Chapter Twenty Six

26.1

Belle looked away from the bedroom she had stayed in at one point and because this was the second best bedroom in the castle, Antoine had taken it for the night before he went to the palace. Maurice had gladly given it up for the night so that the future king could sleep somewhere. Dinner was being cooked, some kind of royal feast, but Belle didn't want to enjoy the smells and aromas coming from the kitchen, something greater was weighing on her mind.

Walking into the main bedroom, she saw Adam on his back in beast form just staring at the ceiling. She moved Juliet to her shoulder and came to sit beside where his large arm was stretched. He blinked and stared at her. "Hi."

"I think Juliet wanted to know where her daddy was," Belle commented as she gently let her fingers run over Adam's horn. "Are you feeling okay? Adam, what he said."

"Was absolutely correct," Adam replied and Belle shook her head, Adam however pushed himself up into a seated position on the bed. "However, I'm okay with it because I am happy to hear what you said. All of this ugliness," he said gesturing to himself, "Is worth it because I get to have a life with my daughter and my wife and our friends and I feel that as long as my mind is intact, I get to enjoy such a life to my heart's content."

Belle laughed slightly, "You're amazing," she told him and saw him smile a little embarrassed by that comment. "Here," Belle said as she handed him Juliet. Adam carefully and cautiously took her, he had already voiced a concern that he was scared his claw might accidentally cut her beautiful skin. "Holding Juliet always makes you feel better."

"She's our daughter," Adam smiled as he kissed his daughter's forehead. Somehow that new baby smell could be detected better when he smelled her in beast form. "I suppose that dinner is nearly ready. They'll come and get us when it is."

"Adam," Belle whispered as she placed a hand on his back, "I don't mean to sound offensive but…I'm interested in going to the palace, when you're better of course. I've been reading through all of these books and the royal family…there are things that maybe the palace will be able to tell me about your family."

"Such as that they kill the daughters?" Adam asked disgusted by that. Nobody would ever lay a finger on Juliet with those kinds of intentions, he wouldn't allow for it. Belle nodded. "Do you think my faith in Antoine is misled?" he asked and Belle looked at him curiously, "I mean about the fact that he's a lot like me before the transformation and that he can learn to become a better person. I do have to at least think that he has a good side."

Belle sighed, "I hope so too. He seems like he has a lot of negative personality traits but he can easily lose those if he just allows himself to relax. I'm of the mindset that anyone can change as long as they want to change."

"Like…Gaston?" Adam asked and Belle sighed.

"That's it though, Gaston never wants to change for anybody. He feels that people should change for him without question but him changing for somebody else, that kind o thinking is unforgiveable. Give Antoine a chance though. He might surprise you."

Adam smiled as he watched Belle. He could tell that she was trying to support him and he had a feeling that if Antoine had been anyone else, she might have hit him or at least she would have quickly departed the room. He wanted to be the man that Belle had described him as, the one with the magnetized body, the one who she loved and would never trade for another. Being in a position of power wasn't something she wanted but she had fallen in love with and married a prince, it was the cost of marrying into the royal family.

"I can't wait to see what happens in two years," Belle smiled to him and Adam laughed uncomfortably.

"I don't think the destruction and collapse of society is something that anyone should want to see," he replied and Belle leaned closer to him, kissing the large lips covering the even larger teeth. She pulled back and shook her head.

"I think you'd make a wonderful king, in fact, I know that you'd make an amazing king," she said and Adam watched her longingly. He really did hope that was true.

26.2

Once Adam had felt that he had gained most of his strength back, he came down to the main floor so that he would be ready for dinner. Appearing as human, he wore a blue formal shirt and black pants. He moved through the house until he could hear two voices he wouldn't have expected in such close proximity.

"Are you looking forward to being a king?" Chip chirped with his usual excitement. Adam smiled as he heard this. He would have wanted a younger brother like Chip but that wasn't the family life which he had been given. "It must be exciting."

"Again, small peasant boy," Antoine replied and Adam sighed remembering his own childhood. "Do not address me as if you know me, run and play your peasant games."

