Beauty and the Beast: An Adult Fairytale Romance

by Vivienne Savage

  Surprise flitted across her features. “I didn’t mean to pry, Beast, so I owe you an apology as well.” After serving a small portion for herself, she raised the ceramic platter bearing the ham and set it on the blanket within his reach. “Go on. Enjoy the ham. It’s delicious, and I have more than enough.”

  The food beckoned him with its spiced, honey-glazed slices. His nostrils flared, but then he tucked his head low and glanced away while his stomach rumbled with anticipation.

  “Would Hora appreciate help in the kitchen? I feel awful that she runs everything alone.”

  “Would you know what to do in a kitchen?” He licked the sharp edge of a tooth.

  “I’m not entirely helpless. and I suppose I could learn. What else am I to do all day?”

  “Your studies, perhaps.” He eyed the ham again, and when her eyes were away, focused on a distant butterfly circling in the breeze, he gobbled the delicious morsel in a bite.

  “My studies?” Her eyes slowly raised to him from the beautiful insect. “Do you have a tutor from the Academy here hidden away?”

  Alistair cursed himself. He wasn’t supposed to know that she had been days from leaving the palace behind for a life of academia and magic. He stared at her in alarm, his mouth full of unchewed ham. “Hrm,” he said, unable to speak. He tried to chew discretely.

  She glanced at the empty plate then his mouth. Was that a smile on her face?

  Alistair shook his head and spoke once he swallowed. “There are no tutors here, only you and I,” he said, “but I thought the best magicians among your kind were self-taught. Will books and a laboratory to perfect your craft be sufficient, or will you need more, lass?”

  “Self-taught?” She blinked again but then dropped her gaze to consider the idea. “I always have learned better from books that from teachers, though…. And I’ve certainly enjoyed your library since arriving, but I also don’t want to make a mess of things and destroy your home. Is there a safe place for me to practice where I wouldn’t catch things on fire by accident?”

  Her green eyes shone with interest, and he celebrated the small victory. “I breathe fire and live in a castle of stone,” he reminded her.

  “Yes, but you aren’t breathing fire inside, right?” She aimed a small smile up at him then dug around again in the basket. “Do you like cheese? There’s a whole wheel in here I didn’t notice before.”

  She raised the offering to him. Again, he hesitated, until she rose to her feet with it in hand. “Please. I can’t enjoy my lunch alone while you go hungry. Or have you eaten?” A sly tone filled her voice, and mirth shone in her eyes.

  “I have not.”

  “Except the ham,” she added, chuckling a throaty laugh. She nudged the tip of his snout with the cheese wheel. “Please?”

  Barely opening his mouth, Alistair accepted the bite-sized snack from her hands. She didn’t shy away from his teeth, giving him hope that he was no longer a monster to her.

  “I’ve never seen you eat before, but of course, there must be all sorts of wild game in the mountains for you to catch. Deer especially. My father—” She cleared her throat and continued in a subdued tone. “My father brought home a large buck once. He took my brothers with him, but I had to stay home. Hunting is not proper for a young lady.”

  “Why is it not proper?”

  “I honestly have no idea. A princess is supposed to always look her best. She is to be polite, well-read, musical, and charming. She isn’t to go traipsing about in the woods with a weapon she cannot handle. Never mind the fact that I am a better shot than half my brothers.”

  “A better shot with what? A bow?”

  “Yes. It was the one indulgence my father allowed me when it came to weaponry, but only at targets in the garden.”

  “And all because you are female?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then your human kingdoms are foolish,” he growled. “Where I come from, the princesses defend their homelands with as much zeal as their male counterparts.”

  As far as Alistair was concerned, the supposed civilized people of the west had their priorities wrong. They raised meek girls, but he saw something more, something greater in Ana than a trophy piece.

  “Dragons have princesses?” She perked up, giving him her full attention.

