Chapter 66 Isabeau
sixty-six
Isabeau
The words “we’ll find her” hung in the air like a promise wrapped in thorns.
Everyone spoke of reunion and homecoming while my mind raced with the missing piece—Estelle, the lost princess.
I stood there, watching two kings embrace after decades apart, feeling the weight of my claiming mark pulsing against my skin.
The forest around us had transformed from a place of nightmares to something alive with ancient magic, but all I could think about was a face I’d seen once, a wraith spying on me for Gaspard. A face that now might have a name.
My gaze drifted over the gathering crowd.
The subjects of the Enchanted Realm blinking in bewildered joy at their freedom, the soldiers of Durand trying to make sense of what they’d witnessed.
The newly transformed men who had once been my beasts stood magnificent despite their nakedness, and something burned in my chest at the sight of them in their true forms. Marcel’s quiet authority, Laurent’s watchful intelligence, Bastien’s raw intensity.
All of it now housed in human bodies that made my breath catch.
And yet, amid all this impossible joy, the absence of Estelle weighed heavy. A sister, a daughter, a princess…lost to the Dark Lord’s machinations.
“Alain,” I said suddenly, the memory crashing into me with the force of revelation. I turned to find him standing a few paces away, his golden light fading but his presence no less commanding. “The wraith.”
He frowned, stepping closer. “What wraith?”
“Gaspard’s creature.” The words tumbled out, urgent and breathless. “She was real. She had blonde hair, like your mother’s, and I remember her portrait in the castle.”
Alain father’s face drained of color. “Odette,” he whispered, the name a prayer and a curse combined. “My daughter.”
Alain recalled our talk. “She came to me in the reflection of the river’s water too.”
Marcel looked over at me. His knowing eyes wondering what I saw because it had been Laurent with me. “What were her eyes like?”
“Constantly changing but with scenery, not color,” I answered.
“She’s been tethered to a mirror,” the oldest prince answered. “It’s old, evil magic. Tying an innocent soul to do the bidding of its master. And if we can find that magic mirror, she might be able to offer insight of our own sister’s whereabouts.”
“My father has been searching for Odette for years,” Alain explained, his eyes never leaving mine. “She vanished during her stay with my mother’s friends, to one of our border villages. The same village where—”
“Where Gaspard lived before coming to Thorndale ten years ago,” I finished, pieces clicking into terrible place. "Burshire, the closest village to The Noble City."
Alain nodded grimly, then turned toward his father. “Father, we need to speak with you. It’s about Odette.”
King Geraint broke away from his conversation with the rulers of the Enchanted Realm about their missing daughters, his expression immediately sharpening at the mention of his daughter’s name.
“Gaspard Coventry,” Alain said, his voice steady despite the rage I could feel thrumming through our bond.
“He possessed dark artifacts. Not just the ones he used to track Isabeau, but something more powerful. A wraith that spied on her, that haunted her dreams and found me in a water’s reflection. ”
I stepped forward, despite feeling woefully underdressed among royalty.
My dress was torn and bloodied, my hair wild from battle, but the claiming mark gave me courage.
“Your Majesty, Gaspard has been evil long before he took possession of me. My first night there, I heard a woman trapped—crying, pleading. I thought it was a nightmare, a hallucination from...” I faltered, not wanting to speak aloud of the violations I’d suffered.
“From what he did to you,” the king finished quietly, his eyes holding none of the judgment I’d feared. “Go on.”
“She matches Odette’s description,” I continued. “And now, learning about Estelle being missing as well, I wonder if Gaspard was collecting royalty for the Dark Lord. Trapping them in objects to feed off their power.”
The king’s jaw tightened, his hand going to the hilt of his sword in a gesture so like Alain’s that it made my heart twist. “Theron,” he called sharply.
The crown prince appeared at his side instantly.
“Gather a contingent. You ride for Thorndale immediately. Bring back everything from Gaspard Coventry’s home, especially a mirror.
Touch nothing with your bare hands. Use cloths, gloves, anything to avoid direct contact. ”
“Yes, Father.” Theron nodded, already turning to select men for the mission.
“Wait,” I called, thinking of another victim of Gaspard’s cruelty. “There’s someone else who needs help.”
The king turned back to me, one eyebrow raised in question.
