Beast in Shining Armor (A Kinda Fairy Tale)

by Cassandra Gannon

  Beast

  In

  Shining Armor

  A Kinda Fairytale

  Cassandra Gannon

  Text copyright © 2013 Cassandra Gannon

  Cover Image copyright © 2013 Cassandra Gannon

  All Rights Reserved

  Published by Star Turtle Publishing

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  Also by Cassandra Gannon

  The Elemental Phases Series

  Warrior from the Shadowland

  Guardian of the Earth House

  Exile in the Water Kingdom

  Treasure of the Fire Kingdom

  Queen of the Magnetland

  Coming Soon: Magic of the Wood House

  A Kinda Fairy Tale

  Wicked Ugly Bad

  Beast in Shining Armor

  Other Books

  Not Another Vampire Book

  Love in the Time of Zombies

  If you enjoy Cassandra’s books, you may also enjoy books by her sister, Elizabeth Gannon

  Consortium of Chaos Series

  Yesterday’s Heroes

  The Son of Sun and Sand

  The Guy Your Friends Warned You About

  Electrical Hazard

  Coming Soon: The Only Fish in the Sea

  Other Books

  The Snow Queen

  For Daddy

  Who barely winced at all when I dropped out of law school to write romance novels.

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Once Upon a Time…

  When Avenant was born, the Northlands wept.

  His mother was inconsolable, sealing herself in her room and refusing to see the child who’d just ruined her life. The court doctors spoke in hushed tones, terrified that they would be blamed for this disaster. The citizens, sensing the gloom that had settled over the palace, postponed their celebrations and peered through their drapes, waiting for news. As a thick snow fell over the landscape, the kingdom was engulfed in despair.

  The heir they had longed for was Bad.

  His father took it the hardest. Prince Vincent told the servants to take the boy into the wilderness and leave him to the elements. Forty generations of the royal family wouldn’t be tainted with a beast. Some unworthy, unlovable mistake of nature. It would humiliate the prince to claim a dirty animal as his own.

  While the staff quickly prepared to erase all trace of the child, the infant was left alone in an unused laundry closet. His unanswered cries echoed off the walls of small room. A royal nursery had been prepared for the long awaited prince, but no one wanted to sully it with this monster. One day there would be a worthy heir. Someone Good and noble to wear the crown. The carefully furnished bedroom, filled with toys and books, would wait for him.

  Except that boy would never come to claim it.

  In the cruelest twist yet, the princess began to bleed heavily in the hours after the birth. Surgeons saved her life, but the cost was enormous. There would be no more royal children. If Prince Vincent’s line was to remain unbroken, the Beast was his only hope.

  Weeping at the injustice, the staff wheeled the baby into the throne room. Prince Vincent was waiting there, a man defeated. He couldn’t bear to look at the monster who’d been born in place of his son. Instead, he stared at the pictures of his ancestors on the snow-colored wall and debated his options.

  Everything in the palace was decorated in the cold blues and whites of the Northlands. The castle was a reflection of the wintery kingdom, with no bright colors to draw the eyes. No warmth to distract people from their duties. The temperature inside was precisely calculated to chill the air and inspire activity, without causing needless hypodermic deaths.

  Through the power magic, the gigantic Icen Throne stayed forever frozen, though. Even inside the palace, the frosty surface remained hard and unyielding. According to legend, the throne of the Northlands would never melt, so long as their royal line remained strong.

  Prince Vincent sat down on it, as if to assure himself that it hadn’t turned back into a puddle of water. “Is there any possibility that we’re wrong about… it?” He asked, waving a disgusted hand towards the basinet. “Perhaps, it merely looks Bad. Perhaps it’s Good underneath and we can perform some spell to make it physically presentable.”

  “I’m sorry, sire.” The head wizard shook his head, hating that he had to crush Vincent’s final hope. “The boy is Bad all the way through. All the tests confirm it.”

  Vincent sighed, having already known the answer. “We’ll have to go through with the plan to execute it, then. Better to have no son at all, than that thing. I would be the laughingstock of the Four Kingdoms if anyone saw it.”

  The Four Kingdoms was made up of the Northlands, Southlands, Eastlands and Westlands. There were other lands beyond the borders of each, but they were nothing compared to the glory of these realms. Everyone in the Four Kingdoms agreed on that. And of the four, the Northlands was the most forbidding. Their frigid strength inspired fear and awe. No misshapen child would threaten that powerful reputation. He would have to die.

  Pride demanded it.

  “There is one thing you need to see before you get rid of him, sire.” An elven nursemaid piped up.

  Vincent’s jaw ticked. It annoyed him whenever servants spoke. “What do I need to see?” He mocked. “What could you possibly know that I don’t?”

  The woman looked down, intimidated by his scathing tone. “The prince no longer looks like a beast.” She murmured. “He looks… normal.”

  Vincent’s eyebrows drew together. He stalked over to glower down at the child, the counsel of wizards clustering around him.

