[FIC] For Who Could Ever Learn to Love a Beast? - Chapter V
For Who Could Ever Learn to Love a Beast?
Overall rating: R - NC-17
Summary: In the middle of a forest, stands a castle in which lives a King who, in return for protecting the town below him, takes in a mortal girl once every twenty years. Twenty years has passed. A girl is chosen. What will happen when Love gets in the way?
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4,168
Chapters: [1] :: [2] :: [3] :: [4] :: [5] :: [6]
Chapter 5
Magic Mirrors
Light filtered through the curtains, hitting crystals that stood on a table in front of the window. Alette’s eyes watched the rainbows form and she sat up, dizzily, trying to grab ahold of the colored light. In her mind’s eye, she saw them as butterflies flitting through the scented air. Alette paused in her rainbow-butterfly hunting and smelt the air. It was thick with the aroma of roses - so strong was this fragrance that Alette could almost taste it. She fell back languidly; eyes already closed, and savored the feeling of silk against her skin.
Silk? Alette’s eyes fluttered open.
She blinked several times and turned her head away from the window to look at the space besides her. She sat up quickly and looked at the bed. Never had she seen such opulence. The bed was made of a rich deep, red mahogany, intricately carved with roses. The silken sheets set off the red with its sweet rosy color. A velvet bedcover lay folded at the foot revealing the silk sheets beneath that draped Alette’s legs. Then, Alette noticed something. Touching her stomach she felt no corset, no vines. She could breathe.
Getting up and looking at the tall pier glass that stood in the room, she saw she was wearing the finest satin night gown, lace trimming the bodice. She whirled around once, feeling giddy, like a little girl playing dress up. All at once, the beauty of the room hit her.
Everywhere she looked were deep rich golds and reds and clear crystals hung from every corner. The plush molten carpet felt heavenly beneath her sore feet and looking up, she gasped at the beautiful complexity of the ceiling. She fell back on the bed, sitting up, staring up at the four posts that cornered her bed, carved vines trailing up them. The bedcovers matched the curtains that draped the windows near her bed. The Bed. Alette corrected herself. It wasn’t hers.
And Alette remembered, the events of the night before. No. This was not a dream. This was reality. Twenty years…She dry heaved violently, tears filling her eyes. But she refused to cry.
She refused.
But still, stubbornly, the tears came. The silk darkened where they fell. She clutched her sides and then - blissful darkness.
+++
When she next awoke, her insides were blissfully numb. On the table besides the bed, she found a pitcher of water and an empty glass. She drank, grateful, before setting the glass down and taking in a deep breath with her eyes closed. Opening them again, she once again took in her surroundings.
Yes, her family was well off at one point. Yes, her mother lavished on her daughters whatever they wanted. But this? This was…No, Alette could not call it ‘too much’. It was tasteful. All in all, it was fit for a Queen.
The room was not huge but it was spacious. Alette saw a vanity table and noticed that what few jewels she had were on the table and next to them, a music box. Alette picked it up, and found it to be heavy. Carefully, she opened the lid and sweet music filled the room. Alette frowned, trying to remember where she had heard this music before. Alette looked down at the small dancers that twirled about each other in the box, the man holding the girl by the waist as they twirled as one about the music box. After a while, the music stopped, needing to be wound up again; the man and woman holding each other still, waiting to continue their endless dance of love. Alette took this chance to study the figurines. They looked as if they were made of painted glass. She looked at the man, his face slightly alien looking; a sweet sad smile on his painted lips. His eyes were hollowed and his skin pale. She wondered if it were a mistake? But looking at how finely his clothes were crafted as well as the rest of the music box, this could hardly be a mistake.
Alette turned her attention to the girl. Alette was surprised to see the girl’s head bowed down as if in resignation and tilting the box so she could see the girl’s face better, she saw that the girl had tears in her eyes. Alette squinted, staring at the girl’s face. She sighed, looking down at the girl. I know how you feel…Alette thought, thinking of her own predicament. Her heart sank. She thought of the stranger in the woods - the King as it turned out.
She had told him so much! Why had he not said anything?! Why?! Especially when she began to reveal her feelings about the Choosing! But then, she had never asked him. Never suspected. He had only ever been kind with her. Never a rude or arrogant remark in her direction. He never reprimanded her as the other men were apt to do when she spoke of her love of reading and of books and poems…She sighed. Her face grew hot when she remembered telling him what her sisters thought of him and how she wanted to be chosen. Well you got your wish. What now, Alette? She asked herself.
What now indeed. She stared at the little music box girl, and was about to mirror her emotions when she nearly dropped it upon hearing a knock on the door.
“Y-Yes?” Alette stammered, putting the music box down as carefully and as quickly as she could.
Well, she put it down quickly alright. She cursed herself when the music box sprung open again and she snapped it shut, only to open it up again to make sure she hadn’t broken the figurines. She breathed a sigh of relief. The man still held the girl and the girl still cried in her silent little way. The knocking came again.
“Yes?” Alette called out, more loudly this time.
