“Did you see what’s happened to the soldiers? They just—”
But then she saw Sophie.
“Sophie?” she managed, looking as if she’d seen a ghost.
I peered outside again, and saw that the soldiers hadn’t moved. I tensed, feeling in my bones that Sophie being here wasn’t just happenstance.
“Sophie,” I started. “What’s going on?”
But when I turned back to her, she simply smiled at me. And then she started to glow.
Chapter 31
He Still Breathed
BELLE
T he moment I’d seen Sophie, I knew something wasn’t right.
She smiled sadly at Bastian when he asked her what was going on, and then a light began to grow from her chest, starting low like the ember of a fire, and burning white-hot until it had lit up the entire bookshop. Bastian tried to reach for her, but I pulled him back. Something told me that he shouldn’t get involved—that this was important.
Sophie became too bright to look at as the light consumed her, and I had the strangest feeling that I’d seen this before, but couldn’t remember when.
When the light finally extinguished, a beautiful woman had taken Sophie’s place.
Before I had a chance to take in her appearance, though, she was right in front of me, reaching out to touch my face.
“Remember, child,” she whispered, and her hand brushed my forehead. Intense heat emanated from her palm and it felt like it was burning me. Then…
I remembered the dream.
The first night I’d been at the castle, this same woman had come to me in a dream, saying she knew my mother and that she was proud of me for sacrificing my life for my family’s. I also remembered her telling me that she was one of the fair folk, and that I’d be rewarded for what I’d done.
But the thing I remembered most from the dream became clear in my mind: “Only when Bastian has a firm grasp on his kingdom again will what I’ve told you today be remembered.”
As quickly as it had come, her hand left my forehead and I felt myself falling backwards. I waited for my head to crack against the stone of the shop floor, but someone caught me. I opened my eyes to see that it was Bastian, but he wasn’t looking at me. He was glaring at the fairy with loathing and hatred. He pulled me to him, holding me tight, and I reveled for a moment in the feeling of safeness that enveloped me.
“What did you do with Sophie, you bitch?” he demanded, and I was so surprised by his words that I stepped back from him.
Shaking my head, I started to explain, “Bastian—”
“It’s alright, Belle,” the fairy said, and I looked back to her. She looked exactly the same as she had in my dream. “He only knows me as the witch who cursed him and nothing more.” She turned her gaze to Bastian. “I’ll try to explain, if you’ll allow it.”
I looked at Bastian with pleading eyes, and though I could see the anger in his gaze and in the way that he held himself as if he were ready to attack her at any moment, he nodded.
She clapped her hands. “Good! I’ll start from the beginning then.”
I shook my head. “We don’t have time for this. The soldiers—”
She waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll show you what needs to be shown and nothing more. No time will pass in the mortal realm.”
With a flick of her wrist, the fallen bookshelves and faded brick walls of the shop melted away, leaving in its wake a softened, almost dream-like, state of the outside of the castle, one without the Black Forest surrounding it.
A figure walked towards the iron gate. They turned for a second and I gasped: it was a younger version of Sophie. There were so few wrinkles on her face that I almost didn’t recognize her, but her eyes remained just as bright as they were now.
“The fairy council came to an agreement the year Bastian was born,” I heard Sophie say, even though I couldn’t see her. “Something had to be done about the Regime. The king of Briar was one of the few leaders of the world left who’d abstained from giving in to the corrupt usurpers, and that made the Emperor want his crown all the more. I was sent to the castle in the guise of a governess for his newborn son in order to maintain that ideal. For if the Emperor took Briar, a place where the fair folk had escaped to from so many parts of the world, we would cease to exist and Briar would fall not long after.”
I found Bastian’s hand and took it without looking at him. He didn’t seem to notice as the scene changed to a younger Bastian in his bedchambers, yelling something unintelligible at Sophie.
“My many years as your governess, Bastian, made me realize that, in your arrogant state, you couldn’t possibly uphold your father’s resolve. When he died, you became impossible, tyrannical, and vain to your very core.”
My hand tightened around his.
The scene shifted again, this time to Bastian looking at himself in a floor-length mirror, dressed in flashy military garb, like I’d seen in the rose-tea visions. This wasn’t the Bastian I knew. This Bastian was cold and calculating, each movement purposeful and filled with pride and vanity. His gaze was hard and unyielding. This looked like a man who wanted to burn down the world.
“The fey elders reconvened and it was decided that something needed to be done about you. Removing you from the throne would guarantee the destruction of Briar with most certainty, so we had to work with what we had.”
Now Bastian’s hand tightened around mine at her words.
“That was when I cursed you,” she continued, sounding saddened by it. The scene changed once more, playing out Bastian’s interaction with the old woman, who he took the ring from greedily and shut out in the cold.
