Chapter Twenty Four

24.1

Adam tried his hardest to control his breathing. King. They were expecting for him to be the king. He didn't know how to argue against this but one thing he knew he wasn't was the rightful king. Maybe he could pose as a human but who knew who he truly was. Then there was the matter that the king had died. His father. Was he supposed to feel sad about this. In the dream he had been asked to take revenge against his father but was that revenge against an opposing army?

His eyes widened as he turned to Cogsworth, "How much have the people been told?" he asked. He closed his eyes with a deep exhale. "Has Antoine made his wishes known?" he asked. He had to get to his brother, stop him from abdicating from the throne. Maybe his brother was a jerk, maybe he wasn't the best or most moral person but he would be a far greater leader than Adam was.

"As far as the sources I have have informed me," Cogsworth replied, "Your brother is to give a speech at the beginning of next week."

"Then I need someone to find out where he is and hopefully bring him back to this castle. If that doesn't work then I will go to where he is," Adam looked at Juliet and smiled weakly. It was risky to leave the castle in this form and it was also risky to go to his brother and demonstrate his true form but he didn't have many other choices.

"And how are you feeling, Adam, my love," Mrs. Potts said as she reached out a hand to put on his upper arm. "You are allowed to grieve if you want to. This is your family. Yes, they are a royal family of figureheads but they are also a family that you were born into and had blood links to, you should give yourself enough time to take care of yourself."

Adam slowly nodded, "It hurts a little," he admitted, "because I was never worth much of anything to him but things need to be handled before they can slow down. I need to speak with my brother and sort this situation out." Adam was about to move again but found the former-teapot to wrap him in a motherly embrace.

"We're here. We'll send someone to find him immediately….if that's what you want," she tried to reassure him and Adam nodded. As scary as exposing himself was going to be, at least it might stop Antoine from stepping down from the throne. The country needed a king and not a king of beasts. If he were to rule this country as a beast (or a part-time beast) the country would fall into complete chaos.

"If he wants to keep me caged up for the rest of my life, let him do it for the good of the country and acting as king," Adam said before he looked over to where Juliet was sleeping. All he had wanted was to be her Papa but he couldn't see anyone feeling comforted by his paws or his smile or even the fact that he didn't appear to be a beast for all of his time.

He sighed and looked over to Belle, "I love you," he told her and Belle smiled at him.

"I love you more than I can explain," she said and he smiled to her. Maybe this would mean that he would be living in a cage and prodded with sticks but the country needed someone to lead them and he wasn't capable of doing that. He just really wanted to see his brother.

24.2

Belle looked over to Adam who was waiting for Antoine to arrive whilst in his beast form. He had been trying to not use any of his strength and to build it up for when he saw his brother. He knew that his brother had handed him over to the enchantress all those years ago but there might be some kindness in him. Maybe this would even lead to a deepening of their understanding of one another and their ties to brotherhood. Maybe.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked before the sound of horse hooves interrupted them. She placed a hand on Adam's shoulder. "Did you want me there with you?" she asked. Adam had already requested that Maurice spend the day with Juliet so that they would be kept away from whatever drama occurred between him and his brother.

"We'll have to just wait and see," Adam said with a weak smile before closing his eyes and turning into the princely human version of himself. He looked at his hands and turned back to check with Belle that he appeared okay following that transformation. He didn't want for his brother to know before they had at least discussed the death of the king, their father.

"Well," Adam heard a loud voice say, "I was summoned all of this way. Is Adam going to plead with me to honor him or that he have the golden candlesticks or something," he said as he took a look at Lumiere, not privy to the connection between his words and the man standing there.

"Antoine," Adam said with a slight bow. "How was your journey? Thank you for coming at only a day's notice," he said as Antonie stared at him.

"Adam, I know that we have not been brothers as so many have been but I do think that as our family is decreasing, the two of us should get to know more about one another. So," Antoine said as he looked Adam up and down with a judging expression. "I thought that you were sick. You haven't made a public appearance for quite some time and as the new king."

Adam looked at him with widened eyes and then gestured for Adam to follow him into the castle. He was still telling himself that this was a bad idea. His brother could get him locked up, chained up, he could order him to be executed, he could tell the whole country or the entire world about the prince who could change into a beast.

"I can't be the new king," Adam said as he looked at his brother.

"Because of your small and shrimpy body," Antoine asked as Belle looked between the two brothers and held onto Adam's hand. "I heard that I have a new niece but she hasn't even had a portrait of her yet, nobody knows any of her details. You are rather a secretive person."