“Mademoiselle.” His voice streamed in through the door.
Alette suddenly paled.
“Uh…uh…One moment! I…” Alette called, searching for a robe to cover herself.
Wait…must I cover myself? He is, after all, my…husband? Alette burned at the thought.
“I…I am…ah…” Alette began, but decided it was probably best to be silent.
She could imagine him getting angrier by the moment behind the door. Finally, she simply settled for the bedcovers and threw it around her shoulders and somehow managed to stammer a come in.
He raised an eyebrow at the sight of her. Her hair was in complete disarray with the velvet bedcovers wrapped around her. In the grandeur of the room, she seemed small and fragile.
Alette took a step back but regretted it as she stumbled over the chair of the vanity table and nearly fell to the floor. She managed to regain some of her balance however and stood up shakily.
“I wished to check on you…to see if everything is to your liking.” He said to her.
Alette nodded, unsure what she was nodding for. She felt like an idiot.
“No one has ever reacted to the mixture in the Chalice as you have.” He said. He took a step towards her.
Alette froze, fighting the urge to take a step back. He was no longer wearing his cape and instead wore a rich suit, the white of his cuffs splayed around his wrists; gloves no longer covering them. Again, she stared at his alien hands.
She watched as one of them reached out to her, she flinched when he touched it to her forehead.
“You no longer burn with fever.” He said to her.
She swallowed hard and gazed down at her feet, subconsciously wrapping the bedcovers tighter around her at the feel of his burning touch.
“Alette?” He whispered.
She raised her eyes up at him, wishing he did not wear the mask, so she could see his expression.
“Do you like the room?” He asked.
He waited patiently for her answer, removing his hand from her forehead. He relished the feel of her. She nodded up at him.
“Then it is yours. Everything in this apartment is yours.” He said, stepping aside revealing the doorway.
Outside, was a sitting room, decorated in much the same way as the bedroom. Alette looked out at it.
“You may decorate these rooms as you wish. Remove anything that you dislike and if you wish to replace them with anything, just tell me.”
She looked up at him and tried to smile. Why was it so hard for her to do so now? How was it, that in the woods she could openly laugh in his presence? What made him so different now? He was the same person, was he not? Alette blinked. No. Not really. He was not even a person.
She could not do it. She could not smile. So instead, she just nodded, unable to even whisper her thanks.
He was crushed but dismissed it and certainly did not show it. He stepped away from her and abruptly left the room, completely forgetting to tell her that if she were hungry, the dining room below was ready for her. Why was he hurt at her reaction? All the others were the same, if not worse. Some of them did not even acknowledge him and over the next few weeks would destroy everything in the room and insisted he replace them. He always did. Then they would repeat it over and over. He remembered the girl, Crystal, with her annoying habit of going into his own chambers and rearranging everything. He valued his privacy but still let her do as she pleased. But when she went into his mother’s old rooms, a place he made clear to everyone was forbidden, he destroyed her. Her stone corpse lay outside in the gardens, still clinging onto one of his mother’s necklaces. He left it with her as a warning to all the others.
Alette blinked as he swept past her coldly. She nearly called out to him to apologize. She stopped, embarrassed at herself for being so…rude. She wondered if she was going to pay later. She shuddered.
That entire day, Alette stayed in her new bedroom, not daring to venture outside. She sat on her vanity, head resting on her folded arms, looking at the open music box.
“He’s cruel.”
Alette jumped and looked around her. There was no one there.
“He’s killed every single one of your predecessors and he will kill you when he tires of you.”
Alette stood carefully.
“W-who’s there?” She called out.
“In the mirrors, girl.”
Alette froze and carefully, looked into the mirror above her vanity table. There stood, three beautiful women, all around Alette’s age, staring back at her. Alette staggered back.
“We would have come out earlier but we are frightened of him. He smashes us. He keeps these mirrors because he does not know we live in these too.” They said, motioning to the tall pier glass and the mirror they stood in now.
“He is cruel.” Said all three, synchronized and harmonized; as if they were just one.
Alette said nothing, too shaken up to say or do anything.
“This room belonged to a girl before you. Many many years before this one. She died in that very bed.”
Alette froze.
“He desecrated her and then killed her. All because she would not submit to him. We watched the entire thing. Would you like to see?”
Alette refused but it was all too late.
A pretty young woman suddenly appeared sitting before the mirror, on the other side it seemed, combing her beautiful brown hair. A smile played on her lips as she placed the comb on the table. Alette looked behind the girl and saw it was the same room that was behind her. The girl dusted off her gown; Alette took a moment to note it. It was nothing like she had ever seen before - it was pale and embroidered, it looked heavy but flowing and voluminous all over; with an emphasis on the stomach. She assumed that perhaps that was the fashion at the time - she could not imagine a time when corsets or waist cinchers did not yet exist. The girl twirled around once, just as Alette had done and moved out of the frame of the mirror. Alette followed her with her eyes and watched as she reappeared in the pier glass. The girl paused when she heard something Alette did not. She mouthed the word enter and Alette watched him appear in the frame. The girl smiled at him and seemed to sigh as he wrapped an arm around her waist, turning her so she saw herself in the mirror but he avoided looking at it himself. His face was masked then as it was now and he ran his gloved hands gently over her.
