30. The Prince and the Beast

THE PRINCE AND THE BEAST

E lle watches me with bright, wary eyes and does not seem to know what to do. And as I stare at the old man lying in the corner of the tower, I do not know either. She trembles on her feet, her face flushed, and her hair mussed as if it was tousled by the magic.

"He…" She swallows, dropping her hands to the front of her skirts.

I go to him before she can finish. The back of my hand to his mouth. Relief floods through me as warmth graces my skin. "He's breathing."

"Father," she cries out and rushes past me to him. She cradles his face in her hands, and I feel shame and agony. I made her a promise I knew I would not be able to keep. For the beast is brutal and knows nothing of promises.

"Will he be all right?" I dare to ask her, knowing all too well how much he means to her.

With glassy eyes she looks up at me. "He'll be okay, I think. I just need him to wake."

I answer, my voice rough. "I could have killed him."

"But you didn't." Elle smiles weakly. "You are not only a beast. You are also the prince, and when it mattered most, you knew that."

I do not dare glance down at my body. I do not know if what my own eyes see matters anymore.

"Please"—she looks up at me—"will you help me get him to bed?"

I can only nod, not understanding her demeanor. She is not angry or afraid. For a moment a spark of hope goes through me.

"What do you see when you look at me now?" I ask.

Her eyes travel over my body but quickly return to my face. "You are a tall, handsome man with wavy dark brown hair and blue eyes. I can see your blue eyes." Elle stands and leaving her father for only a moment, she steps closer as if to make sure they are blue. She nods to herself, her shoulders relaxing. "I can see you just as you were when I came into the tower. That is not how you look when you…when you are the beast. You are taller, with gold eyes, and you have a wolf's features." She looks down my chest and then blushes.

"Your clothes have torn," she tells me, though I know they have. The beast tears them from me. It is not the first time. "When you…change, they tear."

"When I change?"

"Your body…I wish you could see what I see."

That is what I have seen in the mirror every day since the witch laid the curse on me. I almost step to the mirror to prove Elle wrong, but after all that has happened and with almost all the petals from the rose fallen off the stem, I no longer want to look. The beast has retreated. He is not fully gone, but he seems to recognize that this man from the village—Elle's father—is alone and harmless. Even if he wanted to steal her away, he could not do it. Even if he wanted to hurt me, he could not do that either. He tried to fight me with his bare hands. That is no way to confront a beast such as myself.

"You do not have the beast's features now," Elle says, even more determinedly. "You are the prince."

My mind reels. I put a hand to my hair and draw it away before I can truly register what I feel under my palm.

"When I touch you," Elle says softly, "I feel the shape of the man. You have the body of the prince whenever we are together. I would know if I kissed you when you had the form of a beast, and I never have. I know you see something else when you look into the mirror, but that is not what I see. A beast is not all I have come to know at the castle. You are not just the beast. You are both."

I open my mouth, but I cannot think of the words I need to reply. Exhaustion betrays my strength.

"Let me help," I offer and kneel by her father. "He is a foolish man to come here." It is then that I look up to the window and out to the gate to see it closed, and no one else with him. "I could have killed him."

"You didn't."

I almost killed Elle's father. If I had not heard her voice at that moment, it would have been nothing for me to end his life. The beast considered him a threat to both of us, as he would anyone who breached the castle walls and came inside and climbed the highest floor of this remote tower.

"I cannot always control the beast."

Elle kneels down beside me next to her father, shaking his shoulder gently. I swallow thickly, hoping the old man will be all right.

"Father," she says. "Father, it's me. Wake up."

Her father lets out a low groan.

"Father," Elle says, more insistently. "Wake up. It's time to wake up."

"My head." Her father grunts and his body stirs.

"I know. I will help you."

There is a strange fear that grips me. The unknown of Elle knowing more of me than I do. And of her father being here. Surely he will take her away. And I do know that I can stop him.

I watch her help her father to an upright position, leaning against the wall. Elle pushes herself into his arms and they embrace for a few minutes, his eyes squeezed closed and his arms tight around his daughter. There is a trickle of blood down his face, either from one of my claws or from hitting the stone wall. Guilt and shame run through me.

It is only by a miracle that the man lives. The beast has never shown mercy before.

Finally, Elle straightens up again and looks into her father's eyes. She brushes his hair out of his face, whispering to him. It is then I gather enough wits about me to cover myself with a shred of the trousers.

With a noise behind me, clothes gather themselves in a pile and I accept the magic's offering. They appear from nothing and are far better than the strips of fabric. I allow them to dress me as I do every morning. It dawns on me the number of times I've thought it was the beast who tore them. I glance at my hand and as I turn it, my palm seems to be more like I once was.

