Before Beauty
Authors: Brittany Fichter
Tags: #romance, #beauty, #fantasy, #magic, #fairy tale, #hero, #beast, #beauty and the beast, #clean, #retelling
Before Beauty
The Becoming Beauty Trilogy
Book One
*
The Classical Kingdoms
Collection
Book #1
Brittany Fichter
Skye Scribbles Press
Before Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast
Copyright © 2015 by Brittany
Fichter at Smashwords
Smashwords Edition, License
Notes
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the hard work of this author.
Brittany Fichter / Skye Scribbles
Press
Publisher’s Note: This is a work
of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product
of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes
used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people,
living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions,
or locales is completely coincidental.
Book Before Beauty/ Brittany
Fichter. -- 2nd ed.
Cover Art by Armin
Numanovic
ISBN: 9781311943002
To my husband, Stephen. You’ll always be my
knight in shining armor, my Prince Charming, and my best friend.
Thank you for always believing in me and supporting my dreams, even
when it means the laundry doesn’t get done.
***
Chapter Two - Eyes of the Girl
Chapter Three - Stronger than Wine
Chapter Six - Something Terrible
Chapter Nine - Something that Can
Chapter Eleven - Arrows that Burn
Chapter
Twelve - What She Thinks
Chapter
Fourteen - Ironclad Dreams
Chapter
Fifteen - Make It Right
Chapter Sixteen - The Best Laid Plans
Chapter
Seventeen - Revelations
Chapter Twenty-One - Blinding Beauty - Chapter
One
Chapter Twenty-Two - About the Author
CHAPTER ONE
My Prince
My prince.”A young man knelt at the entrance of Ever’s tent.
Ever gave him a quick glance and a nod before returning to the map
that was spread out before him and his favorite general.
“
Acelet, I understand what you’re
saying, but the plan won’t work if we move out a moment before
dawn. I won’t give them the upper hand of the night. The whole
reason we planned this for the morning was so they wouldn’t be able
to use the hawks. We will have more than enough time to send scouts
ahead and split our men here.”
General Acelet’s sharp eyes
followed every move Ever’s hands made on the map. Impatience was in
the general’s face when he finally jerked his chin at the
disheveled figure still waiting in the corner of the
tent.
“
You’re one of the king’s men,
aren’t you? What are you doing here?”
“
Prince Everard, your father bade
me to deliver this!”
For the first time, Ever looked
directly at the young man, who thrust a sealed, water stained
parchment at him. His voice shook and his clothes were tattered.
Something must have gone very wrong. His father had been adamant
that their regiments not communicate between campaigns.
“
Where is Corbin? Why did the king
send you instead?”
The young man could have been no
older than seventeen. His thin shoulders shook as he spoke, though
whether from fear or being soaked by his rainy trek, Ever couldn’t
tell.
“
Corbin is dead, Sire. I barely
made it out before they took the camp completely.”
“
Dead?” General Acelet stared at
him in disbelief. “That man has been the king’s favorite messenger
for twenty years.” He frowned at the skinny boy. “I find it hard to
believe that the enemy could get close enough to kill one of the
king’s favorites.”
The young man paled and glanced at
Ever. Seeing that he was expected to speak, he went on, his voice
still trembling. “The king’s campaign was unsuccessful. We took too
long to reach the valley, and it was nightfall by the time we
arrived. Princess Nevina was upon us before we could set up the
defenses. Her men burned our supply wagons on the first night, and
the hawks and her guards have kept us trapped in our own tents ever
since. Not that they needed the monsters.” His eyes clouded. “The
darkness the princess sends over us is...too much.” He finally
looked straight at Ever. “Your father says he cannot master
it.”
Fury rippled through the prince.
All thoughts of the map aside, he strode over to the trembling
young man and grabbed him by the shirt. “I don’t know what game you
think you’re playing,” he snarled, “but no matter who has bought
your allegiance, you will regret blaspheming my father’s name with
such insults of weakness.”
“
Sire!” The young man desperately
pointed to the letter still in the prince’s other hand. “I beg you,
read the letter! I cannot read, but the king spoke the words aloud
as he wrote them. I heard as I waited in his tent!”
Ever glared at him for a moment
longer before dropping him at Acelet’s feet. When he finally held
the wax seal up to the light, he could see that the seal was still
unbroken, so the young man could not possibly have read it. A wolf
with jewel shaped eyes stood over the corpse of a serpent, baring
its teeth and crouching for another pounce. An uncomfortable voice
in his head wondered if the messenger might be telling the truth,
but he dismissed the thought before it was complete. Breaking the
seal, he read what his father had hastily written.
