"Food." Cried The Beast, his thirst and apatite was growing by the day.
"Not yet, my sweet, not until the girl is ready. We need to lie low for a while. I saw the familiar face of Chief Swann today. I can't risk anyone who might have an inkling of who I am seeing me." Victoria turned her head toward The Beast and laughed. "Why am I talking to you? Ha! You can't understand anything besides the word 'food', you dumb brute."
The Beast tried for the hundredth time to break free from his bonds. "You want to fight me now?" Victoria couched down on all fours and gave a loud fierce growl, which The Beast retuned with much more power.
"Are you going to be ready to feast on this girl, little Isabella?" She laughed malevolently.
"No." Came The Beasts reply.
"No? No! You are going to gorge yourself upon her flesh; you will suck the blood from her veins! You are a pathetic animal that will feed on this girl!"
No was the reply.
"What makes this girl different from all of the other people you have killed?"
And with that, Victoria left the beast to think on old memories:
"And now presenting, Jeanne d'Albret Queen of Navarre and her escort, Isabella Di Mariano of Italy." The two women walked down the large staircase with ease. Chins held high, shoulders back; they put on quite a display of profound dignity as they entered the Grand Ballroom of the castle of Chamboard in France.
Queen Jeanne was the niece of the late King Francis I and was attending the funeral, representing her side of the family in Navarre, the small kingdom between France and Spain.
The Queen adjusted her ruffle, remembering when she heard the news:
'We hereby declare that King Francis I, High Monarch of the Kingdom of France has passed away. His successor, his blood son, King Henry II, Supreme ruler of France, has ordered you Jeanne d'Albret Queen of Navarre to wed Sir Antoine de Bourbon in holy matrimony in this the year of our Lord 1547.'
Isabella looked at her Queen, she could tell that she was uncomfortable, and she knew the reason why. They had just announced the entrance of Antoine de Bourbon, who her Queen was to marry. It was a sad day in France when the French court was no longer mourning the loss of their king or celebrating the crowning of another, but all the court was set to gossip about the arranged marriage, a sad day in France indeed.
While the queen and Isabella were looking up to the staircase, they announced the presence of two men, and one caught Isabella's eye. He had been announced as Alessandro Di Medici. The Medici's were a very powerful family in Italy.
This Alessandro man was inhumanly beautiful. He had raven hair, his skin was pale in comparison to the people around him but it accented to his exotic features. He had a narrow frame but muscle covered every inch of it. His chest was muscular but not over whelming. Alessandro was truly a sight to see. The man that was with him was as pale as Alessandro and had light brown hair. But before Isabella could avert her eyes from Alessandro's handsome face, their eyes met, and love blossomed. Isabella blushed and tore her gaze from his black eyes. Jeanne looked at her escort, and saw the blush that was there.
Jeanne and Isabella had become good friends over the past few days. Isabella had come all the way from Italy to travel with the queen, but she also came to show France that Italy supported the country in their time of need. Isabella was the daughter of a rather wealthy family in Italy. Both Jeanne and Isabella were in their twenties so they had many things in common. Though in the area of men, Isabella was inexperienced, Jeanne on the other hand, was married to The Duke of Cleaves for four years from the age of 12. The marriage was arranged by King Francis I, but he later had it annulled because the union no longer made profit for France. That was why Jeanne was so skeptical coming into this marriage.
"He's coming over here." Jeanne said to her escort.
Isabella raised her head in surprise, "Who?" she asked.
"The man you were looking at." She winked and pointed gracefully with her fan to the two men walking over.
Once the men got near, they both bowed deeply to Jeanne and greeted her as your majesty. She nodded in acknowledgement. Then Alessandro turned his attention toward Isabella, taking her hand and kissing it longer than was custom. His hand was cold and his cool lips against her skin had given her goose bumps.
"I am Alessandro Di Medici. This is my comrade Eduardo Dei Filipepi."
"Isabella Di Mariano." She said curtsying.
"It is very nice to meet you Signora Mariano." Alessandro smiled.
"You can call me Isabella." She said grinning.
The beast let go of his ancient thoughts. He was no longer Alessandro Di Medici. He was a monster.
Authors note: Alessandro Di Medici, Isabella Di Mariano, and Eduardo Dei Filipepi never existed. Only in this story have I made them real. The events and the rest of the people in this chapter were alive. The Medici's were a real family in Italy. The Mariano's were not. If you want you can look up: Jeanne d'Albret, King Henry II, King Francis I, the Duke of Cleaves, and Antoine de Bourbon. I assure you that they were all real and were all intertwined throughout their lives in the days of the Renaissance in France.