AN: I know I have in total three Beauty and the Beast fics with more or less the same plotline. Adam turning from prince to beast and this is going to be another one. However, I will try to make this one different including expanding on their world and going a little slower with the change. I hope you enjoy.

Those Sapphire Eyes

Chapter One

It had been three years since Belle had met Adam and a little under since she had come to know him as human rather than beast. She hadn't loved him at first, being terrified of him and angry at the way he had hurt and then separated her from her father. Now though, he was her most important person and as she saw how intelligent, diplomatic, and open minded he was in his role as a prince, she came to love him even more. Although it was technically her library, she enjoyed the times when they would both sit in there and she would reach out her hand and let her finger run over the back of his and he would get that cute and slightly insecure smile before squeezing her hand.

As she sat with another European princess, her eyes kept lifting to her husband as she saw how he was working on trade deals and foreign alliances. He had really embraced his role as the prince. She had also found out that he would never be king and she would never really be a queen but being a princess was more than she had ever thought for herself. Adam's family was larger than she had believed and he was the third prince to the king and queen. He had duties and responsibilities but he wasn't going to lead the country.

She smiled as she heard the laughter of the men he was speaking with. He had such charisma now, he was charming and kind and insightful and well loved. Personally, Adam didn't feel he had earned the praise others gave him but he had changed so much.

"Do stay with us another few days," one of the men said and Adam shook his head. "There's someone that I feel you should meet, a gentleman in society who has often talked about you with high regard and would love the chance of meeting you."

Adam took a slow breath, "I am afraid that Belle and I take our leave tomorrow morning, we definitely would be more than grateful to be invited another time." Belle stood and placed a hand on Adam's arm trying to show her support.

"There are certain things that need to be taken care of. As you see, my wife is a great adviser to me and there are some things that we need to settle," Adam kissed Belle's cheek as she blushed at the open act of love. She smiled and bowed her head. She loved how Adam doted on her and would praise her intellect, most me-

"Bold choice admitting that you let a woman make decisions," one of the men laughed. "I doubt these decisions have much to do with food or dress making," he said and Adam saw Belle avoid eye contact.

With a loving gaze, Adam laughed softly. "I'd definitely advise it if you have a woman who is more educated than you are. Belle could most definitely give you a run at an intellectual debate. I am proud to be married to such a smart, skillful woman," he said and Belle took his hand.

"My husband does himself an injustice to not mention his own intellect," Belle said before giving a slight curtsey. "We would be honored to stay for tonight's ball though. Adam is an excellent dancer. I'm certain that people won't be able to take their eyes off of him."

Adam looked to her, paling slightly. He nodded. "Yes, we'll attend." He tried to boost his confidence because he was a good dancer. That was one of his favorite things to do, dancing with his wife. His favorite parts though were when she leaned into his chest and he could feel her breath and her pulse. Maybe such an opportunity would happen that night. As they parted ways, Adam turned to Belle with a self-conscious expression on his face. "Did I do okay?"

"You always do wonderful," she told him before holding his hand up to him. "See," she said as she looked around. "No fur, no claws, just you."

Adam looked around at the numerous people in the ball room. He felt conspicuous again. It wasn't as if he hated these types of gatherings but his mind sometimes flashed back to that night he danced with Belle. When he focused on the emotional moments, it was one of the best feelings he had experienced. He loved her. That had been cemented in his mind when they danced together. However, being a huge animal with claws, a tail, and horns, that made him more nervous that he was exposed. He looked to his hands again and felt Belle take his hand and squeeze it.

"It's okay," she tried to reassure him. She had tried to tell him that what he experienced in moments like this was trauma in the same way that an ex-soldier might feel it. He had had his own inner war that included fur and fangs. "I'm here. It's okay."

"Prince Adam," a man said as he approached him and Adam forced himself to make eye contact with one of the dukes in the country. He reached out a hand. "It's good to see that you've come, now if we could only see you dance as everyone has said you have excellent skills at."

