by Sable Sylvan
Hannah went over to the lightboxes filled with shoes and pulled out a nude pair with a red bottom. “These are perfect,” said Hannah. “Try them on.”
Rose looked at the shoes: they were stilettos with a rounded toe. “They’re a little...high,” said Rose.
“Just a second, then,” said Hannah, and she went and found the same pair, but kitten heel height. “Can you manage these?”
Rose gulped. “I’ll try,” she admitted. “Is that all I need to wear?”
“No, there’s one more thing,” said Hannah, and she went over to the island countertop in the center of the dressing room. She pulled open a drawer and brought out a slim black box. “He’s asked that you wear...this.”
Hannah opened the box. Inside was a simple necklace, made of silver, with a red rose in the center, a rose so deep in its redness it was almost black. Rose took the necklace out and fingered the fine chain before putting the necklace on. Hannah adjusted it so the rose sat in the center of Rose’s collarbones. “There, you look perfect,” said Hannah with a smile.
Hannah led Rose out of the dressing room and to a part of the house Rose hadn’t been to yet. While she’d had her brunch in an informal breakfast nook area, there was a formal dining room in the manor. Hannah opened the door to the dining room, letting Rose in after her.
“Sir, your dinner guest,” said Hannah to a man at the head of the long formal dining table. In a dark suit with a crimson tie, there was no mistaking the man for anyone but Beast, and even from across the table his animal magnetism attracted Rose. Like most of the house, the formal dining room had a large pane glass window that overlooked the lake, and the woods were dark now, the lights of the mill dimming as the foremen put away their paperwork and headed home to their kin.
“Very good,” said Beast as Hannah led Rose to a place next to him. Only two places were set for the evening, his and hers. “Thank you, Hannah, that will be all.”
Beast looked over Rose and the bear inside him was driven into a fury. The bear had been roaring since the moment he met Rose, telling him to take her in the car and then in the rose room, but he had held the bear back, keeping himself away in his study, hoping that keeping himself busy with work would make thoughts of her dissipate, but that hadn’t happened, and he’d kept the dinner date with her...but watching her walk into the hall, wearing those clothes, had made the bear more furious than ever.
“Hello...?” said Rose, pulling Beast out of his trance.
“I’m so sorry, where were my manners?” asked Beast, taking Rose’s hand into his and lifting it up to his mouth, kissing the back of her hand gently. “How has your visit been so far, Rose?”
Servants walked in through the doors to the dining room and interrupted the moment. Beast put Rose’s hand down gently as the servants placed trays of food on the table.
Rose had been dumbstruck about Beast touching her after he’d ignored her for most of the visit, or else she would’ve pulled her hand away. Once she realized what he’d done, she crossed her brows. “It’s been fine,” she said curtly, looking over the food that had been brought out. While she had been fed well at brunch, this meal was much more fancy. “I’ve had some trouble sleeping...I heard a wild animal outside. The company is good. Hannah is very nice. If only I could say the same about all the bear shifters in this house.”
“Have you been keeping yourself busy?” asked Beast, ignoring the insult even though the bear was roaring, telling him not to take that from the curvy woman. One of the staff members opened the wine and poured two glasses, placing one by each of the diners.
“I’ve been in the library all day,” said Rose. “I suppose you don’t spend much time there.” There were two plates of appetizers that had been brought out, each identical, each containing a few appetizers. Rose picked up a jalapeno pepper skewered by a toothpick and popped the popper into her mouth and chewed. Although the presentation was fancy, at the end of the day, a popper was a popper. It was filled with a rich blend of cheeses, white and sweet, balancing out the sourness and bitterness of the spicy jalapeno. The outside of the popper was encrusted not only in panko bread crumbs but in bits of real smoked bacon, and the bacon lent a smokiness to the popper that made it taste more earthy.
“I would spend more time there if I could,” said Beast diplomatically, eating one of his own appetizers, doing his best to focus only on the positive and to ignore anything Rose said to try and annoy him. “Did anything in my collection strike your fancy?”
