomach grumbles annoyingly. Unable to help myself, my thoughts go to my family. We've been one day away from starving ever since my grandmother went blind and could no longer work as a tutor, resulting in the palace tossing her on her ass. Since then, I've spent my days cleaning for the spoiled royalty, but the money doesn't go far.

They have all of these riches, but they pay pennies. Plus, there's the whole lack of loyalty thing. We're about as important as the things they scrub off their pretty shoes.

"And they care just as much about whether we're starving our asses off."

I let my hand slide along the table near the unlit fireplace. It's covered in trays filled with different kinds of meats, desserts, fruits, and vegetables.

There's more food in Prince Sulien's room than we've had in our home in the past year .

"All this food for one person," I grumble as I use a cloth from my apron to dust the statue of Prince Sulien's father next to the spread of food. My father's hunched-over body flashes in my mind. "And I don't have enough money to buy us anything for dinner tonight."

An unexpected thought enters my mind, and my heart starts racing. I look around. No one would even notice if a little bit of this food went missing.

I've never taken so much as a cracker from the royals. Cook always gave me and the other maids any extras after meals, and a bowl of the staff porridge made from leftovers from the day before, which is allowed as long as it doesn't leave the castle, but I'd never actually taken something. Because up until recently, I always had enough to ensure my father and grandmother had food.

Up until I started paying for my father's expensive treatments. Treatments I can't take away from him, no matter what I have to do.

I'm many things, but I'd never consider myself a thief.

Reaching into my pocket, I double-check the spot my coins would be and find nothing. This is the first time my family will go hungry. I'll be allowed something from Cook, but nothing to take home. Those are the rules. Can I really live with myself if my dad and my grandmother go hungry because I failed to provide for them?

Then, my dad would know how difficult it's been to afford the potions he's been using on his legs. The ones the fae healer said could bring back his ability to walk. He'd already gotten the feeling back in them. He's already managed a few steps.

It's just… so difficult.

Grandmother and father know things are tight, but I've hidden from them just how tight because the food is usually gone by payday, yet I always manage to get more. But if he knew we couldn't eat because of them, he'd stop his treatments.

My stomach churns, and I quickly shove a stack of ham into the pocket of my apron. Maybe it's wrong, but my family doesn't deserve to starve. Not when there's so much available right here.

And it's not like I'll suddenly start stealing gold and diamonds. A little meat. That's all. Nothing really. Just enough to fill their bellies. It won't even be missed.

"What's the prince going to do with this, anyway? He's not going to eat all of this. It'll probably just sit here until it starts to spoil, and then we'll have a chance at it." I wipe my hands on the bib of my apron, then snatch a cloth off the table, using it to better conceal the meat.

"Dad hasn't had any protein in…" I trail off, trying to actually remember. Shaking my head, I go back to the table and snatch another small handful.

No one will notice. Please don't let anyone notice.

The only thing worse than watching my family go hungry today would be watching them go hungry every night moving forward. With no fae blood, no magic, no land, and no skills, it's this job or being a whore. Those are my options.

"Besides, everyone will be focused on the sexy princes, not a pile of meat." I'm tempted to dump the whole platter of meat into my pockets, but I get back to cleaning, knowing better than to tempt my luck.

"Although, I don't actually know if they're sexy. At least not all of them." My mind wanders to Sulien. It'd been years since I saw him last, but I'm sure time won't have changed him all that much. "Sulien is sexy as fuck. So sexy that he melts the panties of ladies everywhere. As for the other three, only time will tell."

Laughing to myself, I shake my head, trying not to remember the Prince Sulien from when I was a kid. The boy my grandmother would tutor. I was allowed to come with my grandmother to her sessions, which meant getting to know Sulien. He was smart, kind, and fun to be around.

And then grandmother's eyes went bad, and we were tossed out of the palace. My only interactions with Prince Sulien after that were when I caught glimpses of him in town. By the time I was old enough to work at the palace, I saw him far too often, and yet I seemed to become invisible to him.

"Sexy, but an ass." My jaw clenched. He could have a dick as big as my arm, and it wouldn't be enough for me to forgive him. Yeah, maybe he wasn't the one who decided my grandmother, father, and I were worthless after she lost her sight, but I've grown to accept that anything the prince wants, he gets, so he must not have wanted us .

"The fae princes get to come here and find their mates while I fluff the already fluffed pillows." I twirl around, ready to leave the room.

"Oof." I bounce back and almost lose my footing. I rebound and stand up straight.

Directly in front of me is a man's chest. My gaze moves slowly up, up, up, sweeping over an imposing chest, wide shoulders, and then the face that has haunted my dreams for far too many years. I hate that he looks even better. Prince Sulien. The man who is as hot and merciless as the summer sun, with a face that seems carved from stone.

He stares back at me, his eyes the color of canyons at sunset, a brownish-auburn color that I've never seen in the face of another fae or human alike. He doesn't say a word to me, just stands there hovering over me. His lips in a firm line. His gaze unforgiving.

My heart races. How long has he been here? Had he seen me steal the meat? If he did, I'll be tossed out of the palace so fast my head will spin. And if he heard my other comments?