  The uppity nursemaid was right. The baby appeared normal. A soft down of blond hair covered his head, his body soft and pink. His eyes no longer glowed that horrible electric blue. Instead, they blinked up at Vincent in the same icy hue that he saw in the mirror every morning. Obviously, something wicked was afoot, but there was no denying that it was improvement over the way he’d looked before.

  Vincent glared over at the wizards for an explanation. “Well?”

  The head wizard cleared his throat, thinking things over. “It could be that the Beast is,” he made a vague gesture with one hand, “merely a part of the prince. The boy might be able to suppress it and appear normal.” He hesitated. “He’s still wholly Bad, of course. But, the physical manifestations of the…”

  Vincent cut him off. “He can hold the Beast back? That’s what you’re saying?”

  “So it would seem, sire. That doesn’t change the legal ramifications, though. A Bad folk cannot inherit the crown.”
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  Good folk were the only people who mattered. The only ones who were protected under the law. Bad folk were abominations. Genetically inferior and universally evil, they had to be kept in check for fear of their villainy spreading. They were fit for mindless physical tasks like cleaning stables or digging a wishing well, but they couldn’t be a prince. A prince needed to be Good. He needed to be important.

  The wizard gave his head a sad shake. “The Icen Throne will have to pass to your cousin’s son Lancelot.”

  Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “That little turd? The boy is five and still in diapers. You think I’d hand over my kingdom to a moron like him?”

  “There isn’t a choice, sire.”

  “There’s always a choice when you’re a prince!” Vincent scowled at the baby who’d caused him all this trouble. As long as it didn’t look like a monster, he might be able to make do with this freak. What else could he do? Let his cousin’s boy steal the Northlands? Let the royal line break? Let himself be humiliated?

  Let someone else win?

  The thought of this hated creature carrying on his legacy was abhorrent, but not as abhorrent as losing. Vincent would never surrender and he’d teach his beast of a son to do the same. Fuck the law. No one would steal the Icen Throne from him. Vincent was a prince. He could do whatever he wanted. He’d train his son to hold onto the kingdom through force and guile. The boy was Bad, after all. It was in his makeup to be a villain. Why not use his twisted DNA to the family’s advantage? Maybe the boy could learn to control the Beast. Maybe he could use it to increase the family’s power. If the little monster was here, it might as well make itself useful.

  Vincent gave a cold smile. “Put it in the nursery.” He decided and looked over at the nursemaid. “I don’t think I’ll kill it today.”

  Chapter One

  Do you think a beast has to be ugly?

  We citizens of the Northlands certainly know better and that’s why we’re here today.

  Our prince is as handsome as any knight in shining armor.

  …But he has the heart of a monster.

  Opening Statement for the Prosecution- The People of the Northlands v. Prince Avenant

  Scarlett Riding-Wolf could talk smart people into doing dumb things.

  It was the main reason that Avenant, rightful Prince of the Northlands, had hired her to be his lawyer.

  Well, “lawyer” was perhaps the wrong word, as Letty wasn’t technically an attorney. She was a do-Gooding ugly stepsister who’d taken over the Enchanted Forest and was busily making it into a fifth kingdom for the world’s outcasts. And “hire” was perhaps the wrong word, too, as he certainly wasn’t going to pay Letty. They were supposed to be “friends,” after all.

  But, Avenant knew if anyone could help him reclaim the Icen Throne it was that pushy redhead. He’d been there when Scarlett masterminded a prison break, and convinced most of the Four Kingdoms to begin granting Bad folk the same rights as Good, and overthrew that bitch Cinderella.

  If Letty could do all that, surely she convince one little tribunal of wizards that Avenant wasn’t a beast.

  A trial had taken his crown away and a trial would get it back. Eight months before, Avenant had been arrested for crimes against his people, deposed as their prince, and incarcerated in the Wicked, Ugly and Bad Mental Health Treatment Center and Maximum Security Prison. He’d been humiliated in the WUB Club. Locked-up by peasants and fools. Half-starved with their rancid food. Forced into group therapy. It had been a waking nightmare.

  But he’d never surrendered.

  Not even for a second.

  He’d always known that this day would come. The day when he took everything back again. The day when he resumed his rightful place on the throne. The day when he won. Today, the moronic judges in front of him would rule in his favor.

  It was inevitable.

  To aid the cause, Avenant did his best to look as innocuous as possible. He folded his hands on the desk and tried to radiate Good intentions. Which was difficult, considering he planned to make this whole kingdom pay for what they’d done to him, but what better place than a courtroom for theatrics and lies?

  He even managed a smile.

