Beauty and the Beast (Faerie Tale Collection) (8 page)

“No. I brought something better.” He was again waiting for her on the other side of the brook, lying on his stomach.

“It is something I can hit you with?” she smiled as she said it, but there was a certain gleam in her eye in the moonlight.

He tilted his head. “Perhaps, though I believe you won’t find it as satisfying as a book would have been.”

“Pity.”

“Are you very angry with me, then?”

Cecelia brought her knees up and wrapped her arms around her legs. “You could describe my emotions as such.”

The beast sighed and laid his head upon his paws. “Out with it, we might as well get this over with now.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but caught a glimpse of his dark brown eyes looking up from his dejected position. “Oh, goodness, do not look at me like that. How am I supposed to reprimand you when you use those eyes on me?”

“What? What am I doing?” Alexander titled his head and made his expression even more forlorn.

Cecelia laughed and threw a tuft of grass at him across the water. “It will not do. You cannot make me laugh; I must say these things to you.”

The wolf chuckled into his paws. “No one is stopping you.”

“Argh.” She made a very unladylike grunt, promptly got up, and cautiously stepped over the stream, then without further ado curled up against his side and snuggled into his soft fur. “You are the most incorrigible monster that has ever roamed this land.”

“I know,” he said softly, loving the feel of her warmth beside him.

“Hmm…” Her soft muffled words could barely be heard. “Horrendous beast, I should beat you to a pulp right now.”

“Yes, you should.”

“Merk.” She rolled to her back against his and looked up at the twinkling stars. “Do not agree with me. It takes all the fun out of arguing.”

“Should I not?”

“No, you shouldn’t.”

He smiled. “What ought I to do then? Listen patiently?”

“Well, yes.” She giggled. “Or defend yourself—but not until I’m done telling you what you’ve done wrong.”

“But no agreeing?”

“None at all.”

“What if I feel bad for being so horrid and want to beg for forgiveness?”

She sighed and rolled over on her side again, burying her face within his comforting fur and changed the subject completely. “I’ve thought of a few names for you.”

He chuckled. “Do they involve death threats?”

“You mean perhaps, Slain or Target?”

“Those would work, though perchance you should consider Clown or Moron.”

Cecelia laughed. “No, no, no. I’ve thought of much better names.”

“Oh, dear, do I want to hear them?”

He could feel her shrug against him. “I don’t know. You may consider me silly, but I was thinking along the lines of Apollo, or Beau, or Calixto.”

Alexander stopped breathing. It was a full minute before he could speak again in a ragged hushed tone. “But those names—they all mean handsome or beautiful.”

“Yes, they do. It’s why I chose them.”

He had no idea in that moment a wolf could become choked up. How did he never see the splendor that was this girl before now? How had his life become so vain and foolish and reckless that he never stopped to see the great tower of strength she was? The wisdom and kindness of her heart completely undid him. Alexander had to blink several times, before he asked, “Why?”

She buried herself deeper against his side. “Because you are beautiful.”

“No, I’m an ugly beast who has unwittingly ruined your trust and your life.”

Cecelia took a deep breath. “You have ruined my trust and you are bordering on ruining my life. But, I cannot—I will not overlook the reasons why you chose to do what you did. And though I feel involving Prince Alexander and sharing my secrets with him has done much to make me want to strangle you, being here under the stars, next to my magical brook, I have to own that you are indeed the kindest and most gentle creature the good Lord has ever formed.”

Humbled beyond measure the beast could only ask, “How did you ever draw such a conclusion? How can anyone look past their own hurt to see the good intentions behind the pain?”

“I do not understand what you ask? Doesn’t everyone step back and see things from another’s perspective?”

The prince shook his head and owned quite truthfully, “I did not until you taught me so. Until then I could only see my own haughtiness and prideful ugliness.”

She wrapped her arm around his side, and settled her head higher upon his back. “Do you feel ugly?”

“Hideous, unsightly, revolting, repulsi—“

“But why?” She ran her hand across his side to soothe him. “You are honestly the most striking wolf I have ever met.”

