by Sophie Starr
I hugged him back but I had no words. I had abandoned him and left him for the evil Gaston to torture. I felt sick, as if I had failed everyone.
He pulled me to the bench and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, sighing and nodding. “This is the most remarkable place, isn’t it?”
I wondered if he recalled being in the raven’s nest, but decided not to remind him in case he had forgotten. “It is a strange place. I’m afraid I have angered the people here though, Papa. We may have to leave.”
He glanced at me, his eyes filled with sadness. “It isn’t you. It’s the choice the master made.”
“What?”
“He chose to come and save me and then you. He chose to leave the castle, sealing their fates.” He nodded again.
“What fates?”
“The curse!” My father spoke as if I already knew the answer to the question.
“What bloody curse? You have to be more specific.”
His eyes narrowed. “They never told you?”
“No. I know nothing.” I shook my head.
“The castle is under a curse.”
“I know that much, Papa. I am not as daft as you think me.”
“I would never call you daft. The story was told to me like this: Once, many years ago, this had been a prospering kingdom, filled with the strongest warriors in all the lands. Whenever there was trouble they would fight to the death of any enemy, I suppose.” He chuckled at something I didn't understand. “But then a dark army came—a foe as formidable as it was evil. The king here sent his men and fought the army. But the fight was a decoy. You see, while they were fighting an evil witch came here and cast a spell on the lands. This castle was sealed and the people in the surrounding village vanished. The king and queen were considered dead and the prince was left in charge. His warriors had defeated the dark army but not returned home. When the dark army came back, the young prince didn't send troops. It was rumored he was ignoring the call for aid from his neighbors. But in actuality he was a prisoner of the castle—a beast. If he leaves the gates for any length of time he will remain the monster.”
My insides tightened as the words formed a story in my head. One I had heard a long time ago, or read perhaps. “The Roses? This is the Rose Kingdom?” I asked.
My father shrugged. “All that is left of it are here now, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, Lumier, and Chip. They were frozen the way the young prince was, never aging and never changing, until a time when the spell is broken, which could only happen so long as the master didn't leave the castle grounds for longer than a moment.”
Tears filled my eyes. “He can’t change back?” It was entirely my fault.
My father shook his head, unaffected by the story. He didn't care the way I did. He didn't feel the way I did. He smiled at the bright morning sun and enjoyed the view of the garden.
I got up and ran inside, leaving the blanket on the grass. I ran to the rose in the room where I suspected he had put it.
When I got past the door hanging off its hinges I paused, seeing the beast sitting before the flower. It had wilted and was drying, no doubt because of the violence it had endured.
He didn't move as I walked to him, kneeling on the floor beside him. We both stared at the plant in heavy silence.
Finally, I whispered the one thing I had wanted to say to him for so long. “I love you. I don't care if you are a beast for the rest of my life; I will love you.” Shame filled me as I realized what I had cost all of them by leaving the castle. My feeble explanation couldn't mend the injury I had done them all.
I turned, just as he did. His blue eyes were filled with emotion, but his face was still a frightening monster. I lifted a hand and ran it down his fur, gripping him lovingly. “I will love you with all my heart.” I turned and grabbed the bowl with the dying rose in it. I hugged the bowl and lowered my head. “I am so sorry.” Hot tears fell from my eyes, splashing onto the crimson petals. I sighed and hugged the bowl. “I know you named this rose after me and I have ruined it. I have ruined you, but if you could find a way to tell me how to fix this, I would do anything.”
“Never leave me again.” His words startled me. I jumped and looked up at the handsome face in front of me. The beast was gone. I put the rose down and wrapped my arms around him but he was wooden.
“I will never leave you again,” I whispered, sobbing and gripping him.
“Why did you leave me for him? I sacrificed the people I love the most and myself to save your father, and you repay me by letting that monster have you?”
I swallowed hard, tears nearly blinding me. “I swear, I thought only of you. I tried to save you and your home. No one told me about the curse. No one said anything.”
He grabbed my arms, pulling me back, his eyes again filled with monstrous emotions. “You should have trusted that I had your best interests in my heart.”
I shook my head. “I didn't know.”
He wrapped himself around me, breathing me in and suddenly melting into the embrace. “I love you, Belle. I loved you the moment I met you, so proud and strong and resilient.”
I sniffled and nodded, struggling with my ragged breath. “I am so-so-sorry.”
He shook his head. “Just swear, you will never leave me again.”
“Never.”
He scooped me into his arms, pressing me against him.
His mouth landed on mine, claiming me as his. The power of the kiss and the embrace overwhelmed me. My fingers clawed at his cloak, revealing his naked body beneath it. I climbed into his lap as he lifted my dress. I wore no knickers, not since we had left Gaston’s. I sighed as his massive cockhead pressed against the eager lips of my pussy. I lowered myself with his help, wincing as the fullness took over. He was too much in the beginning and he knew it, but there was desperation in us both. His hands cupped my ass and hips, forcing me to ride him and to take him all.
I clung to his shoulders, pressing my gasping lips against his chest.
