Beast in Shining Armor (5 page)

“Hang
on.”  Belle protested, uncomfortable with this idea.  “I didn’t agree to work
with
him.
  He’ll break my neck and leave me for dead before the first
turn.”

“I
promise to hold out until the second.”  Avenant assured her.  “Or at least to
try
.”

“He’s
just teasing.”  Scarlett said.  “Don’t worry.  There’s plenty of lead to the
string, so you can have some privacy.  This is going to work out for both of
you.  You’ll see.”

“Letty
is a genius when it comes to planning.”  Marrok agreed.  “And she looks after her
friends…  Even when the arrogant dicks don’t deserve her help.”

Avenant
studied the thin filament connecting him to Belle and then glanced at Scarlett. 
“I asked you not to meddle in this.”  He intoned.  “I told you I could handle
it.”

“Just
say thank you.”

Avenant
considered that for a beat.  “Thank you.”  He said quietly.

Scarlett
winked at him.

Belle’s
eyebrows soared.  She’d never heard Avenant thank anyone before.  Maybe he was
more worried about the labyrinth than he let on.  The entrance was as black and
ominous as a tomb, so it only made sense that he’d be wary.  Avenant wasn’t an
idiot.  Maybe he wanted the security of a partner, but he’d been too proud to
ask for help.  Belle understood that feeling.  She didn’t want to go in there
alone, either.  Not with Bluebeard and the others on the loose.  Even being
tethered to Avenant seemed like a better option.  No one would dare mess with
him, so sticking close made sense.

…But
she still wasn’t going along with this plan.

“I’m
fine on my own.”  She declared with a firm nod.

“As
am I.”  Avenant watched her intently.  “The only way I’d agree to this
arrangement would be if you could pull your own weight.  And, honestly, I don’t
see that happening.”

Belle
glowered at him.  “Of course I can pull my weight!  In fact, I have more
information than you do on what’s waiting for us in there.”

“You
think so, huh?”

“I
know
so.”

Avenant
sighed.  “Fine.  Have it your way.  We’ll join forces, but I still don’t think
it’ll work.”

“It’ll
work.”  Belle snapped and then realized she’d just accidently agreed to team up
with him.  “Hang on…”

“But,
we’re not staying together for long.”  Avenant interrupted.  “Just until we get
rid of the others.  Then, it will be you and me at the end, and we’ll finally
finish this game.”

Belle
swept her hair behind her ears, considering that proposal.  He had a point,
damn it.  Their final showdown
should
be one-on-one.  They both knew
that.  “Temporarily teaming up doesn’t seem the
worst
idea in the world.” 
She allowed.  “I guess we can try it.  Temporarily.”

The
grudging agreement had Avenant’s mouth curving.  “Temporarily.”  He murmured.

Belle’s
eyes narrowed, not liking his tone.

“Can
I talk to you for a sec, Belle?”  Scarlett didn’t wait for an answer.  She just
tugged Belle away from Avenant, the string unraveling for a dozen or so feet. 
“We don’t really know each other yet, but we have a lot in common.”

“We
do?”

“Sure. 
We both know Avenant is a pain in the ass.”

“Letty…” 
Avenant began.

“Oh,
you know it’s true.”  Scarlett made a face at Belle.  “He’s narcissistic and stuck-up
and grouchy.  I don’t really recall him ever being pleasant to anyone.  I’m
never sure what he’s thinking, because he doesn’t share his actual feelings. 
It’s all insults and snarking.  He’s no one’s idea of a knight in shining
armor.  He’s more like….”

“A
beast.”  Marrok finished helpfully.

Scarlett
nodded.  “A beast.”

“I
know.”  Belle agreed.  None of that was news to her, although it did annoy her
a bit to hear other people saying it.

“Oh
for God’s sake.”  Avenant drew out in long suffering tone.  He didn’t look
insulted, just bored.  Belle had no idea why she’d worried about hurting his
feelings earlier.  It was impossible to hurt the feelings of someone who had
none.  “Can we just go already?”

