Hidden Heart (Beauty and the Beast AU)

Ignoble Nature

When she awoke, Susato had no idea what time it was. The light slanting through her window looked the same as it had when she fell asleep. Wretchedly pale and endlessly dim.

She changed into the red dress Evie had taken up for her and styled her hair in its usual fashion, then contemplated her next steps.

Her first order of business was to check on Mr. Milverton. Feeling his forehead, she thought his skin to be a touch cooler and sweat was no longer populating his brow. Relieved, she administered the second dose of medicine and helped his son give him food and tea. She was tempted to ask Ashley about his escape attempt, but knew it would be wrong to do so while he was so concerned over his father's health. For now, she would have to bide her time in that regard. There was no point trying to leave until Mr. Milverton made a recovery, anyway.

Susato exited the room and began to consider how she could investigate escape routes. Gina knew the servants' passages but she had also said there was no way to leave, so perhaps they did not lead to any secret exits. But there had to be some way out—if there wasn't, none of them would be trapped in the first place. There would be no food or medicine. There would be no terror rippling through the countryside.

Susato decided that before she planned an escape, she would need to know just how many people were trapped in the manor, along with its layout. The best way to go about gathering such information was to make herself as useful as she could. And the first task she would take on would be to clean.

She spent hours sweeping, dusting, chasing away cobwebs. The time passed swiftly in this way, for the manor was quite impressive in its size and quite dismally kept. If she had to live here for any length of time, it certainly would not be in squalor.

Susato recalled the hallway that was covered in glass and the library with its dishevelled shelves and books scattered all about. By her estimations, both leaned towards the western half of the manor. It was near all that glass that she had encountered the Beast, after all. Despite this, Susato headed there next, setting aside the warnings Evie had given her. Susato knew that if she had any hope to stage a flight for everyone from the manor, she could not allow her fear of the monster to cripple her in any way whatsoever, especially with something so small.

Susato lit the lamps at the mouth of the corridor and stared dejectedly at all the glass.

Minding her steps so she would not injure her feet, Susato began to carefully sweep the detritus into neat piles, to make their disposal easier. For a long time, the only sounds were that of her broom's bristles brushing against the floor and the chatter of the glass. Then, slowly, a metallic sliding, like a knell.

She stiffened. She fought against her pulse and dry throat, the creeping chill of fear. The sound grew closer. But she had to persist. She simply had to.

His shadow fell upon her. Susato kept her head bowed, remained focussed on her cleaning, even as she felt those piercing eyes drill into her. Even as her hands tensed around the broom handle and her body began to tremble.

"You are not permitted to enter this section of the manor," he said, in that toneless and commanding voice.

"It would be hard to clean this hallway if I did not enter it," Susato said, forcing the words out past the tightness of her throat.

"Your presence has disturbed me."

"Well, the presence of this glass disturbs me. Surely...Surely you do not wish to cut your feet with every step," Susato said.

"That is not a concern."

"It—it is for the rest of us!"

"What a shame it would be...for others to be unable to gain passage to an area of the manor they are not permitted to access."