  Alistair grumbled, and curls of smoke escaped his nostrils. She’d caught him in another mistake, the clever minx, and it only made him desire her even more. “We have many things,” he said with a mysterious air, providing no clarification.

  “Are families among those many things? I didn’t think dragons lived in family groups at all. I’ve only ever heard of lone dragons living in their hoards.”

  “What did you believe we do?” he asked. “Father young and abandon our mates and cubs to the wilderness? Does it surprise you a dragon should have a family when we have castles?” He raised a claw to the vast estate.

  “Well, to be honest, I had sort of wondered about that. The castle, I mean. You’re far too large for most of the rooms. I figured you must have settled here after the Ocland royal family was driven out….”

  “I have lived here alone since the King of Dalborough murdered them,” he confided, neither lying nor revealing the absolute truth of his origins. He couldn’t, even if he wanted, share his true identity. The fairy’s curse wouldn’t allow it, and he’d die if he tried.

  He was dying anyway. Soon. It was only a matter of time. He’d never make her love him before the thirteenth anniversary of his changing.

  Her fragile smile faded. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, “that they killed everyone. They call the Oclanders barbarians, but the castle is beautiful. More lovely than Darkmoor Castle. I imagine it was full of life and laughter, love and light. It feels sad now. Lonely, but no less magnificent.”

  “The Oclanders were fond of festivals, and they would dance long into the night around grand bonfires with wine and song. Once a year, the king and queen would host a grand ceremony to honor their gods, and commoners from across the kingdom would travel days by horseback and on foot. They turned away no one. All were welcome to the feast. Now their numbers are too few for celebrations.”

  “It sounds fun. Welcoming. I imagine it was a sight to behold.”

  “It was….” He looked away, grateful his reptilian features hid his sorrow. “The book you brought. What’s in it? Will you tell me about it?”

  Her eyes lit up, and she accepted his change of topic with grace, offering no more apologies. “Wind spells. Did you know you can summon the breezes by whistling to them?”

  “I have heard such calls, yes, but I have no talent for them.” He paused, then added, “Nor can I whistle.”

  Ana’s amused giggle sounded like music to his ears.

  “I never knew so much could be done through weather spells. There are accounts of wizards summoning fearsome gales and bringing lightning down upon their enemies.”

  “Do you aspire to be such a sorceress?”

  “Oh… no. I’ll never be as talented as the wizards in the stories.”

  “How do you know?”

  “I’m not good with high-level spells and still need a wand.”

  His brows furrowed. “You do not have your wand?”

  Ana shook her head. “It was in my bag along with the rest of my possessions.”

  “Then we must remedy this,” Alistair concluded. “Or you must learn to cast magic with no wand at all. Mastery does not come without practice, Princess.”

  “You sound like my mother,” she muttered.

  He ignored it. “Can you summon a breeze? I imagine it would be pleasant on a sunny day.”

  “I can certainly try.” She pulled over her book and flipped through the pages until she found what she was looking for. “To call a wind, whistle thrice in ascending tones,” she read. “To send it away, whistle thrice in descending pitch. That sounds simple enough.”

  Alistair settled again on his belly to observe. “That it does. Give it a try then, l
ass.”

  He found it amusing to watch the way her face scrunched up in concentration. Endearing, even. Ana turned her face toward the sky and whistled as the tome instructed.

  Nothing happened.

  “Try again,” he encouraged. “Focus on what you want. Feel the breeze through your hair and bid it to follow your whim.”

  This time, Ana appeared more relaxed. She closed her eyes and tilted her face toward the puffy clouds, her expression serene. Beautiful. Alistair watched her pink lips part as she drew in a breath, then purse together to whistle.

  A subtle energy surrounded her. Her magical aura tickled against his scales, popping like effervescent bubbles as the cool breeze stirred the flowers and ruffled Ana’s copper waves. Alistair turned his face into the welcome current of air.

  “Well done.”

  Fallen leaves and flower petals raised into the air, lifted by the circling current and forming a ring of color around her.