“Margaret,” I said, hating how my voice softened on the name. “She was Gaspard’s servant. He... he forced himself on her too, and her daughter. The daughter has his bastard child. They fled to Eldagh from him, but Margaret is still there to protect them.”
Something dark flashed across the king’s face—not anger at me, but at the monster who had served him unwittingly for so long. “What would you have us do for her?”
The question startled me. I wasn’t used to kings asking my opinion, to having my words carry weight. “She should be given enough money to start fresh somewhere else. And told she’s free from him, from his cruelty. Forever.”
“Consider it done,” King Geraint said with a finality that left no room for argument. “Theron, see to it personally. Everything within Gaspard Coventry’s home is forfeit to the crown, and to those he wronged.”
Theron approached me, and despite his regal bearing pressing on me previously, there was nothing but kindness in his eyes. “I’ll see to the woman myself,” he promised. “And I’ll bring back the mirror with all care.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, overwhelmed by the swift justice being enacted on my behalf.
The guards mounted quickly, efficiency born of years of training. Theron at their head, they rode toward the forest’s edge, the sound of hoofbeats fading as they disappeared among the trees. Trees that no longer twisted with malevolence but stood straight and proud, guardians of a realm reborn.
Alain stepped close, his hand finding mine. “Thank you,” he said, quiet enough that only I could hear. “For remembering. For caring enough to speak up.”
I squeezed his hand, unable to find words adequate for the moment.
Around us, the joyful chaos of reunion continued.
Families separated by the curse found each other.
Subjects knelt before their returned monarchs.
The soldiers of Durand looked on in wonder as creatures of myth and legend moved freely through the transformed forest.
Joy and sorrow twisted in my chest, a knot I couldn’t untangle. These people had their lives back, their world restored.
But what about me? Where did I fit in this new reality? I wasn’t royalty. Not really, despite apparently being the daughter of a goddess. I wasn’t even properly educated. Just a village girl who had stumbled into magic and destiny and found herself bound to four men from two different kingdoms.
The claiming mark pulsed once, hard, as if in response to my doubts. Then I felt them approach. My beasts, my mates, now in human form. They moved as one, as they always had, circling me with the same protective instinct they’d shown since claiming me.
“You’re thinking of leaving,” Marcel said, no question in his tone. The bond between us laid my thoughts bare to them. “Of running away now that the curse is broken.”
I looked down, unable to meet their eyes. “I don’t belong here. Among royalty and magic and—”
“Bullshit,” Bastien interrupted, his human voice carrying the same fierce conviction as his bestial growl had. “You’re the daughter of Artemis. The one who broke an unbreakable curse. The one who brought two kingdoms back from darkness.”
“You belong wherever you choose to belong,” Laurent added, his voice gentler but no less certain. “But we hope you’ll choose us. Choose the Enchanted Forest as your home.”
“It’s yours as much as ours now,” Marcel said, gesturing to the transformed land around us. “No longer forbidden. Once again a place of light and life, thanks to you.”
My throat tightened with unshed tears. “But your people... they’ll expect their princes to marry properly. To form alliances with other royalty. Not to share a common-born witch from a village no one’s ever heard of.”
“Let them expect what they want,” Bastien snorted, the sound so reminiscent of his monster form that I nearly laughed despite myself. “We’ve been beasts for decades. I think we’ve earned the right to choose our own mate.”
“Besides,” Laurent added with a small smile, “you’re hardly common-born. You’re the daughter of a goddess who saved this forest twice. First through your mother, then through you.”
The tears spilled over then, hot tracks down my cheeks that I couldn’t stop. “I’m afraid,” I admitted, the words barely above a whisper. “Afraid that once everything settles, once you have your kingdom back and your human lives... you won’t want me anymore.”
Marcel reached out, brushing away a tear with a gentleness that belied his size. “The claiming bond doesn’t work that way, Isabeau. It’s not temporary. It’s not conditional. It’s forever.”
Alain joined our circle then, his presence sliding into place as if he’d always belonged there. The fourth piece of a puzzle I hadn’t known needed completing. My mother’s final act of love, providing him to help save my mates.
“And it seems I’m part of this forever as well,” he said, his hand finding the small of my back, avoiding the lashes from Hades’ claws, in a gesture both possessive and reassuring. “If you’ll have me.”
