-Vanderwall-

"You really need to get a hold of yourself." Vandy whispered quietly.

Polly and Vandy had both been closely following the nights events with the rest of the staff, but when Belle and the King both moved to the library Polly and Vandy agreed to go in place of the entire staff.

"Somebody needs to know what happens if everything goes wrong!" Is what Polly had said to convince him to eavesdrop, and now they were both pressed into the library door that was left slightly ajar by the nymphs.

Polly had been crying since the music started.

"I can't help it. This is impossible." she said.

"Well, you had better try harder to help it because if you're any louder then one of them will hear you." He said pointedly.

"I bet we could be shouting "fire" down the hallway and neither of them would hear anything. Just look at them Vandy, they're in love!" she said.

Vandy let out a small sigh and shook his head. Polly jumped to conclusions too often. It was a sweet sight to be sure, but Vandy wouldn't be as easily convinced as Polly.

"That's exactly what you said about her" he said.

"That's just because I had never seen him with Belle." Polly stepped away from the door and let Vandy stand in the better position to look at them. "Look at me and tell me that you don't see it too!"

Vandy kneeled down and leaned towards the slight opening and tried to be objective. He could not see their faces clearly, but Vandy could not deny that there was something pure about the way they held eachother. Vandy stood and silently closed the door completely, letting them be alone in their own private moment.

"So?"

"Let's go." Vandy said in a grim voice.

"Ha! I knew it! You see it too." She said

Vandy smiled tightly and led Polly to report the news to everyone else. He hoped Polly was right, but he could allow himself that kind of hope. Someone had to be ready if the outcome was less than favorable. He did't see how it was possible, but he did know Adam's father when he was a much better man. Years of bitterness and lonliness changed him to the Beast that haunted stories. He did not want to watch Adam fall down the same path.

-Belle-

She wanted to keep dancing forever. They moved in perfect tandem and she listened to the fantastic sound of his heart beat that sped up every time she shifted her hand in his. She reveled in the feel of his arm strong and unrelenting against her back and his face burried in her hair. She imagined for a moment that she was every bit of a solace to him that he was to her.

This moment exactly, wrapped in his arms, surrounded with the euphoric sounds of weaving melodies and notes, was the best moment of her life. No one had ever held her this way, desperately, like she was the only thing that mattered.

Her thoughts turned to her father who's desire to see her married overshadowed her happiness. She thought on the town that gathered once a year to speak nothing but pure violence and hatred about the man who now held her in her arms. She then realized that the search party could be here in the morning. Taking her away. The thought made her cling to him even tighter imagining that somehow if she could just hold on tight enough then she would never have to leave his side.

The music came to a brilliant conclusion and their dancing halted. He reluctantly unhooked his arms that had both found themselves cemented around her waist, but she didn't have as much restraint as he did because her arms stayed linked around his neck.

She felt his head turn towards the musicians and he nodded to them.

"Thank you Jareen, I will not steal any more of you and your sisters' precious time. I am forever in your debt."

Belle heard the shuffling sound of instruments being lightly packed away followed by footsteps that approached the both of them

"The Great King Beast will never be in our debt." her voice was inhuman and musical. "We will do anything to serve Great King."

Adam relayed his thanks again, but then he reached up and unhooked her hands from around his neck, making Belle blush with embarrassment. He cradled her hands and leaned into her ear.

"Hold out your hand." He said, releasing one and she held it out and immediately it was taken up by a much smaller hand colder than hers.

"It was an honor to share this moment with you beautiful Belle."

Belle shook her head, "No, the real honor was mine Jareen, thank you for giving us a beautiful moment. This whole thing would've been a lot more awkward in silence."

Jareen laughed at that and let go of her hand.

"We will make our departure." Her sisters began filing out of the room silently, barely making any noise for Belle to catch.

"Be warned," Jareen said from the other side of the room at the door, "We have had a strained relationship with royals in the past. You have gained our respect King Beast and you will lose it if we are not invited to your unity."

With that final warning The door to the library closed leaving them alone.

"What did she mean by that?"

"Nothing." Adam said, a little too fast.

Belle felt a wolfish grin split her face and she leaned into him. She was fairly confident she knew what the nymph was talking about, but she wanted to hear it from his own mouth.