Scarlett
ignored him and leaned closer to Belle.  “There’s a reason for him being a
beast, though.”  She said quietly, so Avenant couldn’t hear.  “All his life, Avenant
has been told that he’s Bad.  That he’s evil and monstrous and that no one will
ever love him.  That kind of label is like being stuck in a small, lonely
cage.  He’s trapped and he needs someone to set him free.”

Belle’s
eyebrows drew together.  “Well, that someone isn’t me.”  She whispered back. 
“I’m his least favorite person in the whole world.  He gets irritated just
looking at me.”

Scarlett
shook her head.  “That’s not what I see.  Give him a chance.  I’m pretty sure
that if you’re nice to the beast, you will
own
the man.  And there are worse
fates in this world than owning a handsome prince with magical powers who
thinks you’re awesome.”

Belle
stared at her, not knowing what to say.

“Great! 
I’m glad we had this talk.”  Scarlett paused.  “By the way, if you don’t take
super-good care of him, I’m going to send large men to kill you.”  She nodded
liked it was all settled and turned back to Avenant who was frowning
suspiciously.  “Alright, on with the contest of valor!”  She clapped him on the
shoulder.  “FYI, I met a guy who met a gnome who used to date one of the
monsters in the labyrinth.”

“Real
monsters don’t ‘date.’”

“Real
monsters do whatever they want.”  Scarlett assured him.  “Stay focused.  Now, the
monsters in the maze are mostly minotaurs.  I’m not real clear on the details
of them, because they’re rare as hell.  But I know they’re hard to kill.”

“Are
they hard to freeze?  Because that’s really all that matters to me.”

“I
have no idea, but I have it on good authority that they like music.”  She
gestured to the black bag.  “Don’t worry.  I packed you a flute.”

“I
don’t play the flute.”

“I
know.  That’s why I got you some help.”

Even as a
child, he was rotten to the core.

Testimony
of Mrs. Poppins, Royal Nanny-
The People of the Northlands v. Prince Avenant

Twenty-One
Years Ago

Avenant
slammed into the library.  “Spell ‘inevitable.’”  He ordered, enraged by what
she’d done.  “Come on.  I dare you.”

Belle
glanced up from her book, her gaze defiant and wary.  She was curled up on the
window seat, her small body cuddled under a plaid blanket.  Her smooth hair was
twisted into two pigtails and tied off with yellow ribbons.  Belle always wore
yellow.  The color was bright and warm, just like her.  She always reminded
Avenant of the short days of summer that turned the frigid Northlands green.

He
couldn’t let her prettiness distract him.

“What
are you doing here?”  Belle demanded, as if she was surprised to see him in her
house.  As if she had no idea what he was so angry about.  As if the fourth
grade spelling bee championship meant nothing at all.

“Spell
‘inevitable.’”  He ground out again.

“Why?”

“You
know why.”

She
sighed like he was the one being annoying.  “Fine.  I-N-E-V-A…”

“Bullshit!” 
Avenant interrupted.  “That is
bullshit
, Belle.”  He had the
satisfaction of seeing her eyes widen in shock at the swearing.

She
looked towards the door, making sure no adults overheard.  “Avenant…”

“In.ev.it.able. 
You know how to spell that.”  He stomped closer to her.  “So why did you miss
the word in the last round?  Huh?”

“I
just got mixed-up.  Everybody gets mixed-up sometimes.”

“Bullshit.” 
This time it was quieter.  “You threw the contest.”

“That’s
ridiculous.”  She studied her book, pretending that the ponies on the cover
fascinated her.  “Why would I do something like that?”

Avenant’s
lips pressed together.  “You threw the contest because you heard my parents
shouting at me.”  He said flatly.  “You heard them say that I’d be locked in my
closet for a week if I lost.”  Being locked in his bedroom so his parents
didn’t have to look at him was hard enough, but he dealt with that almost every
day.  The tight confines of the closet were far worse.  The walls felt like
they were always moving closer.

Chocolate
brown eyes flicked to his and he saw compassion in them.  “It was just a stupid
spelling bee.”  Belle whispered and all his suspicions were confirmed.

He
hadn’t been able to confront her in front of all the parents and teachers, but
he’d known from the moment it happened that she’d let him win.  All afternoon
he’d been stewing over it and now he was ready for a fight.  He’d glared over
at Belle as the principal gave him the first place ribbon and she’d been
clapping for him. 
Clapping
.  That was the worst part of all, because it
showed she didn’t do it out of fear, or as part of some plan, or even to taunt
him.

