Beauty's Beast (13 page)

One year later

“Once, long, long ago in a land far away, there lived a kingdom under a terrible curse. Rumors and whispers became truths for the people of that kingdom as the curse kept them from the rest of the world. A tyrant had feared a king and his warriors and used magic to take over the lands, all of them. But today, standing here with all of you and your beautiful faces, I know that the tyrant has lost the battle and the war. We are once again a people to be feared and loved. We are once again free of every terrible thing done to us in the name of cowardice. They didn't meet us on the battlefield; they snuck in and poisoned the water. But my brave new daughter-in-law, Princess Belle, broke the curse. Tonight we are celebrating our victory and her strength. Without either of those things we would still be lost. To Belle and to all of you!” The king lifted his glass to me. A sparkle filled his eyes as he did it. The queen smiled at me with nothing but love in her heart.

I lifted my glass to all of them, not feeling deserving of the toast.

My love leaned in, offering me a simple kiss on the cheek and a whisper I was grateful no one else could hear, “I am going to ravish you the moment we are freed from here.”

I smiled and leaned into the kiss, hoping no one saw the rush of color filling my cheeks.

My father gave me a look of approval and pride from the corner table where he chose to sit with Mrs. Potts, Chip, Cogsworth, and Lumier.

We ate, danced, and drank until the room felt too warm for my gown and my head felt too light to think. I walked to get some air on the massive balcony.

Arms wrapped around me, pulling me back into an embrace. “And are you happy, my love?” he asked.

I smiled and looked up at the stars. “I am. Are you?”

“Let me show you.” He nodded against my cheek. His hand reached for mine and dragged me down the stairs to the lower level of the courtyard. He pulled me through the plants and trees to the small alcove we had once made love in, in the rain.

He spun me, sitting me atop the table and dropped to his knees, directly in front of me. He lifted my massive skirts and dragged my knickers down, spreading me for his viewing pleasure. His breath upon my tender flesh made me shiver, though I wasn't cold. “Do you realize how beautiful you are, my Belle?”

I shook my head, closing my eyes and leaning back as his tongue flickered in and out of my slit. He didn't commit to it, but he was close enough that I moaned a little.

“When I met you, the rose, which had been a bud for a decade, bloomed. The very moment I met you, it became a flower.” He again licked teasingly. “I knew then, you were my soul mate, the only one who could break the curse. The girl who might possibly love me in any form.” He kissed my thigh, brushing his cheek and whiskers against my pussy lips.

“Why didn't you let me love you then?” I
asked
as my breathing grew ragged and increased.

“I didn't want to hurt you or drag you into this, in case it was a trap to cause me more agony.” Slowly he nestled his face close, tilting his head back so his nose and mouth grazed my inner most flesh. He plunged his tongue in then, making me gasp my breaths.

He sucked and flicked, licking the places I liked to rub when he was inside me. One of his huge fingers circled the hole, preparing me for the moment he would plunge it inside. When he did I cried out.

He fingered and sucked, flicking and rubbing. I leaned on my elbows, my head completely back. He increased his speed, making everything inside me tighten. When it released I moaned long and hard, jerking with the pounding he gave me. He stood, letting cold air rush between us. It tickled against my wetness as he unleashed himself, pressing the head of his massive cock against me. He leaned forward, kissing me so I might taste myself upon his mouth.

As I sucked his tongue he shoved himself inside me.

I tensed with the pain and pleasure of the girth of his cock. He thrust fast and hard, gripping to me and pushing me back. He brought my feet to his shoulders and lifted my
ass,
thrusting harder and making me take it all. He filled me up, making it seem as though we were made for each other. A perfect fit.

A sound left my lips when I tensed against his cock and milked him as we climaxed together. He jerked and grunted, still something of a beast when no one but me was looking. He lifted me into his arms and held me there, cradling me like he always did. “I love you, Belle.”

I smiled and sighed into the embrace.

When we did leave the shelter of the alcove, we tried our best to look like we hadn’t just fucked in the garden.