"Father," she says, and my beauty distracts me.

Bandages and a large bowl of water float in through the door, and Elle accepts them, then sets about cleaning her father's wound. He's already talking to her, though he winces when he turns his head, so I think the wound is worse than it appears. Elle dabs the blood away with a wet cloth and bandages the wound. Then she holds his hand in hers, and the two of them speak to each other.

Their hands…

If she is right…

I place a hand to my chest and allow myself to feel what is there.

It feels like the chest of a man. My pulse speeds up, but I leave my hand on my chest. I am not imagining it. The beast feels different because he is more than a man. There is a wolflike creature within him as well.

Hardly breathing, I lift my hand to my face.

It is the first time in so many years that I have felt the face of a prince under my fingertips that I have to swallow a gasp. I keep my face turned away from the mirror, because I do not want the magic of the curse to interfere. Am I truly what I once was?

Across the room, Elle helps her father to his feet. "What were you thinking, Father?"

He embraces her again. "I had to know if you were all right. I could not spend the rest of my days wondering what had happened to you."

"I am well," she says, smiling at him. "I promise I am well, Father. But you should not be seen coming to or from the castle. No one else can know I am here."

They pause at the top of the steps, and Elle's father looks over her head at me. I rise to my feet, keeping a hand on the table for balance.

"Who is this?"

"The prince," she answers.

"Prince?" His eyes narrow and then widen in awe. "You're alive? You're…unchanged?" he questions and my heart races. He sees me as I once was, too? His voice hushes. "Where is the beast?"

"He is both, Father," she tells him, and I stare in wonder. He stares at me, leery and unsure of what Elle's said.

"Let's get him to a room," I offer.

"Thank you," Elle murmurs and I reach out, bracing the old man's arm and he lets me. More than that, he thanks me as well.

I lead them down the stairs and to a room that hasn't been used in decades, letting her say her goodbyes in privacy at the entrance of the room. Elle steps out and closes the door behind her.

Quietly, I lead her down the hall, my mind reeling and a new feeling coming over me. It is just the two of us now.

"When he is well, I will send him home."

I only nod in agreement.

"He can tell the villagers I am not here, and there is no one here but magic."

"That would be wise," I tell her.

"Perhaps he could return…and stay at times," she says like it's a question.

A moment passes and I attempt to see what she sees. "Perhaps," I answer and then ask, "Would that make you happy?"

"I would like that," she says softly and then her wide eyes reach mine. "It would make me happy to have company."

"But you will stay."

Elle nods, and her eyes drop to the floor. "I will not leave, but I would love his company."

"I will see to it that he is welcomed," I answer, more than anything grateful for her desire to stay.

"I am sorry for causing him pain," I tell her.

Elle does not answer. She looks at the floor at our feet. I wait as long as I can, but it is only a few moments before I need to see her eyes. I take her chin in my hand and tip her face up.

"Do you forgive me?" I ask.

Slowly, Elle nods.

I put my other hand to my chest, bracing myself for the honesty I know I must give to Elle. "I may look like the prince. I may…see myself as the prince. But I can still feel the beast inside."

Elle does not pull away. She steps closer to me, putting her hands on my waist. "Perhaps it is something you can control."

"I do not know that I can. I only know what the curse said."

"What is the curse?" she asks me.

"She said if I did not find my fate, when the last petal falls I would be nothing but the beast."

"But it's fallen," she whispers.

"What?" I question, not believing she knows what she's said.

"I saw it…in the tower. I saw the last petal fall."

My heart races as I leave her in the hall, striding to the tallest tower. My hands clench beside me and my emotions tear through me. The beast is still with me, I can feel him stir. Breathlessly, I get to the final step and fall slowly to my knees as I stare at the cloche. The rose is no more.

Is it over? Is the curse no more? Deep inside of me, I feel him stir. The beast.

"Prince!" she cries out and her voice echoes up the tower. "Henry!" she cries my name.

My name. It's then I look in the mirror. My reflection betrays me. No longer a beast. My body sags against the frame. "The curse…"

"Henry." Elle's voice is calm and breathless, and I turn to see her, standing before me.

And all I can think is that she is my fate.

"I love you," I tell her and practically crawl to meet her halfway. She collapses in my arms.

"I love you," she tells me and then kisses me fiercely. "You see yourself, don't you?" she murmurs as she pulls away, both of her hands on my face. "You see what I see."

The magic stirs around us, a thick fog leaving the window, and I know then it is not over.

"Henry, do you see that you are the prince?" she asks me, hope filling her eyes. The nearly full moon shines brightly down upon her face. I've never seen so much beauty as the way she looks at me.

All I can say is, "I love you."