“You are mine, Belle. All mine. If you ever forget that again, I will punish you.”
A disturbing smile crested my lips as I moaned into the thrusts. “I wish you would.”
He pulled me back, cocking an eyebrow and freezing us both in our ragged breath. He stood, lifting me in the air with his cock buried deep inside me, and carried me to the destroyed mess of a bed against the far wall. He laid me down, pulling himself from me. “You wish I would?” he asked in a growl.
I nodded, biting my lips and nearly telling him of the bliss I had felt when spanked.
He lowered himself to me, kissing and sliding our bodies against each other.
“I wish you to punish me, my lord,” I whispered into his cheek.
He sat up abruptly and flipped me across his knees. For the first time I arched my back, lifting my desperate ass in the air. He grabbed, kneading and massaging. When the first strike came, so did I. I twitched and moaned into the stale bedding as he struck me again. Sounds I had never made left my lips in jolts and jerks as he struck me, massaging in between blows.
The vibration of the spanking drove me to fits as breathed moans and whimpers into the bedding.
He pushed me off his legs and at the same time slid behind me, spreading me wide open. His hands rounded my belly, lifting me up and thrusting his cock into my wet opening. I grunted but had no chance for recovery from the intense pleasure I had been enduring.
His thrusts were rapid and hard, slapping his balls against my pussy as he dragged me back and shoved me forward with each lunge.
I gripped to the bedding, crying out again as another orgasm rocked me. It was too much, too intense, and too violent. He grunted and jerked into me, forcing me to keep taking it as he too finished deep inside me. His hands held me to him, arching my back and pinning me as he attempted to recover from the harsh bliss.
He collapsed half on me and half on the bed.
I could barely breath but when I could finally see clearly, I realized we weren’t lying in the same room. It
was different, as if nothing had ever been damaged. The bedding smelled of roses and looked fresh, like we hadn’t just violated it.
“Beast,” I whispered as he lifted his face, his jaw dropping and his eyes widening. “Is it over?” he whispered, looking around the room.
I shook my head. “I don't know.”
He smiled wide, pulling me into him even more. “You broke the spell. You saved us.” He kissed my cheek and jumped up, pulling on clothes from the bureau that was no longer in pieces. When we both had on something, his hand grasped mine and he turned, dragging me through the castle.
Everything was brighter and cleaner.
Voices filled the lower area as we got out there. He stopped at the top of the stairs, frozen and gaping.
I followed his gaze to an older couple standing in the doorway. Behind them were hundreds of people.
“Son?” the old man asked, looking confused.
The master released my hand and ran down the stairs, embracing the two people. His parents were alive?
It was too much. I didn't understand a single moment of it all. Not until much later.
Instead of joining everyone, I stood above on the stairs and watched as they hugged and wept and rejoiced.
Epilogue
One year later
“Once, long, long ago in a land far away, there lived a kingdom under a terrible curse. Rumors and whispers became truths for the people of that kingdom as the curse kept them from the rest of the world. A tyrant had feared a king and his warriors and used magic to take over the lands, all of them. But today, standing here with all of you and your beautiful faces, I know that the tyrant has lost the battle and the war. We are once again a people to be feared and loved. We are once again free of every terrible thing done to us in the name of cowardice. They didn't meet us on the battlefield; they snuck in and poisoned the water. But my brave new daughter-in-law, Princess Belle, broke the curse. Tonight we are celebrating our victory and her strength. Without either of those things we would still be lost. To Belle and to all of you!” The king lifted his glass to me. A sparkle filled his eyes as he did it. The queen smiled at me with nothing but love in her heart.
I lifted my glass to all of them, not feeling deserving of the toast.
My love leaned in, offering me a simple kiss on the cheek and a whisper I was grateful no one else could hear, “I am going to ravish you the moment we are freed from here.”
I smiled and leaned into the kiss, hoping no one saw the rush of color filling my cheeks.
My father gave me a look of approval and pride from the corner table where he chose to sit with Mrs. Potts, Chip, Cogsworth, and Lumier.
We ate, danced, and drank until the room felt too warm for my gown and my head felt too light to think. I walked to get some air on the massive balcony.
Arms wrapped around me, pulling me back into an embrace. “And are you happy, my love?” he asked.
I smiled and looked up at the stars. “I am. Are you?”
“Let me show you.” He nodded against my cheek. His hand reached for mine and dragged me down the stairs to the lower level of the courtyard. He pulled me through the plants and trees to the small alcove we had once made love in, in the rain.
He spun me, sitting me atop the table and dropped to his knees, directly in front of me. He lifted my massive skirts and dragged my knickers down, spreading me for his viewing pleasure. His breath upon my tender flesh made me shiver, though I wasn't cold. “Do you realize how beautiful you are, my Belle?”
I shook my head, closing my eyes and leaning back as his tongue flickered in and out of my slit. He didn't commit to it, but he was close enough that I moaned a little.