"She couldn't have meant nothing. That sounded like a pretty serious threat, O great King Beast."

He placed both of his hands on her shoulders holding her in place.

"You'll never let this go."

"Nope." she said still grinning up at him, which happened to be one of his weaknesses.

"Somehow they've got the impression that we-" he cut off suddenly.

"We-" she egged him on

"-that we are to be married." He finished the misery leaked back into his voice and she found herself giddy to be in his arms while he talked about marriage.

"I wonder what could have given them that impression." She said innocently and he laughed.

"I haven't the faintest idea." he said. His tone was light but she could tell that they were both coming onto dangerous territory.

"I wonder- could it have been my hands wrapped around your neck here?" She asked, slyly moving her arms up his neck relishing in how soft his hair was."

"maybe." he said. Adam stood frozen, she wasn't even sure he was breathing when she brought her head to his chest.

"I wonder if maybe they could have thought that because I've just spent the whole night with my head here."

He heard his breath hitch in his chest and she was happy that he hadn't died of shock at how very inappropriate she was behaving just that moment. She was love drunk and found a very particular form of bravery being so close to him.

When he didn't respond she took her head of his chest for a few moments, "Or maybe-"

She was cut off suddenly by one of his arms wrapping around her waist and the other found itself weaved through her hair and his mouth was on hers.

She was shocked and would have probably fallen over on the spot if he was not holding on to her as tight as he was, but after a moment of initial shock her hands separated and one pulled his shoulder closer to her and the other cradled the back of his head.

This kiss was the one she had secretly been waiting for. Every playful conversation, every light hearted remark led to this kiss and she was imploding with unrealized desire.

To have someone holding her, cherishing her like she'd always wanted to be held did something to her and she was returning his every move.

Her blood boiled beneath the skin at every place he touched her. His kiss was rough the beastly sort of kiss that could only come from his specific brand of desperation.

He made a noise deep in his chest that sounded almost like a growl and she smiled into his kiss as his hands slid up from her waist to the tops of her shoulders. Giving her plenty of warning before he gently pulled them apart.

There they stood for a quiet moment, both of them breathing heavily. She tried to regain her composure, but her skin felt like it was on fire, and her cheeks would never stop blushing again.

-Adam-

"That was-" He started but his voice failed him, there were too many emotions running rampant inside him and they were at war. Shame and anger ate at him and he felt as thought he were taking advantage of her, but they were overshadowed by the desire for more. For another taste of his Belle. His Belle he realized that he now thought of her as, that was the last straw.

"That was." She said simply, not having the words to bail him out this time.

"That shouldn't have happened." He said suddenly, pushing himself further away from her, leaving behind all the warmth and feeling she had given him. Her brows moved up in confusion and then he saw it. He saw her hurt eyes and questioning face and that gutted him even further.

He tried to memorize this Belle, sad Belle, who had that look in her eyes because of him and he tried to turn this version of Belle into the reason why he needed to never touch her again.

"I'm- I've- It's late. Do you require any assistance back to you're room Miss Belle?"

He asked roughly and she frozen and shook her head in a small barely perceptive movement.

"I thank you for dining with me and dancing with me tonight." He spun on his heels and had to beat off the desire to run away. He had devoured her with little thought of propriety. He acted the Beasts part and that shamed him to his core.

He had always supposed himself a better man than his father. The kind of man who would bear the weight of being the king over all the beasts with as much civility as one could have, but now he realized that he was the same.

He transformed back into the beast. His hands morphed into paws and claws extended out, marking him as a predatory animal. No one was meant for the arms of a monster, but now he had the memory of her in his arms. He left the castle, trying to get clear his head. The forest, his personal prison and private sanctuary, the one place he always knew where he stood.

He had flown over the forest looking for a distrction, but there was nothing. The night was silent and he was alone. He dropped down to a branch of a large tree and looked out over the blood moon.

In the quiet of the night after he had torn himself down and built back up his walls that Belle seemed to be expert at destroying, his thoughts turned back to the kiss they shared.

Only in the quiet of the night when he lay in a tree alone, staring at the blood moon, would The Beast King admit to himself that there would never exist a day where he regretted that kiss.