Beauty and the Beast: An Adult Fairytale Romance

by Vivienne Savage

  “What if I do not wish to leave?”

  “You must. You deserve more than this lonely mountain, my beautiful Anastasia. You deserve your family and your friends. You deserve a chance to find love.”

  Anastasia tucked her chin toward her chest, only for the blunt side of his index claw to nudge her. The tender touch and his obvious concern blurred her vision with tears.

  “But what will you do, Beast? You’ll be all alone.”

  Beast watched her. For the first time in weeks since their initial meeting, she couldn’t read his expressions and pick up the subtle nuances in the way his brow ridges dipped or his eyes narrowed. “I do not yet know.”

  “You no longer want me,” she whispered.

  His expression remained unchanged, face carved from stone. “That is where you are wrong. I have come to love you as well… and I realize now, imprisonment is never the answer to love.”

  “When must I go?”

  “Tomorrow,” he said in his soft rumble. “The snow will begin to fall soon, and you will have a long ride ahead of you.”

  “Ride? I have no horse, Beast. Couldn’t you fly me? Then the trip will be less than a day and I can remain longer.”

  Beast shook his head. “No. I have sworn never to enter your kingdom again, and I will honor that oath.”

  Anastasia narrowed her eyes. “No! You promised to never do harm there again. I know our oath, Beast.” He’d lied to her. For the first time, as far as she could tell, her dragon had lied.

  “This is how it must be. Farewell, Anastasia.” The stoic facade failed as emotion seeped into his glossy eyes. His voice cracked as he turned tail and uttered a final, “Goodbye,” before rushing away.

  The hasty retreat contradicted everything she knew of the straightforward dragon. She pursed her lips, but before she could respond, he vanished around the corner of the castle.

  Chapter

  THE FAIRY HAD lied to him. Ana confessed her love, but his ability to shift never returned. And without the ability to shift, the ax hovering above his head also remained. He was a man doomed to die, a mere day from the anniversary of his curse.

  “How could you do this to me, Eos?” he cried to the open skies, loathing her for the deception. “You betrayed me! You gave me hope all this time of achieving humanity again, and robbed me of it!”

  Had she set him up all along for failure as a cruel joke?

  Expressing mutual love for Anastasia had changed nothing, and he felt no shift in the magic binding him to his dragon form. He’d paced the castle grounds for an hour attempting to transform, only to feel a crushing weight holding him in place.

  Letting Ana go was the only thing left he could do. He refused to let her watch him die. Refused to leave her abandoned and alone to waste away in what would become a decrepit ruin after the enchantment broke and cold winter arrived.

  How long, he wondered, would it take for Benthwaite to be forgotten from all memory? Eventually, one of the kings would send another pack of treasure hunters to plunder the crumbling skeleton of his ancestral home, and once it was thoroughly gutted, they would slam the final nail in a once proud culture’s coffin.

  “All I can do is see her safely away, with the means to live her life however she chooses.”

  As if to add insult to injury, a cloudless day dawned, the sun casting golden rays to every window-filled castle corridor. A final day of faux summer warmth before winter dug in its claws and covered the mountains in ice and snow. Ana readied herself with reluctance, taking her time while soaking in every detail about her room. She didn’t want to forget a single thing about the only time in her life when she’d felt truly free.

  “I’ll have to come back,” she muttered to herself. “No matter what he says. Once the spring thaw comes, I’ll ride back up here. I will find my way.”

  Although she had no appetite for breakfast, she’d forced down tea and a few bites of toast and jam with honey. Beast didn’t join her. She lingered at the table, hoping he would arrive, realizing he mattered more than a lost ghost in a forlorn castle. The mission to rescue her dream prince lost its meaning, and if given a choice between discovering his whereabouts or keeping her dragon, she’d choose Beast every time.

  Hora met her at the stairs with tears in her sorrowful blue eyes. “I wish you the very best, Anastasia.”

  “I don’t want to go.”

