I blinked in surprise. “Your Majesty?”
“This forest, Durand, our two kingdoms have been separate for too long,” the king continued. “Perhaps it’s time for new bonds, new ways of thinking.” His gaze settled on Alain with unmistakable pride. “You’ve won the competition, my son. Not in the way I expected, but you’ve proven yourself worthy of the crown, and of forging your own path.”
Alain shook his head, a small smile playing at his lips. “I didn’t kill the witch, Father. If anyone won, it was Isabeau.”
“You killed something darker,” his father corrected, glancing toward where Gaspard’s body still lay, now covered with a cloak. “Something that had infiltrated our court, corrupted our people. That victory is worth more than any beast’s head.”
Before any of us could respond, movement at the forest’s edge caught our attention. The magnificent stag that had led the magical creatures into battle was approaching, antlers glowing with ethereal blue fire. But with each step, the stag’s form shifted, blurred, transforming until it was no longer a beast but a man.
No, not just a man. This was something more.
He towered over even Marcel, his frame massive and perfectly proportioned. Golden hair cascaded to his shoulders, seeming to capture and amplify the sunlight. His face was too beautiful to be human, too perfect in its symmetry, with eyes like twin suns that burned with ancient power.
A god walked among us.
The crowd fell silent, every eye drawn to this impossible being. Even the kings stepped back, instinctively making way as he approached our small group.
I felt it then, in the light breeze, the warmth of the new sun. His name played within both.
“Apollo,” I breathed, the name coming to me as if whispered by the forest itself.
He smiled, and it was like watching dawn break across the horizon. “Niece,” he acknowledged, his voice resonating with power that made the very air vibrate. “You’ve done what I could not. Broken the curse that bound us all.”
“You were the stag,” I said, understanding dawning. “All this time.”
“For two decades, I’ve waited,” he confirmed. “Trapped in that form by the same curse that bound these princes to their beast shapes. Waiting for you to come into your power. Waiting for my sister’s daughter to fulfill the prophecy she set in motion.”
“My mother,” I whispered, a thousand questions crowding my throat, but one of hope. “Where is she? Is she truly gone?”
Apollo’s expression softened, sorrow like ancient mountains in his eyes. “Artemis sacrificed much to create the loophole in our sister, Enid’s curse. But I don’t believe she’s completely gone. Just... elsewhere. Trapped, perhaps, as these others were trapped.”
“Can I help find her?” I asked, hope flaring in my chest. “Now that I know what I am, what I can do—”
“You’ve done enough,” Apollo interrupted gently. “For now, enjoy what you’ve earned. A home. A family.” His gaze swept over my four mates with something like amusement. “An unusual family, to be sure, but one bound by something stronger than convention. Lucky for them, your mother’s side is used to harems.”
He reached out, touching my forehead with one finger. Warmth spread from the contact point, filling me with a sense of peace and rightness I’d never known before. “Go home, Isabeau. All of you. The forest welcomes you as its new guardian. And when the time comes to search for those still lost, you’ll know.”
With that, he stepped back, his form already beginning to shimmer and fade. “I must return to the realm of gods, Mount Olympus, now that my duty here is complete. But I’ll be watching. We all will be.”
In a flash of golden light that momentarily blinded us all, Apollo vanished. When my vision cleared, all that remained was a single perfect antler tip, crystalline and glowing with blue fire, lying on the ground where he had stood.
Home,he had said. For the first time in my life, I knew exactly where that was. Not a place, but these people. My beasts. My prince. My impossible, magical, complicated family.
I reached down and picked up the antler tip, feeling its power pulse in rhythm with the claiming mark on my shoulder. Whatever came next, finding Estelle, freeing Odette, maybe even searching for my mother, we would face it together.
“Let’s go home,” I said, and four sets of hands reached for mine at once. It made me giggle as Alain and Marcel touched my shoulders instead.
sixty-seven
Isabeau
The magic coursed through me like liquid starlight, different now that the curse had broken. Purer, wilder, more responsive to my thoughts than ever before. I reached for it instinctively, feeling the forest’s power answer my call not as a servant but as a partner. After watching Apollo vanish in that blinding flash of divine light, I knew we needed to reach the castle quickly. Something inside me whispered that moremiracles awaited us there, and I couldn’t bear waiting the day it would take to walk or ride.
“We need to go to the castle,” I said, clutching the crystalline antler tip Apollo had left behind. The claiming mark on my shoulder pulsed in harmony with its blue glow. “Now.”
Marcel stepped forward, his human face carrying the same quiet authority as his bestial one had. It was strange seeing those familiar amber eyes framed by a man’s features instead of fur, but the essence of him remained unchanged.
“It’s a full-day’s journey at least,” he said, glancing at his parents. The King and Queen of the Enchanted Realm looked exhausted despite their regal bearing. “And many of our people are in no condition to walk far.”
