Chapter 3.
Weeks had passed since Rumplestiltskin acquired Belle as his new caretaker and to his amazement, she was doing quite a good job. She provided him with food every morning, afternoon and evening. She ate with him as he told her to and she did all the duties he sat out for her to complete.
Belle was starting to feel at home at the Dark Castle even though she frequently thought of her father. She was happy to be somewhere new, surrounded by new company. Although it was with a man who had practically forced her to come and do all his household tasks for him, she was still somewhere where she was allowed to go where ever she pleased as long as it was within the castle grounds. Rumple told her she could never leave the grounds without him, which made her feel like Rumple was protecting her. She knew he only went with her because he was afraid she would run away, but she would never run because he would go after her people. So she stayed true to the deal she had made with him and decided there was no other choice than to make a home here.
Belle and Rumple had also started talking more, not about their lives or feelings, but small talk, which made her feel he was getting more comfortable around her bit by bit. This also made her stay more enjoyable as she would always figure out more about Rumplestiltskin, making every day interesting.
One morning, just when dawn hit the horizon of the land, Rumplestiltskin was awoken by a loud noise coming from the dining hall. He awoke from his slumber and sat up in his bed within an instant, wide awake and listening.
There it was again, a loud noise like something heavy was falling onto the floor.
A low growl escaped Rumple's throat as he stood up to get dressed.
Rumple appeared in a cloud of purple smoke in the dining hall. He focused his eyes on Belle who was standing on a tall ladder above one of the windows.
She had been taking down the curtains.
Light cradled the room as the colours of the dining room were exposed, dancing with the dust that the fallen curtains had created. His eyes grew full of fury as he stomped towards the bottom of the ladder walking over all curtains she had already taken down, leaving his footprints all over them. He looked up as he clenched his fists. ''And what do you think you're doing, dearie?'' Rumple said through his teeth trying to keep his anger at bay, but the grumble of his voice made his emotions quite clear to hear. ''I thought it might be a good idea to let some light in.'' Belle shouted from the top of the ladder keeping her eyes fixed on the rings connecting the curtain to the large metal pole holding it up. ''And why would you think that?'' Rumple replied, anger starting to form in the back of his throat. ''It would maybe cheer this place up a bit'' 'Cheer this place up a bit? Cheer-' Rumple though to himself at the ridiculous idea. ''It's The Dark Castle, dearie.' He said in his sarcastic high-pitched tone. ''Why would I want light in The DARK Castle.'' He shouted towards her, his anger suddenly returning. ''Well.. Maybe I did'' Belle said challengingly looking down towards Rumple. ''I live here now too, you know.'' Belle shouted from above. Rumple looked confused and taken aback by her sudden statement. ''That doesn't give you the courtesy to change things around here, dearie.'' Rumple's voice sounded softer but still stern, making clear this castle belonged to him and him alone. ''I know, but-'' She suddenly turned back to face the curtain she was untangling from the pole, not sure what to reply, she left it at that.
She was struggling to get to the last ring as the ladder was just a touch too far away.
Rumple looked at the bottom of the ladder as one of the feet leaned to one side as Belle was trying to reach over, his eyes widened as the ladder completely tipped to the right. Belle's eyes filled with terror as she realised the ladder underneath her feet had vanished as she could feel gravity pulling down at her body. Belle let out a whim of fear as she fell towards her master.
Rumple caught her.
She wrapped her arms around the Dark One's neck as he immediately locked eyes with her, his eyes were full of concern and his heart was racing. Her eyes staring back into his with that of relief as she was caught, thankful she wasn't in pain. Completely silent, they both forgot what they were talking about as Rumple held her longer than needed. Belle made a bold decision and locked her fingers together behind his neck, feeling the palms of her hands on his skin. This was the first time she had ever touched him and she could not help but to stroke her thumb against his neck running from his hair to the back of his rough clothing. Rumple flinched at her touch as his knees started to feel weak. He could not help but let his eyes fall to the back of his head as she softly stroked his scale-like skin. It was not as rough as she had imaged but brought a slight tingle to her fingers. Belle bit her lower lip, seeing his pleasure at her touch made her blush. ''T-Thank you.'' Her shyness made her look away from his eyes, breaking the spell of silence. Rumple put her down gently, as he cleared his throat and backed away making a hand movement into the air spinning his wrist. ''No matter, dearie. We can't have you impaired now, can we? Maids are hard to find these days.'' He said winking at her as he gave her a small grin.
''I-I'll get these cleaned up.'' Belle said as she looked at the red curtains, matching the colour of her face. ''
Rumple looked at the curtains lying on the floor, he sensed a hint of guilt for walking on them when she was only trying to do her duties of cleaning. ''Yes, good idea. I'll be here if you need me'' a slight smile appeared on his face. He walked over to his wheel to do what he did best. Spinning.
It was late afternoon and Belle was hanging up the red curtains out on the washing lines outside the castle. It turned out to be a warm day and the wet curtains made it heavy to carry. She wiped the sweat from her brow as she found the curtains to be of a lighter colour now that they were washed.
She felt a sense of achievement seeing all of them clean.
Rumple was looking out the window from his spinning wheel, also providing the perfect place to gaze upon Belle. As he saw her body drenched in sweat and her rags cling to her body, he stopped spinning and licked his lips. He imagined Belle underneath him, defenceless and wanting him to take her at every corner of the castle. He could feel an aching pain in his groin as the leather around him grew tighter.
