Inside the Beast's Castle

Chapter 25--You Knew Who?

Kvir

Ow.

Just...Ow.

The day before, when Lizaveta's friend showed, had hurt. A lot. The moments I struggled, I was caught between the beast and my "normal" self--something that I felt briefly every time I changed.

Briefly.

Never at full-force, like how I had felt it. Never for that long.

But somehow, somehow, I fought it. And I beat it.

In which my body was not going to let me forget about.

Normally, every time I changed I had some sort of side-effect that went along with it--the main one being the fact that I used magic, and since I used the magic, it progressed the spell.

I could already feel the minor changes the spell had done to me--my bottom teeth were longer, the claws on my hands had grown sharper, and my eyes. When the girl arrived, they were a darker brown, not the startling red I knew they changed to.

"You will become more of a beast every day."

The words of the woman who visited me in my cell the night the duke took over my castle echoed in my head. It was the night of my choice.

My choice to be executed or to become a monster.

I clenched my teeth and turned my head to the window. The overcast sky threatened rain, and a strong wind rustled the trees from a direction I had long since forgotten--north, south, east, or west.

It was fitting for the day.

The fact that she left her room shouldn't have surprised me. She was adventurous, I'd give her that much.

So adventurous that she bordered on the edge of stupid, but yes. Adventurous.

What she didn't know was that Vadik could never come back, no matter his promises of returning,

That was one aspect of the curse--or rather, the magic, I didn't absolutely despise. If anyone entered the castle grounds, they would never be able to find their way back when they left. If they tried, they would just wind up where they started.

It worked. Every time.

But one.

I closed my eyes. A girl, no older than eighteen, popped into my mind. Her brown ringlets fell to her shoulders, seemingly draped across them like a shrug. She was remarkably similar to Lizaveta, in more ways than one. In fact, they could almost be twins.

I shrugged off my thoughts and got up from my chair, reaching for the black cane as I moved. It wasn't that I needed it, it was just a reminder.

A reminder of the one who cursed me.

I ran my thumb over the gem decorating the top of the cane, feeling the engraving of foreign symbols under my skin. Even with my forgetfulness of the letters, I knew what it said.

Duke Aldrich of Evonshyr.

I gripped the top of the cane harder. The man who killed my wife.

I closed my eyes and pushed out the memories that started to flood to the tip of my mind, knowing what would happen in I delved into them. The scenes would bring on emotion, and emotion would bring on the creature.

"You will be able to feel nothing without consequence."

My consequence: a monster that couldn't be controlled.