Author's note: POV is a bit messed up here, apologies! Happy reading everyone!

Chapter 43

"I'm sorry, what are you talking-"

Lady Archambeau let out an aggravated sigh, nearly rolling her eyes but just about refraining from doing so.

"It is no use boy, I know exactly what has happened between the two of you," she explained, before sticking her cane into the ground, as if to reenforce her words. "I was the beggar woman remember, and I have had plenty of time to observe the both of you. But heed my words, no good will come of this."

"Madame," said the Prince, stepping forwards into the light and setting his brandy on the table very carefully as his eyes flickered up, a cold, churning yet suppressed fire within his gaze. "I hold the greatest respect for you, but you do not know that which you speak. I cannot speak for Belle, only myself but what I can say is that my intentions towards her are entirely honourable and pure. The last thing I would want to do is tarnish her reputation, and if that is what you are insinuating, you are gravelly mistaken. I see it as my duty to protect her, both as her confidant and-"

At this point, it seemed like the Prince had suddenly found himself at a loss for words, surprising everyone. As the man looked down towards the scarlet rug beneath his feet, blinking his eyes rapidly as a million thoughts milled around his head, the smile on his aunt's face only seemed to grow deeper.

Instead of continuing with the dangerous train of thought, the young Duke instead steered his mind toward another important point instead.

"Should you presume that she is somehow beneath me and therefore unacceptable in your eyes, then I'm afraid I must reject your proposal and ask you to leave. The matter concerning my mother and the matter of Belle's future are two entirely different things."

"Such strong words," replied the old lady, although she did allow the Prince's heated words their due attention, not responding immediately. "I must say, I am impressed. No, you mistake me, my dear. I hold the greatest admiration and gratitude towards Belle for all she has done in this castle. It goes without saying, she has helped turn a boy into a man."

At this Lady Archambeau turned her head readily towards Belle, who still stood by the fireplace. Having uttered hardly a word throughout the entire conversation, her eyes still remained permanently fixed on the Prince's back, while the man in question continued to hold a guarded expression towards his aunt.

"Madame," said the young woman, hesitantly stepping forward as her gaze shifted toward the old woman, "Please allow me to correct you, for I believe you are mistaken about my connection to the Prince. Despite everything that I have told you, there is nothing untoward between us and-"

"Ah! It is no use, not when you have yet to notice it yourselves!" exclaimed Archambeau, falling back into her seat in apparent exhaustion. "You know, out of everything, I did not believe that this would be the stumbling block, especially for you dear nephew, with all the experience I thought you had supposedly collected throughout your experience with women in this country. Alas, I suppose this and that are two quite different things… Despite everything, it seems, much to my surprise, you are still yet a novice when it comes to matters of the heart."

"It would be a shame for me to spell it out for you, when neither of you have quite understood," she continued, sitting back in her chair. "I feel I have spoken too soon on this matter."

The words had barely left her mouth when the Duke interrupted her unexpectedly.

"Aunt, I believe you underestimate me," uttered the Prince, his tone low but nevertheless different to before, so much so his aunt's ears perked up slightly, and she sat back down with, it must be said, a certain amount of anticipation in her sparkling eyes.

"Indeed?" she muttered, turning her head slightly as the Duke turned to look towards Belle, who still remained perplexed, her eyes questioning as she gazed back at him. His mind however, had settled the moment he'd heard the sadness within her voice as Belle tried feebly to convince his aunt and herself, he suspected, that there was nothing between them.

"I do not need to prove anything to you aunt," he began, though his eyes still remained on Belle, steady and clear like the sky at dawn. "But I assure you, if those are your conditions, I hold no interest to continuing this conversation any longer."

"Is that so," replied Archambeau, her eyebrows lifting but her eyes reflecting a sense that she thought there was a deeper meaning behind her nephew's words. "Perhaps I have misread the situation after all. If that be the case, I have only one more thing to say. That is, of course, regarding why I am cautioning and laying this condition before you."

The Duke slowly turned to look down at his aunt, who seemed to be looking at him with genuine concern as she let out another sigh, her mouth pursed into a grim line as she looked into the fire behind him.

"I would have thought you would have realized this while listening to my sorry tale, but it is not just a tale of explanations concerning my past," she uttered as her lilac eyes trailed towards Belle. "I mentioned all this because the past has a habit of repeating itself. You may deny it all you wish, but I recognize the Duke in you, qualities which your mother greatly admired but also slightly feared. And mademoiselle!"

Archambeau gestured towards Belle, much to the young girl's surprise, and gave her a warm smile.

