Beast in Shining Armor (17 page)

Deep
down, he knew his father was right, but Avenant refused to react to the bitter
words.  “Just stay away from Belle or I’ll inherit this kingdom far sooner than
you have planned.  I promise you.”

“Underneath,
you’re nothing but a mindless animal.”  Vincent called as Avenant stormed out. 
“Nobody could
ever
want a beast.”

Avenant
said I was trespassing and tore down the wall with me on it.

I fell to
the ground and it took weeks to put me back together, again.  You can still see
the cracks.

Now, just
hearing his name triggers post-traumatic stress.

Testimony
of Mr. Humpty Dumpty
- The People of the Northlands v. Prince Avenant

Belle
hated this idea.

She’d
pretty much hated every idea Avenant ever had, but this one was probably his
worst.  “What if this passage is one way and you can’t get back through?”

“Then,
you won’t have to worry about being stuck with me as a True Love, anymore.”  He
sat down on the edge of the vortex and dangled his legs into the hole.  They
vanished beneath the mirrored surface, giving no clue as to what might be on
the other side.  “Good news.  My feet haven’t been bitten off, yet.  Whatever’s
down there, it’s probably not sharks.”

“That’s
not funny.”  She warily gazed into the reflective pool.  “We should do this
another way.  I should be the one to go.  We’ll keep the cord between us
attached.  Then, you can pull me back up.”

He
shot her a sideways look.  “You’d trust me to do that?”

“Yes.” 
She met his eyes.  “I know you won’t let me go.”  Avenant would never let her
fall.  She believed it without hesitation.

Avenant
studied her for a beat.  “If something goes wrong, I trust you to pull me back
up, too.”  He finally decided.  “So, I’ll go through and you stay on this end,
ready to yank on the rope.”

“I
weigh less than you do.  I’m not strong enough to haul you back.  We don’t even
know if the cord will hold you.”  She gestured to the thin filament tying them
together.  “My way makes more sense.”

“No.”

“I’ll
just look around and see if it’s safe.  Ten seconds and you can pull me
topside.”

“No.” 
He wasn’t even considering the idea.  “Stay here.  I’ll be back in a minute.”

“You’re
an idiot.  You just
have
to disagree with me, even when you know I’m
right.  This is why we lost the sixth grade scavenger hunt.  I told you we
should look for the pink flower first, but you were so damn sure you knew
better.”

Avenant
was getting annoyed.  “Trying to find the orange mailbox made more sense. 
There
had
to be more pink flowers than orange mailboxes.”

“Except
there
weren’t
and we came in second.”  She arched a brow.  “This time,
why don’t you be smart and listen to me?”

“You’re
not going through that fucking hole, Belle!  Give it up.”  He sounded deadly serious.

Thank
God she didn’t have to listen to word he said.

Belle
flicked him off and stepped back through the rabbit hole.  She heard his
bellowed curse, but there wasn’t anything he could do.

Belle
tumbled into the abyss.  Everything around her was blackness.  She didn’t see a
floor beneath her or walls surrounding her or anything else.  It wasn’t just an
absence of light.  It was an absence of
anything
.  The string connecting
her to Avenant unraveled as she fell deeper into the hole, finally reaching the
end of the spool.  It jolted her to a stop so fast that Belle flipped upside
down.

“Shit!” 
She could see the vortex glimmering far overhead and nothing else.  Belle
spiraled her arms, trying to right herself.  The knapsack slung over her
shoulder slid forward to bang against the back of her head.  Her phone fell out
of the front pocket and she didn’t hear it hit the ground.  Whatever she was
dangling over was too deep.

Goddamn
it, she
hated
heights.

She
definitely should have let Avenant do this.

Using
her legs, Belle managed to use the cord to drag herself upright.  It wasn’t
particularly graceful, but at least she wasn’t poised to drop headfirst into
oblivion, anymore.  Somehow she got the pack unzipped in the dark and found the
flashlight inside.  Belle scanned the beam around and saw…

…nothing.

Just
as she’d suspected, there was nothing to see.  “Hello?”  She called and her
voice echoed off into the void.

