24. The Prince and the Beast

THE PRINCE AND THE BEAST

F or a few beats of my heart, we stare at each other as the night wind blows between us. Everything slows and dims around me as I watch the reality of what I am set in for my Elle. My beauty does not belong in the hell that this scene has become. The blood on the ground grows into larger, darker pools, spreading between the bodies. None of them utter a sound. They are all dead, so they will not be making any sound, ever again.

For a moment, I almost manage to convince myself that Elle and I are frozen statues, and that the magic has stopped time so I can hide what I've done. As if it would protect me. Or rather her innocence in all of this.

Would she believe me if I told her I didn't feel the need to destroy anymore? I don't feel the urge to hurt or bite or tear at or beat anyone at all. She tames the beast inside of me. It whines for her love more than the desire for vengeance. The beast's rage has faded as quickly as it came when I saw the villagers by the gate. The chill of the night has blown all of it away, and my heartbeat has slowed. I know the danger has passed.

But not for Elle. The danger is standing right in front of her. My heart pounds as she looks at me. Even now, part of me cannot do anything but look back at her.

There's not enough moonlight for my human eyes alone to be so aware of the color of Elle's, but the beast's senses do not need more than the moon. All they need is a small amount of light, and that is all he has, now that the torches the men brought are extinguished on the ground. Only one of them still burns and the flame is quickly turning to nothing more than an ember. I'm very aware of the bodies and their weapons strewn on the frost-covered ground and the last of the torchlight going out, but I am more aware of Elle.

The breeze blows a lock of her hair across her face, and I feel rather than see the final torch extinguish.

That is what seems to break the spell cast over both of us.

Elle bolts away, and I am jolted out of the stillness of the moment and back into the pain of my disappointment and my regret and of all the frustration I have kept inside me since the witch's curse. It takes my body a few seconds to awaken again, giving her a small lead on me. I chase after her as she goes, her hair flying behind her and her skirts bunched in one hand.

Her attempts are futile. She is helpless in the face of what I am.

She tries to run through the gate, perhaps thinking she can run through the woods to the village. I let out a roar of despair and magic blows through the yard. The gate slams shut just before Elle reaches it. She turns on her heel, eyes wide and full of fear, and runs back toward me for a step before she cuts in another direction, parallel to the wall.

That pain and anger stir inside of me, the pain though…it's brutal. I knew this would happen.

The wall goes on for miles. She must know that she can't escape by finding an edge. She must know that I have told the magic I do not want her to leave, and she will find it difficult to climb any part of the wall now.

She has to know it won't be possible to escape, but she runs anyway. Heaving in air as tears stream down her face.

Another roar swells and dies in my throat as I chase after her. Letting her run. Letting her exhaust herself so when I catch her, the fight will be minimal.

This is my worst nightmare. I could not imagine a more terrible way for Elle to finally see me with her own eyes. There were things I could not hide from her, since she was my prisoner. I could not hide that I was willing to keep her prisoner. I could not hide that there were consequences she would not like if she were to flee.

But killing the villagers she undoubtedly knew was not how I wanted her to understand what I have become. Crawe, a man she spoke to…the others, I do not know who they are. A splinter flares in my chest. Her father perhaps? I do not know. I barely saw their faces.

She has seen the worst of me tonight. The part of me that did not hesitate to murder through any means necessary, with teeth and claws and beating the villagers with a stick until they fell. I pray her father was not among them. Fuck!

She is running for her life, and the beast knows it. This truth sharpens his senses, making his vision clearer than it had been. He doesn't fight for complete control, but his dominance over her rages inside of me. His need for her is everything. Some of his rage returns as Elle continues to run. He has claimed her more than once; she belongs to him. She should not flee for so long without stopping and sinking to the ground, showing him she understands her place here.

Elle runs with everything she has, and she is fast, but everything works against her. Her feet leave dark prints in the frost on the ground. If I wanted, I could stop chasing her and walk, and her footprints would lead me to her. Even if she went inside the house, it would take nothing for me to scent her, no matter where she attempted to hide. I could so easily hunt her down.

My mind is heavy with swirls of the memories and the magic and the needs of the beast. It's as if I'm losing my mind.

Elle tries to change directions and stumbles. The beast inside of me lunges at her, planning to pin her down, perhaps even bite her again to remind her that he claimed her many weeks ago and this attack by the villagers, and even her fear of the attack, does not change that. He wants to remind Elle that she belongs to him. That she belongs to us .

I will never be able to erase the memory of what happened from her mind. I want to tell her that it had to be done, both because the beast cannot be tamed and because men like that will not give up until they are dead. Men who believe they have some claim on another's life will not stop until their own lives are ended.

I could not let them take her away. I want her to understand that, and I do not know how to make her see that.

All that comes from my throat is another furious growl.

Elle steps out of my way and presses herself up against the wall, her back to the bricks. Her breath is ragged, and she squeezes her eyes closed as if she can pretend she never saw me.

With adrenaline pounding through my veins and every inch of my skin on fire, I cage her against the wall, trying to bring my face down to hers. I want to lick over her pulse and make her submit. To bite and hold her still.

But Elle turns away, facing the wall with her hands against it, her back to me, rejecting me as her cries grow stronger.

A sharp pain shatters what's left of the human side of me.

This was my greatest fear, and it has come to this. Elle, blocking me out as much as she can with her body, because she can't bear to look. Because she's now afraid of me and blames me for what happened tonight.

Elle will never forget now that she has seen the beast.

My body shakes with fear as I tower over her. Fear that I have lost her forever even though I'm far too aware I never deserved her to begin with. This was all a mistake. Unable to think straight, I leave her. Hating the beast, hating myself, hating the witch, and hating the villagers.

I'll find her again. She can't run from me forever.