The girl arched her back and Alette turned away, not wanting to watch the intimate scene but still, her eyes stayed transfixed on his hands and she heard herself gasp just as the girl did in the mirror. But then it changed. The girl pulled away and hit him on the chest. He grabbed a hold of her arms and threw her on the bed, landing on top of her, the girl’s arms and legs kicking and scratching.
Alette’s eyes burned with tears and she stood and ran towards the mirror screaming and begging for it to stop. To stop showing her this. The young woman in the mirror's mouth open wide in terror. Though the image was silent, Alette could hear her screaming in her mind. Alette screamed herself. Her own voice providing the soundtrack for the scene before her. She screamed more as blood splattered on the mirror. Alette turned away, caught sight of the mirror of the vanity table - there was blood there too. Finally, the girl was still. He withdrew from her and exited the room without giving her a second glance.
Alette fell to her knees, her legs too weak to support her.
“Why?” she whispered, sobbing.
“He is cruel and he has no reasons.”
Alette shook her head.
“No! Why did you have to show me?!” Alette cried, hitting her hand against the mirror, intending to break it. The women behind it screamed.
“Stupid Girl! We did it for your own good! We are here to protect you!” They screamed, their hair whipping out behind them, their anger violent and palpable even through the mirror.
Alette hit the mirror again, crying hard, clutching onto her stomach with her other hand. She felt ill. Her hand thumped against the glass once more before slipping down to clutch her sides. Sobs racked her body as her mind tried to comprehend and simply un-see what she had just seen.
“Now now, girl.” They said in a tone Alette could not quite call soothing. “We only did it to show you. To show you how stupid you truly are.”
Alette stared at them, the tears still spilling down her cheeks, landing on her lap.
“What?” Alette whispered.
“We watched you, girl. You were hurting when he left you here. You were hurting when he was not here with you. Why, you could even say that you’re starting to have feelings for him. Stupid stupid little girl. We’ve seen it happen to many many girls before you. They fall and he does not catch them, Girl. He crushes them. Do not fall in love with him. He will kill you just as he did the others. Look outside your window. You will see his garden. His garden is his prized possession. It nurtures off the death of the women who once lived here. Speak to the roses, Girl. Ask them what their food is. They will tell you their food is you.”
Alette stood up shakily, crying. She was about to fling herself on the bed but stopped, reeling back in horror. She felt unclean. She needed to bathe. She needed to get out of her room. She needed to get out of the castle! She rushed out of her room and out of her apartments, wanting to run out of that Godforsaken castle and jump into the lake in the woods.
But she stopped abruptly at the stairs, nearly falling down the spiral staircase. A sob escaped her as he looked up at her. She took a step back as he climbed up towards her.
+++
He paced the study, staring at the fire. She had not left her room that entire day. He could sense her still up there. He sighed. Only her first day and already she was miserable. If only he could bring himself to be surprised. But she would endure. She would have to endure. Endure as he did. Endure as he does. Oh how he wanted her. He clenched his fists and stared out of the window unmoving as he thought of her.
He wanted her.
But…Patience. Patience.
Perhaps, he decided, he should preoccupy himself with something else. He walked over to where his harpsichord stood, pressing a key as he sat down before it. He placed his hands lightly over the keys and begun to play, closing his eyes as the music possessed him. It was his escape. Possibly his only real talent - and so he played obsessively and some could call it maniacally, but he could not stop. It was, perhaps, the only beauty left in him; his music.
He tensed. He stopped playing and tilted his head towards the ceiling. She was screaming. The sudden panic that overwhelmed him was quick and surprising. He left the harpsichord and his study, speeding up the stairs as he heard her leave her apartments. He saw the tears streaking her face and paused just as she halted before the stairs; about to fall down. She steadied herself and he heard a sob escape her throat. He climbed up, worried. She took a step back and fell, her legs collapsing beneath her.
Alette felt dread wash over her. She stared up at him, frightened at what he may do. She watched him kneel besides her and when he reached out to touch her, she forcefully shoved his arm away and screamed.
“Don’t touch me!”
Her eyes widened at her gall. She looked away, clenching her fists.
Slowly, she tried to stand but found that all energy seemed to have been knocked out of her. She sat frozen next to him, appalled and delirious with fear at her helplessness. If he hurt her now, she would be finished.
A gasp escaped her when he next moved his hand over her, She shut her eyes tight, preparing herself for the pain.
She had her eyes shut. He stared down at her, hurt. Carefully, he brushed the hair from her face and tucked them gently behind her ears. Her eyes fluttered open at this and she stared up at him incredulously, her suspicious blue eyes roving the planes of his mask.
“I--” she began but did not seem to know how to continue.