"Peasant games?" Chip laughed. "You're important to Adam -"

"Who are you to call him Adam?" Antoine asked and Chip froze, Adam had always insisted that Chip treat him as an older brother type and that didn't come with calling him any kind of formal or official name. "You are to refer to him as Master or Your Highness or something with much more -"

"Adam would ne-" Chip said but the look in Antoine's eyes was of utter disgust. Adam rushed in at that moment and placed a hand on Chip's shoulder. He smiled back at him before turning to Antoine with a slow burning anger.

"Chip is someone I care for as a younger brother. This is how order is in this castle. We all know that I am a prince and yet we treat one another like a family. I consider Chip as my younger brother who is not genetically related to me," Adam said as he smiled back at Chip who was still keeping his positive attitude.

"Adam, you have a family, you don't need to surround yourself with the lower class." Antoine remarked and Adam laughed at how that hit him. Lower class? When he was in his form as a beast then he would be considered an animal but even when he did look like a beast, Chip treated him in the same way and they would enjoy moments together. Of anyone in the castle, Chip had the right to be scared of him but he was someone who never hurt anyone or insulted anyone.

"I was abandoned by my family. I am very grateful that we are starting to be brothers again but I had to learn how to be alone for ten years but I was never truly alone. I had a family that I made for myself. I'm not telling you that you need to treat Chip as your brother but I consider him as mine." Adam grinned back to Chip who was smiling at being considered in that way. Adam knew that they both meant a lot to one another. It was these people who had saved him as well as Belle. Belle might have led towards the curse being broken but it was the people here who had helped him survive even as teacups and clocks.

"He's a peasant boy," Antoine said before sighing, "Can I ask it not to talk to me?"

"Him," Adam stressed before offering Chip a sympathetic smile. "How about the two of us talk before your bedtime, get your mother to remind me, okay?" he asked and Chip nodded. He bowed to Antoine before dashing away. Adam watched after him.

"So you pretended that you were a part of a family different than your own?" Antoine asked before shaking his head. "That type of imagination is dangerous."

"True," Adam nodded. He smiled and exhaled deeply, "But you know what, father never wanted me as part of his family too. I sometimes wonder if I had been born into another family if everyone would have been happier but these are the cards we're dealt and I'm ready to play my hand. The people here, they helped me to survive and I care about them and their wants and needs. I don't have servants because I needed someone to trust a little bit more than an employee."

"Will you be taking them to the palace when you become king?" Antoine asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Depends if they want to come with me," Adam said honestly.

"It does help that they know how ugly your other form is and are still able to stick by your side, they're not completely revolted by you so there should be credit given to them for at least that." Antoine looked in the direction where Chip had just left. "That little boy though, he doesn't have a bright shining future ahead of him if you don't teach him some manners."

Adam frowned, "I care about whatever future Chip wants to make for himself. I will support him."

"You wish for that child to be employed at the palace?" Antoine asked in surprise.

"No, not employed," Adam said before taking a deep breath in and closing his eyes for a second so he could get the words right. "What I really hope happens to Chip is that he develops a passion for something, writing, drawing, baking, I don't know what it will be but I hope he finds something he loves to do. I hope that he leaves the castle when he's ready and he takes on an apprenticeship or he trains to do that thing under someone skilled, someone who can help him take control of that passion and turn it into an occupation. I hope that I get to hear about the advancements he's made in that field even if I can no longer see him personally."

"So, dooming him to a life of being a merchant," Antoine commented and Adam shook his head.

"You wouldn't understand me, now please excuse me. I need to get Belle so that the three of us can eat together." Adam left and as he went to where Belle had been, he saw Chip standing there watching him. He laughed and walked over to the boy.

"Do you really think that?" Chip asked as he looked up to Adam and Adam smiled. "That I'm like your little brother?"

Adam laughed, he leaned in closer to the former-teacup, "Don't repeat this to anyone including your mother but I consider you more of my brother than I do Antoine," he said before stepping away. "I really hope that you do find something you want to do passiona-"

"Inventing," Chip told him, "I'd love to be an inventor."

"I'll talk to Maurice," Adam nodded before leaving. Chip grinned. He considered Adam a big brother as well and he did have that familial love no matter if he was man or beast.

End of Chapter Twenty Six

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Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty Five

BellatrixBlack1997, DarthLeia19, KathyMesser