  “You are not so bad as you claim, Princess.” His chest expanded with a rising sense of pride for the young woman who had gone unappreciated by her own people. The Oclanders would have loved her. Even the Witch Queen would have been taken with her upon the first meeting.

  Ana’s eyes filled with wonder. “I… I’ve never managed to cast magic without a wand before.”

  “Come, I have someplace I’d like to show you.”

  A deep furrow appeared on her brow before she released her spell. The petals and flowers drifted gracefully to the ground. He led her toward the northwestern cliffside overlooking the world below, and there a circle of cairn stones arose from the earth like jagged bones. Colorful veins ran throughout each one and sparkled beneath the sun.

  “Many enchantresses of Ocland have meditated here in peace,” he told her. “It is a place of strong magic with a connection to the rest of the world, a place for you to study and develop your talents.”

  Anastasia stepped ahead. He watched her eyes grow large with excitement and the joy transform her face. She cried out with glee and whirled to face him. “It’s lovely, Beast! Lovely! Truly. Thank you.” The smile she bestowed was radiant, brief and fleeting as the sun peeking out from behind heavy clouds, but beautiful nonetheless. She circled the cairn first, fingers touching lightly to each stone in turn before she took a slow step inside.

  He stared at her, struck dumb by her smile. Whatever words that came to mind originally faded, and he lowered his haunches to watch her step within the circle. It accepted her without question, and the area buzzed with pure magic and the mystical hum of a thousand spellcasters before her, their voice mere echoes on the breeze. “This is where the Witch Queen of Ocland made her last stand against the invaders.”

  A gray blanket stretched across the sky, and it only drew closer with Ana in the cairn circle. Alistair watched the progressive darkness kiss the edge of once-white clouds and bring the damp promise of rain on the wind.

  “What was she like?” Ana asked, drawing his attention away from the sky.

  “A discussion for another time, Princess.”

  “You promise to tell me?”

  “I promise, but you should return indoors. A storm will be here soon, and it won’t be a pleasant one.”

  “Will you be at dinner tonight?”

  “Would you like me to be?”

  “I would appreciate the company, if you’re comfortable with it. The dining hall is so large for only one person. Lonely.” Her fingers drifted over his snout, and he lived for every second of contact.

  “Yes,” he said. “I have behaved like a poor host, haven’t I? I thought….” I thought she loathed me and held me in disdain. It would be his pleasure to join her again. He smiled. “I will be there.”

  She lowered her hands to her sides. “May I come here whenever I please?”

  Alistair mourned the loss of her touch and almost followed her hands by instinct. “Yes,” he agreed, no less sad. He rose and moved to the side of her. “You are welcome to visit any part of this mountain with or without me.”

  “Thank you, Be—” She paused and cocked her head. “Won’t you tell me your real name? It feels rude, calling you Beast, when you’re anything but.”

  No one but Hora had uttered his name in over a decade. He longed for the sound of it from her lips, but he frowned instead. The fairy had made her promise clear; he’d die if he spoke the truth to anyone. “Perhaps my recent deeds have earned the name,” he spoke instead.

  The first rumble of thunder echoed across the cliffs and mountains peaks. He didn’t move from the spot he had claimed on the grassy mountain shelf, craving the cleansing rain against his scales.

  “Then it seems there are more secrets beyond these stones for me to unravel. I will see you at dinner.”

  After dipping into a curtsy, she hurried back to the castle and reached the doors seconds before the sky split open and loosed a roaring downpour.

  Chapter

  MANY MORE DINNERS and meals passed between them, and as usual, Alistair asked her the same question. Ana’s eyes no longer grew wide with fear, but she smiled back at him and answered in a soft voice, “I don’t know. Perhaps as a friend. I do feel fond of you.”

  “But not love,” he said.

  “No, Beast. Not love.”