Adam took a slow breath in before looking to Belle. "I wanted to spend a little more time before I revealed the reason to why I couldn't be king," Adam said and Antoine frowned

Staring at him as if he didn't understand what had just been said, Antoine opened his mouth and Adam let his guard down and transformed into the beast. Drawing back, Antoine's eyes widened and he felt that his body was ice cold, he kept shaking in fear and Adam moved backwards.

"I have no intentions of harming anyone," Adam said as Antoine opened his mouth but appeared too scared to say anything. Adam looked to Belle and then brought himself back to his human appearance. He felt a sting in his head from the quick transformation but it was necessary. "I think the same in either one of my forms but this is what is left from my curse. I know that you might have -"

"I…" Antoine whispered before shaking his head, "No…I never saw that. I don't think. Maybe. Maybe but if I had…I blocked it out…" he looked to Adam and froze. "You're a monster!?"

Adam shrugged, "Maybe I look like a monster sometimes but it's all a state of mind. I choose to not live in the mind of a monster and there are too many monsters in human form," he said and Antoine narrowed his gaze. "I know that I was the unloved son but did you ever receive as much love from Father as you wanted. I know you were Mother's favorite," he said and Antoine shook his head, he kept his back against the wall and was looking around for a weapon to defend himself with were Adam to transform again,

"It was only because of you that I didn't become tha-that," Antoine said before turning to Belle. He started to look at her as if something was wrong with her, after all she seemed completely unphased by that transformation and she had married him and had a daughter with him. She knew and she wasn't running away in terror.

"Yes," Adam nodded. "You offered me up as a replacement but I…I don't want to think about that. I can control this sometimes but not all the time. Can you even imagine how the people would scream were I to appear to them in that way."

Antoine coughed again before looking closer at Adam, "Let me see it once more?" he asked and Adam sighed and let the beast form come on. He tilted his head to look at his brother and Antoine moved forwards. "You are rather hideous," he said and Adam rolled his eyes. He had gotten used to that thought but he knew that with Belle at his side, his self-confidence always had a supporter.

"I still have my mind. I can still think. I can still be with my friends, my wife, my child. I can control it at times but I don't have mastery of it," Adam said and Antoine frowned.

"Do you believe that you will ever have mastery of it," he said as he then started touching Adam and patting him down as if investigating him for weapons. "You don't belong to any species that you've found? You're not some scientifically researched -"

"I am a man who was cursed," Adam said before seeing Antoine take a few steps back. "I am willing to offer you any aid that you might need in becoming king. I will do anything that I can. I just - we can't have the people look at me and get scared. We need to bring honor to our family name and people can't see honor when they see me like this."

Antoine sighed and then smelled the air, "At least you don't smell like a monster."

"Thank you," Adam sighed and Antoine eyed him.

"What do you eat?" he asked and Adam raised an eyebrow.

"Dinner. Regularly served dinner. I mean, with these paws I can't eat very well and I'm quite messy," he said and Antoine sighed as he looked to him. He folded his arms over his chest and then looked up with a sigh.

"Fine…" he said and Adam looked at him in surprise. "I'll be king since it seems that I have to be but just for one…no, two years," he said holding up two fingers in front of Adam. "And that's an order. You have two years to gain control over this curse. We'll see what happens then." Antoine stared at Adam very judgmentally but for one of the few times in his life, Adam could see that Antoine had a good side as well. Maybe his brother could become a good king now that he didn't have to impress anyone or live up to anyone's expectations of him.

"Two years," Adam said before nodded in agreement.

"Now I want to shake my brother's hand," Antoine said, "It's rather unkind of you for forcing me to see you this way," he said and Adam nodded, transforming back into the prince and Belle had to admit that the two of them did have many similarities. Antoine had a sharper bone structure and nobody could match up to Adam in how attractive he was.

"So," Antoine sighed. "Now that I'm keeping this secret, explain something to me, how are you still that way when I thought that the curse was broken. We've seen you in high society with the balls and the big events and -"

"That man, Gaston died on the night my curse was broken. He came back to life and for some reason it affected me but I've found my peace with it and I -"

"That man…." Antoine flinched. "He is one of the few reasons I am even agreeing to rule over this land. He killed them both and I am sure I can find the evidence," he said and Adam paused. Antoine had seemed in love with Gaston when they had seen them together. "Well, if I have to go live in the palace then so do you," he said and Adam stared at him.

"You just saw what I look like, right?" he asked and Antoine shrugged.

"So what, everyone looks bad in the morning."

End of Chapter Twenty Four

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty Three

DarthLeia19, KathyMesser,