“When I met you, the rose, which had been a bud for a decade, bloomed. The very moment I met you, it became a flower.” He again licked teasingly. “I knew then, you were my soul mate, the only one who could break the curse. The girl who might possibly love me in any form.” He kissed my thigh, brushing his cheek and whiskers against my pussy lips.
“Why didn't you let me love you then?” I asked as my breathing grew ragged and increased.
“I didn't want to hurt you or drag you into this, in case it was a trap to cause me more agony.” Slowly he nestled his face close, tilting his head back so his nose and mouth grazed my inner most flesh. He plunged his tongue in then, making me gasp my breaths.
He sucked and flicked, licking the places I liked to rub when he was inside me. One of his huge fingers circled the hole, preparing me for the moment he would plunge it inside. When he did I cried out.
He fingered and sucked, flicking and rubbing. I leaned on my elbows, my head completely back. He increased his speed, making everything inside me tighten. When it released I moaned long and hard, jerking with the pounding he gave me. He stood, letting cold air rush between us. It tickled against my wetness as he unleashed himself, pressing the head of his massive cock against me. He leaned forward, kissing me so I might taste myself upon his mouth.
As I sucked his tongue he shoved himself inside me.
I tensed with the pain and pleasure of the girth of his cock. He thrust fast and hard, gripping to me and pushing me back. He brought my feet to his shoulders and lifted my ass, thrusting harder and making me take it all. He filled me up, making it seem as though we were made for each other. A perfect fit.
A sound left my lips when I tensed against his cock and milked him as we climaxed together. He jerked and grunted, still something of a beast when no one but me was looking. He lifted me into his arms and held me there, cradling me like he always did. “I love you, Belle.”
I smiled and sighed into the embrace.
When we did leave the shelter of the alcove, we tried our best to look like we hadn’t just fucked in the garden.
I went and sat with my father—just in time, it appeared. Lumier looked at me and wrinkled his long nose. “I was just telling your father how the curse came about. I didn't think you wanted to hear it.”
I widened my eyes. “Of course I do.” I hated to admit that I loved a good story, even one including me.
“Babette came in the night—a girl who had lost her fiancé, apparently. The men were at war with the dark army and her man had died. She had a single rose in a pot, nothing else. She brought it inside when the prince let her in, explaining she had found it at the gates. We now think she brought it to set the curse. The evil witch might have made her do it, promising her the chance of having the prince. The moment the prince touched it, the curse was upon us. One of the thorns pricked him, drawing his blood and sealing our fates. A fog came up and the ground was covered for days. In those days, everyone but us went missing. The castle was empty and the fog had taken all of the life from the village. The king and queen were gone, but there was a doe and a stag wandering their room. When the prince found them he didn't know what to think. But his mother’s necklace was upon one of them. That night he left the gates of the castle, trying to go for help. He changed into the beast.”
I gasped. “And you believe Babette did this?”
“We don't know. We suspect.” He shook his head. “One thing about the curse is none of us could speak of it. The words literally couldn't leave our mouths. We tried but it didn’t work.”
I turned to Mrs. Potts. “So she made you bring those clothes to my room and you dressed me that way on purpose?”
“Babette wanted the master to see you as a sad attempt at replicating her beauty. She thought she was what he wanted more than anything in the world, and she wished to show how superior she was to you. She knew you paled in comparison.” She nodded.
“She had me there.” I sighed. “And Papa, you were punished for shooting a stag because it might have been the king or queen?”
“Exactly.” He looked grave when I mentioned it.
Lumier sighed. “When you showed up and the flower bloomed, we knew it meant the curse could be broken by you. The night the curse had been set there was a note in the rosebush, telling us that the o
nly way to undo the magic was for the prince to win the heart of a girl who loved him as a beast. He knew you would be tested, and he didn't want you to get hurt. He didn’t want to get hurt either, by getting his hopes up. He thought for a long time that Babette was the girl he was to make love him, but it never broke the curse, even when she did profess her undying love for him.”
I glanced over at my prince and let a whisper of a smile grace my lips. “He was trying to make me hate him though. Why?”
“I think deep down he worried there would be another aspect to the curse and not a cure at all. Like you might become something else he could kill. Making him a beast and each of his parents deer, was intentional. But he never killed anything.” Lumier shrugged. “And when he realized who you were, he wanted you kept safe.”
“Except Babette and Gaston. He killed them.”
My father muttered, “They had it coming.”
“He never speaks of it much,” I added.
“He is ashamed. He loved you so much that he left the grounds, sealing all our fates for you.”
“It is not his shame, but mine.” My cheeks flushed as his eyes crossed the room to mine. He lifted his glass to me and drank.
I looked back at the table of friends who had become family. “At least it’s over.”
“Indeed. Two people found love where they never expected to find it. That is the makings of a happily ever after.” Mrs. Potts beamed at me.
“Indeed.” I smiled. “The way I read the story of The Kingdom of the Roses, my favorite book ever, was very similar to this. An evil witch with a plan to take over the kingdoms. A king with an army so fierce no one stood a chance against them. A prince left as a monster no one could ever love. And a curse freezing the castle in time and wrapped in decay. I never knew the story was real.”