Page 64 of Cinder's Trial

“Ooh.” I couldn’t help but clap in excitement. I’d never gotten gifts growing up.

“Give me a second.” He left and returned carrying a box with holes.

Even before he pulled off the lid, I knew what to expect.

I still burst into tears as I snagged the little brown cub and hugged him close.

“This little guy was going to be shipped off to a zoo,” Levi explained. “Mama and papa bear had a run-in with a gun-toting Goldilocks.”

“He’s perfect,” I exclaimed, rubbing my nose against the cub’s.

“Thought he’d make you happy.” Levi looked smug.

“You make me happy,” my sappy reply.

He did. Where I’d once complained about Levi being a trial to deal with, I now saw how we complemented each other. I could only hope Belle would find the same happy ending to her story.

The day after the mock wedding, aboard Prince Killian’s private jet.

Belle smirked as she flopped into a ridiculously comfortable chair. “Now this is what I call traveling in style.”

“Perfect for our honeymoon,” Killian declared. “Although you’ll have to forgive me. I forgot to pack my lingerie.”

Her lips curved. The man did have a better sense of humor than she’d have expected from a royal. “I think you’d look dashing in a black lace teddy.”

At the back of the plane, Hannah coughed. She and Gerome would be accompanying Belle and Killian as they sought the origin of the Grimm Effect. It still surprised Belle that the prince agreed to come. After all, he’d technically just beaten his curse. Yet, when she’d told him about her idea to investigate the possible origin of the curse, he’d been gung ho.

Killian laughed. He did that often. “I’ll keep that in mind. Anything I can get you?”

“A prince serving a commoner?”

“A prince should always service his princess.”

And he meant it. She didn’t have to lift a finger. If her water got low, he replenished. He made sure the snack tray remained full, all the while providing witty banter.

Belle simply reclined and sighed. “This is the life.”

“Have you ever been married?” he asked out of the blue.

“Nope. Can’t. The curse isn’t happy I jilted the beast, and since then, any attempts at being amorous are met with a new beast.”

“Hold on. Are you saying you don’t even date?”

“Not anymore because a single kiss and, bam, suddenly I end up with a hairy jerk who wants to do the horizontal, bestial tango.”

“Yikes,” he replied, only to add, “We kissed, and I’m still me.”

She’d thought about it and came to a single conclusion. “Probably because you’re the prince of another story.”

“And the curse doesn’t like to double up.” He nodded. “This town we’re visiting… Anything I should know about it?”

“It’s not real interesting, other than the fact the first confirmed Grimm Effect case started there, although that wasn’t known for a decade due to poor record-keeping in the beginning. One Deborah Goodwin woke up and ghsindopliink—” Belle’s words suddenly emerged garbled as her mouth twisted violently and her jaw cracked. All of her torqued something odd.

And it hurt. Like really hurt! Not that she could scream. She went rigid and momentarily blind.

When the pain subsided, and she spoke, her voice emerged huskier than usual. “That was weird.”

“Um, Belle…”

“What?” she asked, eyeing him and wondering at his shocked mien.

“How to say this?” Rather than tell her, Killian held up his phone, and she wondered why until she spotted the monster reflected on the screen.

Wait, not just any monster.

The beast she could see with the furry face and mane?

That’s me.