Chapter Eighteen – The Little Prince
18.1
Things hadn't gone well since Leo had been born. Adam hadn't been able to return to his duties outside of the castle because he had woken up one morning to find one of the servants from the kitchen with the baby boy on the table and a knife in her hand. Adam hadn't cared that she was weaker than him or that she was smaller, older, a woman, he had leaped onto her so that the knife wasn't anywhere close to his son.
He hadn't been able to hold back his rage as he yelled in his announcement that anyone not supportive of the whole family needed to leave. He had said that he would pay them for two months of work but they needed to get out and that the pay would be forfeited if they shared the story of their son.
Adam still didn't know how to deal with this but he knew that it wasn't Leo's fault at all. It had been his, well, it had really been the enchantress's fault but blaming her wouldn't do very much so he took on the blame himself. He loved his little boy as did Belle and Isabella and so too did Maurice. That's all that was needed. His true family.
Adam had been convinced by one of the head guards that he needed to actually focus on the things that were his duty as a leader and he had left Leo alone in the nursery whilst he worked in the room close by. He was in the middle of signing a document about the land leases for some of the more needed farmers when he heard a baby wailing, Leo!
He dropped the quill and stood immediately from the chair, bolting out of the room before the chair hit the ground. He immediately went into his son's nursery hoping that he was just overthinking things and creating images in his mind that didn't add up. He stopped as he saw a large bucket of water and one of the servants who mainly worked in Belle's parts of the house with Leo's ankle in her grasp.
"Give him to me," Adam said as he approached the woman and her eyes went to Adam and then to the bucket of water before throwing Leo on the ground. Adam swooped and heard the beast start bawling at being thrown down like a toy. He looked up to see the servant with her hand around a knife. Adam tried to comfort his son but stared protectively at the young girl.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked before seeing the servant advancing towards him with the knife. "Are you mad!?" he asked as she swiped at him a few times with the weapon. He felt himself get cut but it came more as a relief to him than an injury. If he was getting hurt that meant that Leo wasn't. "Do you know who I am!?"
"You, are the one who brought that demon, that antichrist into the world," she said as she tried to swipe at him again and Adam protectively held the screaming Leo. He stared at the woman with such hate, his own inner beast starting to appear before he saw the head guard rush towards the woman and restrain her.
"Your Highness, I am…I am so sorry," he apologized quickly before putting his hand over the woman's throat and Adam was surprised when she suddenly collapsed. He took a few steps backwards and stared at the guard horrified.
"What did you -" Adam said as he wondered whether every single person in this castle was an undercover killer.
"Just unconscious," the guard apologized, "Is he…okay? I didn't know that this was going on, I…"
"My son needs protection. Either my wife or I need to be with him at all moments. I understand that my work is of importance to this country but he is our son, he didn't ask for this and -"
"Maybe you don't remember because there are so many of us but I have a son, sons, twin boys," the guard said before looking over at Leo. Adam noticed that he looked a little afraid and nervous but there wasn't pure hatred in his eyes, he wasn't calling Leo the antichrist or attempting to murder him. "I know a father's love. I know how much you love Isabella and Leo."
Adam stared at him again. He didn't trust anyone but there hadn't been much of a difference in how this man had said his children's names. Adam lifted Leo to his shoulder and gestured to the woman. "Get her to Cogsworth, let him know that I am not going to press the attempted murder charge unless Leo's secret leaks to the public audience, tell him that she is no longer welcome at the castle and one month pay, it's at least good to show a little pity to those who refuse it to others."
The guard nodded, "Your Highness, I know that it's not my place to ask this of you but you are searching for a cure, aren't you? You and your wife?"
Adam laughed bitterly, "We'll search until we're either dead or until we find one. We might not always be there to protect him but he'll grow up to be like I was at least, a little better. I want him properly educated and to be regarded as part of a family. He turned to Leo and looked again to the bucket. What was he doing leaving him alone? He couldn't have taken care of the truly undesirables so easily.
