A Beast's Tale

Chapter 47

The party was still going strong when I returned to the gardens, judging by the laughter and shouting. I walked toward the central fountain, where the festivities were in full swing, though I had no intention of staying for long.

"Still no Ivetta?" Leon asked.

I ignored him and located Belle, standing between Rio and Jin. Rio's usually friendly blue eyes were cold and hard as he looked at Jin, who was getting more drunk and handsy by the minute.

"Belle, go help Ivetta get ready," I ordered.

She smiled brightly and shoved her glass into Jin's chest, which was unsurprisingly closer to her than Rio's.

"Be right back!" she shouted, and then she took off running back into the palace.

"Have a drink, Chevalier!" Jin said, offering me the glass.

"Drink it yourself," I said coolly.

"Don't mind if I do," he said happily, but Rio made a show of tripping and knocking the glass to the ground. Jin stared mournfully at the moisture on the paving stones, surrounded by shards of glass.

"Oops, how clumsy of me," Rio said, his tone as cheerful and carefree as ever. "Guess nobody gets Belle's drink."

Jin sighed heavily. "Now that was cruel."

"Hm, one may almost say intentionally so," Nokto observed, his crimson eyes glittering as he smirked at Rio.

Rio shrugged. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said, wearing an innocent smile.

Jin, meanwhile, had finished his own glass and was downing another in a single gulp. He threw his arm around Rio's shoulder with drunken ignorance.

"You know, that Belle is a doll," he slurred.

"Careful, Jin," Nokto warned, although his smile widened. "Her watchdog has teeth."

"Oh, goodie, is there going to be a fight?" Clavis interjected gleefully, swishing the grape juice in his glass.

There would be if Jin shifted his attention from Belle to Ivetta when she arrived. If he was even still standing by then, of course. From the looks of him, he'd already drained at least two bottles of champagne by himself. He needed to take a leaf from Clavis' book and give up alcohol entirely.

I walked away, deeper into the gardens, far enough to be left alone by my increasingly obnoxious brothers, close enough to listen for Ivetta's voice. This was my celebration, after all, and I wanted to spend it with her, not them. Just not in her room. I was running far too hot with anticipation for that to be a safe location, especially when she was still healing. But I had another place in mind, a place that offered just the right combination of privacy and structure to allow me to enjoy myself thoroughly while also keeping myself in check. A place where I'd often denied myself the pleasure of kissing her when she was little more to me than a frustratingly attractive little maid invading my personal space.

But she was my maid no more. Now she was my princess. Princess Ivetta.

That had a very nice ring to it.

As did her voice as it was carried through the air to me, almost immediately swallowed in a roar of, "To Princess Ivetta!" by my brothers toasting her newfound title. I changed course to return to the party, walking much faster than I had when I left. They'd had their moment with her. Now, it was my turn.

"It was just one glass, Evie. I'm sure King Highness will thank me later," Nokto was saying, glancing at me as I walked past.

"Don't worry, Chevalier," Yves said, scowling at Nokto. "Leon took her away from the sleaze-bag and the drunken old pervert."