Everard,
Our campaign has failed. Nevina’s
hawks have multiplied greatly since our last encounter. Whether
through informant or traitor, they knew the location of our first
encampment, and were upon us before the first night had passed. We
lost many men to the hawks and even more to the arrows they rained
upon us in the dark. The siege would have been manageable, if their
arrows had not burned our supplies, also.
Her worst weapon, however, has
been the dreams. More men have gone mad with each passing night
from the visions of confusion and blackness that the abominable
princess sends. And those who avoid sleep grow lose their minds to
exhaustion. I am finding my own thoughts difficult to follow as I
fight the darkness. It is with shame that I admit I cannot match
her power. We cannot wait until tomorrow. You must come
now.
Your Father
For the first time since he had
become a man, Ever felt a cold shiver run down his back, despite
the misty heat of the spring rain. His father had never been as
powerful as Ever was, but he’d never been rendered helpless in
battle. Was he completely unable to protect anyone but himself?
Numbly, the prince read the letter again. He could feel Acelet’s
eyes on his face, keenly measuring his reaction.
“
What does the king say, Your
Grace?”
Ever straightened his shoulders
and cleared his face of all emotion. “Nevina has apparently
gathered numbers greater than we had anticipated,” he answered
carefully.
“
Will we be moving out earlier
then?”
Ever took a deep breath before
shaking his head. “No. I will not give her the advantage of the
night the way my father did. I can protect us here, but not in the
mountain passes. We will move in the morning as we
planned.”
Acelet bowed his head in
acknowledgment and excused himself to finish making arrangements,
taking the unfortunate messenger with him. Ever returned to the
bench and looked at the map again. As he traced the paths his men
would take the next morning, his mind drifted back to the days of
planning he’d spent with his father. He couldn’t understand what
had gone wrong. They had been so careful.
“
I don’t want Nevina close to the
Fortress. She knows too much,” King Rodrigue had stated before
they’d even discussed any strategies. “I want to cut her off in the
desert valley just north of the border. If my men and I wait in the
valley before she arrives, you can bring your men through the
mountains to close in on her from the east side.”
“
How do we know when she plans to
attack?” Ever had wondered.
“
Acelet has sent spies, but he
believes it will be within two weeks. If we leave soon, we should
be prepared to strike by the time she reaches the valley. Even if
she guesses that we’ll cut her off, she will expect to see our
forces coming from the south, directly from the
Fortress.
“
You will wait here,” his father
had pointed to a crevice on the backside of the mountain. “Instead
of coming from the south, you’ll be poised to pour down from the
east.”
Ever had nodded. He knew the place
well. There were large caves there that would shield the men from
view, should Nevina send her hawks in for a closer look. The large
caverns would allow him not only to hide two hundred men from
Nevina’s spying eyes, but they were close enough together for him
to shield his men’s minds from her visions as well.
“
I’ll send a runner to the valley
to let you know when we’ve arrived,” Ever had begun, but his father
was already shaking his head.
“
No messengers. No communications
of any sort. You may be able to shield your men in the caves, but
you cannot be expected to do it for travelers as well. I will be
too busy to look for messengers. Without our protection, the runner
could easily be discovered. Nevina would have the information out
of him in minutes.”
His father had been so confident
in their plans. And he’d had every reason to be. King Rodrigue had
never lost a battle. Small skirmishes happened often with some of
the border lords, but few kings were foolhardy enough to challenge
Rodrigue directly. With the strength of the Fortress and the harsh
determination of its monarchs, Destin’s borders had not been
breached in over two hundred years. Most of the king’s great
battles had been fought coming to the aid of their allies in
neighboring lands.
Ever’s father had followed in the
footsteps of his fathers, and it had served him well. King Rodrigue
had known nothing but the study of warfare since boyhood under the
watchful eye of his own father. When Ever and his father had drawn
up plans against Nevina, there had been no bravado in the king’s
schemes, nor had there been a false confidence. The preparation had
been as straightforward and focused as his plans always
were.
And yet, as they’d strategized in
the king’s study, Ever hadn’t been able to ignore the waning light
in his father’s eyes. The glowing rings of blue fire had been
growing dimmer for years, but Ever had lacked both the courage and
the heart to bring it to his father’s attention. It would have
drawn both shame and outrage to question the Fortress’s power that
resided within him. Besides, the Fortress wouldn’t allow his father
to falter in the midst of his greatest battle. Ever had been sure
of it.
But now, here on the mountain as
that battle raged, Ever felt the fear stir within him as he reread
the lines his father had written. The Fortress had indeed allowed
his father’s power to weaken, enough for him to call for help in a
way he never had before, enough for his men to die horrible deaths
of fear and fire as the king cowered in his bed, hoping his son
would save him. Every weakness Rodrigue had ever despised, he had
assumed in sending that letter.