"Get her out of my sight. I'm getting sick of looking at her," Adam growled and the guard nodded, a little scared at Adam's tone. He had been a much younger man when he had been turned into a suit of armor but he knew how much Adam had improved since Belle had come into his life. Things had been good. The little beast didn't prove much of a threat to anyone and hopefully one day the curse would be broken for him. Hopefully before he was three-years-old he would turn into a human.
18.2
"Did you want to read a book after dessert?" Adam asked Isabella who was already getting excited over the pie to be served that day. He watched his daughter for a moment longer before seeing Belle giving Leo his bottle.
"No," Isabella said and Adam blinked surprised. "I want to play with Leo."
"Leo's really small right now," Adam said as he watched the tiny boy sucking hard against the milk nipple. He didn't have any teeth yet but no one knew how sharp his mouth was or how powerfully he sucked and the last thing that anyone wanted was for Belle to be hurt. If she was hurt then it would have been an obvious mistake but nobody truly knew what Leo's body was like. "How about if Papa plays with you instead."
Isabella pouted before looking at her parents, "Why am I the good one?" she asked them.
"The good one?" Belle asked and Adam focused his gaze on Isabella hoping that she hadn't heard that from one of the servants. Who was he kidding? Of course she had heard that from at least one of them.
"You're really well behaved and caring and you're a good girl, you don't cause any problems and you love Leo, right? You love your little brother?" he tried to reassure himself. Isabella nodded.
"It's sad that he looks like that though," she said honestly with a pout and Adam exhaled in relief. At least she was being honest with them. It would be hard to hear that everything was perfect when of course it wasn't, but you didn't get to pick your children, you loved them no matter what, that was your duty as a parent.
"Yes. Mama and I will try every day to find some way to make him better but we love him regardless. He's a member of the family," Adam saw Belle put down the formula and wrap the blanket around Leo again before placing him in the baby basket next to her. "He's the little brother member."
"Yes," Adam laughed, "He'll always be your little brother."
Belle came closer to her daughter and Adam stood up so he was next to Leo, he was still on edge after what he had witnessed and he didn't want to let anyone have the chance to attack his child. He was just a baby and he definitely didn't seem to be a monster or an antichrist. Mrs. Potts, maybe one of only a few he could trust, had told him that Leo was acting like any other newborn she had seen and Adam was grateful for her opinion on that.
"Papa's right here," he whispered to the sleeping infant.
"Why don't we all read together?" Belle said, "You can pick out the book and then we can all take turns reading, I think that Leo would be really happy to hear your voice." She saw Isabella's face light up after she heard that idea and before either Adam or Belle could stop her, she had jumped down from the table and run to the library. Adam sighed as he looked at Belle.
"I can't help thinking that he's always in danger here," he said as he turned to look into Leo's innocent face. "I can't even trust Lumiere. Lumiere would ne-"
"Don't go turning all of your friends into enemies," Belle attempted to remind him. She frowned before feeling the tears in her eyes, "but are you sure? You said that Flora wanted to drown him? He's only little. He can't defend himself, please, Adam, tell me it's not true."
Adam sadly nodded and Belle broke down into more tears, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. He let his hand run through her hair and tuck a few strands behind her ear. He looked up to see Maurice standing there and watching the two of them. "Hi," he mouthed, feeling rude for the impolite greeting and for not having dinner together – Maurice had asked to have his dinner where he could look over his ideas for inventions -.
"Do you trust me, Adam?" Maurice asked and Adam nodded. "Then what if I took him away from here, somewhere more quiet, where there won't be so many people around him."
Belle stared at him, "I can't have him taken away from us. He'll grow up thinking that we don't love him. I want him to know that he is loved and -"
"Maybe only until you two have a proper plan to protect him. However long you two feel comfortable with," Maurice offered and Adam looked at him.
Adam wanted to tell his father-in-law that there was no time that he would be comfortable with, he wanted to say that but it did give them an option. The safety of their son wasn't something that they were meant to gamble with frivolously. He looked to Leo. "I know you love him, Maurice. It's just that I'm his father."
"And I'm his grandfather," Maurice countered back and Adam stopped as he tried to think things over but for some reason no words were coming to his lips to be spoken.
End of Chapter Eighteen
Thank you for reading
Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Seventeen
DarthLeia19, Foreverandtrulyyours, KathyMesser
