When the Wolfbane Blooms

Chapter 9 - Folklore

She knocked on the manor's door to no response. She worried, wondering if something had happened. It was a silly, irrational fear. Of course Adam wasn't a werewolf. He couldn't possibly be. It was too ghastly to imagine.

She knocked again, anxiously shifting from side to side. Finally, Madame Potts opened the door and greeted her.

"Good morning, dear," Madame Potts smiled. The smile didn't quite meet her eyes like it usually did. "Are you here to see Monsieur Villeneuve?"

"I am," Belle nodded.

"I'm afraid he isn't feeling well this morning. I think he caught a chill in this weather."

"I would still like to see him, if I may?"

Madame Potts hesitated, but gave in. She moved aside to let Belle enter.

"I'll go and prepare some tea," she said before hurrying off. It was odd, it felt like she was avoiding Belle.

Belle wandered her way upstairs. It occurred to her that she had no idea where Adam actually slept. She had been in almost every part of the manor aside from the bedrooms. She opened the first unfamiliar door she came across and peered in. It was a bedroom, but it was entirely abandoned. She kept moving.

"Looking for Adam?" a voice called to her.

Belle jumped, though she wasn't sure why. She turned to see Lumiere standing at the end of the corridor.

"I am, yes."

"Follow me."

She caught up with him and followed him across the manor. She had been looking in the wrong wing entirely.

Lumiere didn't talk as he led her along, which was unusual. He was normally brimming with conversation topics and quick jokes.

At last they reached a door that must have been Adam's.

"You know, Mademoiselle," Lumiere said with a quirk of his lips, his humour finally returning. "It is very improper for you to be in the master's bedroom like this."

"Oh, please," Belle remarked in turn. "You're married to my best friend, I've heard every rumour about you, Monsieur."

Lumiere laughed. "Touché, Mademoiselle." Lumiere knocked on the door to no response. "He may still be asleep. I believe he had a long night." He opened the door regardless and moved aside to let Belle enter alone. "I will leave the door ajar, otherwise Madame Potts would have my head," he said before departing.

Belle peered towards the bed. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting. Blood, perhaps. Sheets torn asunder and furniture ripped to shreds. But everything looked pristine. In the middle of a large four poster bed was an Adam sized lump under the blankets.

"Adam," she called softly, approaching the bed. He didn't move at all. "Adam," she repeated. She carefully reached out a hand to touch his shoulder.

He jolted upright immediately, startling Belle and causing her to stumble backward. Adam stared at her with wide eyes.

He looked tired, but not injured or otherwise unwell. It was a small relief.

"Belle," he stated. He blinked a few times, as if he wasn't sure of what he was seeing. "You're here. Why are you here?"

If he wasn't a werewolf, it was probably rather odd for her to have shown up in his bedroom in the morning, she realised.

She wanted to express how concerned she was for him, how horrible the howling in the woods had been the night before and how it made her think of the previous month when he had been attacked. She wanted to approach this tactfully, but instead, without thinking much about it, she asked, "Are you a werewolf?"