chapter sixteen

The beast...

Thea froze solid, unable to look away from the striking pair of gray eyes that met her in the darkness. She could see the fur, the horns, and the fangs, but it was his eyes that stunned her. They glistened like silver, catching the light off of his blood-stained axe and the strange glow of the rose. They looked so... human.

She couldn't say the same for the rest of him. He was almost three heads taller than her, his shadow engulfing her far more than Ceyden's ever could. She knew she should have been afraid, but the shock overran the fear as she repeated what he had said to her.

"P-pardon?" She squeaked.

"I said..." the beast snarled, shifting his axe so Thea could see herself reflecting in the grim blade, " what have you done?"

So he can speak…

Thea didn't respond at first, still trying to piece together what this creature was. He sounded like a human, and his eyes were full of soul, but when she took a step back, there was no hiding the terror that filled her bones. He was bigger than a bear, with sharp claws wrapped around the weapon he was already aiming toward her head. He must be the prison's executor... but why would he bother to speak with her if he had only come to kill her?

"I... I was sentenced to the labyrinth, for—"

"Not that!" He snapped, stomping his foot—or hoof —into the ground. "The rose! You plucked it from my garden, didn't you?"

His garden?

The enchanted rose warmed in her grasp, and she looked down at the petals that were already far more vivid than the ones on the bush. Could he not tell the rose came from a different place?

"No! I didn't pluck any roses." Thea shook her head frantically.

"Don't lie to me!" The beast took a daunting step forward, dropping his axe and let the blade scrape against the ground. "I'm ugly, not a fool. I can see the flower in your hands!"

"I beg your pardon, but I don't recall calling you ugly or a fool," Thea said sharply, his tone digging into her brain the same way Ceyden's always did. Maybe it was because he was a literal beast and Ceyden was a figurative one, but for some reason, Thea thought they sounded similar. "I already told you. I didn't pluck any of your roses."

"Is that so?" the beast narrowed his eyes until they looked like silver slits of moonlight. His claws tightened around the axe, clearly not convinced by Thea's story yet. "Then explain the rose in your hand. You have three seconds. Two..." He lifted his axe.

"I brought it with me!" Thea said, staggering back a step as the heavy blade lifted over her head. "It was given to me before I entered the labyrinth!"

Thea shut her eyes, preparing for the swish of the blade and the dull sting that would sever her neck from her shoulders, but it never came. The beast had paused, but only barely, with his axe still high in the air.

"Brought it with you?" he scoffed. "No one brings flowers down here. You're lying."

"I most certainly am not!" Thea crossed her arms. She wasn't going to die being called a liar. An attempted murderer, sure. But not a liar.

"You can't expect me to believe that you brought a rose into my labyrinth at the same time my flowers start wilting!?"

"I can expect you to believe the words of a fellow person!"

He tensed, like the word person caught him off guard. Thea hadn't even thought about it while she was shouting, but he wasn't really a person... was he? He certainly argued like one.

"I don't believe the words of a criminal," he sneered, prepping his axe again for the swing. "No one is sent here for being honest ."

He's got me there... though not for the reasons he thinks.

She hadn't been entirely honest when she took her father's place, but that didn't make her a sleazy criminal. The true monsters were the ones still above the surface.

"You don't know anything about me," Thea said. She pressed the rose to her chest, letting the warmth pass through her like it was a tiny flame.

The beast held his axe high, his eyes fixed and empty, clear of any emotion before he took his swing. He seemed to be good at his job. Within a blink of his eyes, he was already detached from Thea, looking at her like a job that needed completed instead of a person he was striking the soul from.

"No one knows anything about me either," he said in a cracked voice that felt out of place with his detached gaze. "Yet, you'll be treated far more kindly than I will. I promise to make this quick."

Thea didn't shut her eyes. She wasn't going to hide from death when she willingly walked into it. This beast would have to watch her perish.

Hopefully, I'll see my sisters from beyond .

The axe swung, and the warmth on her chest doubled. The rose gleamed, but it was more than a glow this time. A small blast of light emanated from the bloom, flashing in the beast's eyes and causing him to drop the axe only a few inches from Thea's arm.

"What..." the beast gaped. His eyes were wide, and his hand shook where it gripped the axe. "But... how?"

Thea blinked at him, still trying to process that she hadn't died. She looked back at the rose. "What...?"

She didn't get to finish her question. The beast staggered back. His eyes locked on the rose for one final moment before he turned and ran.