A billion thanks to the lovely AllTheBellsInVenice for HEAVY editing on the beginning of this chapter and tons of ideas! Also, thanks so much to Lisa and Miz-Joely for listening to my crazy ideas at all hours of the day and night and giving me quite a few of those ideas! I love all you ladies!
"Once upon a time, a good king and queen had two brilliant sons. These princes could solve any puzzle, but alas, their hearts were cold as ice. When war came to the kingdom, it soon fell to the elder prince to hold the line against the enemy. But before departing, he sent a fairy to watch over his brother, who was too young to ride into battle.
This young prince did no evil, but his loveless heart cared only for his puzzles. As he grew into beauty, the watching fairy began to lust after the young prince, and saw that the war went badly. She knew that if the young prince would only marry her, she could take the kingdom for herself.
The clever fairy used all her wiles on the young prince, showing him that she was not only beautiful, but just as brilliant as he. His eyes dazzled, the prince told the fairy a secret plan, known only to himself and the elder prince, to defeat the great enemy. The fairy saw her chance and told the great enemy the plan, hoping that the elder brother would die in the battle. Soon after, a messenger came with terrible news. The elder prince still lived, but the battle was lost. Thus it game to pass that the young prince saw the fairy's treachery.
When she saw the prince's anger, the fairy begged him to forgive and protect her, for a greater evil now hunted her. But he refused, and in a fury he banished her from the kingdom. In revenge, the evil fairy set a curse upon the young prince, turning him into a beast as loathsome as he had once been beautiful. She told the poor prince that she would break the curse if only he would marry her and make her queen. Still the prince refused her, and it is said that to this day he hides his ugliness all alone in the castle, where the evil fairy forever holds him captive."
Molly Hooper snapped the book shut and smiled down at the children staring up at her in rapt attention.
"Now run along or your parents will be upset with me for keeping you so long!" she laughed at their comedic disappointment and promised to read for them again very soon.
As the last of her little audience scampered away, Molly shook her head, chuckling to herself, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before reopening the book.
It was a worn volume, despite the lack of interest in literature most of the citizens of her small village displayed. Of course, most of the wear and tear had come from Molly herself. It was her favorite book offered for borrow by the tiny bookstore tucked into a corner of a dilapidated building just off the village square. She could just see it from her position seated on the stone surround of the old fountain in the middle of the square. The running of the water behind her soothed out the clamorous sounds of the villagers bustling back and forth completing their daily tasks and doing a fair bit of gossip along the way, as per the usual.
Of course, the most common subject of gossip was Molly herself, and her father. They seemed to be the go to subject when the nosy women of the town had nothing else to cluck about. Molly read too much, it gave her ideas that her father encouraged. It wasn't right for a woman to be interested in the subjects Molly liked either. All that stuff about science and bodies and death. It just wasn't natural.
She knew they'd seen her reading science manuals and books on the human body which was terribly abnormal for a young woman. Deep inside, she thought she was probably more knowledgeable than the pathetic excuse for a doctor who lived on the outskirts of town. She might not have the hands on experience, but she practically had the three anatomy books she had access to memorized she'd read them so many times.
It didn't help that she was a pretty girl. She didn't think of herself as such, when she thought of her looks at all, but she was. Her long honey colored hair was thick and shiny, hanging down to her waist when loose, but almost always wound into a plait around her head to keep it out of the way of her work. Her figure was small, petite, but strong from helping her father with the work on their small farm. Her dark brown eyes were large in her delicate face, the rest of her features small in comparison. If she had been "normal" by the village's standards, she'd have been married off long ago. She was nearly twenty-three, old in terms of eligibility, but her father had not sought a husband for her, a fact for which she was infinitely grateful, having found no one of interest in her town.
They were all idiots. She cringed at her mean thoughts, but recognized them for the truth. They were simple, uninterested in life outside of the confines of the village, or in educating themselves. Not like the men in her books. Brilliant.
She smiled down at the pages of the book she currently held. This one was the best. A collection of fairy tales, handwritten on thick parchment pages. The ink was splotchy in places, and the writing spidery and thin, but the words filled her mind's eye with faraway places and daring deeds. She made a point to read aloud to the village children as often as their parents would let them listen to her and she almost always chose one of the many tales chronicled in the thick book for them.
Molly looked up as a cart passed too close to her, startling the petite woman out of her reverie. She frowned, annoyed at the interruption of her contemplation of the pages spread in her lap.
Ah well, her father was due to come home soon and she needed to get back to their home just outside the village and cook for him. He'd no doubt appreciate a warm supper waiting for him when he arrived from his long trip.
She hopped up, smoothing her skirts and clutched the tome in her slim arms, pulling it tightly to her chest as she set off towards home.
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