"Yes," Adam nodded as he took in a deeper breath. "Well, the night is still young. This exquisite woman, my wife, is going to let me take her onto the dance floor, I'm hoping."

"Of course, I will," Belle said as she placed a supportive hand on the back of Adam's shoulder.

"There is also someone requesting an audience with you," the duke said and Adam turned to Belle. He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head and let her hand rub his arm.

"I'll go and see who else is here," she told him before kissing his cheek. "I love you. It's going to all be okay," she whispered, promising him that. Adam nodded before following the duke to a more quiet area of the room. He looked around, trying hard to hide his nervousness. Nobody here knew about those ten years he had been away from good society. Nobody else but Belle knew how he used to appear. He had to remember that he wasn't as exposed as his mind tricked him into believing.

As he approached a man in a red and black formal outfit, his eyes widened and his face paled. He had only seen this man once before but he had believed him to be dead. He had died. He felt the cold chills flow through his body and he uneasily took a step backwards. "No…" he whispered.

"We meet again, bea-" the man said. Adam tried to calm his nerves. This man had died. There should be no possible way of him being here. "I'm sorry, prince."

"Do you two know each other?" the duke asked. He saw the look of horror crossing the prince's expression. "This man here, his name is Gaston, he's a war hero," the duke tried to introduce him and Adam nodded. His eyes were still wide.

"Did you honestly think that you had killed me?" Gaston asked with a wide eyebrow causing Adam to nearly choke. The duke stared at him in shock.

"N-no," Adam whispered. "I mean, I didn't think you were alive but if you remember that night…you led a siege against the castle, shot me with an arrow, attempted to kill me, then after I told you to leave without hurting you, you stabbed me and lost your footing which caused you to fall. My wife was able to save me," Adam looked at the duke who was nodding along to the story. What Adam hadn't mentioned was how he had been so close to losing his own life and, of course, that he had transformed back from a 'monster'.

"You do make it sound so much less exciting than it was," Gaston laughed and saw Adam's fear in his eyes. "Are you going to explain why I had come? It's a bit…furry…or fuzzy to my memory."

"Maybe I shouldn't have introduced you two," the duke said as he felt the tension in the room. Adam had always been kind and open and willing to learn and listen and communicate. Hearing that he might have killed a person seemed unnatural to the man's reputation but hearing that he had been under attack but refused to hurt another sounded more accurate.

"I…I would like to go back to my wife," Adam whispered as the color drained from his body. This man should be dead. He had died. They had seen him fall a distance that no one could have survived even himself in that form.

Gaston sighed, "If you must," he said before placing a hand on Adam's shoulder and dragged him in. He spoke quietly so that only the prince could hear his words. "Just remember beast, Belle is mine." Adam felt a stab to his chest but closed his eyes. It was his fear. It was a fear that he had been told by those closest to him that he may never get over but he had to accept. "I would love to see Belle again as well."

"No," Adam said as he started shaking. He walked away, adjusting the collar of the blue suit that Belle loved him in. It was a different one to the one he had worn that night but she always said that the blue that matched his eyes was her favorite color. As he got nearer to the center of the room, the lights started to flash for him and he felt dizzy and unable to stand. He put a hand out in front of him, expecting to fall but felt someone to his side.

He looked up to see that now people were paying attention to him. He could see some of the servants approaching him and he shook his head before turning to the side. Belle was staring at him as if she had been the one to encounter the dead man. He hadn't…his body was still his, wasn't it?

"Are you okay? You're looking ill, who was it that they wanted you to meet?" she asked him quietly and he stared at her. He felt the fear take over him and he closed his eyes.

"Water, is it possible to get some water," he said and Belle nodded. She kissed the side of his forehead before helping him sit down. Grabbing her handkerchief she wiped away some of the sweat from his face. She pressed the cloth to his forehead and thanked a servant who had brought them a jug of water and a couple of cups. "We should get you some rest, you're burning up," she said to him before hearing the sound of strong footsteps.

