Beauty and Two Beasts: MMF Bisexual Romance

by A. Anders

  “You have been so generous, Deary. This old woman is wondering if she can ask for something else.”

  Belle looked at the old woman sympathetically. “If there’s something else I can do for you, I will. What else is it that you need?”

  “Well,” the old woman began. “It has been a long time since an old woman like me has slept in a real bed. Do you think that there is a bed in your house that I can rest my weary bones in?”

  Belle looked around her home knowing what she would find. Across the room was her father fast asleep in one bed. Next to it was another that was free. Hers. Belle looked back at the woman and imagined the hard life that she must’ve had.

  Again feeling sympathy for her and genuinely wanting to do whatever she could to help, she said, “I have a bed that you would be very comfortable in. If you would like, you can sleep there for the night.”

  The old woman cocked one eye open looking at Belle astonished. She almost looked upset. In a slightly less fragile tone, the old woman spoke to Belle again. “Why? Why would a young girl like you offer an old woman like me your bed?”

  Without needing a moment to think about it, Belle replied. “Because I have one to offer.”

  The old woman only looked more frustrated after that. Pressing her lips together staring at Belle, she eventually conceded. As she did, her face again twisted into that of a gracious old woman.

  “For that, this old woman thanks you. In exchange, I can offer you one wish. It can be anything that you want. I might seem like an old woman, but there is much more to me than you can see.”

  It was Belle’s turn to look at the old woman strangely. What was going on? Was the old woman some sort of witch or fairy? Had she invited a wood nymph into her home?

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You have been kind to me and now I’m offering you kindness in return,” the old woman said. “Name anything you want and I will give it to you. But choose wisely because you will only get one,” the old woman said with an almost devious smile.

  Belle could barely believe it. She had heard about women like this. Stories were full of magical creatures that granted wishes after being offered acts of kindness. Belle could hardly believe her luck.

  With building excitement, Belle looked around the room. She thought about her father. After that, she thought about the Beast. Finally, when her mind settled, she thought about the old woman.

  “With my wish, I wish that you have as much food as you need for the rest of your life,” Belle said confidently.

  “That I have as much food as I need for the rest my life?” The old woman asked disbelievingly.

  “Yes. I know what it’s like to be hungry. And as long as I’m with my father, I will be fine. But you wander through the forest. How many times have you gone without something to eat? With my wish, I am wishing that you never have to feel hungry again,” Belle said conclusively.

  The old woman stared at Belle shocked. Slowly a tear rolled down the old woman’s cheek. She reached up her gnarled hand and wiped it away. The old woman, in all of her years, had never been so moved by someone’s act of kindness.

  “Why wouldn’t you use the wish for yourself?” The old woman asked confused.

  “I am here, living in this lovely home with my Papa. What more do I need than this?”

  “Then why not ask for something for your father?”

  Belle looked over at her sleeping father.

  “He has everything that he wants. As long as he has what he needs to make his clocks and to get lost in his work, he doesn’t need anything else. The only thing that would make him happier was if I could find a way to better fit in with the people from this town.”

  “Then why not ask for me to change the people in your village to better accept you?” The old woman asked.

  “Because the people in this village might be small-minded, but they are happy with who they are. Who am I to change them to be more like me? If I did, wouldn’t I be doing to them the same thing that they want to do to me?”

  “Then, why didn’t you ask me to grant you love?” The old woman continued.

  “I have felt love,” Belle told her. “I have felt more love in my short lifetime than many people ever will. Sure, I lost Trudeau. But I got to experience what it was like to be with him.

  “And perhaps things didn’t work out the way I wished they would have with the Beast, but the Beast found the love of his life. All I can wish for him is happiness. And happiness is what he will have with Captain Bernard.”

  Satisfied that Belle’s answers were truthful, the old woman looked away in thought. “Then, for you, I will offer something special. A secret.”

  Belle immediately perked up. “A secret? About what?” She asked intrigued.

  “A secret about the man you love.”

  “Do you mean the Beast?”

  “Yes, the Beast.”

  Belle stepped in closer. She was captivated. There was still so much that she didn’t understand about what happened.

  Why had Captain Bernard called the Beast Prince Renaud? If the Beast was the Prince, then who was the man in her dreams? Had it all just been a figment of her imagination or had anything that the Prince had told her been real?

  “What secret do you have concerning the Beast?” Belle asked suddenly needing to know.

  “All of them, Deary.”

  “Then tell me.”

  The old woman leaned towards Belle. “I was the one who cursed the Prince.”

