Beast in Shining Armor (26 page)

Belle
shrugged.  “There may or may not have been a final page to Adam’s journal.” 
She explained.  “It may or may not have mentioned that royal blood alone wasn’t
enough.  I may or may not have memorized it and then ripped it out, so no one
else could win.”

“And
you’re just now telling me this?”

“Is
it my fault no one in your family reads?”

“God,
I love it when you’re a bitch.”

Belle
glanced up at him and grinned.  “Thank you for saying I could claim Excalibur,
by the way.  Before I understood the last passage, I thought
I
was going
to be the one to get the sword and give it to you.”  She shook her head.  “You
totally would’ve beat me to it, though.  I was standing there, trying to figure
out what to do next, and you just
leapt
.  As soon as you surrendered, I
knew I’d lost the real game.”

“Neither
of us loses, so long as one of us wins.”  He assured her piously.

“Remember
that next time I crush you at Scrabble.”

He
gave her a slight smile.  “You were really going to give me the sword?”

“Sure. 
After I made you suffer.”  She shrugged.  “Turns out I’m madly in love with you,
but I still like tormenting you a lot.  As it is, though, I think we should
rule together, don’t you?  I think it was always supposed to be that way.”  She
paused.  “Also, I’d throw you in jail again if you ever tried to get rid of me.”

“You
really have ruined me for every other woman in the world, my love.”

“I
know.”  She waved a hand at Excalibur.  “Okay, let’s do this.  Put your hand on
it.”

Avenant
did, automatically giving the hilt a yank.  The blade stayed locked in the
stone.  He frowned.  “Are you sure…?”

Belle
laid her hand over his.  “We have to do it together.”  She explained.  “That’s
the clue on final page of the journal.  It took me awhile to figure out, but I
now I get it.  I think Adam was trying to say that being a true ruler means caring
about other people and needing them and trusting them.  No one can do it
alone.”  She tugged upward at the same time Avenant did and the sword slid
free, resting in both their hands.

Avenant
let out a long breath, staring down at it in amazement.  “You did it, Bella.”

“
We
did it.”

“We
did it.”  He agreed and bent down to kiss her.  “What did Adam’s last entry
say?”

She
shrugged.  “What else?  ‘True Love conquers all.’”

To be
honest, I think Prince Avenant could be an okay guy, if he gave people a
chance, ya know?

If he made
some friends.  Maybe took himself a wife and had some kids.

It’s no
good to always be a cheese standing alone.

Testimony
of Mr. Farmer in the Dell-
- The
People of the Northlands vs. Prince Avenant

One
Year Later

When
Avenant’s son was born, the kingdom rejoiced.

Eventually.

Prince
Adam was a beast, just like his father.  His tantrums created snowstorm in his
nursery, his tiny body transforming into an ice creature when he was unhappy.  It
freaked out more than a few nannies, doctors and passersby.

But,
once everyone got used to the electric blue glow of his eyes and the occasional
frozen skin during diaper changes and an unscheduled blizzard here and there,
they began to notice the new prince was
adorable
.  He was always smiling
and he liked to hear stories and songs.  He was curious and sweet and way too
smart for his own good.  Most of all, Adam wasn’t locked away or feared by his
parents.  He was loved.

The
Northlands’ soon realized that a monster who was treated with love, wasn’t
really a monster, at all.

Everywhere
he went, the baby beast was the most popular person in the room.  And not
just
because he was usually the cutest.  Adam spent his mornings sitting on
Avenant’s lap on the Icen Throne, while his father dealt with bureaucratic
concerns.  Belle would grab him up in the afternoon, carting Adam from meeting
to meeting, while she oversaw the Northlands’ social programs.

The
kingdom had never been so prosperous.  Individually as rulers, Belle may have
been too soft and Avenant may have too hard, but, working together, they were
just right.  With
both
of them in charge, forcing each other to
compromise, thing seemed to find a natural balance.  The citizens were
deliriously happy and most of their gratitude was aimed at Adam, who was the
new symbol of True Love conquering all.

They
baby thought it was all his due.

So
did his father.

“You’re
spoiling him rotten.”  Belle warned.  She sat up in bed, watching in amusement
as Avenant adjust Adam’s fuzzy snowman pajamas.

