Mrs. Hausmeister stared at her, mouth opening and closing. No words came out, and she just shook her head. Waving at the table, she said, “Your lunch is here. I hope you like roast beef.”
Turning, the woman started toward the door. Roz watched her disappear. The butler stood just outside. Door closing, the lock clicked.
“Great.”
She’d have to wait hours for the cook to return. She hadn’t asked any of the questions she’d really wanted to, and it had her stomping her foot in frustration.
“Why did I have to pick a fight? Why couldn’t I have let her keep her delusions? Next time, I’m shutting up.”
The only option she had was to eat. Roast beef did sound delicious. Taking the lid off the plate, she sucked in a deep breath of the best scent ever.
“If nothing else, this stay will provide me with some of the best food I’ve ever eaten.”
Taking a seat, she pulled the tray close and picked up a fork. For a second, she stared at it. An idea began to form in her mind, but for now, she was going to eat.
It melted in her mouth. She scarfed down another bite. Mashed potatoes with gravy and a fresh salad rounded it off. Every morsel tasted like heaven.
“Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to get them to let their guard down,” she considered, licking the plate. “I could do with a few hearty meals. Plus, more intel. Yes, I think that would work.”
Licking her fork, she bent it back and forth. The light bounced from one tine to the next. She noticed there wasn’t a knife, butter or otherwise, on her plate. Picking up the spoon, she looked between the two, her plan forming.
“However, there’s something to be said for being able to escape when needed. This might be good for future reference,” she whispered.
Smiling, she finished eating.
17
When the clock struck two, Beast decided his fears had been a bit premature.
Perhaps she would listen to common sense and stay at the castle. The tiny squeak of a
door made him realize he had hoped too soon. Waiting a few minutes to allow her time to make it to the stairs, Beast stood and made his way into the hall. He followed a few steps behind her.
At the front door, Roz tried to open it but found the heavy door unwilling to budge. He watched as she ensured it was unlocked and tried again. After three more efforts, he wondered when she’d give up.
By that time, he was holding back a chuckle, which normally would have been easy to do and wouldn't have sounded as loud as it did now. In his altered state, he sounded more like a stuffed pig squealing. The sound was unappealing and embarrassing.
So, it wasn't a surprise when she turned around and glared at him through the semi-darkness. A table lamp provided a soft glow at the bottom of the stairs. It had been there for years. A cautionary for those who would stumble down the stairs in the dark, because royalty didn't sleep any better than their public did.
“Going somewhere?” His tone was calm, bored.
“No, I came down for a midnight snack.” Her tone was snarky.
“Well, I can take you on a tour since you’re obviously not familiar with where kitchens are normally located in a castle.”
“I want to go home,” she stated with gritted teeth.
“I wanted a pony for my tenth birthday. I got a rifle. We all want what we can't have.”
Thrown off, Roz asked, “You wanted a pony when you were ten? Didn't you have a barn full of horses? Mrs. Hausmeister said you’re king.”
“Well, ponies were unusual. I thought it would be very unique to have a miniature horse to care for and ride. My father didn't see it that way, however, and I was presented with a very large rifle. Apparently killing was a much more fascinating sport.”
“Hmm,” Roz whispered, and stood staring up at him. She had heard the sarcasm and unhappiness in his voice.
“Is it true you’re the reason for this curse on our land?”
She certainly didn't hold back.
“You ask a lot of questions,” was all he said.
“You don't answer many of them,” she replied.
He shrugged. She glared.
We are definitely going to become friends, he thought. Since she hasn't run screaming from the castle, I have reason to hope. Of course, she couldn't get out, but that’s a minor detail.
Sighing, “Well, would you like something to eat since you are awake and eager to ask questions that are none of your business?”
“None of my business? You have me held here as prisoner, and the entire town has suffered from your selfishness! I think you owe us all an explanation and an apology. Have you not noticed how life is for everyone over the last ninety-nine years? Are you really that heartless?”
Answering these questions wasn't going to get them anywhere. He had answers she wouldn't want to hear. He also had answers he wasn't prepared to give.
“Would you prefer to go to back to bed?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Of course,” he told her. However, they wouldn't be the choices she wanted.
Sighing again, she stomped up the stairs until she got to the third one past him and was now his height. Turning, she glared at him.
“You are going to regret keeping me here,” she promised.
“Really? And here I thought you'd be such pleasant company.” His tone was still calm but held a dry rumble to it. “By the way, how did you get out?”
“Like I’d tell you,” she snapped.
Huffing, she turned and trudged up the stairs before disappearing. He waited a few minutes more and heard the slam of her door. She must have put a lot of arm in it since he was still on the main floor, and their bedrooms were on the third. Disappointed that she hadn't taken him up on the offer to eat and talk, he climbed back to his room.
It was going to be another very long night.
18
The next morning, Beast told Buford, “I’m going to eat in the dining room.”
Buford's lips flopped open and shut before he finally stuttered out a, “S-s-sire?”