“I’m reading Jane Eyre right now,” said Rose curtly. She popped another appetizer into her mouth: this one was a caprese kabob. A small ball of mozzarella blanketed with a basil leaf was nestled next to a small cherry tomato, also wrapped with a basil leaf. Rose put both balls into her mouth before chewing, letting the flavors of the miniature salad mix in her mouth
“An interesting choice...a personal favorite of yours?” asked Beast, swirling the wine in his glass before taking it in, hoping that the alcohol would help put the bear to sleep.
“No, I’ve never read Jane Eyre before, but I’d heard good things about it,” said Rose, sipping the wine. The white wine was light, perfect for summer, and nothing like the box wine she’d had on occasion with her friends from the restaurant. That wine was overly sweet and tasted like juice that had gone sour. The wine she was sharing with Beast was crisp and dry, but the acidity was the perfect palate cleanser between appetizers. She tried the next appetizer on her dish, a small quiche, another savory delight that tantalized her taste buds. The egg and cheese was fresh, the key to a good quiche, and the light crust was buttery. The quiche had small bits of scallions and bacon that gave the quiche additional dimension.
“It’s one of my personal favorites,” said Beast with a smile. Watching Rose eat made him feel, well, happy. The fact she was accepting his hospitality and the food he’d placed before her made the bear in him settle down for the first time in a long time. Being with Rose at the table just felt...natural. “You aren’t much like the protagonist, though.”
“Aren’t I?” asked Rose, raising a brow as she finished off her wine.
“How so?” asked Beast as the staff came in with the entrees, placing a plate in front of Beast and another in front of Rose before refilling the wine glasses.
“I’m...not exactly an orphan, you know that,” said Rose, picking up her fork and starting on the entrée. The fish was dark on the outside but white on the inside. Rose savored the taste of the smoked fish. “But I guess I’m still stuck with a beast in a mansion.”
“Rochester wasn’t a beast, he was misunderstood,” said Beast, finding himself more filled with passion at Rose’s cutting remark than he wanted to be.
“Sure, I guess he never blackmailed Jane into staying with him,” said Rose. “But he still had a house full of secrets, like someone I know.”
“Do you think I blackmailed you into staying here?” asked Beast, balling his fist by his thigh to keep his shift at bay. “I have secrets, Rose, but is there a man worth his salt who doesn’t have secret?”
“I think it’d be easier to find a man who wouldn’t put another man away for plucking a frikkin’ flower,” said Rose, putting down her fork.
“You don’t know anything about what your father did,” said Beast.
“So tell me,” ordered Rose. “What’s the deal with the rose, Beast? Why are there roses all over this mansion, and why did you punish my father so harshly for taking a single flower?”
“It’s none of your business,” said Beast.
“It’s my father’s business, so it’s my business,” said Rose.
“It isn’t your father’s business,” said Beast. “I bet he has no idea what he was doing.”
“And so you were going to have him arrested? So you fired him?” asked Rose.
“Your father knew better that to take the rose,” said Beast. “Whether or not he knew why taking it was forbidden, I don’t know. But ignorance is no excuse. I didn’t get to where I am
today by letting people do whatever they want.”
“So you do whatever you want, and it’s fine?” asked Rose. “And somehow, it’s different?”
“It is different,” roared Beast, slamming his fist on the table, hard enough to make the table shake. The man was gone, and the bear was in control, unraveling all the progress that the man had made with Rose. “It is different, Rose. And I thought you were, too.”
“Don’t you raise your voice at me,” said Rose getting up from the table. “I agreed to have dinner with you. I did not agree to be yelled at. I did not agree to be treated like this. I did not agree to be berated or scolded like a child.”
“You did agree to have dinner with me, so sit down,” ordered Beast.
