Page 30 of The Beauty and His Beast

“Speak,” Everild commanded, his voice taut with barely contained frustration.

Gibson’s gaze flickered briefly to their unmade bed and Camdyn’s untouched breakfast before he spoke. “I’ve heard some things. About my brother’s marriage. I needed to see if the rumors were true.”

“What rumors?” Everild demanded, his temper flaring.

Gibson’s eyes narrowed as he fixated on the uneaten meal. “Did you force him to lay with you? Or did he refuse you? Is that why you beat him? Why was he crying before we arrived?”

The words hit Everild like a physical blow. His heart pounded with fury. “You’ve got a lot of nerve to say that to me,” he growled, his voice laced with venom. “You think I’d hurt Camdyn? You think I’d hurt my husband?”

Gibson scoffed, his voice dripping with disdain. “Cainech said the doctor told her his side was purple.”

Cainech? That maid? What could she possibly know about his marriage? Everild seethed. “He fell from his horse. That monster you call a father should’ve told you that.”

“Our father knows nothing of what’s going on in his own son’s marriage,” Gibson spat, “since you banned him from the premises and refuse to answer his letters!”

This was too much. Everild’s anger boiled over. “You charge me with abuse,” he roared, his voice thick with outrage, “when that man humiliated my husband, hurt him. If you take his side, then you’re as unwelcome as he is.”

Gibson retaliated, his voice rising in fury. “You’d isolate Camdyn from his family?”

Everild barked out a bitter, joyless laugh. “What family he had is back at the monastery. You’re just the people who sold him for your own gain.”

There was a sudden clamor outside the door, but neither man seemed to care. Gibson’s jaw clenched in frustration. “You don’t know what you speak of. You think we wanted him married off? That I wanted my baby brother bound to you for the rest of his days? To the Beast? Nothing but a killer, a savage. It makes me sick to think my brother left a life of God to be the plaything of an animal.”

The venom in his words hit Everild like a punch to the gut. He stared at him, shocked, not just because of the words Gibson had spoken, but because his brother-in-law had so casually verbalized a fear that haunted Everild in his darkest moments. The thought of himself as a monster, as something less than human, was one that never strayed too far from his mind. But never—never had he heard it voiced so openly.

“I’ve never hurt him,” Everild rasped, his eyes filling with unshed tears. “I would never. I’d die first.”

Before Gibson could respond, the door burst open, slamming against the wall with a loud bang, rattling the hinges. Aldaay rushed in, hand in hand with Camdyn, barefoot and disheveled, followed closely by a frazzled Kenelm whose face bore scratches and whose hair was in disarray, and two bewildered guards who looked as though they had no idea what they were walking into.

Aldaay spoke first, his voice a mixture of confusion and urgency. “Everild, I didn’t know they were here—I had no idea at all—”

Kenelm looked at Gibson with an apologetic expression. “I told Camdyn to get ready, Gibson, but he just clawed at me and ran.”

Their words were like oil thrown over a fire. Everild’s tears rolled down his face, and a surge of pure, unadulterated rage exploded from deep within him as the realization hit him with the force of a thunderclap. “This was all a ruse,” he snarled,his vision blurring with red. “You were planning to kidnap my husband.”

Gibson sneered, his voice low and venomous. “Be easier to take care of all this now, rather than when you’re king.”

The words hit like a punch to the chest. “What?” Camdyn’s voice was filled with confusion. “King—Everild, what’s he talking about—Everild!” He screamed as Gibson, knife in hand, advanced on Everild.

One of the guards reacted swiftly, grabbing both Aldaay and Camdyn and pulling them out of harm’s way, while the other lunged for Gibson.

Despite the rage and desperation in Gibson’s movements, he was no match for Everild. Gibson’s swing was too wide, too slow, and Everild easily dodged it, grabbing his wrist in a vice-like grip. With a sharp yank, he heard a satisfying snap as Gibson’s wrist broke. The knife clattered to the floor, but Everild wasn’t done. He shoved his brother-in-law to the ground, handed the knife to the guard, and wrapped his arms around his trembling husband.

Camdyn clung to him, fingers tightening on the fabric of Everild’s tunic, positioning himself as a shield between Everild and both his brothers—one groaning in pain on the floor and the other held immobile by the guards.

Camdyn’s voice quivered with a mix of fear and disbelief. “You tried to—I can’t believe the two of you would—how dare you. How dare both of you. Everild’s never hurt me, never. That’s more than I can say for father.” Camdyn turned his gaze, full of fury, on Gibson. “And you don’t know anything about me, about my marriage. You need to stop treating me like a child you need to mind. It’s been seventeen years. You’re my blood, but—you’re not my family anymore. None of you have been for a long, long time. But Everild is.”

The words struck Gibson like a physical blow, leaving him visibly stricken. Camdyn continued, his voice a firm declaration. “I’m not the baby you used to hold, or throw into the air and catch. I’m a grown man. If I was ever in trouble and in need, I’d ask you myself. You can’t just make decisions for me, try to control my life. That’s what father did. What he’s still trying to do. Everild’s the only one who’s ever asked what I wanted, and I want him. If—if you’d hurt my husband, I would’ve never forgiven you.”

Kenelm mumbled weakly, “Camdyn, we only thought—”

“I know what you thought, but you were wrong. And—and I’d like you to leave,” Camdyn interjected firmly.

“I’m sorry, Camdyn,” Gibson said, his voice barely above a whisper.

Camdyn’s tone was sharp and unwavering. “Don’t apologize to me. It’s Everild you threatened. It’s his character you insulted.” When both men dropped their gazes to the floor, Camdyn turned to the guards, his voice still strong. “Have Edwin attend to my brother’s wrist and then see both of them out, please.”

Aldaay spoke, his voice soft but filled with resolve. “I’ll accompany them as well. I need to know how they got so far into the castle without my knowing.”

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