Page 65 of Snow White

My brother searches my eyes for a moment before sighing. “Then go.”

“What?!” Belle hisses, my expression matching Belle’s words. He is letting me go? Into danger?!

The man twitches his head from side to side, his hands slowly becoming claws. “Decide, or I’ll lose control and kill you all.”

Just a bit intense.

Eric only snorts at his response. He strolls forward, wrapping his arm around Belle’s shoulder. “No, you won’t.”

Belle sighs. “Can Snow and I have a moment?”

The man doesn’t respond, though his breathing becomes more ragged, his body larger. Belle only rolls her eyes before taking my hand and pulling me away. I drop the ice walls just before we step outside.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

Belle sighs, looking around. “I just… I wanted to clear something with you.”

I frown, tilting my head.

“When you saw me with your brother. It’s not what you think,” she says.

She still blames herself for what happened to Azura and me. I frown. “Then what is it?”

Belle licks her lower lip. “He helped me out with a few things. I was having a moment, and he talked me through it.”

I search her eyes. Something is troubling her, and clearly, it’s something she doesn’t want to relive. I smile softly at her before pulling her into my arms. “I trust you.”

Belle lets out a soft breath. “You’re really going to go with him?”

“Yes. He is my only hope of finding her.”

She squeezes me tighter. “Then be careful, and you better come back.”

I pull away, smiling at her. “I will.”

The two of us make our way back into the stable. Eric is snickering, and I can see the man is just barely holding himself back from beating my brother into a pulp.

“I’m ready to go!” I say.

The man whirls on me, his body rippling and shifting into a massive black wolf with blood-red eyes. He lowers one shoulder just enough for me to climb on.

“Take care of Belle for me?” I ask my brother.

Eric smirks. “Always.”

The Beast snaps his jaws at my brother before launching out of the stables and into the forest.

Chapter Forty-One

Azura

The taste lingers in my mouth, coating my tongue and rolling my stomach. Each is a reminder of what I have done. I have used magical beings to power my magic before, their wings, eyes, tongues, and even hearts, but never have I consumed a Vessel’s heart. My nails dig into my palms as I leap over a fallen log, running deeper into the forest. Even as the trees move around me, the path is burned into my mind. They whisper and dance, trying to confuse and dissuade me from my destination. I blast the trees with my power, throwing them back when they try to block the path again, cinders and smoke curling from the leaves and trunks. I am normally not so careless. You don’t want to make an enemy in this forest, and the trees can be a terrible enemy. But right now, I don’t care.

I have to protect Snow.

The sound of discordant screeching grows louder the farther I run. The trees scratch and cut me, seeking revenge for their fallen brethren. I need to keep running. I can’t stop, don’t stop.

One good deed.

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