He hushed her and picked her up carefully.
Alette was shaking as he held her, too shocked and frightened to say or do anything. She stared up at him as he carried her, amazed she was not already at the foot of the stairs, and shattered to a million pieces. But as they entered the bedroom, the horror slowly dawned at her.
“Please. Please…No.” She whispered, begging.
As they neared her bed, she began again, hysterically.
“Please! Please My Lord! Please! No!!!”
He put her down instantly on the bed. She covered her face and was so horrified that she could no longer even weep.
He cocked his head to one side.
“Mademoiselle. Please.”
And it was there - in his voice - that she remembered him from the forest.
“Look at me.” Though command was simple and to the point - it was obvious that he was not one to be disobeyed - it was not authoritarian.
Alette uncovered her face and looked up at him as he stood by her bed. He seemed to loom over her, his presence innately threatening.
“Have I -” He paused. And there, again in his voice, in his hesitation, came a feeling of comfort that helped her settle a tiny fraction. “Have I offended you?”
He was so earnest, Alette could only feel ashamed. Her hysteria dissipated but her caution remained as it rang in her ears. She dropped her eyes and could not answer him. He stood there, by her bed for some length of time and more and more her shame grew. For a moment, he seemed to move towards her and guilt welled up inside her as she involuntarily flinched. He straightened up, bowed his head to her a fraction and left her.
She watched after him and was inexplicably devastated. She knew, her relief should have been heady to her senses at that moment; but instead, she felt she had caused him great offence. For the longest time, she could only stare at the closed door.
“How very sweet of him to bring you here.”
Alette jumped. The three women were back and she was suddenly reminded of the cause of her original alarm. She very nearly leapt off the bed; her skin crawling in disgust.
“I’m going to ask him to give me another room.” Alette said, wishing she could burn the bed.
The women laughed.
“You are being stupid again. He will want to know. He will want to know why. What will you tell him?”
Alette’s face fell.
“Do you not think he has not killed a girl in every room of this castle? Hundreds of rooms for hundreds of girls. Do not fret though. Stay here. It really is the nicest room - second only to his mother's and to his own. And…she does not haunt this place. You can sleep in peace.”
Alette shivered.
For a while the women just watched her and she watched back.
“Do you know, why you were chosen? Honestly, the old fools, those Matriarchs, their taste in women have degraded over the years…”
Alette blushed furiously.
“Th-they did not choose me.”
They laughed. “Come now, so who did, hm? Have they changed tradition then? Do they just pick a name out of a hat? Or…or maybe they have all developed courage. Is that it? Did they give him the ugliest girl this time? Is this all a trick?”
“No.” Alette turned her chin up by just a fraction. “He did. He came out and chose me.”
The women looked at her.
“You lie.”
Alette shook her head. They looked at each other, alarmed.
“What is your name?” They said, peering out at her.
“Alette…Alette Beaumont.”
“Come closer to the mirror, Alette. We want to see you better.”
Alette hesitated before doing as she was told, walking towards the pier glass.
“You are plain.”
Alette stepped back. She said nothing in her defense, knowing full well that what they said was true.
“Why did he pick you? He has never handpicked anyone himself before…why now? Why you?”
Alette’s eyes smoldered with tears of humiliation. But she refused to cry. Not in front of these…women.
“We can see you are weak Alette.” They hissed at her. “We see you are weak for him. Turn your heart to stone against him, Alette. Or he will hurt you.”
Alette said nothing. She looked at the three women, all beautiful, all beautifully cruel and suddenly she hated them.
Then, strangely, they began to laugh.
“Oh yes Alette Beaumont. Hate us. Hate. Use that feeling well.” They laughed almost hysterically, raising the small hairs on the back of her neck. “Yes Alette. Hate us! Hate us because we are right! Hate us! And hate him.”
She stiffened and stared back at the women; what little courage and defiance she had wavering at the mention of him.
“Oh yessss…Do not doubt it Alette. This feeling you have…keep it to yourself. Keep it close. Yes. For in the end - mark our words: it will be the only thing left to comfort you.”
Their laughter mocked her as she swept past them, out of her bedroom and into her private compartments. Even there, even with the doors closed, though she could not hear them, she knew. They laughed at her still. Collapsing into a settee, she wept silently.
+++
That night, he came to her.
He had only meant to stay in her outer compartments - just to feel her soft presence better. He was somehow unsurprised to find himself in her company as she slept soundly in a settee.
For a moment he debated reaching out to her. To carry her back to bed. Instead he resisted.
Patience...
He stayed with her for sometime, just watching her. Then, he left as silently as he had came.
+++
Sometime that morning, just before dawn, Alette stirred to wrap the blanket tighter around her. For a moment, a thought tried to make its way into her consciousness - something about the blanket not being there before? But it was gone before she could catch it and instead she fell asleep.
In her dreams, she was falling. Falling falling falling.
Patience. Something told her.
And so she fell, indefinitely, and waited to be caught.
