Taming the Beast

I could hear the hard thump of the cleaver as Madame Renaud set down her knife.

“What did you say? That sweet little girl is going to die?”

I nodded and cleared my throat. It felt like it had closed up or there was something in there. “She’s tied to my bear, and he’s…almost gone.”

“Lord above,” she breathed. “You’ve accidentally killed her by mating her.”

“Yes.” I put down the bread. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

“Well, what are you going to do about it?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think that there is much that I can do about it. My bear…he’s already mostly gone. I don’t eat as much. I don’t feel the urge to growl or shift. It’s inevitable.”

“It’s not over until it’s over,” the cook said, picking up her knife again and efficiently cutting the chicken once more. “And I will see what I can do.”

“What do you mean?”

“My gran…well, she hasn’t ever liked that our prince was cursed. And of course you haven’t been crowned, although your father is gone and you’ve been running the kingdom.”

“You know why.”

“Yes, and that’s why I haven’t called my gran before now. But if she’ll die without help, that sweet girl deserves some time.”

“What will you do?”

“Leave the kitchen to the lazy maids and hope that they haven’t burned everything by the time that I come back.”

She took off her apron while I looked on.

“Fire anybody who doesn’t do their job today. I’ll be back if my gran knows what to do. If she doesn’t, someone else will.”

“Take me with you.”

“No.”

I was tolerant of my servants, but outright insubordination made my bear, what was left of him, come to the fore. “What did you say?”

“My gran doesn’t like cursed folk, Your Highness.”

I felt as if she’d slapped me in the face. “But it’s my…”

I never got to finish that sentence. She was out the door before I could. Royalty didn’t stand around with their mouths open, so I went back upstairs to spend time, whatever time I had left, with my bride.

Rescue

Cateline

I heard a rock hit my window. I opened it and looked out.

My stepbrother was on the ground. “We’ve come to rescue you, Cateline. We have some rope. Catch.”

A heavy length of rope came up and I caught it, although it made me stagger back. It was too big for me to handle.

“Hurry up. The big oaf is in the kitchen. We don’t have much time.”

“But he’s my husband. I can’t…what about Father?”

“He sent for me. All of us are here to take you away from this monster.”