He closed his eyes. “Yes, for a wolf I will own that I am quite dashing. However, it is my soul I speak of, my inner peace with myself. I am not all I could be, not all I want to be, there is so much more to improve upon. So much more I must learn first.”

“Mayhap, but we all have things we wish to improve upon.” She sat up and scratched his ears. “Come on, no more sadness. Which name do you choose? Apollo, Beau, or Calixto?”

“None, Cecelia.” He looked out toward the forest. “No matter how I try to perceive myself differently I will only ever be a monster.”

“Please do not be so hard upon yourself.”

“How can I not? I must live this horror every day as a reminder of who and what I truly am. I have hurt you, I have placed you in a worse predicament than before and I have no idea how to fix what damage I have done. How you can even speak to me as such is beyond more than I deserve.”

“Shh…”

“No, Cecelia, you are kind and everything good in this world, while I am nothing but a dreadful beast.”

“Listen to me. Listen closely to what I say to you, for it is the truth.” She moved herself to be to where he could see her best, held his sweet head between her hands and simply said the most amazing words Prince Alexander had ever heard.

“You may be a beast, but you have more beauty in your heart than anyone I know.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

FREDERICK COULD HAVE HURLED, the scene before him was so disgusting. When his cousin had bounded down the stone palace steps outside with the large heart necklace swinging in his hand, right around dusk, Lord Bellemount knew without a doubt he was on his way to meet the girl. So, he did the only advisable thing to do at the moment, he followed him.

He’d already pursued him earlier that day, but the prince had merely wandered a few miles away from the castle to a little stream and found a rose which he had picked up and then meandered his way back to the palace. Nothing exciting, nothing certainly to be concerned over, but this time, with the heart-shaped necklace, he was bound to be going to whatever girl he’d fallen in love with.

Frederick pushed off from his hiding spot and began trailing his cousin, which ended up being much harder than he anticipated.

Never had he expected his cousin to turn into a wolf before his eyes. But he did just that, about two hundred yards into the forest, just as darkness fell, the beast tore from within the prince’s body and transformed him.

Frederick was scared out of his wits at first, especially of the ear-splitting howl that accompanied such an alteration. It was so loud and painful all Lord Bellemount could do was cover his ears and fall back against a tree.

And then the wolf was gone, tearing through the forest at a much faster rate than he could have imagined.

When Frederick got to the place where his cousin had changed, the necklace was nowhere to be found. Alexander had to have picked it up and taken it with him. At the rate he left, instead of falling to the ground in agony, meant the transformation was expected, this was something that was normal. Perhaps even a daily occurrence.

Prince Alexander had to have been halfway to the gel by now.

With hasty steps Frederick began to track the animal, just the same way he’d learned as a boy to track the hounds that had gone off to chase the fox during hunting season.

By the time he came upon them both, he was tired and weary and seething mad. His feet were burning within his boots and he’d wandered over two hours down dead ends and useless tracks until he finally stumbled upon them. It was clearly obvious his cousin had been over every square inch of the land as a wolf, his tracks were everywhere.

So when he overheard her speaking and then quieted his breathing enough to determine where the sound was coming from, it was only a matter of a few steps to his left, following the path of the stream that led him to the little clearing that held them both. The exact same place Alexander had been earlier and collected the flower.

This was their meeting spot. The rose must have been some sort of sign to meet her.

She was indeed very pretty, but even Lord Bellemount did not expect Miss Hammerstein-Smythe to be the object of his cousin’s desires. He knew his tastes and knew his feelings about the girl. So why her? Why now after all this time was it she who captured his heart?

And capture it she did.

Frederick watched them for a few minutes, enough to see the imaginary glow that seemed to come from them both. But when she walked in front of the beast and held his wolfly face in her hands and uttered that nonsense about Alexander’s inner beauty, Frederick knew he was in danger.