“Yes, you heard me correctly,” Beast told him with a sigh. “You'd think this change was horrifying.”
“Only out of character, sir.”
Sighing, Beast nodded. “We’ve already had this discussion. Call me Ezra. I’m eating in the dining room like a normal… human, and I’d appreciate it if you’d ask Mrs. Hausmeister to invite Roz to join me.”
“I see. I’ll make sure she asks.”
“Thank you.”
Buford nodded, turned to leave the room, but first stopped and looked back at the Beast as though expecting him to change his mind.
Making a shooing motion, Beast continued to dress as the door closed behind Buford.
Half an hour later, Beast sat at the very long oak table with matching, sturdy chairs. A buffet sat along the wall outside the kitchen doors. Smells of fresh coffee and bacon lured him into his seat as Buford placed a plateful in front of him.
Roz entered and sat at the table dressed in the same outfit as the day before. As she sat, he said, “Mrs. Hausmeister can find other clothes for you.”
“Oh really? I wasn't aware there was a dress code.”
Score one for her. I stuck my foot directly in that one.
“No, I just meant, if you needed something, she could help you...” he drifted off.
Her sneer and narrowed eyes were not welcoming. “In case you forgot, I would like to go home soon. I will wear this when I leave here.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
When she looked down at the plate Buford placed before her and didn't answer, Beast knew she hadn’t. “Well, would you like a tour today?”
“A tour?” Her eyes snapped to his.
“I thought you might enjoy seeing the whole castle. You know, for when you all decide to crash my happy abode again.”
Rolling her eyes, Roz drank her coffee and ignored him for several minutes. Beast followed her example and ate without speaking. Whe
n they were finished, Roz stood, looked at him with one quirked brow and arms folded.
“I assume you want the tour?”
“Well, I have nothing better to do since I'm a prisoner.”
“If you want me to show you to the dungeons, I would be more than happy to do so.”
She shut up and didn't say a word as they walked from the dining room side by side. Roz waited for the right moment. He held out his arm for her to take, but she shook her head.
Clasping his hands in front, the beast nodded. He led her through the hall and pointed at the doors along the way. Naming them, Beast watched her out of his peripheral vision.
“This door houses a bathroom. If we’d turned left, I could have shown you the kitchens. There’s the door leading to the ballroom. My parents liked those sorts of things.”
Roz had the butter knife aimed at his heart with precision. Beast grabbed her arm and twisted it, he took the knife from her and stuffed it into an inside pocket. Slamming into him, she took the spoon out and stabbed it toward his eye with her other hand.
He didn’t let go of her right hand and snatched the spoon with his left. Arms twisted and overlapping each other, he stared down at her. Snarling, she stamped on his foot, but he didn’t even flinch.
“You may want to give up,” he advised.
“I've never been a quitter.”
“Good to know you have high standards.” He released her.
The fork almost got him in the appendix.
“Really? I haven't attempted to eat you or lock you in the dungeon, and this is what I get?”
“No, you've just left us all to starve and waste away and die over the last nine decades or so. We can't bond based on that oversight and be best friends forever.”
She had a point. Embarrassed, he cleared his throat and put his hands behind his back.
“Well, I have my reasons.”
“Being selfish isn't a reason. It's an excuse.”
“You have no idea what you're talking about, and it's rude to call someone selfish when you have no idea what really happened.”
“You're right. Explain.”
Well, he couldn't explain it to her. After all, she was right. Mostly.
“Through here is the library,” he said instead and steered her into one of the front rooms.
The library was more like three rooms in one and stuffed with books from floor to ceiling. The stairs to the right led up to three separate balconies which ran the whole room and allowed anyone to reach the highest book.
Beast watched as Roz stopped and looked around the room with the widest eyes ever.
“Oh. My. Goodness,” she said, “You have a library? How many books are in here?”
Finally, a question he could answer, “There are somewhere over ten thousand. My father loved to collect every book he could get his hands upon, in any language he could manage.”
“Your father?” she squinted at him as though realizing, for the first time, he was actually a human being with parents. Or he used to be.
“Yes, my mother got him started. She added to his collection when they married. You never saw a happier pair than when they were in here arguing over books.”
“Arguing?”
“Yes,” he smiled before he thought better of it.
His fangs drew her attention, and he snapped his lips closed. Moving forward, he went to one wall and pulled a book off. “This was a favorite of theirs. Hamlet. They used to argue over the mental stability and stupidity of Hamlet.”
“Really?”
“They also would read the passages with funny accents and try to outdo the other.” He smiled again at the memory.
Smile crashing, he missed his parents with a terrible ache in his chest. It had been such a long time since he'd thought about them. They had been like a myth to him for so long now.
Some days, he couldn’t remember what they looked like, and he used to wander into his father's study to see the pictures of them hanging there. Those were the days when he felt all alone. Now, they were hidden away, and he refused to take them out. Swallowing, he shrugged his shoulder at the memory and jerked himself to the current moment.
