protect you,’ he said. ‘My huntsman will find the traitor and all will be well.’
‘And we’ll live happily ever after,’ Beauty murmured again, her smile returning. They kissed once more and the music played on. Around them, aware that the young couple had eyes for none but each other, the ministers and their wives quietly slipped away. They were no longer young and neither was the night, and despite having spent a century sleeping their bodies were tired and their feet ached and they wanted to let their smiles drop.
A few paused at the door and glanced back with a mixture of nerves and heart-ache. She was so very beautiful, and so very sweet. And then they shuddered slightly, unable to stop themselves, before heading to their rooms in the castle.
I t was a cool spring night, but Petra didn’t care. The castle, exquisite as so much of it was, felt claustrophobic, and she couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling that had plagued her since Beauty had woken. The prince was blind to it – blind to everything but his sudden love – and even that she found strange. She knew men could be fools where women were concerned, and although the prince was too spoiled and arrogant for her to find him attractive he hadn’t struck her as stupid. Her great-grandmother had passed down many tales of handsome princes – stories that were no doubt just flights of fancy – but they had ingrained in her the truth that royals were invariably only true to themselves. This one was suddenly a changed man, if that were the case.
The forest wall was still thick around them. The garish ballroom she’d found while the city slept was now firmly locked. Things were not well in this kingdom. She leaned on the smooth white marble of the balcony and tilted her head back. Above, the moon was full and heavy in the sky, shining its cool light over the darkness of the city below. Music drifted up from the ballroom as the party endlessly continued and she frowned as she tried to listen beyond it. It was an irritating distraction from the sound her ears sought. The counterpart to her soulful duet that had drawn her here even before the prince and the huntsman had arrived in her life. She didn’t care about castles and sleeping beauties. She didn’t even care about curses. These things were best left to run their course. It was the haunting song which had found her through the thick forest wall that held her here.
There it was. She almost gasped as she heard it; a faint low howl. It sang to her, so full of melancholy and yet so strong. Her heart fluttered. Her skin tingled. She stared out into the night. ‘Where are you?’ she whispered. ‘ What are you?’ The howl came again. Animal and human rolled into one. Without a thought to anyone who might hear her, she tilted her head back and answered the call. The creature, wherever it was, let its voice join hers, and she was sure she could hear her own excitement in the sound as their cries mingled in the night. Her feet yearned to run down the stairs and out into the strange city night. The huntsman could find this Rumplestiltskin. She would be on a different search.
T he sheets were a tangled mess around their legs and the serving girl, whose name it turned out was Nell, lay on her side next to the huntsman, her hair tumbling over one shoulder. She took a sip of wine and then handed him the glass. ‘You must be thirsty.’
He laughed a little and drank, enjoying the sweat cooling on his body and then leaned forward and kissed her. She had an earthy beauty and a full voluptuous body that might one day swell into fat but for now was young and firm. She smiled and then settled down against his chest, both of them content in the enjoyment they’d taken from each other. They hadn’t done much talking, their needs too urgent, but now they were sated they shared that comfortable space that only exists between two strangers who’d just had good enough sex to be at ease in each other’s company.
‘And we’ll live happily ever after,’ Beauty murmured again, her smile returning. They kissed once more and the music played on. Around them, aware that the young couple had eyes for none but each other, the ministers and their wives quietly slipped away. They were no longer young and neither was the night, and despite having spent a century sleeping their bodies were tired and their feet ached and they wanted to let their smiles drop.
A few paused at the door and glanced back with a mixture of nerves and heart-ache. She was so very beautiful, and so very sweet. And then they shuddered slightly, unable to stop themselves, before heading to their rooms in the castle.
I t was a cool spring night, but Petra didn’t care. The castle, exquisite as so much of it was, felt claustrophobic, and she couldn’t shake the unsettled feeling that had plagued her since Beauty had woken. The prince was blind to it – blind to everything but his sudden love – and even that she found strange. She knew men could be fools where women were concerned, and although the prince was too spoiled and arrogant for her to find him attractive he hadn’t struck her as stupid. Her great-grandmother had passed down many tales of handsome princes – stories that were no doubt just flights of fancy – but they had ingrained in her the truth that royals were invariably only true to themselves. This one was suddenly a changed man, if that were the case.
The forest wall was still thick around them. The garish ballroom she’d found while the city slept was now firmly locked. Things were not well in this kingdom. She leaned on the smooth white marble of the balcony and tilted her head back. Above, the moon was full and heavy in the sky, shining its cool light over the darkness of the city below. Music drifted up from the ballroom as the party endlessly continued and she frowned as she tried to listen beyond it. It was an irritating distraction from the sound her ears sought. The counterpart to her soulful duet that had drawn her here even before the prince and the huntsman had arrived in her life. She didn’t care about castles and sleeping beauties. She didn’t even care about curses. These things were best left to run their course. It was the haunting song which had found her through the thick forest wall that held her here.
There it was. She almost gasped as she heard it; a faint low howl. It sang to her, so full of melancholy and yet so strong. Her heart fluttered. Her skin tingled. She stared out into the night. ‘Where are you?’ she whispered. ‘ What are you?’ The howl came again. Animal and human rolled into one. Without a thought to anyone who might hear her, she tilted her head back and answered the call. The creature, wherever it was, let its voice join hers, and she was sure she could hear her own excitement in the sound as their cries mingled in the night. Her feet yearned to run down the stairs and out into the strange city night. The huntsman could find this Rumplestiltskin. She would be on a different search.
T he sheets were a tangled mess around their legs and the serving girl, whose name it turned out was Nell, lay on her side next to the huntsman, her hair tumbling over one shoulder. She took a sip of wine and then handed him the glass. ‘You must be thirsty.’
He laughed a little and drank, enjoying the sweat cooling on his body and then leaned forward and kissed her. She had an earthy beauty and a full voluptuous body that might one day swell into fat but for now was young and firm. She smiled and then settled down against his chest, both of them content in the enjoyment they’d taken from each other. They hadn’t done much talking, their needs too urgent, but now they were sated they shared that comfortable space that only exists between two strangers who’d just had good enough sex to be at ease in each other’s company.
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