No man, no matter how much he claimed otherwise, could resist an attractive woman telling him his worst fears were for naught, and she truly believed he was worth more than he supposed.

There were several confusing questions to this riddle that would only be solved by staying a bit longer and gleaning as much information as possible. Did Miss Hammerstein-Smythe know who the wolf was? If she did, how could she tolerate it? Had not his cousin been despicable toward her for years? And if she did not know he was the prince, then how could she be so calm and cheerful around a wolf?

Lord Bellemount silently sat down against a tree, hidden behind bushes that allowed enough space between them to see and hear what was going on.

“Cecelia?”

“Yes?” She looked down into the wolf’s gaze and gently rubbed above his left eyebrow.

“How does a man win your affection? I’m sure you have many men vying for you.”

She laughed. “Have you forgotten my misfortunes? The ones that forced you to reveal all to Prince Alexander on my behalf?” She looked away and briefly winced. “There aren’t many men; there isn’t even one thanks to Lord Willington’s disapproval of me.”

“Well, there is one, but you do not approve of him.”

She glanced back. “Who? Prince Alexander?”

“Yes.”

She shook her head and grinned, dropping her hands. “But he does not count.”

“You don’t consider him man enough? Is it because of his past actions toward you?—he told me everything.” Alexander quickly added.

“Yes, perhaps. His actions do weigh heavily on my mind, but that is not what I am thinking of now—it has nothing to do with our history.”

“Then what?”

“Well, he was at my home because you asked him to go. He was not there because he cares for me. And even though he feels he is doing good by seeming to court me publicly, there can only be harm that comes of it.” She shifted her weight and leaned against one arm, with her legs tucked under her. “For eventually he will leave me, and then what will the villagers say to that? To be scorned by one man is bad enough, but to be seen as a mad game of the prince’s to play…” Her voice softened and trailed away.

He should be celebrating her good sense and using this as his excuse to disentangle the prince from the picture, but he could not help but ask, “Do you like him?”

Cecelia softly gasped. “I—I don’t know. I am trying so hard to stay detached and see him as a new friend, to get to know this person that he has appeared to become.”

“Do you think you could one day?”

“Like him?” she asked, stalling.

Alexander’s heart was racing. “Yes.”

After a few moments she said, “I think I need to learn to trust him first.” When the wolf did not speak again, she added, “I do trust that he means well, and I do trust that he has changed. Anyone can see that he has changed; there is a new inner strength that wasn’t there before. He’s calmer and happier now. But, I’m not sure he will stay this way.”

He knew he should allow this to be the time when he took control of the situation and told her he would tell the prince to leave her in peace and allow that to be that, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he was shocked to hear himself ask, “What would you like me to tell him?” giving Cecelia the reins to decide the next course of action.

To leave me alone. To never come back. To find something or someone else to pester and harass and pretend to be in love with. “I do not know,” she whispered.

Alexander gulped and tried to control his heart. Nothing had ever meant more to him than the acceptance and forgiveness of a woman he loved greater than life itself. “Cecelia, do you think you could learn to completely trust and like him as time moves forward? And if he proves himself, do you think he could become something special to you?”

“Yes.” Cecelia gasped again. “No, I meant no. Of course not!” She shook her head and fidgeted with her gown. “This is nonsense. None of this matters. He will never see me as more than a village girl and I will never fully trust anyone again.”

“Never?”

His gaze captured hers and held it for quite some time, before she answered truthfully, “I would give anything to learn to trust again, to know I am truly loved. Anything. But there are days I feel I will never become more than a silly girl in anyone’s eyes.”

“He loves you.”

“What did you say?” Cecelia could hardly hear a word over the pounding of her heart.

“I—I said,” Alexander frantically searched his mind. “I have something for you.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “I thought you had said something else.”

“What did you think I had said?”

She waved her hand. “Oh, nothing. Something silly that made no sense anyway.” She quickly changed the subject. “So what did you bring this time? Another poem?”

“Remember I mentioned earlier it wasn’t something you’d enjoy hitting me with as much as you would a book.”