The Tiger or the Tigress?
As the young man strode confidently toward the door on the right, not a sound could be heard. All eyes were on him. Icy sweat rolled down each chin and hearts paused their beating to watch him stride up to the door, to see what was within.
Out sprang the tiger, a most ferocious thing. It was the most savage tiger of all, and not once had it thought to bathe itself after one of its many brutal meals. His claws were caked with the gore of meals past and his paws, once a snowy white, were stained with the rusty brown color of blood. It opened its yellow-toothed maw in a horrific roar, blasting the unfortunate man with its carrion breath.
The man stood frozen with fear, petrified before the beast his love had led him to. He turned back to catch the princess's eye one last time, and when he did, he saw the anguish on her face and her lips forming the words What have I done? While his back was still turned, the tiger adjusted its cruel amber eyes to the harsh sunlight, and pounced.
The tiger brutally blindsided him, just as his love had done. He never saw it coming. As the tiger raked his back with its claws, the man let out a scream of agony and heartbreak, before the tiger silenced him by swiftly ripping out his throat. The tiger always killed quickly, it did not play with its food.
As the tiger ravaged the body, the princess could only wonder if she had made the right decision. Wasn't it better to have him waiting for her in some mysterious place rather than falling in love with the other woman? Yet, the death had been so awful, had the pain she saved herself from really been worth it? Then a thought struck her like a blow. Had it been the tiger that truly killed him, or had really been her, the tigress?