Chapters:
+ [1]+ [2]+ [3]+ [4]+[5]+ [6]
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Overall rating: R - NC-17
Summary: In the middle of a forest, stands a castle in which lives a King who, in return for protecting the town below him, takes in a mortal girl once every twenty years. Twenty years has passed. A girl is chosen. What will happen when Love gets in the way?
Genre: Romance, Fantasy
Chapter Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 4,168
Chapters: [1] :: [2] :: [3] :: [4] :: [5] :: [6]
Chapter 5
Magic Mirrors
Light filtered through the curtains, hitting crystals that stood on a table in front of the window. Alette’s eyes watched the rainbows form and she sat up, dizzily, trying to grab ahold of the colored light. In her mind’s eye, she saw them as butterflies flitting through the scented air. Alette paused in her rainbow-butterfly hunting and smelt the air. It was thick with the aroma of roses - so strong was this fragrance that Alette could almost taste it. She fell back languidly; eyes already closed, and savored the feeling of silk against her skin.
Silk? Alette’s eyes fluttered open.
She blinked several times and turned her head away from the window to look at the space besides her. She sat up quickly and looked at the bed. Never had she seen such opulence. The bed was made of a rich deep, red mahogany, intricately carved with roses. The silken sheets set off the red with its sweet rosy color. A velvet bedcover lay folded at the foot revealing the silk sheets beneath that draped Alette’s legs. Then, Alette noticed something. Touching her stomach she felt no corset, no vines. She could breathe.
Getting up and looking at the tall pier glass that stood in the room, she saw she was wearing the finest satin night gown, lace trimming the bodice. She whirled around once, feeling giddy, like a little girl playing dress up. All at once, the beauty of the room hit her.
Everywhere she looked were deep rich golds and reds and clear crystals hung from every corner. The plush molten carpet felt heavenly beneath her sore feet and looking up, she gasped at the beautiful complexity of the ceiling. She fell back on the bed, sitting up, staring up at the four posts that cornered her bed, carved vines trailing up them. The bedcovers matched the curtains that draped the windows near her bed. The Bed. Alette corrected herself. It wasn’t hers.
And Alette remembered, the events of the night before. No. This was not a dream. This was reality. Twenty years…She dry heaved violently, tears filling her eyes. But she refused to cry.
She refused.
But still, stubbornly, the tears came. The silk darkened where they fell. She clutched her sides and then - blissful darkness.
+++
When she next awoke, her insides were blissfully numb. On the table besides the bed, she found a pitcher of water and an empty glass. She drank, grateful, before setting the glass down and taking in a deep breath with her eyes closed. Opening them again, she once again took in her surroundings.
Yes, her family was well off at one point. Yes, her mother lavished on her daughters whatever they wanted. But this? This was…No, Alette could not call it ‘too much’. It was tasteful. All in all, it was fit for a Queen.
The room was not huge but it was spacious. Alette saw a vanity table and noticed that what few jewels she had were on the table and next to them, a music box. Alette picked it up, and found it to be heavy. Carefully, she opened the lid and sweet music filled the room. Alette frowned, trying to remember where she had heard this music before. Alette looked down at the small dancers that twirled about each other in the box, the man holding the girl by the waist as they twirled as one about the music box. After a while, the music stopped, needing to be wound up again; the man and woman holding each other still, waiting to continue their endless dance of love. Alette took this chance to study the figurines. They looked as if they were made of painted glass. She looked at the man, his face slightly alien looking; a sweet sad smile on his painted lips. His eyes were hollowed and his skin pale. She wondered if it were a mistake? But looking at how finely his clothes were crafted as well as the rest of the music box, this could hardly be a mistake.
Alette turned her attention to the girl. Alette was surprised to see the girl’s head bowed down as if in resignation and tilting the box so she could see the girl’s face better, she saw that the girl had tears in her eyes. Alette squinted, staring at the girl’s face. She sighed, looking down at the girl. I know how you feel…Alette thought, thinking of her own predicament. Her heart sank. She thought of the stranger in the woods - the King as it turned out.
She had told him so much! Why had he not said anything?! Why?! Especially when she began to reveal her feelings about the Choosing! But then, she had never asked him. Never suspected. He had only ever been kind with her. Never a rude or arrogant remark in her direction. He never reprimanded her as the other men were apt to do when she spoke of her love of reading and of books and poems…She sighed. Her face grew hot when she remembered telling him what her sisters thought of him and how she wanted to be chosen. Well you got your wish. What now, Alette? She asked herself.
What now indeed. She stared at the little music box girl, and was about to mirror her emotions when she nearly dropped it upon hearing a knock on the door.
“Y-Yes?” Alette stammered, putting the music box down as carefully and as quickly as she could.
Well, she put it down quickly alright. She cursed herself when the music box sprung open again and she snapped it shut, only to open it up again to make sure she hadn’t broken the figurines. She breathed a sigh of relief. The man still held the girl and the girl still cried in her silent little way. The knocking came again.
“Yes?” Alette called out, more loudly this time.