She
did it because she felt
sorry
for him.

Betrayal
and shame and fury filled him, so Avenant couldn’t tell one from the other. 
“You
cheated
.”  He spat out.  “How many other times have you done that?”

“Never! 
It wasn’t even cheating.  We’re both good spellers.  Either one of us could’ve
been champ, depending on which words I got and which you got.”  She bit her
lower lip.  “What’s the big deal?”

Of
course
it wasn’t a big deal to her.  Belle’s parents didn’t care if she
won the spelling bee.  They barely noticed her at all, except to buy her frilly
yellow dresses and pat her head on their way to some party.  She had no idea
what it was like to be the son of a royal family.  To
have
to win or
face the consequences.  Every night his mother would tell him stories of what
happened to princes who failed in their duties.

“The
big deal is
I’m
Prince of the Northlands.”  Avenant yelled.  “I don’t
have to cheat to beat you.  I’m
better
than you.”

That
was a lie.  Belle was far better than him in every way.  He’d always known
that.  She was so damn pretty and smart and Good.  She was like sunshine in the
dead of winter.  Sometimes in school he just sat at his desk and stared at her
when no one was watching.

If
she ever stared back, it would be the happiest day of his life.

“I
was trying to help you, you jerk.”  Belle snapped.  “You could just say thanks,
you know.”

“I
don’t need your help!  And I don’t need this.”  Avenant threw the first place
ribbon at her and headed for the door.  “It’s yours.  Take it.”

Belle
swatted it away and got to her feet.  “You’re being a baby.”  She marched after
him, her beautiful face fixed in a frown.  “Why can’t you ever be nice?”

Avenant
didn’t know how to be nice.  His parents would’ve been horrified if he even
tried.  Princes should rule by fear, intimidation, and cold brutality.  Especially
when they were Bad.  When they were beasts.  Anything less was weakness.  That
absolute law had been drilled into his head since babyhood.

Now
Belle was looking at him with sympathy and he
hated
it.  She nursed
wounded squirrels back to health and let every loser in school sit at her lunch
table, for crying out loud.  The girl always helped the helpless.  But, Avenant
wasn’t one of her oddball projects.  He was a
prince
.  As long as she
was fighting with him, she knew he was strong.  When she deliberately lost the
spelling bee, he’d wanted to curl up into a ball and die.  He couldn’t stand
that Belle saw him as weak.

He
wanted her to admire him.  To
like
him.

Instead,
she thought he was pathetic.

Avenant
turned and jabbed a finger at her, trying not to cry.  “Don’t
ever
pity
me.  You’re nobody.  Just a commoner.  I’m going to rule this whole kingdom
someday.  I live in a palace. 
You
don’t live in a palace.”  He waved a
hand at the nouveau riche decorations of the library.  Belle’s family lived in
a nice house, but they were basically just socialites who’d stumbled into
cash.  “I’m royalty. 
You’re
not royalty.

“I
wouldn’t
want
to live in a palace.”  Belle retorted.  “And it seems
horrible to be you, so I don’t want that, either.”

That
just made him madder, because he knew she’d seen his parents yelling at him and
she was pitying him, again.  “Well, your parents didn’t even
come
to the
spelling bee.  Just like they didn’t come to the art show or your violin
recital.  It doesn’t matter to them
what
you do.  Everyone knows that.” 
He was going too far, but he couldn’t stop.  “I’m
important
.  Important
to everyone
and you’re not important to anybody.  If anything, I should
feel sorry for
you
.”

She
wasn’t looking at him with sympathy anymore.  She wasn’t looking at him, at
all.  Avenant thought he’d wanted that, but it just made everything worse.  She
didn’t even answer him back and Belle
always
answered him back.  He
could hear his heart pounding in his ears, knowing he’d hurt her feelings and
not knowing how to fix it.

Belle
stared down at the rug and didn’t say anything.

“I
can have anything I want.”  Avenant continued in a more deflated tone.  “And
when I marry my princess, she can have anything
she
wants.”

