Beast in Shining Armor (9 page)

“
Me
screw
you
over?!”  She kept wading towards the ladder.  “You’re
insane, you know that?”

Annoyed
that she wasn’t going to hang around for more torture, Avenant got between
Belle and the exit.  “Damn it, why can’t you just be normal?  Every other girl
in this whole kingdom would accept the horse from me.  They would thank me.  They
would
want
me at their party.  I’m the fucking prince!”

“They
wouldn’t
want
you at their party.  They’d just be too afraid not to
invite you, because you’re a bully.”  Belle retorted.  “You think
I
don’t have friends?  Well you don’t either.  No one
likes
you, Avenant.”

“I
don’t care if anyone likes me.  Just so they fear me.”

She
splashed water at him in frustration.  “That’s why you’re always coming after
me like this.  I’m the only one who won’t back down from you and you can’t
stand it.”

“You
don’t understand anything.”

“Don’t
I?  You think you can just buy and threaten people to get your own your way.” 
She shook her head.  “But you can’t.  Not always.”

Avenant’s
mouth thinned.  “Seems like I did this time, though.”  He gestured around the
remnants of his improvised celebration.  “My party was way bigger than yours.”

“Only
because you sabotaged me.”

“So
what?  I still won.”

“You
can’t ‘win’ a birthday.”  She snapped, even though he clearly
had
.

“Liar. 
You tried to exclude me from the guest list and you’re pissed that it didn’t
work.  Admit it.”

Belle’s
eyes narrowed.  “It
did
work.  You weren’t invited.  You won’t
ever
be welcomed at my birthday, no matter what you try.  I’ll have a party every
year from now on and you’ll
never
be invited and there’s
nothing
you can do about it.”

Avenant
looked away.  “So what?”  He repeated bitterly.  “I got you to come to this
party and that’s what matters today.”

“Well,
now I’m
leaving
this party.”  She tried to go around him, but he shifted
into her path.

“Bella,
no.  Stay.”

Unprepared
for the way he blocked her, Belle’s body slammed into his…

…And
she felt their whole relationship shift.

Her
eyes flashed up to his and she saw Avenant’s expression go taut.  Belle hadn’t
been so close to him since she’d shoved him off the stage in the middle of
their fifth grade play.  It had felt great to send him careening into the
audience during his big scene.  This felt even better.  Her body got all tingly
and warm.  Avenant’s hands went to her waist, holding her against him.  She
could feel his breath coming faster.  So was hers.  For a second, neither of
them moved.  They just stood in the water, staring at each other.

“Stay
with me.”  He whispered.

He
was so amazingly beautiful that it was almost hypnotic.

“Well,
fuck.”  A male voice sang out, breaking the spell.  “A
real
man would’ve
had her naked by now, cousin.”

Belle
jerked away from Avenant, her mind whirling.

“Son-of-a-
bitch
.” 
Avenant’s head snapped around to pin Lancelot with a deadly look.  “You have
two seconds to leave before I have you executed.”

“Hey,
the palace is my home, too.”  Lancelot retorted.  He was a few years older than
them, on leave from the Knight Academy.  Warm weather was so rare in the
Northlands that most everyone used this time of year as a vacation.  “I can’t
help it if I come into the courtyard and I see you making out with some floozy
in a pool.”  He took a sip from the beer in his hand.

Belle’s
mouth dropped open.  “Floozy?”

Avenant
moved in front of her, his eyes narrowing at this cousin.  “No, it’s
not
your home.  Everything here belongs to
me
.  You’re the poor relation who
shows up on holidays to pretend like you matter.”

“I’m
a going to be a knight!”  Lancelot roared back.  He sounded like he’d been
drinking away the afternoon.  “That’s something you’ll
never
be,
Avenant!  Bad folk aren’t allowed be to become knights, because it’s the most
important job in the kingdom and you’re not fit for it.  All the men want to be
us and all the girls want to fuck us.”

There
was some truth buried in that gibberish.  The knights were the superstars of
the Northlands.  Even Belle admired them.  She had pictures of the greatest warriors
taped to her bedroom walls and the whole set of their novelized adventures on
her bookshelf.  But, Lancelot was hardly their poster boy.  He was only
accepted into the training program because his father was the cousin of Prince
Vincent.  Everyone knew that.

Belle
shoved her way up beside Avenant.  “Being the
ruler
of the kingdom
is
obviously the most important job in the kingdom.”  She heard herself say.  “And,
for your information, girls can be knights
too
, you Neanderthal.  We
don’t just marry them.”