Yeah,
she really, really hated this.

Belle
swallowed hard.  There was no way to tell what was underneath of her.  This pit
might go on forever or maybe the bottom was only three feet down.  If Avenant
didn’t pull her out, she’d be stuck in the blackness with no idea how far this
abyss went.  Panic started pounding in her head.  She looked up again, her hand
tightening on the cord.  Maybe she should try climbing…

Avenant
started hauling her towards the surface before she could even finish the
thought.

Belle
smiled in relief.  He was going to get her out of there.  Thank God.  She’d
known this plan would work.  No way could she have lifted him as easily as he
was lifting her.  She was right and he was wrong, as usual.  The sooner he
realized that, the happier their relationship would be.

She
still couldn’t believe she was even thinking about Avenant and the word
“relationship” in the same sentence, but what the hell else could she do?

They
were True Loves.

The
reality of it hit Belle fully and she felt kind of dizzy as she accepted the
truth.  Avenant wasn’t going to sign a scroll to dissolve their bond.  And
angry as she was, Belle wasn’t certain she wanted to, either.  Having a True
Love was like winning a huge prize.  The biggest.  Giving that up without even
trying seemed like quitting.  She’d never been a quitter.

Not
when there was a chance of having something… amazing.

“You’re
a reckless fucking idiot!”  Avenant raged as she cleared the top of the hole. 
“What the hell where you thinking?”  He grabbed hold of her arm and dragged her
back to solid ground.  “What if the cord had snapped, huh?  Did you even
consider…?”

Belle
cut him off.  “Do you want to hear what’s down there or not?”

“I
don’t give a shit what’s down there!”  He scanned her face and body, looking
for injuries.  “Every decision you make is emotional, you know that?  When
you’re mad, you don’t think more than two goddamn seconds into the future.”

“Because
you’re such a calm and logical guy, right?”

“I
try to be.  You make it hard, though.  You always have.”  He ran a hand over
her hair, his voice still dark.  “Are you okay?”  His thumb brushed the curve
of her cheek.  “Are you
sure
you weren’t hurt?”

It
was impossible to be mad when he was so gentle with her.  “I’m sure.”  Belle
hesitated.  “I knew you weren’t going to abandon me, but it was still pretty
damn reassuring to feel you lifting me skyward.  I don’t like heights.”

Gentle
or not, he was pissed.  “Well, I didn’t really have much of a choice, did I?”

“Nope. 
Not now that I’ve ruined you for other women.”

Blue
eyes slammed into hers like he couldn’t believe she’d just said that.

Belle
couldn’t believe it either.  The words had just sort of popped out.  As much as
she’d surprised herself with that comment, though, it was nothing compared to
Avenant’s astonishment.  It occurred to her that she’d never teased him
before.  Given his perpetual snarkiness, she was willing to bet that
no one
teased him.  He hadn’t even looked so shocked when she’d had him arrested.

She
bit down on her lower lip, trying not to smile.

“You
ruined me for other women long ago.”  Avenant’s mouth slowly tilted up at one
corner.  “More importantly, there’s no way I’ll let you die before I see you
topless.”

Belle
wrinkled her nose.  “You not going to become fixated on my breasts, are you?”

“
Become
fixated?  I’ve been fixated for quite some time.”

“There’s
nothing to be fixated
with
.  You’ve felt them.  I’m not exactly round as
a tuffet.”  She made a face.  “You’re just going to be disappointed.”

“You’re
insane.”

She
rolled her eyes.  “Can we focus on you pulling me from the rabbit hole,
please?  I was thanking you.  Just say ‘you’re welcome’ and let’s move on.”

He
dipped his forehead to briefly rest against hers.  “You’re welcome, my love.”

God,
he was handsome.  What woman wouldn’t take a chance on him?  The man was like
one of those carnivorous flowers that grew extra beautiful in order to lure
bugs closer and devour them.  You knew it was dangerous, but you were just so dazzled
by all the amazingness that you forgot common sense.