  “Oh, my dear, I know, but some things are… well, they’re meant to be as they are. He only wants what’s best for you.”

  Ana sighed. It seemed everyone always wanted what was best for her, but no one cared what she wanted.

  “I’ll miss you, Hora.”

  “And you will be missed, Anastasia. You brought sunlight and happiness to this old castle, and joy that can never be forgotten. Thank you.”

  Dipping forward to embrace the older woman, her arms closed around empty air instead and passed through a formless apparition. Ana jerked back, startled by the cool sensation against her skin. Stumbling back, her wide-eyed stare landed on Hora’s wavering, semi-translucent form.

  “You’re a ghost!”

  “Think of me as the spirit of the castle. I have been here for a very long time.” Hora smiled, unflustered by her shock.

  A war of emotions took place within her, despair overwhelmed by a bolt of optimism. “Then if you are a ghost, tell me of Prince Alistair. Please, Hora, is he dead as well? I’ve dreamed of him several times since arriving at this castle. Is there any way I may save him?”

  The old woman shook her head. “I fear there is no saving our prince and he’s forever lost, Anastasia. Go now and enjoy life, for there is none here in this castle, lass. This is a place of death.”

  Tears welled beneath her lashes as her final bubble of hope burst, the crushing reality of her failure in its place. There was no prince, and Beast no longer desired her company. Everyone who had come to mean something to Ana had abandoned her.

  “Goodbye, Hora. Thank you for everything.”

  “Be well, my dear.”

  She walked through the silent halls, each step toward the front door adding to her turmoil, weights stacked atop an already heavy heart. It seemed almost as if the castle went dim behind her, lights snuffing out and rooms going cold.

  Anastasia suppressed the reluctance to leave her new home behind and emerged from the castle, feeling cold and sick in her stomach. A saddled, gray horse awaited her, packed for her journey.

  “Sterling?”

  The impossible had occurred. Unable to believe her eyes, Ana stood anchored to the spot until the mare trotted over and bumped her velvety nose against her rider’s chest in greeting.

  “But how…?”

  Beast moved into her field of vision. “You required a mount. The castle provided. It seems fitting you should have a friend to see you safely home.”

  “I wish that friend were you, Beast. Please come with me. We’ll take the flower to my father together. We’ll make him see reason. Or we can leave it there and travel elsewhere if you’ve grown tired of this mountain. Think of the places we can see and visit together. Only the two of us.”

  Beast shook his head. “I cannot leave the place of my birth.”

  “You’ve left plenty of times to set fire to our kingdoms!” she protested.

  “This is different, Anastasia.”

  Peering into his eyes, she saw the dishonesty beneath and knew he was hiding something from her.

  “You are lying to me. What have I done that my best friend lies to me so freely?”

  “It is not a lie, Princess. In time, perhaps, you will come to understand. Here. Here is the flower to save your mother.”

  Beast opened one curled claw to reveal two roses nestled within his grasp. Their petals faded from deep violet at their tips to a soft lavender at the base, the leaves and stems dark green and spiked with golden-tipped thorns.

  “Brew tea with the dried petals of one flower, and your mother shall be cured.”

  “And the sec
ond rose?”

  “For you, should you ever come to need it. They are the final two roses of autumn, and no more shall bloom until spring. If at all.” His morose voice broke her heart.

  Ana took the offered flowers and wrapped them in a silk handkerchief, too overwhelmed by emotions to offer more than a choked, “Thank you.”

  “I have one final gift to give you, Princess.”

  “You’ve given me enough, Beast. What more could you have to offer?”

  “This staff was once used by the Witch Queen, and is all that remains of her. It’s my gift to you, and may it always keep you safe in your travels.”

  Ana stared up at him. In his clawed hand, the staff resembled the world’s most ornate toothpick, carved from white wood and affixed with cherry red jewels. Each gem twinkled like red starlight against the shadows created by the overhang above the castle entrance. The head of it glittered with gold, and a foot-long blade gleamed with a diamond edge.

