Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 74631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
“Would you like some?” I ask, my heart thundering. The beast’s presence in the kitchen is heady and makes me wish he was closer, yet I know I cannot approach him. I can almost smell the masculine scent of him, and it fills my mind with more questions. I press my lips shut and do not ask them.
There is a pause as he considers. “Do not attempt to look when I’m behind you,” he commands.
I nod, already imagining that would be a request, and fix my eyes firmly on the window. His footsteps draw nearer and my heart beats even harder. One of the plates slides off the counter, and I finally lower my eyes to the plates and pick up my fork and take a bite.
Heat takes over my body and the closer he gets, the higher the temperature. My body begs for me to bow to him, to plead with him for a kiss or for his touch. But I stay calm and wait. Merely taking the smallest bite of the tart.
The tart is a perfect balance of the sweetness of fruit and sugar, but as I swallow, my chest aches.
Is this my destiny? To be alone with the magic and the beast forever? I did not think that was what he meant that night in the dining room, and now I think it must be.
Silver clinks on china behind me. I take another bite, trying to keep my breathing steady. It is hard to swallow, and maybe that’s what make me brave enough to speak.
“Will you come during the day?” I ask, my voice steadier than I feel but still soft and hopeful. “If I promise I will not look?”
There is silence, and my heart sinks. If this is one of the questions he does not want to answer…
“Are you lonely?” comes his deep voice.
“Yes,” I admit, the pang in my chest even stronger.
He inhales. “Not as lonely as I.”
I do not know how to answer him without asking more questions. I think if I were to press, then he would stay silent, and if he stays silent and refuses to speak to me at all, the silence might be worse than wandering alone through the halls.
His plate clicks on the counter. I do not look at it but set my own plate down. A single glance tells me that the beast’s plate is empty. Mine is still almost full.
“Let me show you the library,” he says.
The beast guides me through the halls with a light touch on the small of my back, but this time he does not blindfold me. I keep my eyes forward, resisting the urge to lean into his touch and turn toward him, seeing his face at last.
A set of double doors opens before us and the beast guides me into the largest library I have ever seen. It must be as tall as the castle itself and is no less grand than the ballroom. Paintings cover the ceiling with gold glinting in the candlelight. Heavy shelves hold hundreds and hundreds of books. Only someone with unimaginable wealth would be able to afford this many books and a room such as this to keep them in.
I do not even know what the cost would be or if the village combined could afford such luxury.
“May I…” My voice shakes, forcing me to start again. “May I come here often?”
“You may roam all you wish apart from the highest floor of the tower.”
I have not gone there yet. There is much in the castle to explore, and the tower did not call to me. If I felt anything, it was a quiet suggestion to stay away.
“What is there?” I ask, my eyes tracing the spines of the books on the nearest shelf.
“None of your concern.”
I hold my breath, waiting to see if he will continue, or if he will touch me, or hold me, or perhaps even kiss me, but after a silence thick with tension, his footsteps retreat toward the door and fade away, making it feel even more quiet.
When I finally brave a glance behind me, the beast has gone.
THE PRINCE AND THE BEAST
The highest floor of the tower is the place in the castle where the darkness dwells most deeply.
I know that the people in the village gossip about the darkness that has enveloped this place, and there is some truth to those tales. In the first days after the witch cast her curse, the darkness from the storm of her magic seeped into the walls and clouded all the windows, making it dark as night outside even when the sun was high. It drove me to madness; I’m sure of it.
Gradually, as the years passed, that darkness faded. No villagers tried to breach the walls after the mob came after me and failed to kill me, but I assume the rumors stayed stuck in their minds as rumors tend to do.