Belle is a maid living in service of a handsome prince who she falls madly in love with. Jealous of all the other women and angry at his refusal to notice her she curses him and turns him into a hideous beast. For years they remain together in the c...
I look up at him with wide eyes and my mouth agape. "And you only tell me about this now!" I yell.
"Keep your voice down," he hisses.
"Don't tell me what to do you could have told me that Gaston has some creepy addiction to this book before you allowed me to keep taking it!"
His jaw sets in anger. "I would have but then again I thought you were a good thief and wouldn't almost get caught. Besides, it's not like you would have listened to me even if I did tell you!"
"That's not true."
"Really? Well then answer me this, now that you know about his obsession are you still going to go and take that book?"
Without a second thought, I say, "Yes!" A harsh realization is pulled in front of me, he is right I would continue to steal the book no matter what it might cost me.
He shakes his head and brings his hands in the air in a motion that almost mimics strangling something. "You are so frustrating you know that right? How can you keep doing this for some random people in the woods? Dammit, Val, what if Gaston attacks you?"
"Then I'll deal with it because those random people in the woods have become like family to me! He has become family to me!"
"Who is he, Val? And why the hell is he so important to you that you'll risk your life to help him?"
"He..." Suddenly, I hear the distinct sound of footsteps storming up the stairs. I quietly watch as my door flies open and a very angry Pierre storms in. With hard eyes and a furrowed brow, he looks back and forth between Adrien and me.
"What is going on in here?" he asks, his eyes narrowing toward the very little space between Adrien and me.
Adrien takes a deep breath and steps back a few paces. "It's nothing, Dad. We're just having a minor disagreement."
"Well, your minor disagreement is disturbing our customers and me. So knock it off and come downstairs to start your chores." He turns to me, "Both of you."
"Yes, Dad," Adrien quietly mumbles. Without looking at me again he follows his dad down the stairs toward the backroom for his day of punishment.
Looking out my window toward the distant forest that hides a breaking castle I hear Adrien's words play out in my head over and over and over again.
Who is he, Val? And why the hell is he so important to you that you'll risk your life to help him? What is Beast to me? What has he become?
"I don't know. I don't know what he is any more. Because the other day I saw something in him that wasn't there before," I whisper to my empty room before heading off to start my chores and make my new plan to steal the book.
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Adrien wasn't wrong when he told me that Gaston has an obsession with the book. He hasn't moved from his seat in front of the bookshelf. Not once in the past hour that I've been watching his home from the shadows of an alleyway as he moved to get himself some food, or water, or even go to the bathroom. From here I can see he is muttering something and each time he does this his finger is out, tracing the spine of the purple book.
