The Prince's Contrition

Adam sat - sprawled out, rather, as louche as any lounge lizard ever was - on the red setter in the room that he had been given since falling out with Belle.

Since Belle had fallen out with him.

Fallen out...Fallen out of love as well? The question preoccupied him as much, or even more than the question of how to win back her favour. Was there even any favour to win back? Had he lost her?

He did not know if he could live through that. He was only alive because Belle, in her love, wished it should be so; he was like Meleager, kept alive by the far that burned within Belle's heart. Without her he was less than beast, he was nothing.

And he might actually be without her. It was a terrifying prospect, and one he could not see any way to repair. He had tried to apologise to no avail, so what was left?

Babette stood by the door to the guest room he had been given. Lumiere was behind him, busying himself in some menial task or other.

Adam threw up his hands. "Any advice would be appreciated at this stage."

Lumiere said, "You should have told her, master. Then all of this could have been avoided."

"Should I have told her before she broke the curse so that she could decide that I was beyond redemption?" Adam demanded acidly. He sighed. "I know, I should have told her. But I didn't want her to know. I wish I didn't know. I look back at the boy I was and I'm so ashamed." He ran his hands through his blond hair. "Lumiere, Babette, how in the blazes did you all put up with me for so long?"

"You were a boy, master," Lumiere said.

"I was an absolute little-"

"Master, language!" Babette gasped. "Besides, you were not always so bad. Sometimes you could even be quite sweet. I remember when I was confined to bed with a fever; you sent me sweets to make me feel better."

"To us, you were a better Prince than your father, even at your worst," Lumiere said. "Certainly you could be temperamental-"

"And selfish."

"And a little demanding."

"And often impatient."

"And very short tempered."

Adam cleared his throat. He was well aware of all his flaws, he didn't need to hear them enumerated back at him, not even by his beloved retainers.

Lumiere continued, "But you always had a care for us, your servants."

"Of course I did, you were like family to me," Adam said. "You are my family. It was outsiders that I didn't care for. But that isn't the sort of thing that I can say to Belle, is it?"

The silence from Lumiere and Babette seemed to indictate that neither of them had any idea of what he ought to say to Belle in order to make things right between the two of them, which didn't fill Adam with much confidence. Lumiere in particular had been a dynamo of ideas during his and Belle's unusual courtship, so if he had nothing to suggest now then that was a bad sign indeed.

What was he to do, since apologies had proven insufficient?

There was a knock at the door. Babette, already standing close by, answered it.

One of Cinderella's maids - one of the palace maids, but on the evidence it seemed to Adam that those who attributed to Cinderella the running of this place were quite right to do so - stood in the doorway. She curtsied. "Begging your pardon, sir, but Princess Cinderella requests your presence in Madame Belle's guest room."

"Just a moment!" Babette squawked. "Who are you to address my master? Give me the message, and I will see it delivered!" She gave the maid a little push backwards before she gave Adam a curtsy. "Princess Cinderella would like to see you, master."

"I'd never have guessed," Adam said. He got to his feet and did his best to skip the out the folds of his jacket. "I suppose this is it then. Either things will soon be right between Belle and I once more or...or it will be..." He didn't finish the thought. He could barely bear to contemplate it, let alone give voice to them. That Cinderella had summoned him to Belle's room meant that it obviously touched upon their falling out since the truth about him and Tulip had come to light. But whether it we good news or bad he could neither tell nor get from the maid. He would have to find that out for himself.

And so it was with trepidation dogging his steps and weighing them down that Adam made his way - was led, as he nowhere near familiar enough with the labyrinthine layout of the palace of Armorique to try and find his way to Belle's room unaided - in the direction of the Queen's Tower. His heart wavered between hope and despair, between imaging Belle throwing herself at him while proclaiming all things forgiven and her casting him off completely.

Forgiveness or damnation, he had no idea what was waiting for him at the end of his journey. The warring of hope and despair within his best produced a feeling not dissimilar to indigestion.

Was he a man headed for the gates of heaven, or going to the gallows? He simply had no idea.

All he could knew was that he was bound for one or the other and it could not be avoided. His limbo now was ended.

The maid led him to the door, and opened it without knocking. "Prince Adam of the Franche-Comte to see you, ma'am, as you asked."

"Thank you, Jaquelin," Cinderella said. "Please come in, Prince Adam." She was on her feet already, standing near the door. Belle stood beside her, though Adam tried not to look at her right away for fear he would not be able to look away.

He walked slowly and study into the room, like a reanimated corpse that hadn't remembered how to walk properly yet. He bowed his head to Cinderella. "Princess."

Cinderella curtsied. "Prince Adam. Thank you for coming." She placed both her hands around Belle's arm.

Thus directed to look at her, Adam found his belief that he would not be able to look away quite born out. Though she did not - would not - look at him, he could only stare at her. She was so beautiful. Every time he saw her he was struck anew by her beauty, she put Cinderella in the shade and made her hideous by the comparison. She was the angel who had delivered him out of darkness and into the light, and now she had the power to send him back there if she so chose.

"My lady," he murmured.

"No lady, sir," Belle said. "Only a prince's morganatic wife."

"Yet you will always be my lady, Belle," Adam said.

She looked at him, but said nothing.

"That...that dress looks very well on you," he said.

"Thank you," Belle murmured.

Adam breathed slowly in and out. "Belle-"

"You should have told me," Belle said.

"I was ashamed," Adam said.

"But you still should have told me," Belle said. "I'm your wife; the law allows me to be that at least. And yet it seems that I don't know you at all."

"You know who I am," Adam said. "I didn't want you to know what I was."

"But you should have told me."

"I know," Adam said. "I...what can I say to make it up to you?"

Belle stared at him. "Is there anything else? Any more surprises?"

"None," Adam said. "None at all, I swear it."

Belle continued to stare at him, as the moments drew on and with them Adam's agony.

Then, miracle of miracles, she held out her hand to him. "Then now that I know your past we can face the future together."

Adam was still and silent. He had scarce dared to hope and now...His fears banished and his hopes realised and..."I don't know what to say."

"Thank Cinderella," Belle said. "She convinced me that this was the right thing to do."

Adam wrenched his eyes away from the greater beauty to the lesser. "Thank you, Cinderella, thank you...thank you so much."

Cinderella smiled as she joined their hands together. Belle's hand was soft and warm to Adam's touch, while he felt only the silk of Cinderella's glove. "You are far too in love for me to see you sundered by something like this. I'm so glad to see you reconciled."

"Do you think Princess Tulip has forgiven you?" Belle asked.

"I really don't know," Adam said. "We've had no contact since she ran away, I've no idea what she thinks about me or how she thinks at all."

"Do you know when she arrives?" Belle asked Cinderella.

"In just a few days time," Cinderella said.

Belle nodded. "Then that is the first thing that we'll face together, from now on."