  “Take it,” Beast insisted again, nudging it against her chest.

  “I… you kept the Witch Queen’s staff?”

  “Yes. Please take it. She would want it to be held by a woman of pure heart with a clean soul. A woman like you. Do this for me, Ana.”

  He’d never shortened her name before. The urgency in his voice tugged at her memories, something about his tone and inflection striking her as familiar.

  “You called me Ana,” she whispered.

  “So I did.”

  Almost afraid to take it into her possession, she reached out and curled her fingers around the mystical relic of a woman long dead. It flashed with light, power flaring within each jewel on contact, and then it surged down the ivory shaft until it radiated energy.

  “I couldn’t take this from you, Beast. The Witch Queen clearly meant a lot to you, and if I leave with it, you’ll never get it back.”

  “I do not want it back. I want your safety. I want….” He struggled to conceal his longing behind a stony expression, towering above her from his lofty stance on all fours.

  Her eyes burned, tears bubbling at the edge of her vision, but she took the staff and turned away. “Then I will do as you’ve bid me. Good day, Beast. Perhaps I may visit one day—”

  “No,” he simply said. “You must never return, Anastasia. There is a life for you beyond this mountain, a good life, a charmed life.”

  “I want to stay here to be with you, Beast.”

  He shook his head and backed away from her. “No. That is no longer possible, my sweet princess.” Without looking at her, he turned his back to her, revealing massive wings and his immense tail.

  “I don’t regret it. I don’t regret a single day of our friendship.”

  The enormous dragon chuckled dryly. “Neither do I.”

  He left her alone in the courtyard, surrounded by chirping birds.

  Darkness. Thick clouds blotted out the moon and the stars above her. Even the lanterns had been extinguished, the only light emitted by fireflies flying in lazy circles around the hot spring.

  “Alistair?”

  She rushed to the still body lying against the clover and dropped to her knees beside him, dread heavy in her heart.

  “Ana?” His eyes blinked open, dull against his pale face. “Ana, you should not be here. You should be home.”

  “What’s happened to you?”

  He tried to smile up at her, but his expression faltered. “What must happen.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “My sweet, sweet princess.” He lifted his hand to her face and cupped her cheek. “From the moment I first saw you, your bravery awed me. I need you to hold onto that bravery and strength now.”

  “You speak as though I’ll never see you again.” But this was her dream, and he couldn’t die in her dream. She refused to allow it. “I’ll return. I’ll find a magician or sorceress to help find you….”

  “No. You must never return here.” His intense gaze bored into her. “Go home. Begin anew.”

  “Alis—”

  His fingers pressed against her lips.

  “I have made peace with my fate. Go, my beautiful Ana. Live a happy life, the one you deserve, full of light, laughter, and love. May my mother’s staff serve you well.”

  Ana woke, unsettled by the strange dream. Despite the charmed cloak tucked close around her body, a deep chill settled in her limbs.

  “I will come back,” she whispered to the empty mountain as she lay down once more. She slept restlessly, but dreamlessly, tossing and turning on her bedroll, and awakened before the dawn. Sterling nickered in greeting and scraped the dew dampened grass with a hoof.

  “Rough night for you as well?”

  Her limbs creaked as she rose and stretched, stiff from a night on the hard ground after months in a bed soft as a cloud. She missed the castle already.

  When she had stopped for the night, she’d discovered one saddle bag was packed to the brim with food and drink for her journey, far too much to be contained by so small a satchel. The other contained clothes, the dresses and outfits she had favored during her stay. But beneath the colorful layers, she’d uncovered massive quantities of gold and silver coins, immeasurable, seemingly endless wealth.

  Beast had sent her away with a hoard, from coins to gemstones and glittering jewelry.

  “Are you ready to go home, Sterling?” Ana saddled her mare after packing up camp. “Of course, you’ve been home all this time, haven’t you? Still, I’m glad you’re here.”