“His
Auntie Letty’s the one who bought him this outfit, not me.”  Avenant held his
son to the mirror and smiled.  He no longer hated seeing his own reflection,
possibly because Adam’s features were identical to his own.  “He looks great in
it, doesn’t he?”

Adam
grinned in toothless agreement.

“He
looks great in everything,” Belle conceded, “but that’s not what I mean.  You
got him
another
horse today.  He can’t even sit up yet, let alone ride.”

“He
will, though.  And in the meantime, he likes petting them.”

“That
doesn’t mean he needs every horse in the kingdom.”

Cradling
Adam against his chest, Avenant headed over to the bed.  Above the headboard
were Excalibur and a framed crayon drawing of a yellow rose.  “Alright,
alright.  No more horses.  For a while, anyway.”  He laid down next to Belle,
tugging her closer with one arm and holding Adam with the other.  “I just want
our son to know he’s important.”  He explained.  “I want
you
to know it,
too.”  He kissed the top of her head.  “I love you both more than anything in the
world.”

“We
do
know it.”  She leaned against his shoulder and smiled in
contentment.  “You show us every day.  I’ve never seen anyone work harder to be
open with his feelings.  But, there’s only so much room in the stable.  Why
don’t you buy Adam more books, instead?”

“Because,
we already ran out of room in the library, my love.”

Belle
shot him a mock frown.  “You can
never
have too many books, though.” 
She studied his face for a moment.  “Is something wrong?  You look kind of
troubled tonight.”

Avenant
sighed.  “Our search parties finished combing the last of the labyrinth and there’s
still no sign of Esmeralda or Bluebeard.”  He admitted.  “I’m more convinced
than ever that they fell through some rabbit holes.”  No one cared about
Bluebeard, but Esmeralda was a different story.  All her friends were looking
for her.  “She could be anywhere.”  Avenant continued.  “And time doesn’t
always pass the same way in those things, so she could be any
when
, too. 
It’s going to be next to impossible to find her.”

“Nothing’s
impossible.”  Belle refused to give up.  The Cheshire cat seers in the
Enchanted Forrest said that Ez was still alive, so everyone would keep
searching for her.  “We’ll send men into the rabbit holes to look, next.”

Avenant
snorted.  “Let’s put Lancelot in charge of searching vortexes, then.  He’s
gung-ho to be useful and anything that sucks that asshole into a realm far, far
away is fine with me.”

She
refused to be amused by his snarking.  “I think it’s nice that he wants to be
friends with you.”  Ever since Avenant had saved him from Peter, Lancelot had
been working hard to gain his cousin’s approval.  And to live down the weeklong
period when he’d been a crying mess, waiting for the mirror’s magic to leave
his system.  “He’s not
so
terrible… for a chauvinistic, egotistical
idiot.  At least he’s accepting you as the rightful prince, now”

“I’d
still be happier with him in another dimension.”  Avenant decided.  “And with
Esmeralda back home.”

Belle
chewed her lower lip.  “You know, maybe Ez will figure out a way to contact
us.  Or maybe she’ll get back on her own.  She has magic, so she’s pretty
resourceful.”

“She’s
also insane.  And a lot of people don’t like witches.”

“A
lot of people don’t like beasts, either.  You won them over.  I’m sure
Esmeralda can, too.  You were twice as unlikable as she is.”

He
snorted.  “I love it when you’re a bitch.”

“You
say the sweetest things.”  Belle reached over to tickle Adam’s jaw.  “You daddy
used to scare everybody, you know.  They would run when they saw him coming.  But,
mommy tamed him and now he’s just a big old marshmallow.  People wave to him on
the streets and he doesn’t even have them deported for it.”

“That
only happened once.  Most people are still satisfactorily intimidated by me.”

“Daddy’s
deluding himself, isn’t he?”  Belle kept her attention on Adam.  “No one even
tries to depose him anymore.  And I hear he’s going to let Mother Goose have
her TV show back.”  She made a “tsk” sound.  “It’s almost sad how Good he’s
becoming.”

“Annoying
or not, my princess insists those rhyming games of Mother Goose’s are educational.” 
Avenant muttered.  “Even though they
clearly
don’t rhyme and they don’t
have the right number of syllables and they’re stupid.”

“The
point is to encourage children to think about interesting words.”