As soon as Belle came back inside Rumple appeared in front of her. She inhaled sharply as she took a step back and giggled. ''Oh! You frightened me''. The laughter in her words now had a different effect on him, he smiled at the sound of her joyful personality. ''I tend to do that to people.'' He said as he giggled back at her. ''Come, I have something for you.'' He made hand gestures to follow him. As they walked up the swirling staricases, she felt anxious. 'What does he want to show me?' Suspicions filled her mind, wondering if she had done something wrong and if he was going to hurt her if she had. 'Maybe he's still mad at me for taking down the curtains?' She clumsily walked into Rumple's back as he stopped before her. Belle was so caught up in her thoughts she hadn't noticed they were in front of her bedroom door.
Rumple opened the door, silently walking through. 'I-Is he going to have his way with me?!' Her mind filled with panic as well as excitement as she blushed at the thought of touching him again, as well as feeling his hands on her. She sometimes thought she saw a look of desire for her in his face but she always looked away emediatly out of shyness. She saw the effect her fingers had on his neck and was curious to find out what other expressions of pleasure she could get out of him.
Rumple's hand pointed to the bed. Belle slowly walked behind him, her legs shaking and feeling heavy.
Different assortments and colours of gowns and dresses were laid neatly upon her bed. ''I want you to wear these from now on.'' He commanded as a small grin crept on his face. His eyes containing a hint of want. ''It's more appealing to the eye and it complements your body better than those rags.'' He said in a deep voice. She looked over at the dresses on her bed 'He's not going to do anything?' She thought sighing in disappointment.
She studied the gowns and suspiciously looked back at Rumple ''You want me to look nicer? Why?'' She queried. He eyed her body up and down. Belle felt naked when he did this and she diverted her eyes from him, turning her body away and her body felt scorching hot from him looking at her so yearningly. ''I have my reasons, dearie.'' He said in a husky voice.
It was evening and Rumple was sat at the dining table awaiting his meal. He was excited as he imaged seeing Belle in one of her new dresses. How the dress would hug her body and how the colours of them would compliment her bright blue eyes and chestnut coloured hair. Leaning his elbows on the arms of the chair, he put the tips of his fingers together, rubbing them in anticipation of her arrival.
Belle walked in wearing a simple blue and white dress with a leather bodice tied together at the front, her feminine bodily features exposed for everyone to see, holding up her breasts revealing cleavage. She came in holding a silver tray containing their dinner. As she walked in, Rumple couldn't take his eyes of her, as he was taken aback by her beauty. He was baffled as he could only stare at her as she plated up their meal. She could feel his eyes on her as she was quite happy that her master found her attractive. She had never felt admiration for her form before. She felt this would be a regular occurrence, and she didn't mind.
Rumple sat forward placing his elbows on the table shifting his lower body underneath it, as he could feel his trousers begging him for release. Belle placed the tray in front of them brushing her dress before she sat down. ''How do you like your new attire, dearie.'' He looked at her with deep jade coloured eyes. She couldn't bear to look at him as she could feel her cheeks flush at the question. ''I-It's better, I feel more comfortable in it. Thank you.'' She said softly as she plated up their dinner. ''Good, good.'' He replied softly still staring at her beautiful form.
They ate their dinner in silence. Rumple was staring at her from the corner of his eyes and Belle could feel this as she occasionally looked back, seeing him divert his eyes back to his meal. This made her internally giggle and she tried to suppress a smile.
Belle cleared their plates and proceeded cleaning the kitchen afterwards.
Rumple would always watch her from the kitchen door when she was cleaning up after dinner. He said it was because he didn't trust her with the knives in the kitchen but she knew this was a silly excuse as he always let her cook dinner without him watching. She knew he watched her sometimes because he was lonely. And who could blame him, she thought, he had been alone for a very long time. Belle dried of the clean dishes with a cloth, making round movements with her arm allowing her breasts to move along with her. Knowing, this is also why he watched her. She felt it was a compliment, he found her beautiful and that sent shivers of pleasure down her spine. Her mind so concentrated on Rumple watching her resulted in her dropping a teacup that she was drying off.
It fell to the floor.
She shrill sound of porcelain hitting the tile floor, shook her awake as she looked towards her actions. Some of the edge had broke off it. ''I-I'm so sorry!'' she cried as she bent down to retrieve it. ''It's chipped..'' She held out the cup to Rumplestiltskin as he examined the cup in her hand. ''Well, it's just a cup.'' He said as he was leaning against the door frame with his arms crossed. She put the cup back with its set, smiling at it. ''It's okay if you're a little bit different, you'll still make a great teacup.'' She said trying to console the cup she had chipped. Rumple's eyes grew soft when he heard Belle talk to the cup, finding comfort in her words making a small smile appear on his face.
Night fell and they both retreated to their chambers, at opposite ends of the castle. Belle was walking around her room, observing all of the different books, that Rumple had provided for her. Her thoughts kept coming back to her master and how he had looked at her in various ways. She flushed at the memory of feeling his rough skin sending his eyes into the world of pleasure.
Rumple who was pacing around in his room wondering what Belle was wearing this time of night. He realised he had never provided her with night-time attire ever since her arrival, and as they were swept from her home so suddenly she had no time to pack. He inhaled sharply as he imaged her sleeping naked, all of her soft skin being hugged by the thin bedspread.
He shook his head as he clenched his fist around an oddly shaped blade. ''I need to find a new hiding place.'' His voice sounded agitated as he muttered to himself. ''Where, where, WHERE.'' He spat as he stopped in his steps. ''Where will no one think to look..'' he asked himself as he ran his long slender finger across his name engraved upon the dagger.