"Go now, Charles, and bring me your daughter. Then you, and the young girl, shall not die in agony and vain." The tall, lean man looked down on his soon-to-be free prisoner.

"Yes, your highness, of course." Charles rode away from the gothic castle, happy to be gone, but not to lose his daughter. What was he going to tell her? 'You have to take my place'? He knew that she would do whatever she could to protect her father, but she would have to live with the evil, red-eyed royal. Would he do terrible things to her? Torture her? Imprision her in a dungeon like he had been for the past four days? He couldn't think about that now, all he needed to think about was seeing his daughter for one last day. His daughter would have to leave in the morning to arrive at the castle at the monster's specified time. All because he had picked a rose for her.

Charles arrived home four hours later. He slowly put the horse in the barn and walked into his small home where him and his daughter lived. It was the middle of winter and the house was as hot as an oven. His daughter, scared of getting cold, rutinely threw a new log into the fire every two hours. He then saw his daughter's eyes as she ran up to him and hugged him tightly.

"Papa! Where have you been? I've been so worried, the whole village has been for that matter." She looked up at him, her brown eyes twinkling with amazement.

"It is a long story, and one that you will have to regrettably suffer for." Her face went even more pale than it naturally was. She raised her head up to look at her father. "What is it, Papa?"

Charles sighed and a tear began to roll down his face. "I was held prisoner why I was away, but not just by anyone; oh, no. It was him, my daughter; it was the legend.

"What lengend?" she asked, sitting in the rocking chair next to the fire. "Remember the legend I told you many times, about the beast that lived in the castle south of here? It was him, I know it was. He does not look like a beast, though he is one. He is cruel and will never let you leave."

She became alarmed and asked: "Will never let me leave?"

Charles looked at his daughter and noticed her alarm. "The only reason he freed me is so that you would come in my place." Charles exhaled heavily and burried his hands into his face.

She sat there, staring off into nothing, cotemplating what she should do. "I'll go. As long as you are here, and free, I will go." Charles looked up at his daughter with bewilderment. He knew she would do it, but he didn't know that she would agree that quickly.

"You do not know what you do, young girl. He is crazy, vile, and evil. He will torture you and hold you hostage."

"I do not care, for as long as I know you are safe, I will be happy." She looked back at her father. Knowing that she didn't have much more time left with him.

"You will leave with the horse in the morning. Keep Philipe with you, I will just use the other one." She smiled and went into her room to pack her things and spend one last night in her bed.

***

She steered Philipe on the trail. She was two hours into her journey to the castle. Saying goodbye to her father was rough, but she knew that someday, they would meet eachother again. She wondered what her dungeon cell would be like, and what the castle looked like on the inside. She had seen the outside of the castle multiple times, traveling to visit her father's family in Paris, but she had never gotten close to it, let alone into the structure. The next two hours passed and then she could see it; the castle.

"Go slowly, Philipe. I am in no big hurry."

Soon, she was at castle gates. As soon as she arrived, they opened. She and Philipe rode into the gates, and as soon as they were inside, they closed.

The doors were only a short distance, and she mounted off of the horse. "Philipe, you stay here. I'm sure one of his servants will take you to a barn...or somewhere." She loaded her two bags off of the horse and knocked on the large doors. Suddenly, they opened just like the gates had, and she walked inside.

"Hello? Hello? Is anybody there?" Then she heard the tap of feet.

There he stood. Tall and proud. Her father had been right; he did not look like a beast but he certainly did act like one. But his eyes! Were they red?

"Ah, you must be Bella." he smirked.