She was so beautiful, the morning sun only making her smooth skin glow as I ran my hand along her curves. The early morning hours had been more than I could have hoped for with her. But as my life seemed to go, the blissful feeling didn't last. My eyes had moved from the balcony window to the glass covered rose. It had closed now that the night was over with one or two petals drooping from their places. All of it was a painful reminder that this wasn't to last with the way that I was. But as Belle shifted in front of me I tried to ignore the thoughts and focus once again on her.
It had been well into the morning by the time she had woken - my eyes unable to close in fear of missing an important second with the beauty I was curled around. Her eyes fluttered open as she looked down at my hand wrapped around her stomach. Gently I brushed my lips against the back of her neck and I felt her squirm and press back against me, causing me to smile. "I feared you would not wake till the evening," I purred, my nose buried against the curve of her shoulder.
"I'm sure you can understand my exhaustion," she yawned. "Beast," Belle cooed at me, her fingers running along the sheets in front of her as my hand felt along her soft skin. I hummed a response, breathing in the scent of her hair as the woman hesitated. "I...I was hoping I could see my father," I blinked at the request, pulling back as she turned over in her place to face me. "I plan on returning...it's just been months since I've seen him. I have to make sure he's alright and let him know that I'm safe." She reached up and cupped my face with that glorious smile of hers. I melted, leaning into her palm with a small huff. "I won't be more than a week."
At that point the words settled into my chest and I tried to swallow the building snarl in my throat. She wished to leave me? Just like that? I show her a world she's never seen and her reaction is to just up and leave. "I promise I will return," she whispered, seeming to sense my distaste as I sat up in the massive bed, swinging my legs over the edge. My gaze lingered on the harness on the floor as I chewed on my lip, sudden amount of guilt swirling in my stomach. I had done more to Belle than deflowered her...and I knew she wasn't aware of it.
"On one condition," I muttered, standing from the bed as Belle sat up, gathering the sheets around her bare torso to keep her warm. I noted my own chill, remembering that the fire needed to be stoked more in my human form. But that would be done after this, this was important. I stepped across the room to a well-worn desk and chair, pulling out the top drawer and a beautifully silver decorated hand-mirror. The glass sparkled as I moved back to the bed, settling myself down next to her. "This...is a magical mirror. It was given to me as a way to see the world outside of my castle but I never used it." I even broke it a few times but the witch's magic had it reforming and reappearing in that desk drawer whenever I did. "You take this with you, so that you may have a way to look back at me." I offered it to her as she took the object delicately, treating it as if a single breath would shatter it to pieces.
I did not like sending her from the castle, fear racked my every bone that she would leave and realize that an accepting society was better than what I was willing to give her. But maybe that was part of what I needed to adjust. I needed to trust her. Trust that she wouldn't leave me. I knew that was important. And happily I was rewarded for my "giving" nature by another tussle in the sheets, the sun high in the sky by the time Belle and I finally left the bedroom.
I found myself feeling lost as she packed for her trip, unable to think of an occasion where I wished to stop someone from leaving. So many other times I was the ones forcing them away from my company but now I wanted nothing more than to hold Belle tightly in my embrace and never let her go. But because she wanted to leave...I felt like I should let her. She was her own woman just as much as she was mine. The realization of that sent a wave of butterflies through my stomach. She was mine.