Fuck. What did I say? Nothing good, that I was sure of.

I open my mouth without thinking, and words start flying out. "You know, you're the prince and all, but sneaking up on a woman is beyond rude. I could have been in a compromising situation. What if I was adjusting my clothing? What if I wasn't wearing any clothing at all?"

He stares down at me, still silent, but his eyes twinkle, and the corner of his mouth quirks up almost imperceptibly. "Why would you be undressed in my room while you're working?" He crosses his arms and leans back.

I mirror him and cross my arms as well, trying to buy time to come up with an answer to his very good question. "Maybe a bug flew into my shirt, and I had to strip to get it out." I smile and nod my head.

Yes, that was a reasonable answer. Far better than telling him that I'm sure I'm not the first woman to find his room and undress, either with him or alone, and fantasize about him.

I'm honestly proud of myself for keeping quiet.

And then he keeps talking. "Why would there be bugs in here? Isn't it your job to keep this room clean? Are you not doing your job well?"

Dammit. He's gotten smarter over the years. When my grandmother was tutoring us, I'd always been the quicker of the two of us. Oh, what wouldn't I give for the days of him being a lovable dummy.

Not that I can say that since he's staring at me, waiting. So, I start talking. "The windows have been open more lately to air the room out. And that's not my point." I wave my hands in front of me. "My point is that you barged in here—yes, it's your room, but still. You barged in and snuck up on me, and scared the shit out of me."

He lifts a brow, but I can't tell what he's thinking. "Noted. I need a bath. Are you too scared to run me a bath?"

"Scared?" I snort, but then switch to a more formal tone. "No, Your Highness, I am not too scared to run you a bath. Right away!" I turn on my heels and head towards the bathroom.

As I prepare the water, he enters and begins peeling off his clothing. My jaw drops, and my gaze locks on him. I swear he takes his time unbuttoning his blue shirt, the one that makes his tanned skin look even more tanned. And when he drops it to the floor, I actually have to check that my panties haven't dropped to the floor too, because he looks that fucking good.

His chest and shoulders are wide. His stomach is so muscled that every man I've ever slept with suddenly looks like a pile of horseshit compared to him. And his biceps as he reaches for the button on his boots—a shudder rolls through me—they're actually rippling.

Is it getting hot in here?

"Did you want some lavender to help you relax?" I ask while he unlaces his boots.

"I don't care," he says, and his tone seems in agreement with his words .

"What about some hibiscus petals? Those are good for your skin. I don't know where you've been, but if it's been harsh on your skin…" I trail off, watching his boots and socks hit the floor.

When he doesn't answer, I throw in the lavender, the hibiscus, and a few more items from the basket beside the tub. Honestly, I'm not looking. And who can blame me?

He reaches for the buttons on his pants and starts flicking them open. Hell, he's good at taking off his pants. But that's probably expected. If half the rumors are true, the princes spend their time fucking their way through the four kingdoms. I'm sure they're all more than apt at removing their pants.

Then he pulls his pants down and my mouth goes dry. My gaze moves from his strong calves to his thighs that look made for squeezing a woman tight and up to his tight boxers. I feel the horny rush inside of me getting to dangerous levels.

"Are you excited about the ball? It's mating season!" No one calls it that. I'm not sure why I just did. "I mean, it's time to find a mate. I'm so curious about how that goes. It must be exciting, though. A dance to find your wife. So romantic." I look up at Prince Sulien, and he's a god standing before me in nothing but his underwear.

And, oh fuck, I stop trying. I just stare at the bulge of his cock and let my gaze run over the outline. The sheer size of the thing. No wonder there are so many rumors about him. He is, in fact, concealing a dangerous weapon in his pants, one I'd love to get my hands on.

He clears his throat, and I remember he's here. That he can hear me. And see me… staring at his dick like it's a new treat I desperately want to start licking.

"Do you mind?" He's got that brow up again as he sweeps a hand toward the door. "Bathing me isn't one of your duties."

I feel my face heat up, and my pulse races. "You sure? I really don't mind."

Did that fucking just leave my mouth? If I wasn't blushing before, my face is on fire now.

"I mean, the bath is ready, Your Highness, so I'll be on my way." I bow and try to skitter out of the room.

But when I try to slip by, he grabs me and pulls me close to him. For one second, I think he's going to take me up on my offer to bathe him, and I swear my body's already wet and ready for him. But, instead, he whispers in my ear, "There are consequences for stealing, even things as small as food. Be careful."

I hold my breath, waiting for his hands to release me, but it seems to take him an eternity before he does. An eternity where I wonder what he means. An eternity where I wonder if he's about to turn me in, or wants my pocket food back. An eternity where I wonder whether I should beg him on my knees to forget this.

But then he steps away and heads toward the bath, like he'd never whispered anything at all to me. Like maybe it was all in my head.

Sweat rolling down my spine, I race out of the room. I'm relieved he didn't fire me from my position right then, but what if this meat in my apron loses me this job? What if I end up with nothing instead of the pennies I get now?

Damn it.