“
Mother
Goose’s Story Time Fun Show
makes me think of
a lot
of interesting words.” 
Avenant rolled his eyes.  “But, from now on the children of the Northlands will
get to suffer through that feathered harridan’s irritating whimsy every weekday
morning at ten.”  He arched a brow at her.  “I hope you’re happy.”

“I
am.”

He
considered that.  “
How
happy?”

“Very
happy.”  She purred.  “I like being married to nice guy.”

Avenant
nuzzled her hair.  “Oh, I can be
extremely
nice.  Believe me.”  He
murmured.  “Let’s put the baby to bed and I’ll show you.”

She
liked the sound of that.  “Can we make it a game?”  She never got tired of
playing with this man.

“Which
game?”

Belle
fluttered her eyelashes.

“Again? 
You always want to play with the Beast.  Why can’t we ever pretend I’m a knight
in shining armor?”

“Because
I prefer a beast in shining armor, of course.”  She leaned closer to his ear
and knew it would take less than two seconds to talk him into the fun.  Avenant
might grumble a little, but he liked letting the Beast loose to ravage her.  He’d
finally begun to see the monster as a part of himself, tearing down the walls
of its cage.  “Please?”  She breathed flirtatiously.  “I dare you to do wicked
things to me.”

He
let out a low groan, him mouth finding hers.  Yeah, he loved this game.  “God,
you really are a Bad little girl, Bella.”

“I
know.”  She nipped his lower lip.  “Face it, nobody else would put up with
either one of us.  I think it was inevitable that we were stuck together.”

Avenant
gave a slow grin.  “Now who’s the romantic who believes in destiny?”

“You’re
rubbing off on me, I guess.”  She swept her hair back behind her ears.  “That
reminds me, do you know what next Tuesday is?”

She
felt him hesitate.  “The fifteenth of ex-July.”

“Which
is?”

“Your
birthday.”  He said with a resigned sigh.

“That’s
right.”  Belle nodded.  “And I’m going to throw a party at my old house, just
like I always do.”

Silence.

“I’m
going to invite Scarlett and Marrok and Jana and Benji and all the women from
my book club and that nice troll from down the road and
maybe
Humpty
Dumpty.  He’s really making a lot of strides in his PTSD treatments, I think.  He
barely hides from you at all, these days.”

Avenant
regarded her warily.  “It matters if an egg likes me or not?”

“Well,
I can’t have a guest being scared of my husband all day, can I?”  She shook her
head.  “It would be awkward for you if he started panicking that you were going
to make him into an omelet or something.  I want you to have a good time.”

Blue
eyes glowed.  “You’re inviting me to your birthday party?”  He asked in relief. 
“Really?”

“Of
course!”  She gave him a smacking kiss.  “I’m insanely in love with you, in
case you haven’t noticed.  You’re invited
everywhere
I go, because
you’re the one I have the most fun with.”  She touched his face.  “It will
always and forever be
you
, Avenant.”

His
lips curved, his gaze bright.  “I won big when I got you for a True Love.”

“And
you didn’t even have to cheat… Much.”

“I
would have done anything, if it meant having you.”  He kissed her temple.  “So
what do you want for your birthday?  Name it and it’s yours.”

“No
more horses.”  Belle warned.  “I mean it.”

“What
about a pony?”

“What
about a daughter?”

“Done.”

He
was serious.  So was she.

Belle
began mentally expanding the stable.  A certain doting daddy was going to buy
his little girl a whole herd of thoroughbreds.  It was inevitable.  She shook
her head, crazy about for this man.  “Avenant, my parties were
always
about you.”  She told him, in case he still didn’t understand that.  “I only
ever threw the damn things to
not
invite you and to get under your
skin.”

“It
worked.”

“Well,
you’re easy to tease.”  She arched a brow.  “Hey, do you think Adam would like
a waterslide?”

“Everyone
likes waterslides.  Even beasts.”  Avenant stroked her hair, his face going solemn. 
“Thank you, Bella.”  He whispered.

“It’s
just a silly party…”

“No.” 
He interjected.  “I mean
thank you
.  You saved me.  You made me whole.  I
would’ve been cold all the way through, without your warmth.  Thank you for
setting me free.”

Belle
smiled at the Beast of the Northlands.  “You’re welcome, my love.”