Beast’s words hit Rose like a ton of bricks. He was right. She was here because of the agreement. Her father’s freedom was at stake, and while Beast was upset, she wasn’t in any actual danger. Rose closed her eyes for a moment, took a breath, and looked at Beast. “I don’t need to sit down, you need to calm down,” said Rose. “Take deep breathes. Count backwards from ten. I don’t care what you do to calm down, but you need to do it.”
“You wouldn’t say that if you knew how I calmed down,” said Beast softly, looking out the window.
Rose sat back down and ate her fish in silence while Beast looked out at the lake. It was hard to tell where the lake ended and the sky began from the angle they were at, as at night, the lake reflected the sky as perfectly as a mirror would, and the lake looked like it was filled with pinpoints of light, stars that looked like they had fallen and could be scooped out of the lake by fishermen with nets or children with cupped hands.
Beast turned back and finished his plate in silence, unable to meet Rose’s eyes. The staff came in and replaced the empty dishes with two dishes of dessert. A small, brown cake, with chocolate drizzle was nestled in each plate.
Rose pressed the spoon against her cake, revealing a liquid core of molten batter. She put some batter on her spoon and tasted the cake, letting the liquid melt the cake in her mouth. The cake itself was dark chocolate, but the batter had notes of orange in it, both the zest and the fruit, like marmalade. Rose didn’t dare break the silence with Beast, and once she was done with her dessert, she left the spoon on the plate and watched Beast.
Beast didn’t look up at Rose when he heard the clink of her spoon against the dessert plate. “You’re excused,” he said gruffly.
Rose didn’t need to be told twice. She went up to her room by herself. By the bay window, there were two new additions. The first was a white end table with a drawer. The second was what was on top of the drawer. There was a pink phone, pale pink, with a cord that was hooked into a wall. Rose picked up the phone and she heard a dial tone. She punched in her home phone number and waited for an answer.
“Hello?” said Rose’s father.
“Dad? Is that you?” asked Rose. She started to tear up, finally crying after the stressful evening she’d spent with Beast. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, everything here is fine,” said Rose’s father. “The girls are just out doing, well, whatever they do.”
“But the charges...were they formally dropped against you?” asked Rose.
“Well...a lady came by with paperwork this morning and I signed some stuff...and I’m sorry, Rose, I was told not to talk to you about it,” said Rose’s father. “I can assure you we’re absolutely fine, though, and there’s no need to worry. You’ll see us at the end of the month, and everything will go back to normal.”
“Paperwork?” asked Rose, furrowing her brow.
“Rose, I’ve probably already said too much,” said Rose’s father.
“Dad...do you know who that man was, who dropped you off?” asked Rose. “Do you know his name?”
“Sorry, Rose, I can’t...I think that asking me questions will just get us both in trouble,” said Rose’s father. “It’s late, past midnight. You should really go to bed.”
“Okay, Dad...” said Rose. “I’m glad you’re okay. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Rose,” said Rose’s father, and then all she heard was a click.
Rose kept holding the phone for a few more seconds before putting it back into the holder. Her father had never been one to keep secrets from her before, but she couldn’t ask her sisters to betray their father’s trust and tell her what the deal was. She took the phone and put it in the end table’s empty drawer before she opened up the walk in closet and put the shoes away, then the dress, and finally, she changed into more comfortable undergarments and pajamas before slipping into bed and away to sleep...but not before she heard the same roar outside her window as she had the night before, the roar of some animal in the forest, crying out into the darkness.
Chapter Four
One Week Later
The next week, Rose finished Jane Eyre, but she moved on to studying about one subject that had her interest piqued more than any other: roses. She got her hands on as many reference books as possible about roses: how they’re cultivated, famous roses in fiction, and roses as symbols were all topics that she poured hours into, but at the end of the week, she was no closer to uncovering Beast’s mysterious fascination with her namesake flower than she had been before. Rose hadn’t called her family since that night, but every night, she’d heard the roar of a beast outside her windows. Hannah assured her that the woods were populated with many animals, but Rose had lived in Montana here whole life and had never heard roars like that before.