  It was one step closer than before. And with only three months left until the thirteenth anniversary, he began to wonder if death was inevitable, or if the fairy’s promise was true.

  Ana was the girl from his dreams, of that he had no doubt from the moment he first saw her. And while the dreams had continued since her arrival, he took comfort in them. In the daylight, he enjoyed the company of the real girl, and at night, she comforted him during what had once been fitful sleep. There had been no nightmares since he brought her to the castle.

  She gave him hope that he would live.

  With their misunderstandings in the past, he looked forward to meeting her at each meal. When he lost his temper, she didn’t shrink back and flee. She raised her chin and stared at him in defiance, daring him to raise his voice again.

  His red-haired spitfire.

  “I have something to show you,” he said one day, interrupting her practice in the cairn circle.

  Ana glanced over a shoulder at him. Both of her hands were raised high over her head, and she was toying with the weather, occasionally bringing down a bolt of lightning into the empty fields below the mountain. She charged the air with electricity, the bite of it a strong scent in the wind. “Really?”

  “Aye, something I believe you will enjoy greatly.”

  “As greatly as this circle? You spoil me, Sir Dragon,” she teased. “You were right, by the way. I’ve learned more in this castle as a student at my own pace than I have with any tutors. The Witch Queen took detailed notes.”

  “Do you understand the language?”

  “More and more. I haven’t had to use the translation spells as much recently. That in itself is a difficult charm, but… I’m learning on my own now. It’s very similar to our language in Creag Morden.”

  Alistair smiled. The Anastasia of his dreams had been as eager to learn the Oclander language as he’d been to teach it. But it was only a dream, and he’d been too shy to teach her in the real world.

  “Now what must I do to receive this new surprise from you?”

  “Light the sky again, Princess, and then I’ll reveal it.” The skies above the castle itself were surprisingly clear, but she’d found a distant system of dense clouds on the southern horizon perfect for training purposes.

  “As you wish.”

  Anastasia closed her eyes. A single lightning bolt was child’s play, that much he remembered from his mother. He had no true propensity for magic himself, understanding only the most rudimentary spells, but he could still appreciate the difficulty and her long hours in practice.

  Concentration wrinkled her brow.

  “Push yourself,” he encouraged.

  He’d watched her practice daily in the cairn for we
eks, but he knew she was capable of more. Lacking a teacher, he served as her faithful coach instead.

  “I’m trying.”

  “To hell with trying, lass. Do it.”

  The clouds exploded, almost blinding Alistair. Sizzling streaks of light fell from the sky, plunging into the forest below. A tree ignited and flames billowed on the wind.

  Anastasia collapsed, but Alistair was there to catch her in his huge claws. Despite her daily sessions, large and complex spells still sent her into a swoon. He held her upright until she squirmed and searched with her feet to find the ground.

  “I did it. Beast, I did it!”

  “That you did, Princess. I am proud of you, and you are all the more deserving of my gift. Collect yourself, and we will go.”

  “Thank you. I’m ready now.”

  He gestured for her to pass ahead of him, and they traveled together across the grounds.

  “Beast, why are there no portraits of the royal family in the castle?”

  “Why do you ask? And how did you come up with such a question when we are outdoors?”

  “Oh, I don’t know,” she replied. “I thought of it much earlier, but it didn’t come to me again until now. Everywhere I went at home, there seemed to be paintings of my family. But there are none here. Is it an Oclander custom?”

  “Yes,” Alistair replied. “Oclanders do not sit for portraits frequently, and when they do, they decorate only the familial residence.”

  “The fourth floor,” she guessed.

  “Aye.”

  Ana let the subject drop, but he caught her studying him as their path traveled from the courtyard and took a curve around the castle.

  “Does my size no longer frighten you?” he asked.

  “Not so much anymore, I don’t think. When I was a girl, it took me some time to get used to the horses; they were so big compared to me, but they aren’t to blame for that and neither are you. You are what you are.” She pressed her lips together and clasped her hands.