Beauty and the Beast (Erotic Fairy Tales)

by Nicole Dreadful

  The troubled days slipped by, and the merchant found that not only was the month up, but he had agreed to allow Beauty to accompany him back to the Beast's home.

  While Daniel and Elliot saddled the horses, the merchant brought out a small jewelry box. "These are the things your mother wore on her wedding day," he said to his daughters. "I had planned to give you each a piece for your own wedding, but because Beauty is leaving today, I will give them to you now. For Mariela, a pair of diamond earrings. For Angeline, a golden necklace. And for you, little Beauty, a garnet ring. I hope these things will always remind you of your family."

  Beauty slipped the ring on her finger and embraced her sisters. They shed many tears, but Beauty was strong in her resolve to go with her father, and finally they departed.

  As they turned their horses from the road and up the avenue leading to the Beast's manor, the merchant cleared his throat. "Beauty," he said. "I'm afraid that the Beast may wish to, well, to touch you. If he does, you must try to make him promise to be gentle." He looked down at his hands on the pommel of his saddle. "It's only that he is so large, and you are so small. He might easily hurt you without noticing."

  Beauty did not reply. Her mind was such a jumbled confusion of regret at leaving behind her family, fear and anticipation of meeting the Beast, and love for her father, that she hardly noticed her surroundings. The sun was setting, making the oranges glow amongst the foliage of the garden, but she passed along the flower-lined paths unseeing.

  The Beast did not appear to greet them, and Beauty began to shake off her daze and look around as they passed through the rooms of the manor. When they came to a small room where a dinner had been laid out for them, she nearly forgot her anxiety, for they had traveled far and she was very hungry. However, no sooner had they finished eating when the Beast appeared in the doorway.

  At first Beauty clutched at her father's arm in fright, but she felt she must be polite to this creature who held their lives in his hands. She stood and curtsied. "Good evening, my lord," she said.

  The Beast gazed at her with unblinking yellow eyes. Beauty could not tell if he was pleased with her or not. "Good evening, Beauty," he said. His voice was a harsh rumble, like ice breaking on the river in spring, and she could not control a shiver. "Have you come willingly?" he asked.

  "Yes," she said bravely.

  "And will you be content to stay with me when your father leaves?"

  Beauty glanced at her father, who had also risen at the Beast's entrance. His knuckles were white where he gripped the back of his chair. "I will be content," she replied.

  The Beast nodded his hairy head. "You may leave in the morning," he said to the merchant. "But you will not leave empty handed. In the next room you will find two trunks. You may put anything into them that you wish, and take them with you." So saying, the Beast left them alone.

  Beauty stepped carefully back to her own chair and sat down weakly. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, as if she had been riding over fences, which she had been forbidden to do. The Beast seemed all claws and teeth to her and she felt the prickle of sweat and fear on her skin. Her father still held tightly to his chair, as if it supported the whole of his weight. "O daughter," he said, "what have I done?"

  Beauty laced her fingers together tightly so they could not quiver, and the unfamiliar shape of the garnet ring pressed into her skin. "You have only done what I asked of you, Father," she said. "And I am quite content." She made herself smile at him. "Everything is so beautiful. I am sure I will be happy here." The master of such a lovely garden and such a beautiful house could not be so cruel, she told herself, and she began to feel some control over her unruly limbs. "Come," she said, taking her father's hand. "Let us choose gifts for my brothers and sisters. It would be rude to refuse such a generous offer."

  The merchant followed her in a daze. He was grateful that the Beast offered some bride price for his daughter, and yet deeply ashamed to sell little Beauty to such a creature. She had reached a marriageable age, but it was not so long ago that he watched her play in the hayloft with the barn cats, seeming as an unruly young kitten herself. Now she led him down the hall with a sense of determination, and he was hard-pressed to hold back tears.