"You may not look like her, but I recognize my sister in you. I must admit, it is the reason I took a liking to you initially. I can easily see why the Duke did not stand a chance against the likes of you. My dear sister, kind and gentle as she appeared on the surface, was just as fearsome and bold as you are at the most appropriate and inappropriate of times."

"Perhaps it is my age," continued Archambeau as she stood up again and turned once more towards her nephew, even as Belle's cheeks flushed with cherry blossom-like pink, "but I cannot help but see the ghosts of the past. I do not wish to see the both of you make the same mistakes they did. My sister was an intelligent woman but also someone who, I always felt, wanted much more than to be couped up in a castle for the rest of her days. Her mind was always on the horizon, and though she loved your father very much, I fear it was a longing within her that never ceased. Sometimes I wonder whether she wanted a baby so much because of that, as a way to fill something within…"

Much to everyone's chagrin, the lady's eyes promptly filled up with tears and they glistened in the firelight as her nephew looked upon her with alarm.

"My god!" she exclaimed as she hastily dabbed her eyes, the Prince quickly passing her his handkerchief from his pocket which she graciously accepted. "What has become of me!"

"You must have loved her very much," said Belle, her voice a soothing balm against the other two strong characters within the room, coming forwards towards the old lady to comfort her, despite everything.

"I loved her more than anything, child," said Lady Archambeau, giving a sad smile as she lifted her hand and gently stroked Belle's cheek, which shocked the young mademoiselle more than anything else. "She was not a creature born to live a life bound by obligation. And it is because of that, that I worry."

She turned her head slowly down before looking up at her nephew again, who now viewed her with conflict in his eyes.

"Your parents had an attachment that was truly encompassing," she said, her voice grave, unlike anything from before. "Unlike anything I have ever witnessed throughout my travels. No two people felt as strongly and as deeply as they did. Her death destroyed your father and I'm afraid to say everything else within his vicinity. It was an attachment that destroyed, do you understand?"

"More than you know," whispered the Duke, as his aunt walked towards him, standing even closer so he could see the foggy mist within her eyes, suggesting age but also wisdom.

"You are both still so young and your senses of self still so fragile," she said quietly as she looked at both the Prince and Belle in equal measure. "I would hate to see history repeat itself. I say all this because I care for you both and am only thinking about your welfare and the future, as just your mother tasked me to do. You might not understand right now, but I believe with a little consideration, you shall come to understand my meaning. You needn't decide this very second, I only ask that you think on it."

…..

Lady Archambeau left not long after that, for neither the Duke nor Belle spoke very much as they took in the old woman's words, the hall falling silently so not even the servants dared to come anywhere near the grand staircase or landing. Everything went still and the air seemed to settle as if they were in an ancient tomb.

For Belle's part, after a moment of staring at the Prince's still figure, his face hidden from view and hands clenched, she turned and came to sit down upon the divan, as she had been before, trying to absorb everything she had just heard.

"I am sorry Belle," said the Duke finally, turning slowly and walking towards her with gentle steps. "I did not anticipate things to escalate as they just did."

"I understand her feelings," admitted Belle as she folded her hands together and looked towards the dying embers. "Even if they are misguided."

"Misguided?" repeated the Prince after a moment, as if he thought he had misheard her.

"I think you are still adamant about the choice you made several weeks ago," clarified Belle, finally looking up towards the Duke, who was staring at her. "Despite the words we spoke to one another last night, you are convinced we must not act on them. In which case, you and your aunt are in agreement and there is nothing more to worry about. She believes that there is something between us, but we have proven we are beyond such temptations. She can support you financially and I can leave, just has you have planned and-"

"Belle, wait-"

"And we will become strangers once more-"

"Stop-"

"And our time together will be but a memory-"

"Goddamit woman, haven't you understood yet that I am in love with you!"

The Prince's words overpowered Belle's, his voice thundering against the marble walls as he hoisted her up and held her by the shoulders, his face aflame with what was first mistaken to be rage but which the young woman quickly realized to be in fact pain.

Neither spoke, not immediately and the Duke continued to scrutinize Belle's face with a look of self-contempt in his eyes as nothing more than their exertions could be heard across the hall.

"I told myself I would never allow that despairing expression to pass across your face ever again," he said through gritted teeth, as Belle refused to meet his gaze, staring instead at the golden brooch upon his cravat, a symbol of his family's coat of arms.

"I will never send you away again," continued the Prince, his voice rough, like as if a dam had broken and he watched in horror as tears began to appear in Belle's eyes, glistening against the fire light. "I will not make the mistake of losing you again. I could not bear it. God help me Belle, but you are it. And god forbid should anything ever happen to you, I dare not think what I would do or what I would become. Don't you see this is why this must be done properly."