  Belle thought about what the old woman said and then remembered the story the Beast had told her. “Wait, the old woman who turned the Prince and his court into objects? That was you?”

  “That was me,” the old woman said proudly.

  “Why? Why would you do that?”

  “To teach him a lesson,” the old woman told her. “The Prince wasn’t nearly as generous as you. Simply asking for food, he struck me. I decided to teach him what he couldn’t learn any other way.”

  “And what was that?”

  “I guess you could say it was to be generous and to love,” the old woman said pointing her cane at Belle sternly. She calmed herself and then continued.

  “But I couldn’t just leave it at that. He had struck me. Curses can be broken and I was angry. I needed to think of something that would prevent him from ever breaking the curse. I had to add something that he would never figure out.”

  “That he would never figure out?”

  “Yes. But I will tell you that secret now if you want me to,” the old woman offered temptingly.

  “Please,” Belle begged. “If you would like to thank me for my generosity, thank me by telling me that.”

  The old woman smiled a crooked smile. She leaned in to Belle again. “First, you see, I made the curse that all of the humanity from the people in the castle would slowly drain out into the buds of a rosebush.”

  “The rosebush,” Belle said remembering where the Prince and Beast had taken her.

  “You’ve seen it?” The old woman asked proudly. “After the last bud has fully bloomed, the curse will be forever.”

  “But how do you break the curse?” Belle asked determined.

  “That is the second part of my secret. Don’t you wonder if the prince from your dreams is real? Don’t you wonder why your Captain calls the Beast by your prince’s name? Well, your dreams with the Prince aren’t dreams. They are real. And your Captain calls the Beast by your prince’s name because your prince and the beast have been the same person all along.”

  Belle looked at the old woman confused. “The same person? But they seem to hate each other. I don’t understand.”

  “That’s just it. You don’t understand. The Prince doesn’t understand. The Beast doesn’t understand. No one understands.” the old woman said excitedly revealing her villainy.

  “I split them in two. I put everything the Prince hated about himself into the Beast and then told everyone that the curse can’t be broken until the Prince and t
he Beast find love.” The old woman laughed clapping her hands.

  “Wait, I still don’t understand,” Belle said struggling to put it together.

  “Don’t you see? I tricked them. The love that can break the curse isn’t the love that you might have for the Beast or that the Beast might have for his Captain. No. The love that is needed to break the spell is between the Prince and the part of himself that he hates the most, the Beast.”

  The old woman cackled with delight. It was enough to tell Belle that this wasn’t a kindly old woman at all. This was some type of trickster. The Prince and his court were going to be cursed forever if she didn’t warn them about what the old woman’s words actually meant. She needed to do whatever it took to help them.

  “Were you also the one who blocked out the sun making the Dark Forest cold?” Belle asked the old woman.

  “That was a part of the curse, Deary.”

  “My father said that once he left the castle, he couldn’t find his way out. Was that also you?”

  “That was me,” she said with a toothy smile.

  “So if you choose to prevent me from returning to the castle to warn them, I will never be able to?”

  “If the wolves don’t get you, I can make you walk in circles forever.”

  Belle thought for a moment. She needed to get back to them.

  “Since I can’t return to the Prince without your permission, I ask you now, how can I return to him?”

  “You want to get back to the castle and warn your Prince?”

  “I do. I beg that you allow me to.”

  “And why should I?” The old woman asked pleased with herself.

  Belle thought for another moment.

  “For the same reason that you let my father and me go. There had to be a reason why my father was turning into a clock while I spent much longer there but did not. And how was it that my father could be lost in the woods for so long and then suddenly wake up to find the way out was right in front of him. Me finding the castle, my father finding the castle, even Captain Bernard’s finding the castle, these weren’t coincidences, were they?

  “I ask you to allow me to go back to the castle and help the Prince for the same reason you have done everything else.”

  The old woman stared at Belle as if she had been discovered.

  “That was you who did all those things, wasn’t it?” Belle asked confidently.

  “You are not as foolish as I’ve thought. I will let you go back to the castle but it will come at a cost.”

  “What is that cost? I promise that I will pay it.”

  “It is that you become a part of the curse. If you go back, your father will forget you. You will become a piece of furniture in the castle just like the rest of them. And you won’t be able to talk to the Beast, only the Prince.”

  Belle thought about this for a moment. Would she be able to leave her father on his own? Did her father even need her? If it wasn’t for her he might be happy in this little town. His life might even be better without her. At least that was what Belle told herself to give herself permission to go.