“Mademoiselle.” His voice streamed in through the door.
Alette suddenly paled.
“Uh…uh…One moment! I…” Alette called, searching for a robe to cover herself.
Wait…must I cover myself? He is, after all, my…husband? Alette burned at the thought.
“I…I am…ah…” Alette began, but decided it was probably best to be silent.
She could imagine him getting angrier by the moment behind the door. Finally, she simply settled for the bedcovers and threw it around her shoulders and somehow managed to stammer a come in.
He raised an eyebrow at the sight of her. Her hair was in complete disarray with the velvet bedcovers wrapped around her. In the grandeur of the room, she seemed small and fragile.
Alette took a step back but regretted it as she stumbled over the chair of the vanity table and nearly fell to the floor. She managed to regain some of her balance however and stood up shakily.
“I wished to check on you…to see if everything is to your liking.” He said to her.
Alette nodded, unsure what she was nodding for. She felt like an idiot.
“No one has ever reacted to the mixture in the Chalice as you have.” He said. He took a step towards her.
Alette froze, fighting the urge to take a step back. He was no longer wearing his cape and instead wore a rich suit, the white of his cuffs splayed around his wrists; gloves no longer covering them. Again, she stared at his alien hands.
She watched as one of them reached out to her, she flinched when he touched it to her forehead.
“You no longer burn with fever.” He said to her.
She swallowed hard and gazed down at her feet, subconsciously wrapping the bedcovers tighter around her at the feel of his burning touch.
“Alette?” He whispered.
She raised her eyes up at him, wishing he did not wear the mask, so she could see his expression.
“Do you like the room?” He asked.
He waited patiently for her answer, removing his hand from her forehead. He relished the feel of her. She nodded up at him.
“Then it is yours. Everything in this apartment is yours.” He said, stepping aside revealing the doorway.
Outside, was a sitting room, decorated in much the same way as the bedroom. Alette looked out at it.
“You may decorate these rooms as you wish. Remove anything that you dislike and if you wish to replace them with anything, just tell me.”
She looked up at him and tried to smile. Why was it so hard for her to do so now? How was it, that in the woods she could openly laugh in his presence? What made him so different now? He was the same person, was he not? Alette blinked. No. Not really. He was not even a person.
She could not do it. She could not smile. So instead, she just nodded, unable to even whisper her thanks.
He was crushed but dismissed it and certainly did not show it. He stepped away from her and abruptly left the room, completely forgetting to tell her that if she were hungry, the dining room below was ready for her. Why was he hurt at her reaction? All the others were the same, if not worse. Some of them did not even acknowledge him and over the next few weeks would destroy everything in the room and insisted he replace them. He always did. Then they would repeat it over and over. He remembered the girl, Crystal, with her annoying habit of going into his own chambers and rearranging everything. He valued his privacy but still let her do as she pleased. But when she went into his mother’s old rooms, a place he made clear to everyone was forbidden, he destroyed her. Her stone corpse lay outside in the gardens, still clinging onto one of his mother’s necklaces. He left it with her as a warning to all the others.
Alette blinked as he swept past her coldly. She nearly called out to him to apologize. She stopped, embarrassed at herself for being so…rude. She wondered if she was going to pay later. She shuddered.
That entire day, Alette stayed in her new bedroom, not daring to venture outside. She sat on her vanity, head resting on her folded arms, looking at the open music box.
“He’s cruel.”
Alette jumped and looked around her. There was no one there.
“He’s killed every single one of your predecessors and he will kill you when he tires of you.”
Alette stood carefully.
“W-who’s there?” She called out.
“In the mirrors, girl.”
Alette froze and carefully, looked into the mirror above her vanity table. There stood, three beautiful women, all around Alette’s age, staring back at her. Alette staggered back.
“We would have come out earlier but we are frightened of him. He smashes us. He keeps these mirrors because he does not know we live in these too.” They said, motioning to the tall pier glass and the mirror they stood in now.
“He is cruel.” Said all three, synchronized and harmonized; as if they were just one.
Alette said nothing, too shaken up to say or do anything.
“This room belonged to a girl before you. Many many years before this one. She died in that very bed.”
Alette froze.
“He desecrated her and then killed her. All because she would not submit to him. We watched the entire thing. Would you like to see?”
Alette refused but it was all too late.
A pretty young woman suddenly appeared sitting before the mirror, on the other side it seemed, combing her beautiful brown hair. A smile played on her lips as she placed the comb on the table. Alette looked behind the girl and saw it was the same room that was behind her. The girl dusted off her gown; Alette took a moment to note it. It was nothing like she had ever seen before - it was pale and embroidered, it looked heavy but flowing and voluminous all over; with an emphasis on the stomach. She assumed that perhaps that was the fashion at the time - she could not imagine a time when corsets or waist cinchers did not yet exist. The girl twirled around once, just as Alette had done and moved out of the frame of the mirror. Alette followed her with her eyes and watched as she reappeared in the pier glass. The girl paused when she heard something Alette did not. She mouthed the word enter and Alette watched him appear in the frame. The girl smiled at him and seemed to sigh as he wrapped an arm around her waist, turning her so she saw herself in the mirror but he avoided looking at it himself. His face was masked then as it was now and he ran his gloved hands gently over her.