I looked between the four of them, these men who had claimed me and been claimed in return. Different in so many ways—species and kingdoms and personalities—yet united in this one thing: their devotion to me. Their willingness to forge something new, something unprecedented, for us to be together.
“My son speaks for himself,” King Geraint said, approaching our intimate circle with careful respect. “But he does so with my blessing.”
I blinked in surprise. “Your Majesty?”
“This forest, Durand, our two kingdoms have been separate for too long,” the king continued.
“Perhaps it’s time for new bonds, new ways of thinking.
” His gaze settled on Alain with unmistakable pride.
“You’ve won the competition, my son. Not in the way I expected, but you’ve proven yourself worthy of the crown, and of forging your own path. ”
Alain shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips. “I didn’t kill the witch, Father. If anyone won, it was Isabeau.”
“You killed something darker,” his father corrected, glancing toward where Gaspard’s body still lay, now covered with a cloak. “Something that had infiltrated our court, corrupted our people. That victory is worth more than any beast’s head.”
Before any of us could respond, movement at the forest’s edge caught our attention.
The magnificent stag that had led the magical creatures into battle was approaching, antlers glowing with ethereal blue fire.
But with each step, the stag’s form shifted, blurred, transforming until it was no longer a beast but a man.
No, not just a man. This was something more.
He towered over even Marcel, his frame massive and perfectly proportioned. Golden hair cascaded to his shoulders, seeming to capture and amplify the sunlight. His face was too beautiful to be human, too perfect in its symmetry, with eyes like twin suns that burned with ancient power.
A god walked among us.
The crowd fell silent, every eye drawn to this impossible being. Even the kings stepped back, instinctively making way as he approached our small group.
I felt it then, in the light breeze, the warmth of the new sun. His name played within both.
“Apollo,” I breathed, the name coming to me as if whispered by the forest itself.
He smiled, and it was like watching dawn break across the horizon. “Niece,” he acknowledged, his voice resonating with power that made the very air vibrate. “You’ve done what I could not. Broken the curse that bound us all.”
“You were the stag,” I said, understanding dawning. “All this time.”
“For two decades, I’ve waited,” he confirmed. “Trapped in that form by the same curse that bound these princes to their beast shapes. Waiting for you to come into your power. Waiting for my sister’s daughter to fulfill the prophecy she set in motion.”
“My mother,” I whispered, a thousand questions crowding my throat, but one of hope. “Where is she? Is she truly gone?”
Apollo’s expression softened, sorrow like ancient mountains in his eyes. “Artemis sacrificed much to create the loophole in our sister, Enid’s curse. But I don’t believe she’s completely gone. Just... elsewhere. Trapped, perhaps, as these others were trapped.”
“Can I help find her?” I asked, hope flaring in my chest. “Now that I know what I am, what I can do—”
“You’ve done enough,” Apollo interrupted gently.
“For now, enjoy what you’ve earned. A home.
A family.” His gaze swept over my four mates with something like amusement.
“An unusual family, to be sure, but one bound by something stronger than convention. Lucky for them, your mother’s side is used to harems.”
He reached out, touching my forehead with one finger.
Warmth spread from the contact point, filling me with a sense of peace and rightness I’d never known before.
“Go home, Isabeau. All of you. The forest welcomes you as its new guardian. And when the time comes to search for those still lost, you’ll know. ”
With that, he stepped back, his form already beginning to shimmer and fade. “I must return to the realm of gods, Mount Olympus, now that my duty here is complete. But I’ll be watching. We all will be.”
In a flash of golden light that momentarily blinded us all, Apollo vanished. When my vision cleared, all that remained was a single perfect antler tip, crystalline and glowing with blue fire, lying on the ground where he had stood.
Home, he had said. For the first time in my life, I knew exactly where that was. Not a place, but these people. My beasts. My prince. My impossible, magical, complicated family.
I reached down and picked up the antler tip, feeling its power pulse in rhythm with the claiming mark on my shoulder. Whatever came next, finding Estelle, freeing Odette, maybe even searching for my mother, we would face it together.
“Let’s go home,” I said, and four sets of hands reached for mine at once. It made me giggle as Alain and Marcel touched my shoulders instead.