“I knew you would spurn the affections of an old, ugly woman, and take the ring, believing it would give you the power you sought. After you were cursed to become the Beast, I also knew that you’d keep Sophie—well, me—around. I’d been like a mother to you, and loved you even when you’d been terrible to me. The fey council agreed that the curse would give you humility and grace and would teach you to earn another’s love rather than expecting and demanding it. They said it would help you grow up into the king you could be.” She sighed, and a new scene appeared with Bastian sitting alone in the greenhouse as the Beast, his eyes dead as they peered sightless out of the darkened emerald windows. “But I could see what it was doing to you. It tore you apart from the inside, and there was nothing I could do about it. There are very few things a fairy can do to change a curse once it’s been cast, and you needed to see it through to the end.”
Then, the images of the past disappeared, and the bookshelves came back into view. The fairy stood before us, barely floating above the dusty floorboards as she spoke to me. “I’d almost lost hope before you came, Belle. But once I’d seen you—seen the loyalty and fierceness and kindness in your heart—I knew you were the one that would break the curse.”
She looked at us both solemnly. “I wish I could’ve told you, but you had to find out on your own.” Then she spoke only to Bastian. “I know it seems like I betrayed you, but my concern for you has always been genuine. When I became your governess, a part of me became human. I knew the curse needed to be fulfilled, but I stayed after the deed was done because I couldn’t stand the thought of you trying to break it on your own.” She bowed her head. “Still, I never told you who I was and my role in your curse, and for that I am truly sorry.”
I turned to Bastian, my eyes searching his, pleading with him to forgive her. Yes, she’d tricked him. But, if I remembered correctly from my reading of them, that was the way of the fey. They were cruel to a fault, believing humans to be weak creatures. And I was sure she’d changed, just as she’d said.
Bastian finally looked at me and he seemed a bit defeated. He sighed before turning back to her.
“I’ll forgive you on one condition,” he told her, and she perked up. “You tell me your name—your real name.”
The hope slipped from her face and she swallowed hard, crestfallen. “That’s the one th
ing I cannot give out on a whim, Bastian. In the Otherworld, if someone were to know my true name, they could make me do anything they wanted. Anything.”
“We’re not in the Otherworld, fairy,” he told her, and there was still venom left in his words. “I understand why you did what you did. I’m a better man for it, and it allowed me to meet Belle. But you took my name from me for five years, knowing I would call myself the Beast. So I think it’s only fair that I know your true name.”
The fairy smiled slightly. “You’ve been in my company for far too long. My stubbornness and cunning has rubbed off on you.”
Without waiting for an answer, she began to shrink, growing smaller and smaller until she was the size of a thimble, hovering in the air. I’d always expected fairies to have wings, but I didn’t see any on her.
She zoomed toward us, coming between our ears and speaking in a whisper, “You must promise not to tell a single soul my true name, and promise never to call me by that name. For even though we’re not in the Otherworld, knowing the name of a fair folk will still allow you some hold over them.”
I nodded in understanding, though Bastian didn’t move a single muscle, and together we leaned in closer as she said, “My name is Eglantina. It means wild rose.”
I felt myself smiling at that.
“In a moment,” she continued, though she was no longer whispering, “my hold on the soldiers outside will weaken and disappear. Your sisters and your Mr. Alinder are safe for the moment, but I’m giving you the chance to escape. Remain brave, my young humans. The hard times are not over yet.”
I looked over at Bastian, my questioning gaze meeting his wary one. Then we both looked up at the fairy, who was back to her normal, human size now. Smiling at us again, she lifted her fingers, snapped them, and disappeared in a flash of purple smoke.
Chapter 32
Yes, Dear Beast
BASTIAN
A nd she was gone.
There was an overwhelming rushing sound in my head, like the relentless wind in a heavy storm. An anger I’d never felt before had begun to consume me, starting in my heart and spreading to my entire body.
Belle squeezed my hand, grounding me, and I realized that I was shaking.
“Bastian,” she said softly. “Bastian, look at me.”
I did. My hand still in hers, she stood in front of me now. Her deep brown eyes pleaded with me, forcing me to truly look at her. Her face was marked with dirt, her hair wild, lips chapped; there were red marks around her neck from when Thomas had choked her. A wave of protectiveness washed over me, dulling the anger.
“I know this hurts. I know it’s unfair and feels like the worst kind of betrayal.” She touched my cheek with her other hand gently, and I felt myself leaning into her. I thought about the moment we’d had in the castle library, of her touching my face for the first time, and some of the weight lifted off my chest. “But we don’t have the luxury of being angry right now. We need to move quickly, before the soldiers reanimate.”
“You’re right,” I told her. “I just can’t believe…”
“I know,” she said again. “But we have to go.”
I nodded, following her towards the back of the shop as my resolve hardened. Once we were in Alinder’s office, I shut the door and locked it.
“Open the hatch,” she started, “just beneath that rug there.”
Kneeling, I flipped over the corner of the rug nearest me and kept moving it back until I found a handle that blended almost perfectly into the floorboards. When I looked back up, Belle was rifling through one of the shelves.
“What are you looking for?” I asked, standing.
“Just a couple books,” she answered without turning, “a Book of Fairytales and Alinder’s copy of Hamlet.”
Of course, I thought, shaking my head but unable to stop myself from falling in love with her a little more in that moment.