  The two chests stood in a great storeroom where shelves and cupboards were piled high with gold and silver and jewels, with furs and linens, and all manner of riches. The merchant turned his face away to look through the finery. If he would lose his daughter, he would take here the most valuable items in exchange. At first they put jewels and gold into the chests, but there seemed always to be more room, and they piled in silks and fine brocade. Finally, the merchant closed the hasps and bent to heft one of the chests. To his surprise, it seemed no heavier than if they had filled it with feathers.

  "I should put you into one of the chests," he said to Beauty.

  "No, Father," Beauty said. "You said yourself, you must always keep a bargain once you have made it."

  Her father sighed and hugged her tight. "Dear Beauty," he said, stroking her hair. "I hope the Beast will be as honorable as you are, and treat you well."

  CHAPTER THREE

  Beauty and the Beast

  After a fitful night, they rose early. Beauty helped lash the two chests to the horse she had ridden, and said a tearful goodbye to her father. Outside the gates it appeared to her that a storm was raging, and almost immediately she lost sight of her father. She dared not step out of the garden to follow him, for the wide gates were already swinging closed. Soon, more than the snow obscured her vision. Her tears came faster, until she felt that she could scarcely breathe. She sank down onto the paving stones of the path and sobbed.

  When she had worn herself out with weeping, Beauty lay on the ground and looked up at the sky, which was prettily framed by the line of trees along the avenue. It was not so different than lying at the edge of the field with Daniel, watching the changing shapes of the clouds, and she began to feel better. She picked herself up and walked back to the house. In the room she had chosen for her bedroom, however, she spied herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess from laying on the ground, and her face was dirty where it had not been washed clean by her tears. She had grudgingly taken a dress from Angeline, but now it, too, was quite dirty.

  Beauty returned to the storeroom and looked through the wardrobes until she found a few dresses that did not seem too complicated or restrictive. "I do wish there were some pants I could wear," she said to herself, and immediately found several pairs which suited her in the next cupboard.

  She did not see the Beast until evening. When his shadowy form appeared in the doorway, she could not control a little gasp, but soon recovered and greeted him politely. He shambled into the room and half sat, half crouched, on the chair across from her. As darkness had fallen, a cheery fire had sprung up in the grate and now the firelight glinted red from the Beast's wide pupils. Beauty had again clasped her hands together tightly to hide their shaking, but the Beast said, "I frighten you, Beauty."

  "Yes, my lord," she replied, sure that he would know if she lied. To avoid his shining eyes, she looked down and began to spin the garnet ring on her finger. But this reminded her that she would never see her family again and tears sprang to her eyes.

  "You are not so unfortunate as you might feel," the Beast said. "Anything you desire you will find in this house."

  These words only made more plain to Beauty that she would never again go riding with Daniel, or be scolded by Mariela, or anything else. The tears overflowed and fell hot and fast on the pretty dress she had taken from the magical wardrobe. She wiped them away desperately while the Beast watched her without moving a muscle.

  "Everything here is very beautiful," Beauty said finally, "but I miss my family."

  "Look on your dressing table," the Beast said. "You will find a mirror there. I see that you have a talisman from your family." He pointed a long claw at her hands and she shrank back from him. "If you look into the mirror and hold the ring wh
ile thinking of them, you will see your family."

  This was such an astonishing idea that Beauty forgot her terror for a moment. "Truly?" she asked. "I will see them again?"

  The Beast nodded and Beauty wanted nothing more than to leave his terrifying presence, to rush straight back to her bedroom and look into the mirror. Gradually, though, she began to feel a little less fearful, as the Beast did not move from the chair, but sat quietly and only asked her what rooms of the house she had explored that afternoon. Finally, he took his leave, saying, "Good night, Beauty."

  She forced herself to sit by the fire and count to one hundred after his steps had faded away in the hall. Then she went back to her room and set a lighted candle on the dressing table. She cupped the garnet ring in her hands, thinking all the while about her father and her siblings. Presently the surface of the mirror grew cloudy. When it cleared she found herself looking into the sitting room of the little cottage.