"But your aunt-"

"It is the truth," he persisted, his grip tightening slightly as if to give her warning. "My aunt is right about me. I am only as good as I can be because of you. My nature, being what it is, it cannot change. It will always be there on the precipice but when I am with you… All that darkness fades away, as if it never had been. So, you see, my love for you is borne out of selfishness. I let you go because I recognized I needed you more than you needed me. And now, that is more evident than ever-"

"That is not true!" exclaimed Belle as she pushed her hands against his chest, not realizing just how hard and unyielding a man's body could be, but the Prince quickly relented and let go of her, allowing her to step away.

"You always think of your duty first," she continued, her voice a little more subdued as she watched him breathing quite heavily, his elegant attire somehow a feeble façade hiding something far more volatile within.

"It is an admirable quality you possess," said Belle, stepping a little closer towards Adam as she saw him mentally try to reject her words. "You are always thinking of others. So let me, just this once, help you now."

Coming closer still and before he had any time to react, she reached down towards his hands and lifted them up, holding them within her own, rough against smooth as she looked up to see him staring bewildered at their intertwined hands.

"Let me help you," she said softly. "You should accept your aunt's offer. She is right, and you need her support right now. I will leave and accept what destiny has handed to me. Perhaps she is right about us, that by standing too close to the flame-"

"I love you with every fibre of my being," uttered the Prince, completely disregarding Belle's words as he pulled away and instead cupped her face, coming to stand even closer towards her as she gasped at his words.

"My adoration for you started from the moment I first laid my eyes on you and it matters not whether you be a pauper or a countess, the feelings I hold for you are undeniable and unmoving, they always have been. What is to come of it I leave in your hands, for your destiny is your own, and I am your servant and at your mercy. Tell me to let you go and I will let you go. Tell me to follow you beyond that horizon and I'll follow. But never presume ever again that my feelings for you are impure, inconstant or can be easily manipulated by another. I may never set my eyes on you again Belle if you so wish it, but I will never stop loving you. Nothing can ever replace you, not a Dukedom, not all the wealth and power in the world. The only sacrifice I am willing to make is anything that will serve your happiness."

Such a speech cannot by any measure be followed by an immediate answer, and so it was that Belle continued to stare at the Duke completely speechless. As she tried to wade through the relentless tumble of emotions within herself while listening to his words, Belle couldn't help but notice that his eyes were no longer sharp, cold nor hidden in darkness. They were like the ocean, glittering in sunshine and so it was that she then realized, despite the bluntness of his tone, he was far from composed.

Lifting her own hands up to touch his, Belle realized he was in fact shaking and so she smiled, more as a means to comfort and put him at ease than anything else.

"You won't come up with another stupid reason why we cannot be together?" she couldn't help but whisper as the Prince continued to stare at her with a most earnest and serious expression on his face. "As a soon to be Countess, surely I am worthy enough of you now?"

"I don't care what you are," replied the Prince hastily, not caring if his words were rough. "And I no longer care if it is selfish to love you. But I promise Belle, I will never hurt you like that again."

"Everybody is so wrong when it comes to you," she whispered as the Prince continued to look at her hesitantly. "Such a love as yours could hardly hurt anyone. Why no one can see you the way I do, is a mystery to me."

"You see me Belle," replied the Duke just as quietly as he rested his forehead against hers and let his hands move down to her bare shoulders as hers moved to lie against his chest. "You saw something in me that I thought I was no longer capable of. And now you have awakened it, it will slumber no longer. When you spoke just now to my aunt, saying there was nothing between us, something snapped within me…"

"I did not mean it!" said Belle hoarsely, moving away so they could look at each other once again. "I only said that because I thought you would push me away again, but also…"

"But also?" pressed the Prince as he watched the girl before him hesitate, looking down towards the rug.

"Your aunt is a good person," stated Belle, suddenly standing quite straight, so much so that she slightly reminded the Duke of a few governesses from his childhood, but the posture nonetheless made her quite irresistible in his eyes. "She is not a liar and I think her words are true."

"So do I Belle," replied the Prince in cautious agreement, a little perplexed by the sudden turn in their conversation and he watched in wonder as Belle moved away from him and sat down on the divan once more, an animated look in her eyes.

"I believe she only wished to caution us, to make sure we are not too hasty, to not get carried away by our emotions," continued Belle, not noticing as the Prince's eyes narrowed and he came to sit down next to her. "She does not know you well enough yet, at least, not the way I do."

"Right," uttered the Duke, feeling a little dumb as he sat down on the divan which was in no way made for someone of his size, Belle still staring at the floor so he could see thoughts whizzing in and out of her brain.