“It’s
a job for men.”  Lancelot insisted, most of his attention on his cousin. 
“Women disgrace the sacred armor.”  He arched a brow at Avenant and took
another drink.  “By the way, Bad folk aren’t allowed to be
princes
,
either.  Your parents can’t force this kingdom to accept you, no matter how
many people they throw in the dungeon.  No one wants a beast in charge.  One
day, you’ll be kicked out of this palace and I’ll take it
all
from you.”

Belle
felt the pool water getting colder and she knew it was from Avenant’s powers. 
She instinctively opened her mouth to warn Lancelot, but it was too late.  At
least a ton of snow dumped from the clear summer sky… right onto Lancelot’s
head.  He hit the ground, dazed and buried in a mountain of frost.  Even wearing
that stupid metal helmet, he was going to feeling the impact of the avalanche
for days.

Belle
didn’t feel too sorry for him.

Avenant
calmly surveyed the damage.  “No one takes what mine.”  He looked over at Belle
and gave a slow smile.  “And hey, don’t worry. 
I
don’t think you’re a
floozy.”

Belle
fulfilled her birthday wish and punched him right in the nose.

Prince Charming:
  I wouldn’t
call it a duel, exactly.  Avenant just tried to kill me.

Prince Avenant:
  If I tried to
kill you, you’d be dead, you simpering idiot.

Judge:
  Silence in my courtroom!  One
more outburst and I’ll have your client removed, counselor.

Defense:
  We apologize,
your honor.  But, he
does
have a point about this questionable
testimony.

Prince Avenant has never once been
accused of
attempted
murder.

Testimony of Prince Charming
- The
People of the Northlands vs. Prince Avenant

“Explain
why a minotaur is chasing us.”  Belle got out when they finally stopped
running.  “I thought that’s why Letty gave us that damn flute.  Because they
were --like-- charmed by the melody or something.”

“I
told you, the music thing isn’t working.”  Esmeralda bent forward with her
hands braced on her knees, trying to catch her breath.  “The flute just got him
all grouchy.”

Avenant
snorted.  “Maybe you just suck at playing it.”

“Maybe
you should shut-up, wiseass.”  Esmeralda slanted him a glare.  “I’m only here
to help you save your stupid frozen kingdom, you know.”

“I
didn’t ask for your help.”

“No,
you asked for Letty’s help and
Letty
asked for my help.  Tuesday share
circle sticks together, ass wipe.”

Avenant
sighed, but he stopped arguing.

Belle’s
gaze cut between them, sensing their bond.  Was this girl his True Love?

Ever
since Avenant had hinted at his forthcoming marriage, Belle had been on edge. 
She hadn’t really considered him finding a wife before.  The idea troubled her
on some deep level.  So much so that she’d frantically tried to talk him out of
the whole idea, which had probably made her sound like a lunatic.

Avenant
wasn’t stupid.  He wasn’t just going to walk away from his one True Love.

Now
Esmeralda had shown up and Belle couldn’t stop thinking that maybe she was the
woman he’d been talking about.  Ez was certainly beautiful and, like most
witches, favored as little clothing as possible.  Even at these frigid
temperatures, she was showing off her ample cleavage in a way that had Belle’s
teeth grinding together.  Worse, Avenant wasn’t killing her for being such a
pain in the ass, so he had to
like
the witch.  Maybe she was the one he
wanted.  Why
wouldn’t
he want her?

Belle’s
stomach tightened in dismay.  “What’s Tuesday share circle?”  She demanded,
hating the fact they had some kind of private code.

“It
was our therapy group back in prison.”  Avenant explained.  “Marrok, Letty, Me,
Ez, and a couple of others.  We had to meet every Tuesday and share our feeling
about being Bad.”

Belle
couldn’t imagine Avenant doing anything even remotely like that.  He was the
most emotionally unavailable person she’d ever met.  “You shared your
feelings?
”

“Hell,
no.”  Esmeralda scoffed.  “He just sat there and complained about the rest of
us.  Oh and about
you
.”

Yeah,
that made more sense.

“The
usurper stole the Northlands.”  Esmeralda mocked in her best Avenant
impression.  “The usurper framed me for embezzling.  The usurper didn’t go to
prom with me.”

Belle
looked at Avenant.  “You told them about prom?”

“Of
course not.”

“He
completely did.”  Esmeralda assured her.  “I think you really hurt Avenant’s
feelings when you dated that other guy instead of him.”

