Rose, Wilted: Book 1

Chapter 27 - Broken

Gold bathed my back in the sunrise. I couldn't feel his heartbeat anymore and couldn't bring myself open my eyes. I didn't want to see- see his- see my failure.

The tears were dripping down my face like rain. I stroked his cheek, choking over the words of a lullaby.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I'm so sorry."

I leaned over and planted a last kiss on his forehead.

And then something began to change.

Beneath my touch his fur smoothed. His body seemed to be shrinking.

I gasped and opened my eyes.

He had shrunk. His fur was a white cloth shirt and blue pants and his claws were gone. Fur to skin, mane to hair, gold as the morning sunrise; eyelids shut, but they were human eyelids now. There were no more wounds. He was human. He was Adam. My Adam. My Beast.

And then I saw it - the slight rise and fall of his chest. The way his lips parted to draw in air.

Automatically my ear flew to his chest. The sound wasn't faint, but as loud as thunder. The Beast's heartbeat.

"Annalise."

It was the softest whisper of a word.

I sucked in a breath, hardly daring to believe it.

I sat up and met his eyes. His open, living, emerald eyes. His gaze took my breath away, and for a thousand years, all we could do was stare.

I reached out a hand and brushed my fingertips against his cheek. It was solid. There was no illusion, no trick.

"You're-,"

Alive, human, handsome-

"-real."

Adam nodded.

"You're real," I said. I put a hand to my mouth and a straggler tear slipped out the corner of my eye.

"Oh, Adam."

I tackled him in a hug, and he let out an 'oof' of surprise. But then he chuckled and wrapped his arms around me. They were strong as ever, an unbreakable shield. I tucked my cheek to his chest, drinking in his heavy heartbeat and letting the tears slip out again. He rested his golden head on mine. One hand cradled the back of my head, the other against my back, him holding me and me holding him. I didn't plan on ever letting go again.

"You're not going to vanish? Or fall under a curse again? Or- or-,"

Adam shook his head.

"Never."

As the Beast his voice had been lower, more of a growl. If I listened closely I could hear the similarities, but it was human now. The Beast had merely been a mask for the man underneath.

"You did it," he said.

"We did it."

Adam smiled.

"We did it."

"But...how?" I said. "I still don't know what I did. Can...you explain it now?"

Adam took a deep breath, chest expanding under me. He stroked my hair, lost in thought.

"She was my sister," he began. And he went on to explain the curse. He talked about his parents' death and how his sister had come back with wolves chasing her, claiming their coach had been ambushed and the King and Queen killed. He spoke briefly of their time of mourning and his sister's travels around Fabel to spread the news of their deaths and his coronation. He talked of his sister's betrayal and how he'd discovered she'd murdered their parents by the necklace she wore - the one the Queen had been wearing the day of her death. He also spoke of things I already knew - how she had escaped the castle only to come back with her wolves. He mentioned his horrible transformation, but his shudder beneath me was enough to explain it all.