Beauty So Golden

BEAUTY SO GOLDEN FAIRYTALES WITH A TWIST LILITH VINCENT CONTENTS Blurb Playlist A Note to Readers Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Epilogue Acknowledgments Also by Lilith Vincent About the Author You’ve made it to the Tower. Hope starts here. These are the words we say to greet the scared, the injured, the hungry, when they finally reach the last safe haven. The Tower is the only refuge from the Blighted Plague that has ravaged the land and turned the survivors into flesh-hungry animals. We are the lucky ones, and everyone else is condemned to die. Mother tells us so. Then one day, a dangerous man and his brutal brothers threaten to tear these lies apart. Dexer is an adrenaline rush who leaves me breathless. Blaize makes my heart pound in ways I never thought possible, and Keenan fell from grace only to lift me up. They call me Beauty, and I am theirs in a brutal world. But while the Tower still stands, we’re doomed to fall. I’ve lost so much already, and I won’t watch my men die. This is no fairy tale. This is war. Author’s note: Beauty So Golden is a standalone reverse harem romance based on the fairy tale Rapunzel, set in a post-apocalyptic zombie world. The story is sweetly smutty and delicious. The Ledger brothers are competitive and possessive, and the heroine never has to choose just one man. BEAUTY SO GOLDEN by LILITH VINCENT Copyright © 2023 Lilith Vincent | All Rights Reserved | Editing by Fox Proof Editing Proofreading by Rumi Khan Cover by Emcat Designs No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief quotations for reviews. Thank you for respecting the author’s work. This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any similarities between persons living or dead are purely coincidental. Created with Vellum PLAYLIST (Don’t Fear) The Reaper – Blue Öyster Cult Rebel Yell – Billy Idol Poison – Alice Cooper Immigrant Song – Led Zeppelin Mary Jane’s Last Dance – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers The Stroke – Billy Squier Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane Barracuda – Heart Ace of Spades – Motörhead Paranoid – Black Sabbath Layla – Derek and the Dominos Mother – Danzig Time of the Season – The Zombies Sharp Dress Man – ZZ Top Gimme Shelter – The Rolling Stones Hold the Line – TOTO Little Wing – Jimi Hendrix Search “Beauty So Golden by Lilith Vincent” on Spotify or find it here: http://bit.ly/3GZfUoM A NOTE TO READERS Beauty So Golden is a reverse harem romance with post-apocalyptic and adventure themes, which is very different from my usual Lilith books! I hope you enjoy the ride. Dexer, Blaize, and Keenan are full-blood brothers who have all wanted Rue for a long time, but it takes the end of the world to bring them together. There are group scenes in this book including DVP but there’s no MM. 1 Rue For ten hours every day, I heal the sick. I tend to the wounds of those brought in from the Blighted Lands, weak, dusty, and close to death. Often terrified, sometimes screaming, always desperate. With careful hands, I tenderly stitch cuts, clean festering scratches, and murmur soothing words of comfort. You’re safe now. You’ve made it to the Tower. Hope starts here. For two hours after my exhausting shift in the infirmary, I pick up a high-powered rifle, and I kill. Nestled in the nook of a broken window on the sixteenth floor, I survey the scrublands around the Tower: the houses, the highway, the woods beyond, and the high perimeter fences that keep the Blighted out. All while the blazing hot sun hammers down on everything. With one foot propped on a ledge, I raise the gun and peer through the scope. Half a dozen Blighted are stumbling against the outermost fence, hands flailing uselessly, and their moans floating up to me on the hot wind. Through the scope, I can make out their vacant white eyes, torn lips, and broken teeth. Some Blighted are missing limbs or parts of their faces. They don’t seem to feel pain from their injuries or the blistering heat of the sun. They don’t sweat. Don’t talk. Don’t laugh. Don’t cry. All they do is hunger for living flesh, and human flesh is their favorite meal. There are four Blighted gathered close to the generator that provides the Tower with electricity. The sound of the diesel engine always attracts them. The Blighted can hear and see, but they don’t seem to know the difference between a human voice, the cry of a bird, or the splutter of an engine. I’ve watched a Blighted chase after a plastic bag blowing in the wind like it’s a tasty meal. Well, not chase. It’s more of a stagger. The Blighted are stiff-limbed and slow, so when there are just one or two of them after you, they’re not much of a threat. You can duck under their reaching arms. Kick them solidly in the chest. Jog around them. Even half a dozen Blighted aren’t too dangerous. It’s when they build up into hordes that we have a problem. If they get the idea—notion, instinct, whatever—into their ravaged minds that there’s something to eat on the other side of our fences, they’ll lurch against them all day and night until the posts are shaken loose. I watch the four Blighted clawing at the wire and trying to reach the generator. One of them stops for a moment, staring around with her milky eyes and gnashing her teeth. Clumps of hair are missing from her skull and the rest