  Letty paced back and forth in front of the judges. “All we’re asking for is justice. We haven’t come here for war or fighting. All we want is for you to see the truth.” She gestured towards Avenant. “Prince Avenant had his kingdom stolen from him. His enemies wanted to claim the Northlands as their own and were willing to exploit every loophole to do it. He was deposed because he was born Bad. That’s the only reason. But, if you would just look passed your prejudice to see the need for change…”

  “That’s not the only reason!” Honorary Princess Rosabella Aria Ashman was on her feet again, looking furious. “He’s a tyrant! Why do you think we call him the Beast of the Northlands? He terrifies the entire kingdom.”

  Belle was kidding herself if she thought he’d earned the nickname because of his administrative techniques. She had never seen the real Beast. Few people had, although most of them sensed the darkness lurking inside of him. All his life, Avenant had worked to control the monster. He had a wall in his mind, keeping it contained. But, it was getting harder and harder to hold it at bay. The Beast was breaking free. He could feel it stirring inside his mind, wanting to emerge.

  And its biggest trigger was Belle. Whenever Avenant looked at her, he could feel two sets of eyes focusing.

  Wanting.

  “He embezzled a mountain of gold from the royal treasury.” Belle continued. “That’s why we finally overthrew him and that’s why he was sent to prison. Where he would still be if he hadn’t escaped, which was also a crime! It all came out at the first trial!” She waved a hand at the judges. “How can you listen to this garbage?”

  Avenant’s mouth curved as the head wizard banged his gavel for silence. Belle’s lawyer tried to keep her seated and quiet, but the woman was too furious to listen. Her outbursts were irritating the judges and only helping Avenant’s cause. Belle was passionate. She always had been. But, ice cold logic would rule the day. Avenant would rule the day.

  They could both feel it coming.

  In any contest, momentum built as one side pulled into the lead. Avenant knew victory was swinging his way. So did Belle. After so many years of competition, the two of them could read the signs. Whether it was over first place at the middle school science fair or for the crown of the Northlands, Belle and Avenant had been locked in a never-ending war for supremacy since childhood. She was his greatest opponent and she’d thought her last victory had been their final battle. That he’d finally been defeated.

  She’d been so wrong. He would never stay away from what was his, even if it meant enduring this farce of a trial.

  Avenant sent her a bland look.

  Belle glowered back like she wanted to incinerate him with the force of her temper. On the surface, she looked like the straight A student she’d always been. The interesting little oddball who held charity poetry readings at her cluttered bookstore. The Good girl who did her best to stay far, far away from the Beast. But underneath the conservative yellow suit and the conservative cut of her dark hair and the conservative make-up on her beautiful face… the woman could be a raging bitch.

  That was so damn appealing.

  “You’re trying to twist this all around, as usual.” Belle's brown eyes blazed at him. “When your parents died, you seized the throne even though you weren’t Good and it was illegal for you to rule. Did I try to overthrow you, then? No. It wasn’t until later that I rebelled and you know it.” She jabbed a finger at him. “So, you being locked-up had nothing to do with you being Bad. It had to do with you stealing from our kingdom, you ass!”

  Avenant knew she’d see the smirk that he kept hidden from the others. Knew it would just make her angrier. Avenant knew Belle better than anyone.

  Or so he’d once thought.

  “Your honors, this blatant antagonism is exactly what I wa
s talking about.” Letty put in. “Prince Avenant never received a fair trial for his alleged crimes, because all the evidence was collected and presented by the very people who wanted to steal the Icen Throne. All the financial records of this so-called ‘embezzlement’ are tainted by the greed and self-interest of Rosabella Aria Ashman and her group of extremist friends. Prince Avenant was deposed thanks to the lies of that woman,” she pointed at Belle, “who has fanatically persecuted my poor client for years.”

  Belle gasped in outrage. “That’s not true!” She looked over at Avenant like she expected him to suddenly switch sides and back her up. “You know I didn’t lie about any of that. I’m not the liar here.”

  Avenant’s jaw ticked.

  “He was officially pardoned by Prince Charming of the Westlands.” Letty pressed on. “He’d be welcomed in the Enchanted Forest, if he wished to stay there. Instead, he’s risked everything to come back here. This is his home.” She moved towards the long bench, her expression open and persuasive. “This tribunal was called to determine the true ruler of the Northlands in a peaceful and fair way. In fact, it was Prince Avenant’s idea to convene you here and he is committed to respecting your decision.”

  Avenant nodded as if he actually recognized the authority of these morons to determine his fate. He didn’t. In fact, amusing as it was to watch Belle fume, he was regretting this whole silly misadventure. It made him look weak to just sit here, when he could be freezing these insipid wizards into ice and claiming what was his through open war. There was a reason he’d banned all lawyers from his lands before he’d been overthrown.

  Letty had been the one who’d championed the use of legal strategies to reclaim the Northlands. The woman was so depressingly Good. Avenant had been willing to go along with her plan, though, because it offered something a battlefield couldn’t. If he won this trial, he would actually see Belle’s face when he took back his throne. He’d be in the room with her when she realized she’d lost. That possibility seemed worth all the extra paperwork.