Chapter 13- We've Been Here Before
Belle was completely silent the entire ride back to Villeneuve. Edmund respectfully kept his mouth shut. He'd overheard much of her argument with the Beast—impossible not to with the decibel level it climbed to. When silence finally resounded in the hall he moved to check on her, but she reentered the library, gathered some of the books they had selected earlier, and walked out. Tear tracks marred her beautiful face, but no more fell. He struggled to keep up with her as she wound her way back to the castle entrance, her head held high as they passed several staff members who obviously overheard the argument as well.
Pierre gave her a sympathetic glance as she marched out the doors, not even looking in his direction. They packed the books into the side bags and rode off. He could see the amount of energy Belle was exerting in keeping a flaccid countenance by the white knuckles gripping the reins.
Once out of earshot from anyone in Montiquent, Belle finally lost her composure and tears silently streamed down her cheeks. Edmund felt helpless in the face of his friend's anguish and wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and hold her. Anyone who could hurt someone as sweet and loving as Belle had to be a monster, and Edmund was glad he hadn't gotten the chance to meet this "King". He never wanted to set foot in that twisted creature's kingdom again, even though an hour earlier he would have given just about anything to live the rest of his life in that spectacular library. Some things were more important than books.
They made short work of the rest of the trek back, and as they approached Belle's family cottage, he could see what little remained of her control cracking.
Maurice, who was outside moving around some potted plants, looked up as the two riders approached. He smiled at Edmund, then looked over to Belle and his face dropped. He rushed to her and helped her dismount. Belle then collapsed into her father's arms, her body shaking with sobs.
Holding her tightly, he rubbed her back, saying, "Oh, my sweet girl." Maurice then glanced up at Edmund, looking for answers, but only words of comfort came out of the older man's mouth.
Rosalind came bounding out of the house with a cheery greeting that abruptly caught in her throat at the sight of her husband and daughter in a lump on the ground.
"What happened?" Rosalind demanded as she sauntered up to Edmund.
"I don't know exactly, but from what I overheard, the King has reinstated the restrictions and…" His voice caught, unable to utter the words for fear Belle would hear and it would crush her all over again. He took her mother's elbow, drawing her further away from Maurice and Belle, then whispered, "He said they were done and kicked us out."
From the shocked expression on the Enchantress's face, he could tell she was struggling to believe him. "He wouldn't have. You must have heard wrong. He loves her."
Rosalind's mind raced, trying to comprehend what Edmund had said. She knew the King still struggled from time to time, worried about not providing her daughter with a full marriage one day, but it was never a question of if they would be married, but when, and how they would face those challenges. The restrictions were just a temporary setback that Rosalind understood the need for, having witnessed some of the unintended displays of magic that a few of the charmantes had unleashed.
"No, I didn't hear wrong, Madame. He was furious. I've never heard anything yell like that before in my life. He was very clear and calculated in his words, and I heard them without a doubt." Edmunds face turned red, and tears stung his eyes in empathy for his dear friend as he heard her choked weeping. Clearing his throat, he told Rosalind, "His exact words were, 'We are done. Now get out.' And later he repeated the 'get out', screaming it at her when she tried to protest."
"I can't…" Rosalind placed her hand on her chest, unable to form the words to express her complete shock, but she believed him. After a few moments, her shock was replaced by anger.
She clenched her jaw and squeezed his forearm. "Thank you, Edmund, for escorting her home. We will take it from here." She then turned from him and walked over to join her family on the ground, wrapping her arms around Belle's back, and sharing a glance with her husband.
"If he weren't already cursed, I would curse him again! This time making him a snake, or a fly, or a frog!" Rosalind yelled as she paced the ground outside the cottage. After hours of trying to console their daughter, Rosalind finally slipped her a sleeping dram into a cup of tea, and forced Belle to drink it. At the moment, the young woman was tucked into her bed, asleep.
"Now dearest, we don't know the full story. Perhaps he thinks he's doing what's best for Belle. He's never once done something counter to her best interest."
"Was kicking you and her out of the kingdom in her best interest!?" she continued to screech, throwing her hands up to the sky.
"While the traumatized charmantes adjust, yes it probably is."
Maurice was being far too pragmatic about the entire situation, and it further infuriated his wife, who continued her pacing while he sat on the steps watching her.
