Taming the Beast

I was smothered to death in the grayness of my life. I needed him, but I knew that it would kill my father if I left again. He was already weakened, and I just could not hurt him again.

I thought that everything was done, but I was in the hayloft when Marceau arrived.

Welcome

Marceau

The morning when I could not shift, I got into my carriage and went straight for her manor, the largest home in this area. Before I could even get out, her father was storming out of the front door.

“How dare you show your face here, at my own home? Leave immediately.”

“You don’t have the right to keep my wife from me, sir.”

“Get off of my estate,” he hissed. He didn’t look much better than he had when he’d left my library.

“I don’t answer to you. I only answer to her. Cateline!”

Her father moved toward me as if he wanted to fight, but I easily sidestepped him. It was inadvisable for me to engage in fisticuffs with my father-in-law, no matter how angry he was.

It took only a minute for Cateline to come running into the yard and throw her arms around me.

“Get away from him!” her father bellowed.

“No!” She turned around and glared at her father. “I know that it might be hard for you to believe, but I love him.”

“You don’t know what love is,” her father protested. “Falling in love with your kidnapper isn’t real love.”

“It is,” she insisted. “I’ve had enough time on my own to know my own mind. I want to live with him for the rest of my life. I’m a princess, and one day I’ll be the queen.”

“You want that life? He doesn’t mistreat you in any way?”

She sl

ipped out of my arms and kissed her father’s cheek. “I’m happy with him.”

Her father’s face fell. He looked very old and very tired. “Very well, then. You have my blessing.”

Her things were still at my castle, so it took less than an hour to gather everything she wanted, get into my carriage, and say goodbye to the manor. Her sisters, who were beautiful, cried over her as she left. But this time, she left as my willing wife, not as a sacrifice.

In the carriage, I refused to let go of her. She slept with my arm around her. I could barely believe my good fortune, and she was a miracle.

Two years later, she gave birth to a little boy with black hair and gold eyes. We named him Dagobert, but we called him Little Bear.

Part IX

Beauty Is The Beast

J. M. Klaire

Belle

“Another restless night, Belle?” Mrs. Pulse asked, pouring a fragrant stream of hot, dark coffee into a tall mug for her charge.

Belle accepted it gratefully and sipped, letting the caffeine have a moment to find her bloodstream before answering the kind, motherly, multi-speed vibe who rarely let her frustrations show.

Mrs. Pulse had been the quite-human head cook in the years before the curse had altered everyone. Belle knew that she found it beneath her to pour something as vulgar as coffee when she’d much rather be serving a more civilized drink like tea, but she was still grateful that she did so.

Most days Belle found it rather easy to let Mrs. Pulse have her way, letting her pour tea instead of coffee, but this morning she needed the less civilized option rather badly. Mrs. Pulse must’ve already heard how her night had gone, since there was no tea to be seen and the coffee had been ready to pour when she got here.