Taming the Beast

I woke up when my bride shook my shoulder.

“Marceau! Wake up!” She sounded like she was crying. I could smell her tears, just like spring rain.

“What?” I tasted something hot and coppery on my tongue. I opened my eyes. My nose was bleeding.

I was a shifter. The curse ruined my life in many ways, but I did have accelerated healing. I didn’t get nosebleeds. She was trying to give me a handkerchief.

“Please pinch your nose. I was worried about obstructing your breathing when you started…when your nose started.”

“It’s okay,” I said, my voice nasal and high with one hand pinching my nostrils closed. “Just a little blood.” A little blood that shouldn’t be there.

I sat up and saw that there was blood on my pillow. The housekeeper would throw a fit. All of my staff would know that it was strange.

The blood flow didn’t feel as heavy anymore, so I pulled the handkerchief away from my nose. I couldn’t feel any blood dripping down, which was good news.

“Everything is fine.”

“We need a physician.”

“No.” I shook my head. I hadn’t seen a physician since before I had been hit with the curse. What I could remember was that he had smelled awful and was mean to me. Those were the impressions of a child, but I couldn’t help it. I’d never interacted with a physician as an adult. “It won’t happen again.”

“You scared me.” She went to the corner and picked up the washbasin, carrying the heavy thing to the bed so that she could wipe away the blood. “You are sure that you feel fine?”

“Yes.” I felt a little dizzy, but I wasn’t about to tell her that. “I should eat something.” On cue, my stomach growled. “I haven’t eaten yet.”

“The cook made a plate for you for breakfast, but I couldn’t find you. I don’t know my way around yet.”

I debated what to say. It wasn’t safe for anyone to be around me when I was in bear form. The beast was in the front, and bears were apex predators. Humans were soft meat. My father had the keys to the secret passages and knew how to navigate them. Ever since he’d died, I’d been in charge of handling the curse on my own. The potion fixed everything.

I didn’t know why my nose had started bleeding today. It was the first time that the potion had any side effects besides the desired soporific effect. If I couldn’t take the potion, what could I do? I hadn’t healed at the pace of a shifter. I’d been human-slow. Something was wrong. I clenched my teeth.

“If you could call a servant to bring up a meal for

us, that would be good.”

She slipped into the dress that I’d torn off her earlier. “I’ll be right back with food for us.”

I watched her leave our bedchamber. As soon as she was gone, I threw the covers off the bed. There was a lot of blood. I understood why she’d been scared.

I breathed in slowly. There was a mystery here, but I didn’t want to spook her. I needed to find someone who could tell me what was going on.

There was only one person who could.

Roasted Chicken

Cateline

When I came back upstairs, I was followed by one of the scullery maids carrying a thick tray loaded with roasted chicken, a loaf of bread, and a small bottle of wine. She averted her eyes from the partially dressed prince and set the tray on a table before bobbing a curtsy and leaving the two of us behind.

I took the loaf of bread and began to tear it into manageable pieces. “Eat,” I said, brandishing a piece of bread at him. He got out of bed and sat at the table in our room. I watched as he demolished most of what was on the tray while I ate a piece of bread. I wasn’t that hungry after the scare that I’d had.

He’d been thrashing around in the bed before the nosebleed. He seemed to be battling something in his dream, but I didn’t know what it was.

The tray was basically clean when I finished my piece of bread.

“We should get more.”

“I’m not hungry,” I said, waving my hand. “It’s fine.”