"They were supposed to get married, Maurice! It's their destiny! And he's throwing it all away... Throwing her away! And for what?" She finally slumped down on the steps next to her husband and rested her head on his shoulder. Mothering was far more challenging to a grown woman than Rosalind ever imagined. She'd missed all the moments to help build up her daughter's defenses against such callous treatment—not that she would have counseled her to be cold and aloof, just guarded and strong.
"We don't know. Perhaps you should go and ask him." Maurice cocked an eyebrow, knowing that his wife had already thought about doing that multiple times since Belle's return, but didn't trust herself not to do something rash.
She shifted her skirts, and a worried look passed over her still beautiful features. "I will tomorrow. Once I've cooled down. I just can't help but feel this is all some sort of massive mistake."
Maurice brushed a lock of golden hair from her eyes and gazed at her warmly. "You might be right."
Racing down a dark, narrow hallway, Belle passed locked door after locked door with no end in sight. She struggled to catch her breath as panic rose in her breast. She was being followed…
No, she was being hunted.
Monsieur D'Arque and his goons weren't far behind, and with each step, they seemed to be closing in on her. She tried opening yet another door, praying that some vacant room lay beyond its heavy wood barrier, but it failed to give way to her labored jerks. She realized she was just wasting valuable time. She needed a plan, but none sprang to mind. Nothing on her person could be used as a weapon, and the stark hallway that stretched in both directions for miles held nothing but forbidden entryways.
Her chest burned with the stale air that hung around her, and her feet launched her forward almost of their own accord. Her legs had gone numb in their unending sprint to put distance between herself and the menacing figures, yet they still moved.
Finally, out of the corner of her eye, she saw an alcove that held a spiral staircase. Quickly, she fled down them and out into an open field that surrounded the asylum at the top of a steep hill. Throwing a quick glance behind her, she couldn't see anyone trailing her now, but that didn't stop her crazed exodus. Without pausing for a moment, she continued her flight, but before coming to the edge of the hill crest, she tripped at the last moment, tumbled down the back side, and came to a stop at the edge of expansive forest.
Lifting herself off the ground, she was suddenly in the castle, just outside the library. Their library.
A rush of relief washed over her. For the first time in what felt like days, she stopped for a moment and leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath.
That's when she heard it, a low, deep growl that sounded familiar. However, it didn't echo down the wide hall. It was a fierce sound that chilled Belle to the bone and caused a shiver to run along her spine.
She peered down the corridor but could see nothing in the pitch black. Panic built back up to its previous level, urging her to continue running. A strangled scream ripped from her throat as the source of the harrowing noise finally came into view. It was a large beast, covered in different shades of brown fur—some with an auburn tint that caught in the limited candle light. It stalked towards her on all fours with salivating, foaming, bared teeth that included two sharp fangs jutting out from the corners. The sound of its claws scraping against the marble floors pierced her ears. Her feet refused to move as it came closer and closer to her until it was so close she could feel its breath on her face.
The eyes were unlike anything she had ever seen: azure blue that held just the slightest hint of something more than just the instincts of a predatory animal, and she stared into them. Shockingly, she knew those eyes.
A rush of warmth filled her. She trusted this creature.
Holding her ground, she continued to gaze into those startling eyes as her hand reached out to touch his face.
"Ma bête," softly escaped her lips. Her mind flooded with memories and she finally realized that this was her love. But the way he looked at her was so foreign it wasn't hard to believe she'd failed to recognize him.
The Beast snapped at her hand as it came close and she jumped, her back slamming into the wall. He let out a deafening roar that made her hair blow around her and she squeezed her eyes shut.
Drawing up what little courage she had left, Belle clenched her fists at her sides and looked up at him towering above her. She pleaded, "No. Please... don't do this. Come back to me. I need you. I love you."
But the creature didn't listen. In almost slow motion, it surged forward with his paw rising above his head. Instinctively, her arm came up to protect her face, and his claws slashed across the tender flesh. She screamed in horror as her feet finally complied in moving her from the wall.
Her breath quickened again, and the pounding in her chest resumed. She ran towards the main entryway. The Beast stood for a moment, seemingly shocked that its prey had the audacity to flee, before bounding after her. In seconds, he had overtaken her; he slammed her to the floor and knocked what little wind she had out of her. She felt her ribs crack under the pressure of the massive paws that unrelentingly pressed her into the cold hard floor and she screamed in pain.
