Page 91 of Bianca and the Monsters

I can’t forget her. I can’t escape this place. But I can still fight, if the fight is for her.

“I love you,” I say and with the blade still lodged in my chest, I begin to battle for her life and for my right to remember her and the home that can never be taken from me.

“I figured it out, Nico… why not even the borders to the realm can divide us. Come to me, and I’ll explain it all.”

“I’m coming, my love. Just hold on… wait for me.”

Then I bring forth all the dark memories and instead of battling the other malignant inmates in this prison, I lay waste to everything that came before beauty found me and ushered me into the life I deserved.

Bianca deserves my love and I deserve to be loved.

No monster has ever had more to fight for than I. And no force, no boundary, no law,nothingwill stop me from claiming the life and love that’s mine. My mate.

Chapter59

Pennie

“How is she now?” Archie asks for the thirteenth time in the pastthirtyseconds.

Bastien, seated on my lap, winks at me and answers Archie. “She’s still good.” His feathers shine brighter as he blushes. “She’s thinking about me right now.”

Remy spins and pins Bastien with a glare that sets my teeth—jaws really—on edge. “She hasn’t attacked the queen, has she?”

Bastien sniffs and ignores Remy, leaning into me.

Remy resumes his moody pacing down the narrow corridor just beyond the door to the squalid basement. “What exactly ismud wrestling?”

Bastien giggles. “For all those shiny antlers, he really doesn’t have much of an imagination, does he?”

Remy glowers but refrains from sniping at Bastien and potentially incurring Archie’s ready violence. He reaches the end of the hall, where his knights stand at the bottom of the stairs that lead up and out of this area. How I long to ascend those steps with a healthy, happy, reunited family.

Closer to us again, Remy demands, “Just tell me… is it fatal, thismudwrestling?”

Archie speaks over Remy, “Is she still well?”

Bastien’s smile is sweet. “She’s thinking of you, Archie.”

Archie’s shade is currently mottled, his emotions pulled in too many directions to be completely any one thing. Enraged. Fearful. Madly in love. Responsible for our family. Grieving. Calm in the knowledge that he is loved. So, blotchy is to be expected. I unintentionally grin, knowing Bianca would be delighted with Archie’s tie-dyed appearance.

“What about now?” Archie presses.

Bastien’s head tilts and his body stills, but his fingers continue lightly moving along my arm. “She’s upset now… something’s wrong.”

“Wrong? What’s wrong?!” both Archie and Remy bellow in unison.

Bastien listens inwardly, attempting to exist where he is not. “I don’t know.” He glances at me, sharing his confusion. “Her song is thumping now. It’s like… oh,dear…”

“What?!” Archie and Remy storm, while I gently stroke Bastien’s back.

I lean and nuzzle his cheek. “Ignore them. Tell me what you feel.”

In a fatalistic tone, he declares, “Her vibe isthe three songs, herpowersong triad.”

Archie and I share a weighted glance, knowing exactly what he means and also a dozen potentially questionable outcomes to this fraught meeting.

Remy waves his hands at us like he’s attempting to kill many nonexistent flying insects. “What does that mean?!”

I consider hedging but think the better of it. “Our Lady has a playlist of three particular songs that fuel her in times of stress or duress, or even when intentionally performing heinous acts of cardiovascular exercise.”