Cursed

18. Belle's Library

18. Belle's Library

A bright light pierced my sweet dreams and peeked through my heavy lids to see that someone, well, probably something, had thrown open the curtains that were draped over the enormous windows in my room.

"Good morning, Belle!" sang pretty much everything in my room.

"No..." I whined and pulled the covers over my face to block out the light, "haven't any of you ever heard of sleeping in?" I groaned through the covers.

"Daylight only lasts for so long," I was reminded by Teapot as she poured me a warm cup of tea. I had never been so grateful to the British custom of drinking tea several times throughout the day than during these past few days. It never snowed over where I lived in California but it's not even that I'm so unaccustomed to the cold here. The whole manor is heated by fire, which I'm afraid happens to not be as effective as modern heating.

"But the dark is so much more fun," I replied in a bit of a disgruntled whine. We had another midnight debate, Daurien and I. We would fall into them every once in awhile ever since that day almost a month ago when he had taken me out to see his roses. Once the barrier of fear and silence had been chipped at that day, breaking it away completely was an easy, even natural progression of events. This time the debate was about the many themes in Macbeth on which our opinions seemed to differ. We ended up going to sleep after three. I was tired.

"Drink your tea and get dressed, dear, Master Daurien has prepared a surprise for you," she ignored my reluctance. I sat up and took the tea from its saucer, "And be sure to wear something warm, you will be outside." I rubbed my eyes and noticed the delicate rose on my bedside table. It was a pink rose that turned orange towards the edge of each petal and it sat in a clean white vase. I would wake up to a different rose everyday. I didn't question it. I drank my tea and put on some clothes. The closet had actually taken my clothes and made copies of them in different colors and fabrics. I have some pretty great clothes.

As I left the room, I was joined by Candleholder.

"I trust you slept well, Miss?" he asked as we walked through the splendid halls.

"I did, thank you," I replied cheerily. We reached a side exit from the manor and I followed him into the snowy outdoors. We walked down a long path that winded around rosebush upon rosebush. Daurien was waiting for me in a chair inside an open structure that allowed a few species of climbing roses to do what they do best, climb.

I joined him beneath it and sat in the chair opposite him. Breakfast was set on the table between us.

"Good morning, Belle," he said politely.

"It would have been better if I wasn't woken up so early," I mock grumbled and he scoffed in response.

"If you had retired earlier, it would not have been a problem."

"And who is to blame that I hadn't?" I retorted, trying to use the same high language he tended to use. I had strong suspicions that I was unsuccessful.

"No one has ever forced you to stay up, Love." Okay, now he was really rubbing his Britishness in my face.

"Oh no, because I am to blame for everything," I said sarcastically.

"Precisely." I rolled my eyes but try as I might, I could not suppress a small smile. I became slightly uncomfortable when I felt him studying me.

"What?" I asked him.

"N-nothing, I was only thinking," he said, still partly in his own world.

"About what," I tried again.