Taming the Beast

“The library? How truly odd.”

“It was the furthest point from the rest of the house.” My father’s eyes closed. “The prince who lived there did not want visitors, it seemed. He said that he’d keep me there since I trespassed where I wasn’t wanted.”

“But you were sick. You are still sick. Why would he punish you?”

“I don’t know. But I made a bargain so that he’d let me get a physician.”

“What was it?” I asked, my voice no louder than his.

“I told him that I needed to get back to my family. He asked about you. I told him about Roul and the earldom. I told him about my three daughters, each as beautiful as the dawn.”

Aalis touched her hairdo while Melisende smiled. “And? Did he want to visit us to see our beauty?”

“No.” My father coughed. The cough was loud and deep. And it scared me badly. I wanted him to tell us what he needed to say so that he could go to sleep.

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to marry one of you.”

“Marry!” Melisende sprang to her feet, as vehemently angry as I’d ever seen her. She was too much of a lady most of the time for displays of vulgar emotion, as she told me when she saw me crying.

“Marry someone who imprisoned our sick father?” Aalis shook her head. “He’s not right in the head.”

“That was the condition. I told him where I lived. He said that he would send someone to the house. Either I would need to go or one of my daughters would. We have one night to make a decision.”

“But if you go back, you’ll die,” I said.

My father shrugged. “I’m old and sick, my dears. Really, the only thing you need is husbands, and I’m sure that you can find them on your own. I am not afraid to die.”

“No!” Melisende stomped her foot. “I will not have it. You are not going to die.”

“We don’t really have a choice,” my father sighed.

I said, “I’ll go.”

There was dead silence in the room. It lasted for far too long before Aalis said, “What?”

“You all heard me. I will go.”

“Out of the question,” my father snapped, sounding like his old self and not an invalid. “Absolutely not. You are my youngest daughter. You have your whole life ahead of you. You deserve to fall in love.”

“Father, imprisoning me in a library is my idea of paradise.”

My family members chewed that over for a moment. “True,” Aalis admitted. “I say we let her go.”

I looked at my sisters, who were substantially more cheerful than they had been minutes ago. If it came to choosing between saving my father or me, I knew that they would always choose our father.

“There has to be another way. I can go back.”

“No,” I said firmly. “I will pack tonight and be ready to be fetched tomorrow. You should rest, Father.” I left the room before my father could protest more.

Carriage Ride

Cateline

I had never been more than a day’s journey from my home. The next morning, a very beautiful carriage with a coat of arms that I could not identify came up. My trunks were in the front, and I brought as many books as I could pack, of course. There was a footman in addition to the driver. They put all of my trunks into the carriage. As I looked behind me, I saw my father sitting at his desk, staring at the departing carriage. It was strange to be the one leaving instead of the one who was left. I waved. He raised his hand. I could see the heartbreak in his eyes. I knew that marrying some monstrous beast in a castle wasn’t what he had planned for his youngest. But this was my fate.

I fell asleep in the carriage, despite the incredible jolting. When we reached the mountains, we started to take the bumpy mountain roads.