Rose received a ping from her phone. Hannah had set her up with a smartphone but it didn’t get a connection up in the rural mountains. The phone allowed Rose to ping Hannah and ask for things like tea, and allowed Rose to receive alerts about meals. The message Hannah sent was to let Rose know that her outfit for the dinner was ready.
Rose put down her books, where they’d stay until the next day, as the staff left her books and notes out where she left them each night. Rose made the way to her room and to the walk in closet. Just like the week before, Hannah had laid out an outfit for Rose. This one was bright red, with a rose brocade pattern embroidered onto the fabric. The shoes were black, with a matching brocade pattern and a red sole, and the necklace that had been placed for her was the same as the one from the last week. The silver scrollwork was like a nest for the red rose cabochon which glimmered in the boudoir light. By now, Rose knew her away around the house and wasn’t supervised constantly by Hannah, although they often had their meals together, and she slipped into the dress, not needing any help, as the dress had a side zipper.
The dress was fitted at the bodice but flowed around her with all the roundness of a circle skirt, with a fit-and-flare cut with a few pleated sections. The brocade fabric was thick and gave the dress structure. The jewelry and the shoes matched the dress perfectly. Rose gave her hair a brushing before she headed out and down the halls to the dining room, the low heels making a satisfying clicking sound on the hardwood floors.
A servant opened the door to the dining room, as if they were expecting Rose the whole time. Rose walked in and found that Beast was looking out the large glass window rather than sitting at the end of the table, as he had been the last time. Beast was in one of his black suits, a black that let off no light, as the fabric was absolutely matte, and he was wearing another of his crimson ties, although this one had a waffle weave fabric, and his shirt looked to be a different shade of cream.
Beast turned as Rose entered and couldn’t help himself from smiling. “You look amazing,” he said as he approached her.
“Thank you,” said Rose, standing as still as a deer in the woods, a deer waiting to see what another animal might do, a deer assessing whether the other animal was friend or foe, another fragile animal...or a beastly predator. The events of last week had haunted her waking thoughts and her deepest dreams, replaying the moment when Beast had slammed his fist on the table, over and over.
The bear in Beast knew Rose was scared, could sense it from her body langu
age and from the pheromones she let out, and Beast held the bear at bay, keeping control. Beast stopped walking towards Rose. “I have a special treat in store for tonight,” said Beast, walking towards the head of the table. Rose followed behind and sat at her usual place.
One of the serving staff brought out a bucket of champagne and two glasses and another brought out a tray filled with ice, a small bowl floated atop, with a set of small pancakes, crème fraîche, and other small morsels. One of the staff opened a bottle of the champagne and poured two flutes. The staff left without a word after placing the dishes.
“And how has your week been?” asked Beast, sipping the champagne.
“Fine,” answered Rose before she sipped her bubbly as well. She had never had champagne. The sparkling wine tantalized her, and the flavors were surprisingly crisp and sweep, but with a dark element she didn’t quite recognize.
“Do you like the wine?” asked Beast.
“I do,” said Rose. “Why is it pink?”
“It’s rosé champagne,” said Beast. “This one was produced via the saignée method.”
“Saignée...?” asked Rose.
“A red grape is turned into a champagne by letting the grape skins ferment in the tank, leading to the grapes bleeding, saignée in French,” explained Beast. “And that is what gives the wine its rose colored hue. I chose this wine in particular because it pairs well with the caviar.” Beast motioned to the trays of toast points and small pancakes.
“I’ve actually never had champagne, or caviar,” admitted Rose. “How does one eat caviar?”
“It’s quite simple, I’ll show you,” said Beast. He took one of the small plates on the tray and a pancake, putting crème fraîche on the pancake as well as some butter on a toast point, and then used a small silvery, iridescent spoon to put a dollop of caviar onto both the pancake and the point, before placing the silver colored spoon on the saucer, filled with caviar.