Belle’s
eyes were swimming with tears and it made his stomach hurt.  Deep inside, the
Beast howled, knowing Belle was upset and blaming him for it.  Usually Avenant
tried to ignore the monster.  His parents told him it was Bad, and wrong, and
that he should lock it away.  But
Avenant
was the one wrong, this time. 
He’d made Belle cry and the Beast knew he was wrong, wrong,
wrong
.  Her
tears were the last thing in the world either of them wanted.  He tried to
think of something that would make it better.

“I
can even get her horses.”  Avenant gestured to the book she was reading.  “I
can buy my princess all the horses she asks for.  Hundreds of them.  We could
ride them together.  Or she could ride them alone.  She probably won’t want to
ride with me.  I know.  But she would be
so
important
to me that
it wouldn’t even matter, Belle, so long as she was happy and…”

“You’re
never going to find your True Love, because nobody likes you.”  She
interrupted, wiping at her cheeks.  “You’re mean and horrible.”

Avenant
winced.  “But, I’m a prince.  Lots of girls would want to marry a prince.”

“If
you think that’s True Love, I really do feel sorry for you.”

“Because
you know everything about True Love, right?”  He retorted, stung by her words. 
“You don’t know
anything
.”

“I
read books.  I know what it is and I know you can’t just buy it like a horse. 
My
True Love is going to be a knight in shining armor.”

Avenant
didn’t like hearing that.  “He’ll have to be blind, too.”  He muttered, just to
make her mad.

Belle
pointed towards the door.  “Go home.  I don’t want you here.  I’m sorry I tried
to be friends, okay?  It won’t happen again.  Just leave.”

“Friends?” 
Hope filled him.  Even the Beast was calmed by the idea.  “Wait, you want to be
friends?  We can be friends.”

“Are
you crazy?!”  She gaped at him.  “I will
never
be your friend, now.”

“Why
not?”  He demanded in disappointment.  No one had ever asked him to be friends
before, but he was
supposed
to be friends with Belle.  It was what he
wanted.  To have her like him the way he liked her.  For one gleaming second,
Avenant even pictured them riding horses together.  “We could at least
try
.”

“I
don’t want to try.  You’re ungrateful and selfish and you’re a bully.”  More tears
fell, but now they were angry.  “You don’t care about anyone but yourself.  I
would never be friends with a beast like you.”

Avenant’s
insides turned cold.  His mind took her words and automatically filtered them
through all the experiences of his short life.  He didn’t consider the fact
that he’d just made her cry and that was why she was refusing to be friends. 
All he heard was that she didn’t want to be around him because he was Bad.  It
was the same reason his parents hated to even look at him and why the kingdom
whispered about him in disgust.  Because, he wasn’t Good.

He
wasn’t worthy.

Belle
was too important for someone like him.  Deep down he knew that and it made him
insane.

“I
don’t want to be your friend,
anyway
.”  Avenant shouted.  “I have a lot
of friends already.  Better friends than you.  Interesting friends.  And we do
a lot of interesting things.”

“So
go bother them, Mr. Popular!”

“I
will
.  I don’t have time to hang out with someone so boring.”

She
swiped at her nose.  “And don’t come back!”

“I
won’t.”  Avenant slammed out the door and then stood in her hallway.  He stared
at the tacky gilt mirror across from him, breathing hard and hating what he saw. 
In that second, he knew Belle would never, ever be his friend.

He
slowly slid down the wall, not wanting to see his reflection.  Avenant sat
there for a long moment feeling broken.  The backs of his eyes burned and he
pulled his knees up to his chest to hide his face.  She would never, ever like
him.  Not
ever
.  Because he wasn’t Good enough.  His parents were
right.  He was a beast.  Belle saw it, too.  She probably just wanted to
pretend he didn’t exist, now.  To go through the rest of her life never, ever
thinking about him, again.

Avenant’s
jaw tightened.

No. 
She wasn’t going to ignore him.  That would be worse than getting locked in the
closet.  Belle
had
to talk to him.  Avenant wanted her to notice him
and, no matter what it took, he was going to have her attention.

So,
if she wouldn’t like him… then he’d make sure she
hated
him.