  Her siblings were all talking animatedly around a table heaped with the Beast's treasure. Only Angeline sat near the fireplace with her father, who slumped in his chair, head in his hands. "Oh!," Beauty cried, stretching her hand out to touch the glass. The ring fell to the floor and the image faded. By the time she had retrieved it from underneath the sofa, the clock was chiming midnight. She went to bed, sad to think of her father so sorrowful, but glad to know that he had returned home safely.

  The next morning she watched her family eat breakfast and begin their daily work. At first Beauty thought she could spend the whole day watching their dear faces, but she was too restless to sit for hours on end. She slipped the ring back onto her finger and went to explore the house and gardens.

  In the evening the Beast appeared again. This time Beauty felt herself more composed, and she greeted him without trembling too obviously. As he walked across the hearth to his chair, though, there was a cruel scraping of claws on stone and Beauty found her heart beating wildly in her chest again.

  "Do I still frighten you?" the Beast asked as he sat down.

  "Yes," Beauty whispered.

  As before, the Beast sat very still and asked her how she had spent her day. She answered him politely, and thanked him for the use of the magical mirror. She told him how she had spent the afternoon in the garden, and described the little cottage garden she kept at home, which seemed to please him.

  They fell into this pattern. Beauty looked through the mirror each morning, then spent the remainder of her day exploring the house or the gardens. Although she conversed with the Beast each evening, she felt a bit lonely during the day, until she began to delve into the numerous books in the library.

  Each night the Beast asked if she was frightened. As he made no move towards her, eventually she felt comfortable enough to answer that she was not. The Beast's fierce eyes flashed at this admission and he sat forward in the chair. "May I kiss you, Beauty?" he asked.

  The sudden movement startled her, for it showed all the muscles of his leonine body. It put her in mind of a cat about to pounce, and Beauty felt herself as the unwary bird on the ground.

  When she did not reply, the Beast said, "Since you have learned that I am not so fearsome, now you must answer 'yes' or 'no' without fear."

  "No," Beauty replied, spinning the garnet ring nervously about her finger.

  "Then good night, Beauty," the Beast said, and leapt from his chair. It tottered and fell, but the Beast was gone before it hit the ground. Beauty drew up her legs to hug her knees. Though she had not wept in many weeks, she began to cry now. What answer had he expected to such a peculiar request? He was a monster, all fur and whiskers and teeth; he hardly had lips to kiss her with. The thought almost made her giggle, but she stifled it quickly. She had already hurt his feelings, but she was not so cruel that she would laugh at him.

  The next morning, she couldn't concentrate on the mirror or the book she had been reading. Instead she roamed through the halls until she came to the portrait gallery where the faces of some unknown family inhabited the walls. Near the end was Beauty's favorite, a woman with her sewing on her lap, who looked out of the frame quite pleasantly, as if she were just about to tell you something. Next to her was a young man who, though handsome, struck Beauty as rather arrogant. She paced up and down for a long time, looking at the human faces and wondering where they had gone. Perhaps this family, like hers, had fallen on low fortunes, she thought, and been forced to sell the fine house to the Beast.

  The Beast did not appear that evening or the next. When he did return, he was much subdued, sitting silently in his chair. Beauty did not dare ask him what he had been doing, for she half imagined that he roamed the countryside during the day, catching smaller animals and tearing them to shreds. At other times, however, his speech was so clever despite the roughness of his voice, that she thought he might be something like the wise and ancient dragons she found in some books. Now she asked him the riddles the literary heroes used on dragons and sphinxes, hoping to lighten his mood. He answered all of them easily. "Did you think I have not read my own books?" he asked.

  Beauty felt rather foolish, and said so, but the Beast shook his head. "You have a quick mind," he said, "and I have a riddle for you. Why do I want to kiss you?"