The girl arched her back and Alette turned away, not wanting to watch the intimate scene but still, her eyes stayed transfixed on his hands and she heard herself gasp just as the girl did in the mirror. But then it changed. The girl pulled away and hit him on the chest. He grabbed a hold of her arms and threw her on the bed, landing on top of her, the girl’s arms and legs kicking and scratching.
Alette’s eyes burned with tears and she stood and ran towards the mirror screaming and begging for it to stop. To stop showing her this. The young woman in the mirror's mouth open wide in terror. Though the image was silent, Alette could hear her screaming in her mind. Alette screamed herself. Her own voice providing the soundtrack for the scene before her. She screamed more as blood splattered on the mirror. Alette turned away, caught sight of the mirror of the vanity table - there was blood there too. Finally, the girl was still. He withdrew from her and exited the room without giving her a second glance.
Alette fell to her knees, her legs too weak to support her.
“Why?” she whispered, sobbing.
“He is cruel and he has no reasons.”
Alette shook her head.
“No! Why did you have to show me?!” Alette cried, hitting her hand against the mirror, intending to break it. The women behind it screamed.
“Stupid Girl! We did it for your own good! We are here to protect you!” They screamed, their hair whipping out behind them, their anger violent and palpable even through the mirror.
Alette hit the mirror again, crying hard, clutching onto her stomach with her other hand. She felt ill. Her hand thumped against the glass once more before slipping down to clutch her sides. Sobs racked her body as her mind tried to comprehend and simply un-see what she had just seen.
“Now now, girl.” They said in a tone Alette could not quite call soothing. “We only did it to show you. To show you how stupid you truly are.”
Alette stared at them, the tears still spilling down her cheeks, landing on her lap.
“What?” Alette whispered.
“We watched you, girl. You were hurting when he left you here. You were hurting when he was not here with you. Why, you could even say that you’re starting to have feelings for him. Stupid stupid little girl. We’ve seen it happen to many many girls before you. They fall and he does not catch them, Girl. He crushes them. Do not fall in love with him. He will kill you just as he did the others. Look outside your window. You will see his garden. His garden is his prized possession. It nurtures off the death of the women who once lived here. Speak to the roses, Girl. Ask them what their food is. They will tell you their food is you.”
Alette stood up shakily, crying. She was about to fling herself on the bed but stopped, reeling back in horror. She felt unclean. She needed to bathe. She needed to get out of her room. She needed to get out of the castle! She rushed out of her room and out of her apartments, wanting to run out of that Godforsaken castle and jump into the lake in the woods.
But she stopped abruptly at the stairs, nearly falling down the spiral staircase. A sob escaped her as he looked up at her. She took a step back as he climbed up towards her.
+++
He paced the study, staring at the fire. She had not left her room that entire day. He could sense her still up there. He sighed. Only her first day and already she was miserable. If only he could bring himself to be surprised. But she would endure. She would have to endure. Endure as he did. Endure as he does. Oh how he wanted her. He clenched his fists and stared out of the window unmoving as he thought of her.
He wanted her.
But…Patience. Patience.
Perhaps, he decided, he should preoccupy himself with something else. He walked over to where his harpsichord stood, pressing a key as he sat down before it. He placed his hands lightly over the keys and begun to play, closing his eyes as the music possessed him. It was his escape. Possibly his only real talent - and so he played obsessively and some could call it maniacally, but he could not stop. It was, perhaps, the only beauty left in him; his music.
He tensed. He stopped playing and tilted his head towards the ceiling. She was screaming. The sudden panic that overwhelmed him was quick and surprising. He left the harpsichord and his study, speeding up the stairs as he heard her leave her apartments. He saw the tears streaking her face and paused just as she halted before the stairs; about to fall down. She steadied herself and he heard a sob escape her throat. He climbed up, worried. She took a step back and fell, her legs collapsing beneath her.
Alette felt dread wash over her. She stared up at him, frightened at what he may do. She watched him kneel besides her and when he reached out to touch her, she forcefully shoved his arm away and screamed.
“Don’t touch me!”
Her eyes widened at her gall. She looked away, clenching her fists.
Slowly, she tried to stand but found that all energy seemed to have been knocked out of her. She sat frozen next to him, appalled and delirious with fear at her helplessness. If he hurt her now, she would be finished.
A gasp escaped her when he next moved his hand over her, She shut her eyes tight, preparing herself for the pain.
She had her eyes shut. He stared down at her, hurt. Carefully, he brushed the hair from her face and tucked them gently behind her ears. Her eyes fluttered open at this and she stared up at him incredulously, her suspicious blue eyes roving the planes of his mask.
“I--” she began but did not seem to know how to continue.
He hushed her and picked her up carefully.
