The Spoilt Beauty And Her Beasts

Isabella looked up at him with a face so innocent that it was almost offensive.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," she said.

Zyran immediately laughed.

Luca looked at her in disbelief. "You expect us to believe that?"

Isabella shrugged very naturally. "Believe whatever gives you peace."

That made even Asael huff a quiet laugh through his nose.

He hated admitting it, but when Isabella acted like this, she really was impossible.

Cyrus’s eyes stayed on her face for a moment, then he smiled softly.

Of course she would answer like that.

Of course.

He should have expected nothing else.

Still, because he loved her and because he found this side of her far too adorable, his expression only softened more.

Kian looked at her too.

He did not ask how she did it.

He only asked, "Was it dangerous?"

That question made the others look at him.

Because yes, that was exactly the sort of thing Kian would ask. He did not care about the joke first. He cared about whether Isabella had taken any risk for herself.

Isabella waved one hand lazily. "Please. I know what I’m doing."

Kian kept looking at her.

Isabella sighed and added, "It was nothing dangerous. I would not do something that messy inside my own home."

That answer seemed to satisfy him enough.

Then Osiris asked the next important question.

"Can you do it again?"

This time, everyone laughed openly.

Isabella stared at him. "Why?"

Osiris folded his arms. "Because it was funny."

"That is such a bad reason."

"It is still a reason."

Zyran nodded in agreement. "He is foolish, but in this one matter, I support him."

Ophelia blinked at the group around her, then at Isabella, then back again, and slowly the full truth dawned on her.

"She really did do something," Ophelia whispered.

Shelia looked at her. "You are only understanding that now?"

Ophelia turned red. "I wanted to think well of people."

Shelia replied very calmly, "That is why you get fooled."

Valen gently squeezed Ophelia’s hand before she could feel too bad, and because he was there, Ophelia only pouted instead of sinking into shame.

Nearby, Glimora came padding over and laid herself down by Isabella’s leg with the satisfied face of a little beast who had known from the beginning that the healer was awful. Isabella reached down and scratched her fur absentmindedly, and Glimora immediately relaxed like a queen being served.

Cyrus then rose and started gathering the remaining things nearby, because the whole place was still a mess from the morning and someone had to bring order back.

Isabella watched him for a moment, then said, "Luca, help him."

Luca looked at her. "Why me again?"

"Because I chose you."

"That is not a reason."

"That is the only reason you need."

Luca looked deeply suffering, but he still moved.

Then Isabella’s eyes drifted toward Zyran, who had already started looking far too comfortable again.

"You too."

Zyran slowly turned his head and collapsed on the tree. "I was hoping beauty would excuse me."

"It doesn’t."

He sighed like the whole world had failed him. "Cruel female."

Still, he got up too.

As the others began moving again, some cleaning, some talking, some still thinking about what had just happened, Isabella sat there watching them with a small smile on her face.

Then Kian looked at her and asked, "Did you enjoy yourself?"

Isabella turned toward him and gave him a sweet expression. "Very much."

Kian’s mouth moved slightly.

That was not quite a smile.

But it was close enough that Cyrus noticed.

And because Cyrus noticed, his own smile deepened too.

The morning had started cold, but now warmth had returned to the entrance again. Voices rose and fell. Snow still covered the ground outside. Glimora slept by Isabella’s leg. And around her, her people moved with that familiar feeling of life and home and annoyance and affection all mixed together.

Then Isabella leaned back a little and thought to herself that perhaps one stomach problem was still too light a punishment.

After all, she had only just started.

...

That evening, Isabella was just about to step back inside when something near the entrance caught her eyes.

A few little lion cubs were tumbling over each other in the snow.

The sight made her stop at once.

They were so small and round that for one shocking second, Isabella felt as if her heart had been directly clawed by cuteness. Their fur was fluffy from the cold, their little ears kept twitching, and every time one of them tried to pounce on another, it would roll too far and end up on its back looking offended with life.

Cute.

They were too cute.

Even their angry little growls sounded useless.

One of the mothers was already nearby trying to call them back inside, while another stood with her arms folded and looked at her own cub with the tired face of a woman who had clearly repeated herself too many times that day.

"Come inside," one of them said. "You were already out too long."

The cub ignored her completely.

Instead, it crouched low in the snow, wiggled its tiny backside, and jumped at its brother with the seriousness of a great hunter.

It missed.

It rolled.

And the other cub stepped on its tail by mistake.

Isabella covered her mouth.

Then she laughed.

"Oh no," she said softly. "They are too cute."

The mothers immediately noticed her and straightened at once, looking a little embarrassed because their cubs were currently behaving like tiny wild beasts with no dignity.

"My lady," one of the women said quickly, "please go inside. The cold will bite."

But Isabella was already walking toward the cubs.

Or rather, she was trying to walk toward the cubs in the careful way a heavily pregnant woman had to walk toward anything. Her body had become slower now, and every bend and turn needed thought. Still, the closer she got, the more impossible it became to resist them.

The lion cubs finally noticed her too.

One paused in the middle of biting its brother’s ear and stared at her.

Then another one turned.

Then all of them looked up at once.

For one brief second, the whole scene became still.