19. The Prince and the Beast

THE PRINCE AND THE BEAST

E lle does not know how she looks when she is standing in the sunlight. I am certain of this, because she stood before me in the terrarium, blushing, with her heart beating quickly as if I was the interesting creature there. I was not. She was ethereal and as I watched her, I had to hold myself very straight and still so that I could concentrate on controlling the beast. He loved the look of her among the flowers, which were blooming in a colorful show, and wanted to lay her down in the garden beds.

It took a great deal of effort to stay in place while she wrote, and I couldn't help staring at the light shining in her hair and the curve of her neck beneath where she had tied her curls back with a ribbon that matched her dress. The dress itself was difficult to look away from, as the pink shade highlighted the color in her cheeks. She looked like one of the blooms had come to life, far more beautiful than it had been when it was a flower.

I'm enraptured by the memory of her thoughtful expression as she wrote to her father and how she moved her pen carefully across the page, every word graceful. Fuck, she's gorgeous in all that she does. Tempting and naive. She has hope where I do not.

After our encounter in the terrarium, it's torture to wait for the sun to set. It is well within my power to seek Elle out during the day as she has asked me to. She proved yet again in the terrarium that she is capable of obedience even when she is not blindfolded.

But if I went to her, I would not be able to stop myself from touching her. I want my fingers in her hair and my hands underneath her clothes. I want her back in the light of the terrarium where I can see every inch of her skin exposed to the sun. If I did not blindfold Elle, I would truly be able to see all of her, uninterrupted by the line of black silk.

I want that too much to trust myself with the risk. All it would take is one flutter of her eyelids in the throes of passion and she would look upon me.

Several times, I stand still in my rooms and allow myself to sense her presence in the castle. It is always here, as Elle is forbidden to leave, but she moves around the halls, peeking into different rooms and always avoiding the tower…as she should. I wonder if she feels differently about her obedience today, now that I've allowed her to write to her father.

I cannot guarantee that he will read it. I cannot guarantee that the magic will take it to where it's bidden. That is outside my power.

But she was able to write it, at least, and that must feel like a reward for her beautiful obedience. A gift from me to her. Often in the day, she speaks to the magic, discussing her father. I know she loves him, and I have hurt her by taking her from him. The note is an offering of peace between us. A reward to her even.

It felt like a reward for me as well, though I know I am the least deserving of any kind of reward. Compared to Elle, I am nothing but a beast who has done beastly things to her and if I am honest, I have not regretted it. I do not know if I would be capable of regretting her presence in the castle. If I did, I think the beast might take over entirely and remind me of how sweet the victory is when the prize is a woman like Elle. Her sweet scent…and her moans of pleasure.

I shake my head and imagine, as my cock hardens, what I might be interrupting if I went to her now. She might be seated in a chair before the fire in the library, a book in her lap and a cup of tea on the table by her side. She might be in the kitchen, watching a recipe being prepared before her eyes by magic.

She is not bent over a chair with her hand between her legs, thinking of me biting into her soft flesh, hiding soft moans because she is so desperate for me.

Is she?

The sun takes an eternity to sink below the horizon. Finally, when the country is hidden in shadows and the sconces on the walls of my room have burned to life, I bathe, letting the hot water soothe the ache of all my pent-up energy. I dress, knowing that Elle will not see the items I'm wearing. I allow myself a few small comforts in the clothes I wear, as there is no one else but Elle and even she will not lay eyes on what covers my body. As I dress, I'm reminded of my image. Nothing but a beast.

My feet carry me down the halls to the room where she sleeps almost without thought. The objects that decorate the walls and alcoves might once have meant something to me, but they are only objects now. Once they bestowed wealth and elegance and grandeur. Now they represent the regretful past. The only thing that makes me care about them is that Elle has spent time in the castle, coming to know it as her home, and so she must have seen them, too. It is only the act of her taking any amount of joy in the decorations that gives them value.

I stop outside her door and knock.

The beast idly wishes to burst through the door, perhaps even tear it off the hinges, and leave it in splinters so that no door can ever separate the two of us again. Elle takes a quick breath on the other side of the door.

"Yes?"

I imagine for a few moments that I have caught her in the heat of lust, thinking of me, but push the thought from my head.

"Put the blindfold on," I order. I intend to command her, but the words come out softer than I meant for them to. Almost as if in invitation.

There is quiet rustling on the other side of the door. With the beast's senses, I can tell that she is climbing out of the bed. Her footsteps cross to where the wardrobe is. The door opens, then closes. Does she keep the blindfold hanging up next to her hair ribbons? Is it front and center when she is not in her room, an essential part of her outside. Her footsteps move away from the wardrobe and the door.

"It's in place," she calls, her sweet voice causing my cock to harden even more. In some ways, it's unbearable to have Elle in my home, and this is one of those ways. Forcing myself to wait because she cannot be allowed to see me. What little trust we have built would be broken. And I enjoy her very much obedient.

I steady myself, giving her another moment to prepare, then open the door. I enter the room to find Elle standing in a long white nightgown in the middle of the floor, her feet bare and her hair spilling over her shoulders. My cock twitches at the sight of the firelight in her hair, bringing to mind how she looked in the terrarium earlier today. It was only hours ago, but it feels as if I've waited forever for this moment.