I went and sat with my father—just in time, it appeared. Lumier looked at me and wrinkled his long nose. “I was just telling your father how the curse came about. I didn't think you wanted to hear it.”

I widened my eyes. “Of course I do.” I hated to admit that I loved a good story, even one including me.

“Babette came in the night—a girl who had lost her fiancé, apparently. The men were at war with the dark army and her man had died. She had a single rose in a pot, nothing else. She brought it inside when the prince let her in, explaining she had found it at the gates. We now think she brought it to set the curse. The evil witch might have made her do it, promising her the chance of having the prince.
The moment the prince touched it
,
the curse was upon us
. One of the thorns pricked him, drawing his blood and sealing our fates. A fog came up and the ground was covered for days. In those days, everyone but us went missing. The castle was empty and the fog had taken all of the life from the village. The king and queen were gone, but there was a doe and a stag wandering their room. When the prince found them he didn't know what to think. But his mother’s necklace was upon one of them. That night he left the gates of the castle, trying to go for help. He changed into the beast.”

I gasped. “And you believe Babette did this?”

“We don't know. We suspect.” He shook his head. “One thing about the curse is none of us could speak of it. The words literally couldn't leave our mouths. We tried but it didn’t work.”

I turned to Mrs. Potts. “So she made you bring those clothes to my room and you dressed me that way on purpose?”

“Babette wanted the master to see you as a sad attempt at replicating her beauty. She thought she was what he wanted more than anything in the world, and she wished to show how superior she was to you. She knew you paled in comparison.” She nodded.

“She had me there.” I sighed. “And Papa, you were punished for shooting a stag because it might have been the king or queen?”

“Exactly.” He looked grave when I mentioned it.

Lumier sighed. “When you showed up and the flower bloomed, we knew it meant the curse could be broken by you. The night the curse had been set there was a note in the rosebush, telling us that the only way to undo the magic was for the prince to win the heart of a girl who loved him as a beast. He knew you would be tested, and he didn't want you to get hurt. He didn’t want to get hurt either, by getting his hopes up. He thought for a long time that Babette was the girl he was to make love him, but it never broke the curse, even when she did profess her undying love for him.”

I glanced over at my prince and let a whisper of a smile grace my lips. “He was trying to make me hate him though. Why?”

“I think deep down he worried there would be another aspect to the curse and not a cure at all. Like you might become something else he could kill. Making him a beast and each of his
parents
deer, was intentional. But he never killed anything.” Lumier shrugged. “And when he realized who you were, he wanted you kept safe.”

“Except Babette and Gaston. He killed them.”

My father muttered, “They had it coming.”

“He never speaks of it much,” I added.

“He is ashamed. He loved you so much that he left the grounds, sealing all our fates for you.”

“It is not his shame, but mine.” My cheeks flushed as his eyes crossed the room to mine. He lifted his glass to me and drank.

I looked back at the table of friends who had become family. “At least it’s over.”

“Indeed. Two people found love where they never expected to find it. That is the makings of a happily ever after.” Mrs. Potts beamed at me.

“Indeed.” I smiled. “The way I read the story of The Kingdom of the Roses, my favorite book ever, was very similar to this.
An evil witch with a plan to take over the kingdoms.
A king with an army so fierce no one stood a chance against them. A prince left as a monster no one could ever love. And
a curse freezing the castle in time and wrapped in decay
. I never knew the story was real.”

“I doubt anyone would ever believe such a tale could be real.”

“Too true.” I laughed and nodded at Cogsworth as I got up and walked to my prince, my happily ever after. I linked my arm in his and listened as he spoke.

In all of the great libraries of the world, including the one within the walls of my new home, I doubted there was ever a story with more adventure, more passion, or more pain. I had spent my lifetime reading and wishing for something to happen to me—for my life to take on one of the fantastical voyages from my books. Now that it had, all I wished for was my beastly prince, the comfort of our families, and peace for everyone.

I had found my happily ever after.

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