  “Tell me something,” Belle began.

  “Yes, Deary?”

  “Will I be like the thin man with a gold mustache? Will I be a dream?”

  “Yes. You will be a ghost haunting the castle.”

  “But, will I be able to appear to Captain Bernard in his dreams.”

  The old woman suddenly became serious. Staring at Belle like she had been found out, she replied. “Yes, you will.”

  “Then, I accept.”

  Without another word, the old woman lifted her cane and circled it over her head. When she lowered it, it was with force. And when it hit the ground, a boom shook the room sweeping Belle off her feet.

  Chapter 19

  When Belle opened her eyes again, she was back in the castle. Standing in the middle of the library, she looked around. There were four people around the room removing books, dusting them, and then putting them back. As a young woman looked over her shoulder, she spotted Belle. With a gasp, she exited the room.

  “Excuse me,” Belle called after her.

  The young woman didn’t stop. Belle was about to approach one of the other three when the young woman returned with someone familiar.

  “Mr. Kandel?” Belle said acknowledging the thin man with the gold-plated mustache.

  “Belle?” The uptight looking man looked even more uptight. “You’re not supposed to be here. What are you doing here? Oh no, none of this is right.”

  “I’m here to see the Prince,” Belle told him.

  “But you can’t see the Prince.”

  “Why not?”

  Mr. Kandel looked knowingly at each of the servants gathering around them. “You wouldn’t understand. I’m afraid that there is a curse on this castle and we don’t have much time to break it.”

  Belle became excited. “Yes. That’s why I came.”

  “That’s why you came? What does that mean?”

  “I chose to come here. I am a part of the curse now,” Belle told him. “I’m just like all of you.”

  One of the servants gasped.

  “No, this isn’t right at all. Are you saying that you aren’t asleep in the castle?” Mr. Kandel asked.

  “No. I’m afraid I’m not. The old woman who cursed the castle cursed me as well. But I have information for the Prince about how to break the curse. I must see him. I know about the rosebush and I know that we don’t have much time.”

  Mr. Kandel stepped into action. “Gather everyone immediately,” he told the young servant who had retrieved him. “And you, fetch the Prince,” he told another. Mr. Kandel turned back to Belle. “So you know about the Beast having to fall in love?”

  “I do,” Belle replied.

  “I was hoping that the Beast would fall in love with you. I have to admit that I never suspected it would be the Captain. I’m sorry. If I would’ve known, I wouldn’t have pushed so hard to get you and the Beast together.”

  Belle looked at him surprised. “Are you saying that you are the reason that I fell in love with the Beast?”

  Mr. Kandel smiled proudly. “Well, not entirely. I’m not that good. But I did my best. I have to be honest, I don’t know why it didn’t work.”

  “I do. First of all, the Beast wasn’t in love with me. He had always loved Captain Bernard, even when they were kids.”

  “Yes, that was a surprise.”

  “Second,” Belle continued, “the old woman who cursed the castle tricked you.”

  “She tricked us?” Mr. Kandel asked.

  “I’ll tell you all about it, but not before the Prince arrives,” she assured him.

  Mr. Kandel led Belle through the many hallways into the music room. As they stood there, two dozen people entered.

  “This is Mrs. Stich, the castle seamstress,” Mr. Kandel told Belle.

  Belle looked at her delighted. “Were you the one who made all of those beautiful dresses?”

  The thin woman smiled. “You flatter me, my lady.”

  “Not at all. The yellow dress was my favorite. It was so beautiful.”

  Mrs. Stich giggled. “It was my favorite too. But it was such a pleasure to once again make a dress for a beautiful girl like you.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Stich.”

  Mr. Kandel then gestured towards a short round woman. “And this is Mrs. Potts, the cook.”

  Belle moved to her and took her hand. “I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed the meals you made.”

  “It was a pleasure, dear. The Beast was always so bland in his tastes. Being able to cook for you allowed me to mix things up. It made me feel alive again.”

  “Well, you’re cooking made my stay wonderful, Mrs. Potts,” Belle told her.

  It was then that Belle heard feet shuffling on the wooden floor. She looked up and saw him. It was Prince Renaud. He was every bit as good looking as she remembered. She felt her pulse quicken just looking at him.

  “Is she here
?” The Prince said scanning the room excitedly for Belle.

  When he saw her, he froze. Their eyes met and both felt a lump in their throat. The Prince looked at her with such longing that it almost brought tears to Belle’s eyes. It took everything in her to remember why she was there. Pulling herself together, she began to address everyone.