Chapter 35 Isabeau #2
His arms were strong around my waist, holding me upright with embarrassing ease. This close, I could smell him—leather and horses and something uniquely male that made my heart beat faster despite my anger. Why was I responding to him like this?
“Art thou trying to kill thyself?” he demanded, helping me back onto the bed. “Thou hast been at death’s door for a week. Thy body needs time to heal.”
A week. I’d been gone from the castle for a week. How much weaker had the connection to the princes grown in that time? How much more were they suffering because of my absence?
“My name,” I said, forcing the words through gritted teeth, “is Isabeau. Isabeau Dubois. And I need to return to where you found me.”
“Isabeau.” He said my name slowly, testing the feel of it on his tongue. His eyes never left mine, searching for something I couldn’t identify. “A beautiful name. But returning to that cursed place is not possible.”
“Why not?” I demanded, hating how weak I sounded, how my body betrayed me by trembling just from the effort of sitting upright. “It’s where I belong.”
“No one belongs in a cell, chained to a wall, starving to death,” he said, his voice hardening. “Whatever thou believe, whatever compels thee to return, it is not natural. It is the forest’s corruption speaking through thee, so I will fight against it’s pull for thee.”
“You know nothing about me,” I hissed, anger giving strength to my voice where my body had none. “Nothing about what I was doing there.”
“I know enough.” He rose, pacing the room with the restless energy of a caged predator.
“I know that place is tainted by old magic. I know the creatures that dwell within its boundaries are twisted mockeries of nature. And I know that no human could survive what thou endured without some form of protection.”
He turned back to me, his blue eyes narrowed with suspicion that hadn’t been there before. “Why did thy eyes change color when I spoke of magic?”
I froze, heart hammering in my chest. Had they? Had my amber eyes—the eyes that matched the princes’, that marked me as different, as magical—betrayed me already?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said, looking away.
“Thy eyes,” he insisted, moving closer again. “They flashed, just for a moment. Like flame behind amber.”
Shit. I kept my gaze fixed on the floor, mind racing for some explanation he might believe. Before I could speak, he caught my chin with gentle fingers, tilting my face up to meet his gaze.
“Beautiful,” he murmured, studying me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. “But not human. Not entirely.”
I jerked away from his touch. “I’m as human as thou art.”
He laughed, the sound lacking humor. “We both know that isn’t true, Isabeau Dubois. The question is, what else art thou? And is it a danger to my kingdom, to yourself?”
“I’m not dangerous,” I said, the lie tasting bitter on my tongue. I had no idea what I was capable of, what power lay dormant in my goddess-blood. For all I knew, I could level this entire castle if I figured out how to access it. “I just need to return to the castle.”
“That cannot happen.” All pretense of warmth had vanished from his voice. “Not until I understand what thou art and why that place claims thee so strongly.”
“You can’t keep me here,” I protested, though we both knew it was an empty threat. In my condition, I couldn’t even cross the room without help, let alone escape a castle.
“I can and I will.” He moved toward the door, his decision apparently made. “For thy safety and the safety of my people, thou will remain here, under guard, until I’m certain the forest’s taint has left thy mind.”
“Under guard?” I repeated, my stomach sinking. “You mean as a prisoner.”
He had the grace to look uncomfortable at that.
“As a guest with limited freedoms, if that eases thou’s worries.
Thou will want for nothing. Food, clothing, books, anything to make thy recovery comfortable.
But thou will not leave these rooms without me at your side, and the door will be locked from the outside. ”
“Just another cage,” I whispered, too exhausted to shout as I wanted to. “You’re no better than those who chained me in that dungeon.”
Something flashed in his eyes. Hurt, perhaps, or anger at being compared to whatever monsters he imagined had imprisoned me. “This is for thy protection as much as ours. Once thou art well, once the corruption has been purged...”
“There is no corruption in me,” I said, though we both knew I was lying. Whatever magic ran in my veins, whatever connection bound me to the princes, it was exactly the kind of power his kingdom had spent generations trying to eradicate.
He studied me for a long moment, as if trying to see through my skin to whatever secrets lay beneath. Then he sighed, his broad shoulders dropping slightly. “Rest, Isabeau. Heal. We will speak more when thy mind is clearer.”
With that, he turned and left, the lock clicking into place behind him with a finality that crushed what little hope I’d harbored.
I sank back against the pillows, too weak to do anything else. My hand drifted to my shoulder, to the claiming mark beneath the thin nightdress. The connection to the princes felt stretched to breaking, a thread so fine it might snap at any moment. But it was still there. They were still alive.
And so was I, in a kingdom that would burn me for what I was if they knew the truth. Locked away by a prince whose blue eyes held both compassion and suspicion in equal measure. A prince who’d saved me from one prison only to place me in another.
I closed my eyes, exhaustion washing over me in waves. I needed to regain my strength. Needed to find a way back to the castle, back to where the connection to Marcel, Laurent, and Bastien was strongest. Needed to figure out what I truly was and how to use it.
For now, though, I would play the grateful rescued maiden. I would eat, sleep, heal. Let this Prince Alain think his ‘guest’ was cooperating. Let him believe I was just a victim of the forest’s corruption, confused and in need of protection.
And when I was strong enough, I would escape this gilded cage and return to where I belonged. To the three princes who held my heart, even across the boundary between worlds. To the beasts who left every door open for me.
No matter what it cost me. No matter who tried to stop me. I would find a way back to the men who knew me deeper than my beauty this prince was enamored by.