Belle
cleared her throat.  “Good.  Right.  So anyway, getting back on track, there is
nothing down there.”  They were still sitting on the edge of the rabbit hole
and she gestured to it.  “Not that I can see, anyway.  It’s a dark chasm.”

“A
chasm?”

“Of
the possibly bottomless variety.”

“Great.”

“I
think it’s a leap of faith thing.  We can’t see the bottom, we just have to
trust that it’s there.”

“Great.” 
Avenant repeated with a sigh.  “Because, I’m so eager to take things on faith.” 
He frowned in consideration, thinking for a long moment.  “Any ideas on our
next move?  Maybe we just need a longer rope.”

“I
don’t think that…”

The
gunshot caught her completely by surprise.

Belle
gave a panicked cry as the bullet ricocheted off the stone wall and hit Avenant. 
The momentum of the projectile knocked him backward right through the vortex. 
“
No!
”  Belle grabbed for him, but he disappeared through the hole.

Her
head instinctively snapped around to see who’d fired at them and came
face-to-face with Bluebeard.  Resplendent in his citrus colored finery and
brandishing a revolver, he stood at the edge of the pathway.  His turquoise
beard was studded with leaves, as if he’d been struggling through the plants
all night.

“Are
you out of your mind?!”  She screamed.

“You
think I’ll let that bastard kill me like he did the others?”  He shrieked
back.  “I
know
the Beast is behind it!  No one else could take down so
many people.”

Belle
didn’t get a chance to offer a retort.  The cord connecting her to Avenant
pulled tight, yanking her forward.  He must have reached the end of the line. 
Her fingers dug into the ground, trying to hold on, but it didn’t work.  Belle
was dragged towards the edge of the rabbit hole.

Shit!

The
clip on her belt wasn’t going to hold his weight for long and there was no way
could she could pull him back up.  She either had to disconnect from Avenant or
follow him down.

And
she
really
hated heights.

“Hey,
is that a rabbit hole?”  Bluebeard asked, apparently just noticing Avenant had
disappeared into a mirrored abyss.  “Don’t go through that thing, girlie. 
Those things will kill you.”

Belle
fixed him with a deadly look.  “You’d better hope I die in it, you
son-of-a-bitch.  If I climb out, you’re gonna be real unhappy to see me.”

With
that, she dropped back into the vortex.

Belle
wasn’t really afraid of
heights
, so much as she was afraid of
falling
. 
Now, for the second time in ten minutes, she was careening into darkness.  Belle
tumbled down for so long she wondered if the rabbit hole had a bottom at all. 
Maybe it went on forever.  Maybe it was an endless shaft of black, empty space
and she’d just keep falling until she died.  She couldn’t work up much concern
about that, right now.  As terrified as she was about splatting into goo on
impact, she had an even bigger problems.

“Avenant?” 
Belle called, trying to see him below her.  “Are you okay?”

No
answer.

The
bullet looked like it had hit his shoulder.  Did people die from getting shot
in the shoulder?  She wasn’t sure.  Why wasn’t she sure?  All the books she
read and she didn’t know anything about anatomy.  What if he bled to death
before she even…?

Belle
splashed down in water.

It
was icy cold and so deep she nearly drowned reaching the surface.  She swam
upward, her lungs screaming for oxygen.  When she finally made it to top, she
was panting for breath and still in complete darkness.  Deep as it was, the
water had a fast moving current and she was dragged along.

“Avenant!” 
Belle shouted, not sure where he was or if he could even hear her.  “
Avenant!
” 
They were still tethered together and she quickly began yanking on the rope. 
“Answer me, goddamn it!”

The
cord led her to Avenant, floating face down in the river.

“
No!
” 
Belle flipped him over, trying to locate a pulse.  She didn’t feel anything. 
Panic became terror.  “No, no,
no
.  You’re not going anywhere, you
son-of-a-bitch.”  She held his head above the rapids, willing him to breathe. 
“This is
not
how it’s supposed to go!  You’re supposed to stay with me!”
 All her life, it had been Belle and Avenant.  They were connected.  He
knew
that.  He couldn’t just leave her.  “
Please
, open your eyes.  Please…
Shit!
”