She looked at Adam and how exhausted he was before he turned to look behind her and then pulled her into his arms with more power than she believed he had in him. She gasped at how protective he was being. "Get away from us," she heard him warn in more of a growl than the gentle voice from the past few years.

"Adam," she whispered, "Cal-" she turned to look at the man he was glaring at and started shaking as well. She clung hard to Adam who pulled her closer to him and pressed her forehead to her husband's upper chest.

"You're a phantom, a ghost, a nightmare," she said as she started shaking and was relieved when she felt Adam become even more protective of her. "You're not real. You're not real," she sobbed as if a frightened young girl which she had rarely been.

Adam very gently removed himself from Belle but held tightly to her hand as she sobbed. "I don't care that you're alive," he said trying to work from his protective energy. "But," he glared at him. "You are not to repeat past mistakes, you are not to come near me or my wife again and that is a royal order. Now, we are leaving and you are not to approach us again."

"Let's see how long she remains your wife, right, Beast?" he asked and Belle stood up. Adam was shocked by this and wrapped his arm around her.

"You're delusional," she told him. "I love Adam. I am not going to fall in love with anyone else and he's not a beast. He's much more of a man than you will ever be," she protested but felt a sharp chill as she saw his smile, the look in his eyes. What was his plan? What was he going to do to Adam's reputation?

Belle would have given into her own fears and concerns, broken down as she could see her prince doing but Adam's body wasn't coping well with the stress. He had been the one to endure the hardship since he was a young boy and all because he had answered the door by himself and been a spoiled child. Nobody deserved to go through what he had done especially at that young developmental age. She had taken him back to where they were staying and taken him to bed but he kept panting and sweating and shaking.

She had brought in a doctor to see him and they had told her that his body had gone into a panic from stress and had provided her with an ointment that was supposed to help with his nerves. Belle didn't know how Gaston had survived but she had seen stranger things happen. She carefully pushed another warm cloth over his forehead.

"You're going to be all right," she said as she saw him blink up at her with his gorgeous blue eyes. She pressed her lips to his forehead. "It's okay. Nobody knows, okay" she said and he turned to her with gratitude in his eyes.

"Belle," he struggled, "You need your rest. I'll be okay. My chest - the nerves," he told her and she sighed before laying beside him and let her head rest on his too warm chest. "How could he -" Adam asked and Belle leaned up before giving him another dose of the medicine that was meant to relax him.

"You need to rest and hopefully we can still leave in the morning and if you continue to carry this sickness, we'll be around those who love and care for you," she told him and saw him smile but there seemed to be something wrong with the way he was looking at her. Belle blinked. Maybe her imagination. She adored his smile and so had memorized it and the way he was smiling now seemed much different.

"It'll be all right, we're together and that means that we protect each other. You'll be fine, I promise," she said before leaning down to kiss his lips. That didn't feel right either. It wasn't that the kiss didn't make her feel loved as it always did but his teeth. She gently caressed his cheek. "Adam," she said as they maintained eye contact. "Can you open your mouth for me?" she asked and he looked at her confused before doing so.

Belle's eyes widened. They weren't large fangs but it was as if his teeth had subtly changed shape especially the canines. They were more like the shape of his teeth from three years ago just on a smaller scale. She didn't know what to say but from the way that she was looking at him, he seemed to understand.

Sitting up despite Belle's protests, Adam grabbed a hand mirror and looked at his reflection. He opened his mouth and the fear grew as he saw the change that Belle was mentioning. Did this mean that somehow he was regressing, that he was going backwards and returning to that beast. He put a hand to his chest. He loved Belle. His love had only grown stronger and more powerful for her since he had met her. She was the most important person in his life by far and she owned his heart.

"Do you still love me?" he asked and Belle turned to him.

She stared at him taken off guard by that question and nodded. She reached out to touch his cheek, her thumb slowly running under the changed teeth and he saw the mutual unconditional love. "Of course I do," she told him. Adam stared at her and nodded. What was happening to him?

End of Chapter One

Thank you for reading