Now the black blindfold shines in the firelight, covering her eyes. I move at a restrained pace across the room and put my hand to her neck, feeling the thrum of her pulse beneath her skin and the rhythm of her breath. Elle instantly tips her face up to mine, her full lips parted and a pretty blush in her cheeks. Her pulse quickens under my palm. Elle trembles, but she does not reach for me. She obediently keeps her hands at her sides until I lower my face to hers and kiss her.

It is more controlled than the kiss we shared in the dining room, but it is no less deep. I mean to taste her without the beast pushing his way forward and taking over, though I cannot keep him down fully when she tastes so sweet, and her mouth is so soft and pliant and submissive for me.

The kiss deepens and Elle gasps, reaching for me and taking my shirt in her hands. She holds on as I lick into her mouth, thread my fingers through her hair, and tilt her head back to the angle I want. She sighs into my mouth, and I feel her wanting thick between us. As I kiss her, the tension grows, Elle's hands roam over my chest, and finally I pick her up in my arms and take her to the bed.

Elle arches her back as I lower her to the comforter, begging with her body to be touched. I kiss her there, too, and suck at the side of her neck, dotting her skin with shallow bites. I don't need to mark her here as well. I just want to remind her of how it feels to be bitten, and from Elle's gasps and moans, she hasn't forgotten. It was everything to me. Something that must be done. Her hips move underneath me, and she makes more contact through her nightgown. I slide one hand under it to one of her thighs and push it up to her waist, exposing her legs and her nakedness underneath.

Now the beast demands more. At the sight of her pink cunt peeking between her spread thighs, he lets out a growl and shoves until he has enough control to use my tongue and lick her. He breathes her in, sensing how the scent of her has filled the air around the bed, and my cock twitches. The beast ruts against the side of the mattress to alleviate some of the pressure building there, but it cannot be relieved without taking her.

I keep a tight hold on myself as Elle spreads her legs farther and her nightgown slips another inch toward her waist. I push both hands underneath, over her soft, delicate skin, and remove the nightgown, her hair slipping through it last. She makes a small noise at the feeling of air on her skin and lies back on the bed, more beautiful than any painting I have ever seen. More beautiful than any woman I have ever imagined. I kiss back down her body, lavishing my attentions on each nipple in turn, then leaving a wet trail down to her hips.

Elle pants softly, whining for more as I reach the softness of her stomach and below to her thighs. The beast takes full control, overpowering me for a few moments, and he sinks my teeth into her thigh.

" Oh ," Elle cries, and I bite her again a few inches from the first mark. The next sound out of her mouth is a deep moan. She is hot and responsive, beginning to writhe, and I have to pin her hips to the bed so I can devour her.

This time it's no small lick of my tongue over her center. I suckle all of her, tasting every inch of her cunt and sucking at her clit until she comes with a scream. Her hands clench wildly in my hair, and it only fuels me to enjoy her more and more. Elle moans, swept away by the pleasure, as I focus my tongue on her clit once more and bring her to a second orgasm that spills sweet arousal all over my tongue.

With her panting and sated, I can no longer ignore my own needs. I shove my trousers down, freeing my cock, and crawl on top of her, bracing my elbows next to her head. I drag the crown of my cock through her folds and find her entrance, then push myself in.

Fucking hell. I groan my pleasure into the crook of her neck. She is the definition of heaven.

Elle gasps and tilts her hips on the mattress as her body stretches to take all of me in. I fuck her with hard strokes, more beast than man, and Elle clings to me, trying to take me even deeper. It does not take long before she's coming again, her hot pussy clenching hard around me. It's my undoing. My pleasure spills out of me with a roar, blending in with Elle's cries. I push myself deep inside her and slip a hand between us, searching out her clit and bringing her to another peak while I'm still inside her.

Elle drops her head back against the comforter after and I take my time planting small kisses along her skin as her heartbeat slowly calms. I'm careful with her as I gather my composure and clean up the mess we've made. It's silent and I realize after a few moments that she has fallen asleep, no longer able to remain awake.

I sit back on my heels and watch her as she sleeps. Contemplating what she's done to me. And the hold she has over me. Pink marks rise on her skin from where I kissed and bit her. Her chest is flushed. She looks thoroughly fucked, and the beast growls his appreciation, and I feel his need to protect her.

Elle doesn't stir when I get off the bed and get a cloth with warm water to clean her better, and she is limp when I maneuver her to the pillows and pull the covers over her naked body. She appears so deeply asleep that I dare to undo the knot of her blindfold and leave it on the pillow next to her.

In the hallway, I close her door behind me. The air is fresh in the hallway as if the castle has opened windows to let a breeze in. It cools my skin as I walk, passing my own bed chambers and going to the tower. Elle's note has been in my pocket since she finished it at the terrarium.

On the highest floor of the tower, I open the stained glass window near where the rose sits silently in its cloche and look down. There is little to see in the dark, but the beast's senses can make out the grass below, the wall, and the forest.

I hold out the note and let it fall.

It tumbles through the air, and for a moment I think it will land on the grass. If it does, the rain and morning dew will turn it to mush and it will fade into the earth, never to be delivered or read by Elle's father. The thought offers me peace. I imagine it's what the magic will do.

At the last moment, just before I think it will hit the grass, the wind gusts, picking up the letter and carrying it away. It flies out over the wall and disappears.

It's only then that I second-guess the decision. But what's done is done. And one thing I know is that no one will take Elle away from me. Ever.