Bastien (14 page)

The simple entreaty, spoken purely out of love, humbles the Beast. “You have my word she will come to no harm at my hands.” That he says it to me as much as the merchant galls me.

I am powerless to stop the man from leaving once the decree is passed.

The Beast is half crazed with anticipation, waiting for the merchant to make good on his word, else risk his terrible wrath. He has the gravel beneath his paws three times, impatient to do something, schooling himself not to. Pacing before the hearth, ears trained for any hint of a sound that might announce an approaching rider.

When she walks through the door, not even the strongest of restraints can keep me from looking out from deep within the Beast to behold her face. The truth of her stuns me. I mocked a father’s pride, never thinking he might be understating his child’s virtues. She is just as I painted her, only so much more. She is sunshine and tempest, grace and integrity. She’s a magnificent summer storm and the gentlest, wide eyed doe. She makes the Beast maudlin with metaphors until I silence his mind and call her just one.

Not Strength.

Hope.

I watch through his eyes as she calls him names. I listen with his ears to her soft footsteps as she explores the castle. I feel his joy when she finds the library, and I hear his thoughts as he plans for the next full moon.

With Mademoiselle Lyssette, my torment and my savior at last inside my castle, I stay quiet and do nothing. The hag painted my future with her cards. She showed me my salvation, and after more than three hundred years, here she is. No matter what the Beast does, she is my destiny, not his. He can try to keep me from her, but he will never be able to keep her from finding me.

That certainty gives me the satisfaction I need to patiently while away the first full moon.

I bide my time and wait.

The End

About The Author

Alianne is an avid lover of stories of all kinds. Having grown up with fairy tales in a place where it almost seemed they were real, it was no surprise when she began making up her own stories. She loves books, hiking, archery, and won’t shy away from travel and zip lining Alianne graduated with a business degree and when she’s not off in the land of fantasy, she lives in California.

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