Beauty by Sarah Pinborough

senses had been humming ever since the queen woke up and the first minister’s request made his nerves jangle. He was already a pawn in one royal court’s game, and now he was embroiled in another. As Petra wandered out towards the edge of the balcony, he left her and took the stairs two at a time, needing to release some energy.
    A figure waited outside his bedroom door. He frowned and then smiled. It was the serving girl. She dropped into a slight curtsey.
    ‘I wondered where you’d gone.’ She looked up, her eyes sparkling mischievously. ‘I thought p’raps you might like something brought to your room.’ She held up a jug of wine. ‘I thought I could serve it to you. Personally.’
    The huntsman laughed and swung open the door to his room. He bowed. ‘Ladies first.’
    ‘Oh,’ the girl giggled as she passed him. ‘I’m no lady.’



 
    6
    ‘The dark days . . .’
    ‘ P erhaps all this was just fate,’ Beauty murmured into his chest as the prince held her close and they danced. ‘If Rumplestiltskin hadn’t . . . done whatever he did, if I hadn’t slept, then we’d have never met.’ She looked up at him and smiled. It was the sweetest expression he’d ever seen and his heart melted all over again just looking at her exquisite face. Her eyes were the colour of clear water in a summer stream and he wanted to dive into them. To know her completely. ‘I would have been long dead before you were born,’ she continued. ‘You would never have woken me.’
    ‘Then yes, my love.’ He kissed her forehead. Her skin was soft and her hair smelled of spring flowers. He was completely enchanted by her. ‘It must be fate.’
    ‘You saved me,’ she tilted her face up to him, the two blonde streaks in her perfectly black hair hanging loose in styled curls to either side of her pale cheeks. His lips met hers and they kissed again. She was soft in his arms and the feel of her tongue touching his was electric. He had saved her. Already, in his mind, he had pushed aside the image of the huntsman bandaging her finger and stemming her dripping blood at the moment she woke. That was simply coincidence.
    ‘True love’s kiss is the only way to break a curse,’ she said, her mouth only parted from his by a breath. ‘Everyone knows that.’
    ‘And I love you truly,’ he whispered back, his voice raw. He did love her. It had gripped him from the moment he’d touched her, a wave of wonder and awe and passion that he’d never felt before. It was almost like magic. He pulled her closer to feel the swell of her bosom against his shirt. His mouth dried slightly as he fought the urge to run his hands over her body.
    ‘Let’s get married quickly,’ he said. His desire for her was so great he wasn’t sure he could wait any longer. Everything else had faded away; his father’s wishes for an expansion to his kingdom, the desire to return home laden with treasure and be treated like a hero, even his normal lust for drinking and wenching had gone. Home was a distant memory. All that mattered was this girl and possessing her completely.
    ‘Yes,’ she said, as breathless as he was. Her eyes sparkled in the light from the glittering chandeliers above. ‘I will announce it to the city tomorrow and we shall wed the next day. We’ll have a family and live happily ever after. I shall give everyone in the city a gold coin as a wedding gift to show my happiness. And there will be days of feasting. I want my people to be as happy as I am. It’s all I ever want.’
    The prince was sure his heart would explode. Not only was she beautiful, she was kind and gentle and generous too. ‘I can’t believe that you weren’t betrothed already,’ he said. ‘What is wrong with the noblemen of this kingdom? Or the princes close by?’
    ‘My father was very protective of me,’ she said, quietly, a slight shadow darkening her face and her eyes glancing away. She must have loved him very much, the prince thought. ‘Well, now I’ll