Belle
glanced over at Avenant, who was glowering at Esmeralda.  “You didn’t even
ask
me to prom.”  She snapped, outraged that somehow he’d cast her as the villain
in that mess.  “Everything that happened was
your
fault.”

“I
don’t remember it that way.”

The
man was insane.  “How else is there to remember it?!”  She demanded.  “It’s
what
happened
.  You were an obnoxious, lying jackass.  I called you on
it and you got pissed.”

“I
got pissed because you refused to listen to the truth.”  He snapped.  “You were
trying to break me and it didn’t work.  It
won’t
work.  I will keep
fighting until I win.”

Esmeralda
leaned closer to Belle and lowered her voice conspiratorially.  “Avenant’s kind
of sensitive under all the bullshit snarking.  Dr. Ramona, our counselor, said
he builds walls around his feelings.”

“Ignore
the witch.”  Avenant told Belle.  “She has no idea what she’s talking about.”

Esmeralda
rolled her eyes.  “Fine.  How about we focus on the giant minotaur out to
flambé us, then?  I mean, you two didn’t see this thing.  He’s
huge
,
with horns and lousy sense of humor.”

“Horned
creatures are notoriously moody.”  Avenant agreed.  “I’ve always said that.  I
tried deporting all of them from my kingdom, but
someone
started whining
about monster’s rights and blocked the eviction.”  He looked pointedly at
Belle.

She
disregarded that.  “Does he really have the head of a bull?”  She asked
Esmeralda, interested despite herself.  So little was known about minotaurs. 
Every book she’d researched had been filled with speculation and unanswered
questions.

“Let’s
just say, he’s not the handsomest guy in the Four Kingdoms.  We need to keep
going.”

“Where?” 
Avenant gestured to the maze of corridors.  “We have no idea which direction is
safest, Ez.  For all we know, we’re circling back to him.”

“Or
towards whoever killed Mr. Pumpkin-Eater.”  Belle reminded him, sitting down on
a rock.  The floor was slippery in this section of the maze, as if the ground
was mostly ice.  It felt good to stop sliding around for a minute.  She dug
into her own pack to grab a bottle of water and twisted the top off.

Avenant
slanted Esmeralda a suspicious glare.  “Wait a minute…  Did
you
lobotomize
that jack-o-lantern guy?”

“What? 
No
.”  She promptly frowned, reconsidering her automatic denial.  “Well… wait. 
Let me think about it.”  Her crimson eyes narrowed, like she was trying to
recall the specifics of all her crimes.  “Was he a skinny dude living with his
plus-sized wife in a pumpkin shell?  Because, that was
totally
an
accident.”

“No,
he was the scarecrow looking cannibal trying to steal my crown.”  Avenant told
her calmly.

“Oh,
awesome! 
That
guy’s dead?”

Belle
shook her head in frustration and leaned back against the wall.  “How did you
find us, Esmeralda?”  She demanded, passing her water bottle to Avenant.

Esmeralda
shrugged.  “I’m a witch.  I did a spell.”  She made a face.  “I would’ve found
you sooner, but --I mean-- it
is
a maze.  I was trying to stay kind of
undercover and I ended up just getting lost.”  She snorted.  “This thing is a
stupid fucking way to run a kingdom, if you ask me.”  She waved a hand around
the labyrinth.

“Tell
me about it.”  Avenant took a sip of Belle’s water.  “Trust me.  As soon as I’m
back in charge, it’s all getting torn down.”

“It
was nice of Esmeralda to come all this way to help you.”  Belle pushed her hair
behind her ears and tried to look casual as she steered the conversation back
towards their relationship.  “You guys are… close?”

“Well,
doing hard time together has a way of bonding people.”  Avenant’s lips quirked
at Esmeralda.  “Even when they hate each other’s guts.”

She
winked at him.

The
sick feeling got worse.  “You usually don’t ‘bond’ with anyone.”  Belle said
weakly.  He was too busy calling them peasants or oppressing them.  “You two
must have a very special relationship.”

“Special?” 
Esmeralda tilted her head.  “Hang on… Are you trying to figure out if we’ve had
sex?”  She sounded amused.

Avenant
choked on the water he was drinking.

“No.” 
Belle snapped.  She scowled up at Avenant.  “…Have you?”

“Fuck
no.”

She
frowned over at Esmeralda for confirmation.  “So, you’re not his True Love?” 
The relief that filled her was almost dizzying.

