A Beast's Tale

Chapter 42

The next day, I decided to forgo a morning wake-up call from Clavis, or another less noxious of my brothers, in favor of sleeping in. I needed to cut back how much time I was spending with Ivetta if I was to get any work done. The doctor and I had discussed visitors the previous night, and he'd agreed to let Belle see Ivetta this morning if she was up to it, so she wouldn't be alone this morning.

Although I didn't intend to sleep until noon. How easy it was to slip back into old habits.

I got dressed and headed down to the round table for lunch. The huge smile on Belle's face told me that she'd seen Ivetta.

"Finally awake, Chevalier?" Leon asked with a good-natured smile as I took my seat.

"I guess I didn't meet up to his standards for a wake-up call yesterday," Clavis commented, grinning slyly.

"Compared to Ivetta? Not a chance," Nokto replied, his crimson eyes glittering as he looked at me.

"You're just in time!" Belle exclaimed happily. "I was about to tell everybody about my visit with Ivetta!"

"Take a breath," Jin said, laughing. "Nobody's rushing you."

"Well, to start with, the doctor is an old worry-wart," Belle said, ignoring Jin's comment. "But I can see why. You didn't tell me she looked so bad, Prince Chevalier!"

"She looked worse when we found her," I said quietly.

Belle frowned. "I just don't know how somebody could do that to her."

"None of us do," Leon said. "But you're supposed to cheer us up, Belle."

She smiled again. "Sorry. Anyway, we laughed about the doctor, and then I told her about the search and how upset everybody was. She was really surprised that the foreign princes got involved."

"Chevalier, you didn't tell her?" Silvio asked, irritated.

"I did. She has difficulty believing she could be of such great importance to those around her," I explained coolly.

"She's so darn humble," Belle confirmed. "Hey, whatever happened with her mother's funeral? I didn't know what to tell her about that, so I didn't say anything."

"It was postponed until she was found."

"So, it's already happened, and she didn't get to be there?" Belle asked, frowning again.

"She's not going anywhere for a while," Licht said.

"Too sad, Belle," Leon reminded her.

Belle grinned at that, a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. "Oh, you want the juicy stuff?"

"Yes, please!" Luke said enthusiastically.

"A certain somebody kept coming up in conversation, come to think of it," Belle said, looking meaningfully at me.

"Oh?" Keith asked, a smile on his lips as he glanced at me.

"It seems that this certain somebody's frequent visits are really messing with her head," Belle continued.

"You're not teasing her, are you, Chevalier?" Yves asked. "Hasn't she been through enough?"

I smirked. "What I do and do not say to her is none of your concern."

"Is this a one-sided romance, then?" Nokto asked, grinning slyly.

"Oh, no. It's two-sided. Ivetta's just too stubborn to admit it," Belle replied, her brown eyes sparkling.

"How long can our little dove hold out, I wonder?" Clavis asked, a suspicious gleam in his golden eyes.

"What I want to know is, how long has Chevalier been hiding this from us?" Jin's sharp burgundy eyes met mine with a teasing smirk.