Tears streamed down her cheeks as she realized that this was her end. Betrayed by the one she loved. She felt the claws ripping the flesh on her back open, and a sound she didn't even know she could make involuntarily billowed out of her mouth. Still, the pain of knowing the man she loved was lost to her forever mauled her deeper than his claws ever could.
Maurice and Rosalind woke to blood-curdling screams streaming from the other side of the wall. Both flew out of their room and into Belle's.
She was thrashing on the bed so severely, tufts of her hair that she'd ripped out lay on the pillow, and there was a cut on her arm from where it scraped against the unlit lantern on her bedside table. This wasn't the first night since returning from her trip they had found Belle in such a state, but this appeared to be the most violent.
Maurice slid into the bed and maneuvered himself behind his daughter so he could hold her and try to minimize the damage she might inflict on herself or him. Rosalind raced back out the door to retrieve smelling salts. She waved the noxious odor under Belle's nose, but her eyes remained clamped shut as she continued to struggle against Maurice's hold.
"Bon Dieu!" the Enchantress exclaimed as she threw the salts across the room. "The sleeping dram I gave her was too much. I don't think we can wake her from this."
Her husband threw her a wide-eyed and miserable glance as his hold on Belle's wrist faltered and he took a blow to the face.
"We need to do something," he bit out between puffs of exhaustion that were followed by another peal of screeches and resumed contortion.
"No, please! Don't do this!" sputtered out of Belle as her body stilled for a moment. More words of muffled pleading poured from her mouth, most far less discernible to the witnesses than the first.
"There's nothing we can do. He's the only one who's ever been able to save her from this kind of nightmare. Ironic since he's the one eviscerating her in them," Rosalind scoffed, pacing the floor, trying to think of something else that could work.
Maurice took another blow when Belle's wrist broke free again. Rosalind sat beside him, grabbing hold of the freed wrist and helping her husband in restraining their daughter.
She fought for a long while before her body went slack and she breathlessly said, "But I love you. Why?"
The next morning Rosalind woke early, and after checking on her peacefully sleeping daughter, she gathered her tonics, salves, and charms for delivery to her loyal customers. She had established a profitable business for herself both in Villeneuve and Montiquent, supplying people with much needed healing charms and remedies. Her powers might have been cut short, but her ability to use the land and her garden to help others hadn't diminished at all. Kara had even expanded that knowledge a bit in their time together.
Still seething over the King's callous actions towards Belle, and the horrific nightmare that disturbed everyone's sleep, the older woman tried to focus on her deliveries, pushing aside her anger and her exhaustion. Knowing it wasn't wise to go straight to the castle, she took her time visiting with each of her friends as she supplied them with their orders, taking tea at more than one house and even sharing lunch with Adelise and Gwen at their apartment over Gwen's bakery. Finally, feeling ready to face the Beast, Rosalind bid her friend's good day and walked through the town square, smiling and nodding her head to those she passed by. Just as she was stepping off the cobblestone road and onto the dirt trail that led to the castle, she saw Kara and Tobias walking towards her arm in arm.
"Where are you headed?" Tobias asked, raising an eyebrow when he recognized the look of determination on Rosalind's face.
Her face remained calm and unaffected, but her green eyes flashed with a hint of her fury. "I have something of great importance to discuss with the King."
"He's not receiving visitors today," Kara said softly with disappointment. She unhooked her arm from Tobias's, and wrung her hands on the basket that had been resting on her other forearm. "We just left there and were turned away at the door. Something that's never happened before. My assistance was even refused. I can't shake the feeling something is… off."
"I don't give two figs if he's willing to see me or not! Something is definitely not right. Do you know what he did yesterday?"
Rosalind moved past the couple and withdrew into the forest, seeking a private space to speak to her daughter's friends. They followed closely behind her.
Kara's voice was strained with concern, and her brow creased. "No, what happened?"
Tobias came up behind her, placing a protective hand on Kara's waist as they looked upon Rosalind, waiting for her to disclose the information. But Rosalind just moved further into the woods, silently leading them to a thick grove of trees that she carefully examined, unsure if this was suitable.
"I think we've gone far enough," Tobias sternly commanded as he sat down on a stump. Kara joined him, forcing the older woman to stop.
"Alright. I suppose this will do," Rosalind sighed as she took a seat on a fallen tree across from the couple. She adjusted her skirts and set her satchel down beside her, avoiding the gazes of Kara and Tobias.
