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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

BELLE

T he last rays of the setting sun kissed the horizon as I clawed my way out of the bedroom window. The lunar eclipse was nearly over. Avarix shed the shadow of Lunaterra inch by inch, leaving behind a haunting crescent shape. His silvery light bathed the vines I clung to, glinting off the dewdrops and turning them into tiny jewels.

There was nothing beautiful about this moment. Not the chill of the air against my torn dress. Not the sting of fresh cuts on my palms. Certainly not the burning ache in my arms as I fought to climb down.

How had Jorge managed to climb up? How had Adom followed him up so quickly that night? Even Charlotte had done this at the Pridehaven Palace. Clearly, I was the weak link in this merry band.

I had thought going down would be easier than going up, but every slip of my foot, every crack of a branch beneath my weight sent my heart lurching. I wasn’t a warrior. I wasn’t brave or strong. But I was going to fight to get back to Adom, even if it killed me.

When my feet hit the ground, my knees buckled. I collapsed into the dirt, gasping for air. My fingers were bloody and trembling. My dress was little more than shredded fabric hanging from my shoulders. Mud streaked my arms and legs.

The forest loomed dark and endless. The trees swayed in a gentle breeze that did nothing to calm the rising storm of my fear. How was I going to make it back to the capital on my own?

The queen had said I wasn't a captive, but I seriously doubted she'd give me a ride. And the door to the room had been locked. I'd checked.

I forced myself to take the first step. My shoes sank into the damp earth as I stumbled toward the trees. Every nerve in my body screamed at me to turn back, to stop this madness. But I couldn’t. Not now. Not ever.

Every rustle of leaves and chirp of insects was a dagger of sound that set my pulse racing. A branch snapped somewhere to my left. I whirled, my breath catching in my throat.

Nothing. It was nothing. Just my mind playing tricks on me. Hopefully.

A roar shattered the stillness, primal and bone-deep. My heart seized as I turned toward the sound. It had to be her. The Lioness Queen. She’d come for me, and this time, she wouldn’t leave anything to chance.

But then I saw it—a flash of golden and bronze mane rippling in the moonlight like liquid fire. My heart stopped. Then it soared. It wasn’t the Lioness Queen.

It was Adom. He’d come for me. He’d found me.

His massive form moved through the trees with a predator’s grace, each bound shaking the earth. His impossibly large paws hit the earth with a muted thunder, claws glinting faintly as they sank into the soil. His chest as a lion was just as broad as his chest as a man. Muscles rippled beneath a sleek coat of golden fur. His tail lashed behind him, long and sinuous, a whip of control and fury. His familiar eyes locked on to me; the possessive glint in them made me stop in my tracks.

The joy twisted into something darker as my gaze fell to the figure riding his back. Charlotte. In my wedding dress.

Her dagger gleamed in her hand. Her eyes burned with a fire I’d never seen before. She let out a bloodcurdling war cry and hurled the blade with deadly precision.

The world slowed, my thoughts spinning wildly. Were they together now? A unit, their union cemented by the breaking of the curse? Had Adom betrayed me, too? My breath hitched as I watched the dagger fly, its silver edge glinting like the crescent moon above. Was this how it would end?

But the blade sailed past me, the wind of its passage brushing against my cheek and lodged with a sickening thud into the skull of a fae soldier I hadn’t seen—or heard—approaching from behind. The man crumpled to the ground with his sword in his hand.

I stood frozen, staring at the body, then at Charlotte, whose eyes burned not with hatred but with determination. I swallowed the breath I'd been holding. Then panted in sharp, ragged bursts as realization crashed over me.

They weren’t here to kill me.

They’d come to save me.

The arms that came around me were warm, firm …and entirely unfamiliar. I stiffened, turning sharply to see who held me. He was a stranger. Likely another enemy soldier.

I screamed for Adom. Where was he? My fist flew instinctively, catching the man square in the nose.

He winced but didn’t let go, his hand brushing over his face as he gave me a familiar, disapproving scowl. That scowl. I knew that scowl.

“Adom?”

He stood bare, his bronzed skin catching the pale light of the moon, now fully free from Lunaterra’s shadow. This was no beast. This was Adom, fully human.

"What did I tell you?" He roared the words. The trees shuddered with the force of the sound as he backed me into the bark of an ancient oak. "I told you not to run, little sphinx. I told you that I have your scent inside me. I told you I'd catch you if you ran from me."'

"I had to go. If I didn't, you would still be cursed."

"What did you tell me?"

The bark of the tree dug into my back as he loomed over me. This time, he didn't give me the answers. He waited for me to respond. I knew what he wanted me to say.

"I told you that I loved you."

"Wrong tense." His growl shook the branches above us and the ground beneath my feet.

"I love you, Adom."

"You said you didn't care what I looked like."

"And I meant it. But it mattered to you . I just wanted you to have what you wanted. I wanted you to be happy."

"You are the only thing in this world that makes me happy."

He pressed his lips to mine in a kiss that reasserted his claim on my heart. There was still a bite to it. He growled as he licked into my mouth. When he broke the kiss, I looked into his clean-shaven face, devoid of fur or sharp teeth. He still looked fierce and untamed, but he wasn't yet familiar to me as the Beast Prince had been.

“You… you did it. You broke the curse.” The words came out hollow, void of the joy I should’ve felt. My heart twisted, caught in the tangled threads of heartbreak and hope.

If the curse was broken, it meant only one thing—Adom and Charlotte had completed their vows.

“I didn’t break it. We broke it. Together.”

"You don’t have to get graphic about it, Adom.”

His hands settled on my arms. I wanted to yank away from his furless touch. But I held still. This was what the Lioness Queen had warned me about. It didn't matter. I wasn't leaving him. Because I knew sooner or later Charlotte would.

“Belle.” It was the first time he'd said my name. It slipped from his lips like a prayer. “You and I broke the curse.”

“I don't understand.”

“I gave you my vows, as you did to me. I gave you my body, as you gave yours to me. Then the suns showed mercy.”

The world stilled as I fought to catch up. Everything around me, inside me, was spinning. When it all righted, I knew three things. The curse was broken. Adom was whole. And we could be together. It was all that mattered to me.

I surged forward, my hands tangling in his hair as my lips found his. This kiss was desperate, filled with every unspoken word and longing I couldn’t put into speech. His arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer until there was no space left between us.

A throat cleared somewhere behind us. We broke apart to see Charlotte standing with a bloodied dagger in her hand, wearing the torn wedding dress.

“Where’s Jorge?”