“Ah, there you are,” she mumbled to herself.
When she turned back around, books in hand, I was grinning.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I chuckled.
She gave me a look before hopping down into the passageway. I climbed in after her, reaching around the top of the hatch for the rug to pull over it and closing it softly.
Darkness enveloped us, until Belle lit a match and grabbed one of the torches pinned to wall beside us. She peered back at me silently, brow drawn together.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, taking her hand.
“Everything will be different once we come out on the other side of this tunnel.”
“It’s already different, Belle,” I said, pulling her towards me slightly. “Everything changed that night you entered the Black Forest. But this change will be good, I promise.”
She nodded, not looking very convinced, and we started towards her family’s cottage.
~
I squinted against the harsh sunlight when we finally reached the end of the passageway and crawled out through the dead trunk of a forest tree.
Belle had been quiet the entire way, and I hadn’t wanted to interrupt her silence, even though it was driving me mad not knowing what she was thinking. I was sure there was just as much going on in her head as there was in mine.
I wasn’t sure where we were until she started running and I finally saw it: Belle’s cottage. I didn’t have the best memories of it, but it was her home—and that was enough to push aside any feelings I had towards it.
Belle started pulling away from me, and I noticed that I was completely out of breath. I didn’t understand it at first.
You’ve had a long day, turning back into a human, fighting off Regime soldiers, I thought, but something didn’t quite feel right.
Belle looked back at me and slowed when she saw that I wasn’t keeping up. I waved her on—her sisters were much more important. She gave me a small smile and then hurried on. I watched her fling the door open, heard shouts of happiness as black dots flashed across my vision. My stomach roiled. What’s wrong with me?
Without warning, my knees buckled beneath me and I crashed to the muddied winter ground. I tried to move my arms, my legs—but nothing worked.
“Belle,” I managed, but it sounded like less than a whisper. My eyes closed, and I could swear that I heard her calling my name.
Then I lost consciousness.
Chapter 33
All Made of Fireflies
BELLE
I held my sisters tightly in my arms. I never thought I’d get to see them again, but here they were. And I was never letting them out of my sight.
“Did you run into any trouble?” I asked, pulling back only a fraction. I stroked Lila’s fine hair, still not believing that they were here. That we were all safe, at least for the moment.
“None at all,” Alinder said, and I looked up at him. He was smiling. I wanted to reach out and hug him too, but that would mean letting go of my sisters, and I wasn’t ready to do that just yet. It was hard to believe that we had all escaped the Regime soldiers, alive. It was almost too good to be true.
“Where’s Bastian?” Alinder asked.
I turned towards the empty doorway, a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach. “He was right behind me.”
Leaving the reaching arms of Emily and Lila was almost like tearing skin from bone, but something wasn’t right.
Peering out the front door into the rare sunlight of winter, I searched the trees for him, not seeing—then I caught something on the ground.
It was Bastian.
I’d started to run towards him without realizing it. “Bastian!” I screamed, but he didn’t move.
No, no, not again. Not after all we’ve been through.
I knelt beside him, my hand on his back. I could feel the shallow movement that meant he was still breathing, but barely. Panicked and desperate, I did the only thing I could think of.
“Eglantina,” I whispered.
The name was met with silence. I opened my mouth to yell it, but
found I had no air in my lungs to expel it. The fairy materialized in front of me then, looking like she wouldn’t mind murdering me.
“How dare you summon me with my true name?” she demanded.
“I’m sorry, but Bastian,” I looked back down at him, able to breathe easily once again. “He’s hurt.”
I heard the fairy take in a shallow breath. “I thought this might happen.”
My gaze shot back to her. “That what might happen?”
“He became too dependent on the magic that the curse gave him,” she explained, shaking her head.
“Are you saying there’s nothing you can do?”
“That’s not what I said,” she snapped, then sighed. “There’s only one thing that might save him. But you’ll have to get him to the castle.”
“Me?” I gawked. “Can’t you use your magic to send us there yourself?”
She laughed. “I’m already in trouble with the council for how much I’ve meddled in this. No,” she continued, “this you will have to do on your own.”
I stared at her. Some magic fairy you are. “Can you at least give me a horse?”
“I cannot conjure objects out of thin air,” she said, then looked thoughtful. “But I can call one to you.”
At that, she disappeared.
“Wait!” I called out, but she was gone.
I reached underneath Bastian, turning him over with some effort so that I could get a better look at him. One side of his face was red and covered in mud, and his eyes were closed. I cupped his cheek, my fingers touching the silver scars at his neck.
“Hold on, Bastian” I told him. “I’ll never forgive you if you die on me now.”
Part of me hoped to see him grin at that, but he remained as he was.
Then, I heard the galloping of hooves. What the—?
Bastian’s brown mare burst into the clearing, neighing and huffing as it came to stand next to us. I’d never been so happy to see a horse; I thought it’d been lost to us for good. Immediately, it kneeled down, and I could only assume that it was waiting for me to put Bastian on its back. But even in this human form, he’d be too heavy for me to lift.
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