* [This scene contains content some might find upsetting. Please check the post/chapter titled Episode Six: “Monsters” Content Warning List and Pronunciation Guide for a list of content warnings.]
[This scene also has a plot summary at the end for those who need to skip this scene but still want to know the important plot points of it. Happy (and safe) reading!]
Belle felt bad that she hadn’t gotten the chance to see Z before heading back to Broken Earth, but Lady Belle didn’t. She was in survival mode, and she’d already spent too much of her attention the past few days on other people’s problems.
Queen Arantxa was finally back home in Broken Earth, and soon Richard and Belle would be also. Belle could feel the moving parts of Aran’s plans even if she couldn’t fathom their outcome—the Coyote, captured and controlled for some unclear but cruel purpose, and her decision to reveal it to Richard. Eten Jouet’s marriage to an Axtenian Princess. The Colonel’s investigation in Luvatha, and whatever he and Aran must be planning next in their quest to hunt down Daivad, now that Kure Ubika was dead and eaten.
And of course, above all of that, there was the fact that while Belle played bride with Richard and tried to convince herself she had even the littlest bit of control over what happened in this fucking queendom, Mama B was rotting oh so slowly in an Elleipsium dungeon under the castle.
It was enough to send her into a panic attack ten times over, even without worrying about what was happening to Z and whether or not it was Belle’s fault, or the monster stalking the village in Silvax Forest, or the fact that Daivad had sounded so obviously exhausted and furious in his message, much as he tried to hide it.
Lady Belle had had to ruthlessly pare down what she was allowed to spend her precious little mental energy on, because otherwise her head would explode with enough violence to paint anyone near her in brain matter.
The priority always had been and always would be Mama B. How was she going to get Mama B free? With Daivad’s help (she did not let herself even consider the fact that he had yet to actually agree to this). If she wanted Daivad’s help, he had to be alive, and also not being actively hunted down by the queen or the Colonel or anyone else. That meant Belle needed to know what the queen was planning. And the one person she could use to learn that information was sitting across from her in this train compartment.
“It means she trusts you,” Lady Belle was saying. “All those chores you’ve been doing for her, the way you led Broken Earth in her absence—she’s finally giving you the trust you’ve earned. Why else would she reveal that beast to you?”
Richard was stretched out along his cushioned bench, his back propped against the wooden paneling of the wall. With his slightly unkempt bronze hair, his boots off to reveal the hole in the toe of one of his stockings, and the fact that his brow was slightly furrowed as he carefully peeled an orange, he looked so much like a person. Just a man.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“You think she’s kept her eyes shut to my performance on the Full Dry Moon?” he asked.
Belle shrugged. “Maybe she sees it the way you do. The way I do. An illustration of your power. The power of Order, so pure it blew that rebel off this Broken Earth.”
He smirked, his magic blooming as he tossed bits of orange peel onto the floor of the compartment.
“I’ll tell her myself when we see her,” Belle continued. “How you shook the whole mountain. How Iabelia wept at your offering.”
Still smirking, Richard tugged her over with a finger, and she rose obediently, stepping around bits of orange peel. He faced forward, letting his feet drop to the floor, and drew her down to straddle him. His burning magic and the scent of oranges clogged her throat.
He pulled loose an orange slice and she let him push it between her lips. When she sank her teeth into its flesh, it tasted like sweet ash.
“You think she trusts me enough to let me marry you?” he asked, biting into his own orange slice.
“I’d still name her hatred of me greater than her trust in you—for now.” Belle gave a soft laugh, then leaned in to kiss his nose. “But I do think she trusts you enough to deal with your little brother.”
His eyes snapped up to hers and she felt him go rigid beneath her. It was always dangerous to mention Daivad around Richard, but Lady Belle kept all fear carefully tucked away. She didn’t let it give her pause. This had to be done.
“Z failed. Ubika is dead. And no one knows him like you do. You’ve proved you’re stronger. You’ve earned that throne. It’s time for you to claim it.”
He slid a hand up to grip her throat with sticky, fragrant fingers. Belle didn’t so much as blink. But she did grip his wrist and give it an affectionate squeeze.
“Demand that she let you help hunt him down.”
His magic swirled, burning her eyes. His grip on her throat tightened. He said, “Ma doesn’t do well taking demands.”
“But you do so well giving them.”
Like flame eating across paper, a smile spread across his face. She leaned in and let him kiss her hard. His fingers squeezed her neck tight enough that vertigo swept her for a moment.
When he broke away, he said, “I love you,” and she knew he thought it was the truth. “I’ll kill that fucking bastardbeast, and then Ma will have no choice but to bless our wedding.”
Lady Belle put on a grin, hoping that she hadn’t just made the second greatest mistake of her life.
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SCENE SUMMARY FOR THOSE WHO NEEDED TO SKIP THE SCENE:
On the train back to Broken Earth, Belle and Richard discussed what they had learned at the mines, and Belle decided that the only way to ensure Daivad was alive to help her free Mama B was to get Richard involved in the hunt for Daivad so she would have direct access to their plans to go after him. She told Richard that it was time for him to demand that Aran let him join the hunt, and just had to hope it wasn’t a huge mistake.