Rell and The Rose

Ch. 53, The Bunker in the Woods

Lorcan

"Whoever is out there, stop! I'm— I'm armed!" The panicked voice called out from the trees ahead of me. "Go away and no one needs to get hurt!"

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes— a habit of Cat's that seemed to be wearing off on me— and stepped out beneath the shadows, into the small glade between the trees. As if you could hurt the Prince of Darkness. "Peace, Bastien. It's only me."

Bastien's eyes were wide, frantic, as if the slightest noise would send him bolting. Tucked into the trees behind him was a small metal shed, which I guessed to be the bunker Dasan had directed me to. The door was ajar, and I saw a small cot and a shelf of supplies. There must have been clothes too, because Bastien wore the uncomfortable flannel and jeans that men seemed to wear here.

I took a few slow steps closer, keeping my voice light. "You needn't worry. I've come alone."

"Where is Rell?" he said, taking a step forward, his face pinched in pain as if it physically hurt him to ask.

"Rell and Cat aren't here. I sent them on a pointless excursion to keep them busy." Dasan was harmless, and talked more than everyone I'd ever met. Hopefully he would keep them busy for some time.

"And is she...?"

"She's fine," I waved a hand. "Rell can handle herself. She is a Beast-Slayer of the Dark Realm." A Beast-Slayer who never needed me... and yet, for some reason, she seems drawn to you. Why is that, I wonder? It wasn't quite jealousy I felt, more a frustrated curiosity... and the sense that if I'd missed that Bastien was the Beast, I might have missed even more.

Which was why I'd come alone.

As I came closer to Bastien, I felt the deep pulse of the magic. It made me pause. Was it coming from Bastien himself? Or was it the call of the Blood Rose? It was the strongest I had felt it in the Human Realm. But instead of pulling it closer, I pushed the magic away.

The sun still sat high above us, and there was something I needed to talk with Bastien about, before I took the Blood Rose and closed the realms.

Something I needed to approach not as a Prince, but as one man speaking to another. Which made me feel as off balance and out of place as the time I'd had to attend a mer ball dressed only in fish scales. So I reached behind me, lifting the satchel I'd filled at a gas station. I had traded three gold coins for a "Pop-Tart", "Twinkie", and a wonderfully inappropriately shaped yellow fruit called a banana.

"Sit. I've come to talk. And I brought some rations and water. Eat."

His gaze was still suspicious, so I found a log, and sank down to sit on it, and then tried to give him a reassuring smile. It wasn't something I did often— princes rarely smiled. I stopped when he looked more concerned than before.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" His eyes were narrowed, arms crossed. "Don't you want to know about..." he stopped, needing to swallow to say it. "The Beast?"

I waved a hand through the air. "I'll admit that I feel foolish for not seeing what was right in front of me, but now that I know you are the Beast, it makes my job easier." Not that a Prince's job is ever easy. Still he made no move forward, so I continued. "I'm going to assume you take precautions as the Beast?"

"I always go deep into the forest."

I shrugged. "And have you ever killed anyone?"

His eyes instantly flicked back to mine. "No." Then he sighed. "But I could. Easily. I... the Beast, sometimes I can't control it. Can't remember what's happened. I try to keep myself as far away as I can, try to minimize the risk..." His shoulders caved forward.