“I heard they were wonderful rulers,” her voice was soft.
He shrugged again.
“They were,” he whispered.
“Except for the whole pony-rifle incident,” she joked.
Surprised, he glanced over at her and laughed. Naturally, it came out more like the growl of a lion, but he found her smiling too. For a second.
“Father didn't really classify it as a ruler issue.”
She nodded and looked about the room. “I could stay here all day. I've never seen so many books in one room. We don't even have half as many in town.”
“Really?”
“Of course. The selection is limited. I don't know what happened to the others, but I suspect they were used for fires when wood was scarce.”
“Oh.” His conscience sparked within him.
“This is amazing. Do you read often?”
“I read every day. Not much to do when no one wants to pay a social call.”
Roz bit her lip and gazed at him. Her eyes were blacker than the night sky. The ebony sheen of them made him wish to hide himself. There was a feeling that they could see straight through him to the darkest parts, and the thought made him blink and clear his throat.
“Well, maybe they would if they didn't, you know, hate you.”
“There is that.”
Looking around the room now, he asked, “Would you like to read any of these?”
“May I?” Her breathless voice was so excited; he couldn't help the smile creeping across his face.
“Absolutely. I think my parents would like to know there was another reader taking pleasure in them.”
Flushing, Roz nodded and went to the nearest shelf to look at the titles. Surprised to see her blush, he wondered what he said to make her do so. Unsure, he ignored it and went to find a book for himself.
Pausing, Roz faced his direction. “Wait. My team… they were looking for a library. They said they couldn’t find one. What happened to all of this?”
“I made it disappear,” he confessed.
“You made it disappear!” Roz threw out her hands. “Why did you do that?”
Swallowing, the beast shrugged.
“Beast? Why?”
He sighed. “I couldn’t let them in here. They would have destroyed it looking for what they wanted, and the papers they’re looking for aren’t here.”
“You were afraid they would destroy it? We were searching for answers. If they weren’t here, where are they?”
“Nowhere.”
“Nowhere? How can we defeat you and end this curse!”
“I don’t know!” Beast snarled.
His roar had them both stepping backward. Roz’s eyes were wide, and she went into defense position.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. There aren’t any papers. The queen told me what to do, but since I woke up, I only remember bits and pieces of what she said. The solution isn’t part of them.”
Straightening, Roz remained alert with clenched fists. She kept her distance and took in his every move. “How can you not remember?”
“I was changed into this hideous being in front of you. I’ll skip the details of how it occurred and just mention it as excruciating. The process left me a bit blank on the before, if you will. Do you recall why you’re still here?”
Shaking her head, Roz understood. “Why did the witch queen change you?”
Clearing his throat, Beast shrugged. “I don’t know,” he lied.
“Was it really excruciating?” she indicated him with a wave of her hand.
Beast nodded.
“Good. Perhaps you felt a portion of what your kingdom has felt for years,” Roz said it, but she felt horrified as the words came out.
Moving back a step, Beast swallowed and tucked his hands in his pockets. He deserved wh
at she was saying. The pain he remembered. If the townspeople had gone through a portion of the agony he’d had that day, some buried part of him felt appalled and hurt.
“I shouldn’t have said those things,” she told him.
“No. You’re right. This is all my responsibility. I’ll think of a way to fix it,” he promised.
The words took him by surprise. He couldn’t say he’d fix everything, when he didn’t know how. More to the point, he couldn’t do it if he was too selfish to make the change. He knew it required sacrifice, but Beast couldn’t figure out the how. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“They wouldn’t have destroyed your library,” Roz told him.
“What?”
Roz took a deep breath. “They wouldn’t have destroyed your library. We weren’t coming here to destroy anything. We just wanted to find an explanation.”
Beast regarded the floor.
“Why would you care so much?”
“What?” His head jerked up.
“I’m probably asking a stupid question. Never mind.”
“No, please. Ask me your question.”
Crossing her arms, Roz tilted her head and watched him. “Why would you care so much if they did any damage? Aren’t you magical?”
“I’m not magical. I have a few powers of limited means.”
When he didn’t continue, Roz asked, “Yes?”
He shrugged.
“Don’t shrug! You can’t shrug these things off. I asked why you would care? Couldn’t you fix the damage?”
“Probably, but it’s not the point.”
“I’m sure it’s not the point, Beast. However, I want to know what you mean?”
Running his hands through his hair, the beast growled and turned away. He perused the bookcases in front of him and ignored her.
“You can’t disregard me. If there was damage, you could have fixed it, right?”
“Of course,” he growled.
“Then why would it matter so much? If there aren’t any papers in here, if you could have cleaned the mess and repaired any destruction, why did you make an entire room disappear?”
“It’s their place,” he exploded. Turning on his heel, he gazed at her. “It’s my parent’s place, and it’s the only area where I still feel them.”
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