Bestian looks thoughtful. “This is true. I have long suspected that there might be Omegas in my kingdom but if there are, they are hiding.”
Like Ma, I realize.
“Tell me what you want, Rose.”
Here we go. It’s bargaining time. I had hoped it would come to this. “I will accept my role as your queen in exchange for one thing.” I take a deep breath. “You will give Ma immunity for anything that she has ever done—or will do. You will never punish her. She will be pardoned officially, if necessary.”
“Done.” Bestian leans forward and props his elbows on the table. “In exchange, you will remain at my side. You will be my queen.” He shifts, letting his gaze trail down my body as his voice deepens. “And you will bear my heirs.”
There’s a rush of liquid heat between my legs. Good grief, am I this affected by him just looking at me? I swallow. What have I gotten myself into?
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” Bestian demands.
“I’m processing. It’s true, we are compatible—at least physically.” I clear my throat. “But I barely know you.”
“That is easily dealt with. Ask me anything, and I'll answer.”
I steel myself. “What happened to your face? Why do you wear the mask?”
“I wear it so you can look on me without disgust, my little moonflower.”
I’d never do that,I want to say. But I hold my tongue.
“While my parents ruled, the kingdom was prosperous and untouched by the Red Death. I was a young prince with everything to live for. Then the curse hit. A mysterious and terrible illness swept across Medela, leaving loss and destruction in its wake. Few were spared.”
I wait, silently, for him to continue.
“We all worked together to find a cure, reaching out across all of Ulfaria for help. Many of the kings and their representatives sent potential remedies. The Demon King sent us a bottle of tablets. The advisors of our neighboring kingdom Arboron found an ancient scroll listing cures for various ailments and had it delivered to me.” He pauses and takes a breath. “The Stone King also sent a potion. My father warned me of his treachery, said not to trust him, but I was a fool. I had so much pride. I was on a quest to cure the curse, and nothing would stop me. I wanted to be an ulfdamn hero.”
My fingers are clenched around the stem of the goblet. I force my hand to relax. “What happened next?” I say gently, when Bestian seems unwilling to continue.
He lets out a sigh. “I unsealed the Stone King’s potion without protective measures. It released a poison gas which turned to acid, seeping into my pores. This was the result.” He indicates the mask hiding most of his face. If I look closely at his uncovered skin, I can pick out a few scars where the acid bit into him.
“Why would the Stone King do that?” I ask. “Just sheer malice?”
“He was desperate for an Omega of his own, and happened to covet my mother, in particular.” Bestian’s voice is thick with rage. “He wanted to kill my father so he could take my mother as his—but he also wanted my father to suffer. He messed up, however. For one, I opened the bottle, not my father. And for another, the poison gas was slow-acting. Instead of killing me immediately, it gradually ate at my skin and spread through my body. Movement got increasingly difficult as I slowly turned into a living statue. The pain was indescribable. There was no doubt I was dying. Soon, the poison would reach my heart and make it stop.”
My eyes have filled with tears but I blink them back. I want him to keep talking.
“Thewhispssaved me. I was alone in my lab, but they surrounded me, dosed me with a tincture, and put me into a coma.”
Bestian’s voice trails off. He stares into the distance, lost in memory.
“But you survived,” I say, my voice breaking with emotion. “You’re still here.”
“I didn’t know what had happened until my father woke me. He had especially waited a few days until I was more stable but when I opened my eyes, and saw him… I was in so much pain, so furious with myself for being so foolish, I took my anger out on him. I raged at him—I roared in his face, telling him to leave. I did not act like a prince. I was a beast.” There’s so much shame in his voice. He stops and takes a ragged breath. “Only later did I learn why he’d woken me. He’d come to say goodbye.”
“He was sick too?” My heart aches for the tortured king sitting opposite me.
Bestian gives a single nod. He’s still staring into the distance, his eyes glazed.
“You didn’t know,” I remind him.
“But I should have. The Red Death was spreading, killing all in its wake. It didn’t discriminate between Alpha or Beta, rich or poor. I managed to survive but I’d failed to save my parents. To find a cure. I’d failed everyone.”
“I thought you found the cure? What was the potion you sent to Ma and all the others?”
Bestian heaves a sigh. “It’s an effective medicine, one of the treatments listed on the scroll Arboron sent us. It’s what ultimately stopped the poison from reaching my heart. But it’s not a cure. There is no cure, only a counter spell. Which is what my father used to stop the Red Death.”
