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“I’m saying Alisdair never ripped out his heart. His heart never had anything to do with this, because it’s been here the whole time.” I paused only briefly, resting my hand on his scar. “It’s there, but it’s not beating. The body is just a vessel.”Bang! Bang!“For the soul.”
“Wait, wait,” someone cried. It sounded like Shadi. “I don’t get this. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does make sense. Constance was a soul eater, and her soul never stopped. The final stage of the beast curse isn’t turning into an animal. It’s losing your soul. Alisdair ripped out his and protected it, so that he could never reach that stage,” I said. “Over the centuries, the beast curse has ravaged and maimed him beyond recognition, but he retained his mind. He protected his true self. And he never stopped waiting for the sun to return.”
“But how... do you know all of this?” Foalan swayed on his feet.
“I know because Alisdair told me.”
Scoff.“Make sense, girl!” another voice put in. “You just said if he told you, then it’s not truth, because he can’t speak of his affliction.”
“What he did to Constance isn’t the affliction,” I snapped. “It’s what she did to him that is. You can exploit the rules of a curse if you’re clever, like telling a princess the names of your family, so you hold onto them just long enough.”
Whispers broke out behind me. They didn’t understand that last comment, and they didn’t need to.
“Alisdair could tell me about a horrible woman and the misery she spread everywhere she went. But he couldn’t tell me that misery took his soul, and turned him into a beast. Even so, he gave me the final piece of the puzzle, hoping my slow witswould put it together. Argh!” I belted, hitting the stone harder. “How the curse came to be, and how to break it.”
“Do you know how to break it!” a voice shouted.
“Of course, I do.”
Alisdair’s lips moved. I couldn’t hear him over the clamoring, but I thought he whispered,I love you.
“Well, it’d be more honest to say your soul gave me the final pieces. Hanging off my wrist, it beat that deceptive heartbeat in my ear when I thought fondly of you, pondered you, lusted after you, and loved you.” I laughed softly. “All the while, it was banging the truth into my head.
“If hatred ripped out your soul and turned you into a beast”—I cracked the jewel in half—“then only love could give it back. And I do, Alisdair.” Gathering the broken black diamond, I blew on it—sending all of my love with it.
“I love you too.”
Glowing, golden wispy tendrils rose from the jewel that wasn’t a jewel—enveloping his fur-matted limbs, curved fangs, black snout, and long, fuzzy ears.
His eyes snapped open.
“Alisdair? Alisdair!
He shot into the air, toppling the throne and hovering above it. The glow swirled around him—faster and faster. Glowing brighter and brighter.
I reached for him, then clapped my hands over my eyes—crying out.Too bright!
Alisdair burned as bright as the sun itself. He was the sun itself.
Warm and protecting. Harsh and steadfast. The same sun that nourished the flowers in the meadow, scorched the desert soil. He was maddening like long, summer days that beat on your neck while you wished for clouds and rain. He was brilliantlike those same summer days—spent laughing and splashing in the river with your siblings.
Like the sun, his soul was always there, always protecting me, always guiding me, always loving me. Even if some days, the clouds came between us. Alisdair never left me.
“Little bird.” He kissed me, trapping my gasp.
And he never would.
Hot, fiery, and passionate—our tongues tangled, battled, and curled around the other, no part of us ever wanting to let go. I moaned, throwing my arms around him. Alisdair, Alisdair, Alisdair! He was finally mine.
We broke apart, grinning into each other’s eyes. Our real eyes.
The real him.
“No horns,” I whispered. “No claws. No fangs. I did it.”
My love was whole and handsome. He once told me I would’ve fainted if I saw him as he was, and Meya, take me, I swayed on my feet—stunned not by the beauty of his perfectly sculpted face, but the way his true and genuine smile transformed it.