“Not
unless there’s something he isn’t telling me.”  The witch smirked at Avenant. 
“Dude, if you’re planning to pop the question, the diamond had better be the
size of a small planet.  No way will I put up with you for less than…”

“Clear
the path!”  Lancelot came dashing up, interrupting her.  “Stay out of my way, pointless
citizens.  You will just hinder my quest.”  He posed, hands on his hips.  “I
hunt a minotaur.”

Esmeralda
looked over at Avenant.  “For real?”  She deadpanned.

“I
know.  The helmet cuts off his oxygen.”  Avenant heaved a longsuffering sigh. 
“Lancelot, I already have so many reasons to kill you.  Why do you always have
to add
more?
”

“You
only want me dead because you know I am going win this contest of valor, Beast.”

“And
because you’re a dickhead.”  Belle muttered.  God, the man was a disgrace to
knights everywhere.  “Ever since Avenant’s been in jail, you’ve been trying to
steal the Icen Throne.  But, it won’t work.”

Lancelot
scowled over at her.  “I’m trying to save the Northlands.”

“From
what?  An economic upswing?  Environmental responsibility?  Social programs
that have improved the literacy of thousands?  Because, I did
all
that.”  Belle liked running the Northlands and she was good at it.  Anyone
could see that.  “I have been the best ruler this kingdom has ever had.”

“What
would a woman know about being a prince?”  Lancelot scoffed.  “Save your
breath.  Your feminine wiles won’t work on me the way they do with my pussy-whipped
cousin.”  He swept a dismissive palm towards Avenant.

Avenant
made a considering face.  “Belle is a wily one.”  He allowed.  “Of course,
she’s also the only other person in the world I’d ever allow to sit on my
throne.  Even temporarily.  She cares about the kingdom more than herself,
which is something no one in the royal bloodline has ever been able to say.”

Belle
shot him a surprised look.

“Worry
not, for justice will finally prevail.”  Lancelot continued, not hearing
anything except his own voice.  He raised his fist in triumph.  “I’m going to force
the minotaur to give me Excalibur and win the crown for my own.”

“If
the minotaur knew where the sword was, why doesn’t he just go get it?” 
Esmeralda demanded.

“Because
minotaurs are enspelled, witch.  They live and die within these walls, forever
guarding the maze.  They cannot leave this labyrinth until the rightful prince
comes to claim the blade.”  Lancelot paused.  “Which is
me
.”

Ez
arched a brow.  “And you know about minotaurs because…?”  Her voice trailed off
skeptically.

“I
went to the Knight Academy.”  Lancelot explained with a superior sniff.  “They
made us watch many filmstrips as we prepared to be heroes.”

“He’s
right.”  Belle glanced at Esmeralda.  “About the minotaurs, anyway.  They’re
trapped in here until someone frees Excalibur.  Avenant’s ancestor wrote about
it in his journal.”

“Well,
I think that sucks.”  Esmeralda glowered over at Avenant like it was his
fault.  “You can’t keep people caged up for no reason.  That’s why we escaped
the WUB Club.”

“Don’t
look at me.  My grandmother’s great-great-great grandfather Adam sealed them in
here.  That drunken lunatic is presently my least favorite relative.”  Avenant
hesitated and then glanced over at Lancelot.  “Not counting you, anyway.”

Lancelot
missed the insult, still scowling at Belle.  He’d been furious at her ever
since she claimed the Northlands and he clearly saw this as his opportunity to
vent.  “I have been slaying miscellaneous monsters all my life.  Do you really
think you have a chance to beat me in this maze?  No one can match my skill
with a sword or…”

He
never got a chance to finish that boast.  The minotaur cut him off by lobbing
another fireball at them.

Avenant
reacted before Belle could even process what was happening.  He tackled her out
of the way, dragging her to the ground and covering her.  The fiery impact
happened right where Belle had been sitting, turning the rock to gravel. 
Avenant’s arms came up to shield her head from the falling debris.  Flaming
sparks and ice shards and chucks of granite rained down on them, but none of
them touched her.  Not a single piece.

Avenant
lifted his face far enough to meet her eyes.  “Are you alright?”

Belle
nodded, gazing at him in wonder.  Avenant had just saved her life.

Without
even thinking about it, she leaned up to press her lips against his.  Avenant
draw in a surprised breath as her mouth slid over his.  It was the first time
she’d ever initiated anything between them and he seemed stunned.  His eyes
stayed locked on hers as she gently kissed him.  His lips parted, responding
with the softest caress imaginable.  As usual, Avenant touched her like he was
afraid of frightening her away.  The tenderness had her whole body clenching
with desire and wanting more.