  Ana led the way on foot, too restless to wait for sunrise but unwilling to risk riding the treacherous trail in the dark. Around the next turn, the view opened up. In the valley below, a hundred fires twinkled like distant stars.

  Her heart lurched in her chest. “Oh no. No, no, no,” Ana breathed.

  The first faint hints of color tinged the sky, illuminating the black banners waving over the army camped below.

  Was this the second test Eleanor had mentioned that day in the woods? She’d put her life on the line for Beast a dozen times. Anything else was out of the question.

  “We have to let Beast know Dalborough has come for him.”

  Her beautiful, smart and sassy horse seemed to understand the note of urgency in her voice. She nickered in response as Ana mounted then flew like the wind, surefooted hooves pounding against the rocky terrain of the mountain pass. The sun had moved in the sky by the time she reached the mountain’s plateau, and one dizzying look down revealed the soldiers were no longer camped. They were on the move and marching in formation.

  “Beast!” she cried out as Sterling charged onto the courtyard. “Beast!”

  Her dragon didn’t respond, although he usually heard her small voice and came to her at once.

  Dismounting Sterling, she left the horse and rushed over the cracked palace steps. She threw open the doors and burst inside the foyer. Nothing. It was dark without a single candle flame burning. A cold wind whipped dried leaves down the hall against her face. The air smelled of old gunpowder smoke and mildew.

  “Hora!” Ana called. “Beast!”

  Neither answered. She found the vacant kitchen with an untended, cold oven. The dining room where she and Beast had taken countless meals was dark, its hearth filled with ashes. Dust coated the long table and cobwebs clung to the chairs.

  Nothing was as it should be. The room looked long abandoned, though she had eaten there only the previous morning.

  Ana ran outside, frantic, and nearly stumbled over a broken cobblestone. The fountain was silent, no water flowing from its crown, the pool beneath empty and coated with moss. Trees that should have been full of golden and red leaves hung empty, their bare branches split.

  “What’s happening? Why is everything ruined? Beast! Beast!” She screamed his name into the air, but no returning cry came. Leaving Sterling to the decrepit courtyard, Ana raced around the side path and nearly skidded to her death on a wet patch where the secure wall had crumbled away. She backed up against the castle until th
e terror faded, her starved lungs gasping for air.

  Dizziness gone, she picked her way carefully down the trail until she reached the gardens. No flowers bloomed, only thick grass and tall weeds.

  The maze, the wind seemed to whisper to her.

  Beast had never taken her to the maze, only Alistair in her dreams. Would the path be the same? Left, right, right. Left, right, right. She raced through the overgrown hedges, pushing through tangled branches that hadn’t been trimmed or tended in years. Sharp spines on the leaves scratched her exposed skin, but she didn’t slow.

  When it seemed she was lost, Ana broke free of the wilderness into the center. The same statues stood on the corners, but unlike her dream, they were covered in moss. And there, curled around the pool, lay her motionless dragon instead of a handsome prince, his ember scales the dull, lifeless color of dirt. Her heart lurched.

  “No…. No! Beast!”

  She hurled herself across the distance and fell to her knees beside his great head, hands smoothing over his snout and neck.

  “No, no, no. Please, you cannot leave me like this. You must awaken.”

  Tears dripped from her chin and splashed against the dragon’s snout. Had he been ill all along? Had her recent dream of the prince been her subconscious thoughts telling her to look deeper. She hugged him and choked on the sobs rising in her throat. Dragons were supposed to be eternal.

  “Princess?” his feeble voice whispered.

  “Oh, my dragon, you frightened me.”

  “You were supposed to be far, far away. I didn’t want you to see me this way, Ana. You must leave.”

  “No! The Dalborovian army is coming. They’re at the base of the mountain.”

  “Let them come,” he said. “I am lost, Princess. What you see is all that is left of my strength. I am defeated. Fading. You must go and save yourself.”

  “What? No. How could I leave you when you’re in danger? What sort of friend would I be?”