"Perhaps then, it is only a matter of her getting to know you, to trust you enough," replied Belle, her voice bright as the Prince continued to stare at her hesitantly. "And then, she can see what a wonderful person you are, and support you all the same! Why else would she make such a cold proposal?"

"Perhaps Belle," said the Duke carefully as he turned towards her, trying his hardest to fight against a sly smile from appearing on his face, "she said that to make sure she protected you from me?"

"What?" uttered Belle and it was then that the Prince realized she was nervous and in a way which reminded him of the past, when she would only look at him with apprehension in her eyes. The divan was not that wide, and they sat in closer proximity than he had initially realized.

"Given my reputation," he continued, clearing his throat out of embarrassment, "and what has happened in the past, it would only be wise to view our connection with some suspicion. And as far as the outside world is concerned…"

His voice faded away as the tension he'd felt emanating from Belle suddenly shifted to himself and he glanced towards her to see her cheeks once again blossoming into pink, her eyes downcast as she started to do that thing she always did, grabbing hold of her skirt tightly in one hand.

"I am hardly the most trustworthy bachelor in the world," he muttered as he gently prided her tense hand away from the material, flipping it over onto his knee as he lightly traced the inside of her hand, examining it with detailed efficiency as his fingers trailed slowly up towards her wrist before the hit the edge of her green sleeve.

"W-What are you doing?"

"Studying your hand," he muttered, not looking up or stopping.

"Why?"

Her voice was wavering but not in fear or apprehension. It was warm and he could hear her laboured breath. For the first, the Prince found himself feeling elated, proud almost, in response to the reaction he was able to get out of woman before him.

"To prove my point," he said, his own voice subdued as he lifted her hand up and brought it slowly to his lips, gently but firmly placed a kiss on the inside of her wrist as he closed his eyes and let the heat of her hand seep against his cheek, taking in her scent as he felt her body shiver.

He opened his eyes as he felt it and looked up, wanting to know if, to his dismay, she viewed him with fear. His gaze was straight however as he looked directly towards Belle and what he saw there…

What he saw there, would only spell trouble for him if he continued.

"What point?" she whispered as her dilated eyes stared at the Prince in a manner which he had never seen before. It was not lust, not a recognizable expression he had ever seen on a woman's face before, not even at the greatest heights of pleasure. It was of a serious countenance which seemed to suggest they were of the same mind or world and that he was as much a part of her as she was a part of him.

It was more than a little disconcerting, but he could not look away, and so as he gently let go of his grip on Belle's hand, reaching over toward her cheek instead and letting his thumb linger there while he bent slowly towards her, giving her ample time to under his intention.

"That you are still new to the world," replied the Prince anyway in response for her question, though his voice was far from smooth. Within such close proximity, one hardly needed to lift one's voice beyond a murmur, so despite being in open space, his voice failed to echo against the marble walls.

"You are so pure, an innocent, with hopes and dreams," the Duke continued to mutter even as he stared at Belle in a manner which seemed to suggest he wished to alter a view of the things he'd listed, his thumb gently glazing over her bottom rose red lip, his touch so faint he felt her mouth quiver slightly.

"Dreams I want to fulfil with you," sighed Belle as she closed her eyes in response, as his hand crossed over to hold her other cheek, her expression pained. "No one else will do, can't you see that?"

"Perhaps there are some who believe I would crush those dreams instead," said the Prince, his tone dark as he lent over her, brushing her dark hair away from her pale face before bending down to kiss her closed eyelids and then her cheek, causing the girl to gasp softly.

"You could never," replied Belle as a smile appeared on her face, opening her eyes to reveal warmth as she took the foreboding expression on the Prince's face. "Not when I know the depth of kindness and understanding that lies within here."

As if to clarify her point, the young woman let her hand gently rest against the chest of the man before her, enabling her to hear the tumultuous beating of his heart, which was both powerful and erratic. Despite the white linen shirt Belle could feel the heat radiating from him, and before she thought it through, thought of anything really, she hastily bent up, for he was quite a bit taller than she, and kissed the corner of the Duke's mouth.

She had been aiming to be more direct of course, however in her haste, she had landed slightly to the right. Nevertheless, she stayed her ground and lingered there, even going so far as to kiss him a second time on the same spot before letting herself fall back against the divan, her face having never felt so hot as she stared down at her lap.

As silence fell, the sudden adrenaline she'd felt slowly ebbed and she was left inside with a sense of morbid embarrassment as the Duke sat next to her immobile, offering reaction and sitting entirely immobile, like a Roman statue.

"Please forgive me, I don't what I-"

Her voice was silenced.

…..