Alette was shaking as he held her, too shocked and frightened to say or do anything. She stared up at him as he carried her, amazed she was not already at the foot of the stairs, and shattered to a million pieces. But as they entered the bedroom, the horror slowly dawned at her.
“Please. Please…No.” She whispered, begging.
As they neared her bed, she began again, hysterically.
“Please! Please My Lord! Please! No!!!”
He put her down instantly on the bed. She covered her face and was so horrified that she could no longer even weep.
He cocked his head to one side.
“Mademoiselle. Please.”
And it was there - in his voice - that she remembered him from the forest.
“Look at me.” Though command was simple and to the point - it was obvious that he was not one to be disobeyed - it was not authoritarian.
Alette uncovered her face and looked up at him as he stood by her bed. He seemed to loom over her, his presence innately threatening.
“Have I -” He paused. And there, again in his voice, in his hesitation, came a feeling of comfort that helped her settle a tiny fraction. “Have I offended you?”
He was so earnest, Alette could only feel ashamed. Her hysteria dissipated but her caution remained as it rang in her ears. She dropped her eyes and could not answer him. He stood there, by her bed for some length of time and more and more her shame grew. For a moment, he seemed to move towards her and guilt welled up inside her as she involuntarily flinched. He straightened up, bowed his head to her a fraction and left her.
She watched after him and was inexplicably devastated. She knew, her relief should have been heady to her senses at that moment; but instead, she felt she had caused him great offence. For the longest time, she could only stare at the closed door.
“How very sweet of him to bring you here.”
Alette jumped. The three women were back and she was suddenly reminded of the cause of her original alarm. She very nearly leapt off the bed; her skin crawling in disgust.
“I’m going to ask him to give me another room.” Alette said, wishing she could burn the bed.
The women laughed.
“You are being stupid again. He will want to know. He will want to know why. What will you tell him?”
Alette’s face fell.
“Do you not think he has not killed a girl in every room of this castle? Hundreds of rooms for hundreds of girls. Do not fret though. Stay here. It really is the nicest room - second only to his mother's and to his own. And…she does not haunt this place. You can sleep in peace.”
Alette shivered.
For a while the women just watched her and she watched back.
“Do you know, why you were chosen? Honestly, the old fools, those Matriarchs, their taste in women have degraded over the years…”
Alette blushed furiously.
“Th-they did not choose me.”
They laughed. “Come now, so who did, hm? Have they changed tradition then? Do they just pick a name out of a hat? Or…or maybe they have all developed courage. Is that it? Did they give him the ugliest girl this time? Is this all a trick?”
“No.” Alette turned her chin up by just a fraction. “He did. He came out and chose me.”
The women looked at her.
“You lie.”
Alette shook her head. They looked at each other, alarmed.
“What is your name?” They said, peering out at her.
“Alette…Alette Beaumont.”
“Come closer to the mirror, Alette. We want to see you better.”
Alette hesitated before doing as she was told, walking towards the pier glass.
“You are plain.”
Alette stepped back. She said nothing in her defense, knowing full well that what they said was true.
“Why did he pick you? He has never handpicked anyone himself before…why now? Why you?”
Alette’s eyes smoldered with tears of humiliation. But she refused to cry. Not in front of these…women.
“We can see you are weak Alette.” They hissed at her. “We see you are weak for him. Turn your heart to stone against him, Alette. Or he will hurt you.”
Alette said nothing. She looked at the three women, all beautiful, all beautifully cruel and suddenly she hated them.
Then, strangely, they began to laugh.
“Oh yes Alette Beaumont. Hate us. Hate. Use that feeling well.” They laughed almost hysterically, raising the small hairs on the back of her neck. “Yes Alette. Hate us! Hate us because we are right! Hate us! And hate him.”
She stiffened and stared back at the women; what little courage and defiance she had wavering at the mention of him.
“Oh yessss…Do not doubt it Alette. This feeling you have…keep it to yourself. Keep it close. Yes. For in the end - mark our words: it will be the only thing left to comfort you.”
Their laughter mocked her as she swept past them, out of her bedroom and into her private compartments. Even there, even with the doors closed, though she could not hear them, she knew. They laughed at her still. Collapsing into a settee, she wept silently.
+++
That night, he came to her.
He had only meant to stay in her outer compartments - just to feel her soft presence better. He was somehow unsurprised to find himself in her company as she slept soundly in a settee.
For a moment he debated reaching out to her. To carry her back to bed. Instead he resisted.
Patience...
He stayed with her for sometime, just watching her. Then, he left as silently as he had came.
+++
Sometime that morning, just before dawn, Alette stirred to wrap the blanket tighter around her. For a moment, a thought tried to make its way into her consciousness - something about the blanket not being there before? But it was gone before she could catch it and instead she fell asleep.
In her dreams, she was falling. Falling falling falling.
Patience. Something told her.
And so she fell, indefinitely, and waited to be caught.
Chapters:
+ [1]+ [2]+ [3]+ [4]+[5]+ [6]
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