"Can you just tell us already?" Kara bit out, the feeling of dread having taken deep root in her heart. She had felt something wash over her the night before as she was making dinner, but she brushed it aside as just paranoid thoughts. Now she knew that whatever had caused that disturbance was linked to why the Enchantress looked so grieved.
Rosalind clutched her hands in her lap and took a deep breath. "This is harder than I thought…" Tears sprang to her eyes as she recalled her daughter's sobs the night before and the pure terror during the nightmare. For a moment she felt like she was betraying Belle's trust, sharing her heartbreak without her permission. But these were Belle's closest friends, and probably the only ones who might be able to help her understand Beast's motives. "He threw Belle out of the castle yesterday."
"He did what?!" Kara and Tobias said in unison. Shock and disbelief etched into their features as their slack jaws mirrored one another.
"That's not all. He told her they were done. I've never seen her so shattered. Edmund brought her home after their visit to the library, and he told me what happened. Belle couldn't speak through her sobs. Edmund said his exact words were, 'We are done. Now get out.' And that after Belle protested, he screamed at her to leave." Rosalind finally gave in to the tears of fury and hurt she felt on her daughter's behalf
Kara crossed the divide to sit next to Rosalind, consoling her, as her own face drained of all color and she fought back tears. Tobias sat speechless. He was beyond stunned, and couldn't fathom any non-magical reason his best friend would ever treat Belle, the woman that friend loved beyond all else, in such a manner.
Tobias jumped to his feet. "It has to be those damn headaches!"
"What headaches?" Rosalind asked, wiping the tears from her eyes, clinging to the idea that perhaps she had been correct in her assumption that there was something deeper going on, and the Beast hadn't actually meant anything he'd said.
"He's been getting these crushing headaches ever since his announcement restricting humans from Montiquent. They come and go, and until now I hadn't really thought much about them. We assumed it was just the stress of adjusting to being king. Mrs. Potts's teas tend to alleviate them, and he's been adamant they not be disclosed to anyone. A few times Kara provided a sleeping potion when they were bad enough to keep him from resting."
Kara shot him a look of disapproval. "That's what those were for?" She pursed her lips, glaring at Tobias. "I could have provided something much more specialized had I known what the use case was."
"He made me promise I wouldn't tell anyone. I wouldn't even be telling you now if the stakes hadn't been raised so much. There is absolutely no scenario where in his right mind he would ever kick Belle out, much less break their engagement."
"Engagement!?" both women screeched.
Tobias slapped his hand against his forehead. "Oh, Scheiße… I wasn't supposed to share that either." He slumped back down onto the log and hung his head in shame. Some friend he was being at the moment, disclosing all the secrets he'd sworn to keep.
"I mean, I had assumed it was coming, but when did they get engaged? And why wouldn't Belle have told me?" Rosalind felt hollow at the realization that she and Belle were not as close as she thought they'd become. Looking over at Kara, it seemed she felt the same way.
"I honestly don't know the details. He didn't mean to tell me when I found out. The word fiancé slipped out of him one evening, and he tried to backtrack but failed. He's been really struggling with the balance of protecting humans and charmantes from one another while still having a harmonious kingdom where both can flourish. Not that I'm trying to make excuses for him, because I'm not, but I've struggled to believe that he'd make such a rash decision without discussing it with me or someone first."
Rosalind stood with a blazing look of determination etched into her features. "So there must be something deeper going on here. I for one am not going to sit around and hope this works itself out. I'm confronting him today, whether he allows it or not. He can't keep a witch, or an enchantress, out of that castle of his." Kara stood as well, taking Rosalind's hand in hers, looking just as determined.
Tobias released a deep sigh, walking across the divide to take Kara's other hand. "Count me in. I have a lot of making up to Belle to do, I may as well start here."
The three made their way to the castle, discussing exactly how to approach the delicate subject. Tobias made some good points about not ambushing the Beast, or being too forceful, knowing that it never yielded the desired results. Taking the last few steps, Tobias's ears twitched. He heard a faint cry in the distance and stopped dead in his tracks. Both women turned curious glances at him.
"What is it?" Kara asked, recognizing the look of unease and concentration on her lover's face.
"Shhhh," he replied, putting a finger to his lips. His ears twitched again as more screams drifted by on the wind. "There's trouble in town. We have to go. Now!" In a split second he transformed, discarding his shirt to the ground as he took off at a furious pace. Kara snatched the shirt, shoving it into her basket as she and Rosalind ran as fast as they could after him.