  She thought on this riddle after the Beast had left her for the night. In books, the answer was never the first thing you suspected, if you could think of anything at all. She might answer, "Because I am beautiful," but that was terribly vain. She might say, "To taste me before you eat me," but she could not imagine making any such joke to his face.

  The next morning, though, all thoughts of the Beast's riddle were driven from her mind when she sat down at the mirror. She saw Angeline hovering nearby as a platoon of dressmakers swarmed around Mariela, fitting her for a wedding dress.

  Though the seasons did not change inside the garden walls, Beauty had been watching the days turn on the calendar. "It will be my birthday soon," she told the Beast. "And my sister will soon be married." When the Beast said nothing, she continued. "I would like to go to the wedding."

  "Are you unhappy here?" the Beast asked.

  "No," Beauty answered, surprising herself a little.

  "But you wish to leave."

  "I wish to visit my family," Beauty said stubbornly. The Beast turned his head away to stare into the fire, and she saw his sharp claws digging into the arm of the chair. "I will come back after the wedding," she said. "We have a bargain."

  "If you wish to go," he said finally, loosening his claws from the upholstery, "I will not keep you. You may a pack a trunk to take to your sister, and when you go to sleep tomorrow night, you will wake in your father's house. When you are ready to return, say goodnight to your family and turn your ring so the stone faces inwards before you go to sleep, and you will wake in your own bed here."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  A Wedding

  Her family was greatly surprised to discover Beauty with them when they convened at the breakfast table, and her father could not hide his tears of joy at finding her alive and untouched. Her sisters embraced her fondly and Mariela was delighted with the fine dresses and jewels that Beauty had brought her.

  Elliot had immersed himself in the merchant business while Mariela and Angeline were taken up with the wedding, and Daniel was still following his own whims. Beauty longed to join her brother riding, or even to see the entertainment halls he frequented, but instead she found herself pulled into the wedding preparations and her sisters' social calls. As they had when she was a child, Angeline and Mariela chose the dresses she should wear. Beauty thought that she was old enough to choose her own outfits, but she was happy to see her sisters that she let them do what they liked with her.

  The family had given out that Beauty had gone to stay with an elderly aunt and she soon found herself telling stories about "dear Aunt Margaret" as she took tea with her sisters in the salons. She imagined Aunt Margaret to be the sweet-faced woman in the portrait gallery, grown elderly and her kind features softer. Even
at home, they used this euphemistic name for the Beast. "Does Aunt Margaret treat you well, Beauty? Is she strict with you?" And Beauty said yes, Aunt Margaret treated her well, and was hardly strict at all.

  One morning, she managed to go riding with Daniel. She hadn't been on a horse since she left the cottage, but she hadn't forgotten a bit and Daniel bragged at how well he had taught her. At first she only reveled in the joy of the ride, but she found a way to turn their light conversation to serious matters.

  "Father is ashamed of having sent you away," Daniel admitted, "and it would ruin his reputation if it became known. After all, he used the treasure he brought back to reestablish his business. Even if he had no choice, what sort of father could so brazenly sell his daughter to a monster?"

  "Does it have to be that Father gave me away?" Beauty asked. "Can't it be that I saved him? It was all because of my foolishness, asking for a rose. If I hadn't asked for anything, I would be with you still, and we'd all still be in the country."

  "Aye, Beauty," Daniel said. His horse danced nervously beneath him. "You paid a high price, and we owe you everything."

  "I don't regret my choice, Daniel," Beauty said softly.

  "Then we regret it for you," he replied.

  At last the wedding day arrived. The merchant had spared no expense for his eldest daughter's wedding, and the guests ate and drank and danced late into the night. Beauty had not had time to learn any of the steps, so she sat with Elliot, who had categorically refused to dance. "Isn't there anyone you'd like to dance with?" she asked her brother. He shook his head and she asked with great gravity, for she had become a bit silly with drink, "Elliot, have you been unlucky in love?"