Steel Roses

~Epilogue~ An Uncollected Tale of Beauty and The Beast

Beldon frowned at her and she smiled. After a moment, he smiled in reply.

"How are the repairs coming along?" he asked, sitting up, running a hand through his bird nest of hair.

"Very well," Vanessa said, "The West Wing should be back to its former glory soon enough. I'm surprised by how many rooms you managed to clean up in just three months."

"Never underestimate someone who is bored out of his mind," Beldon replied getting out of bed and heading into the bathroom, taking his tea with him.

"And have you been bored over the last month?" Vanessa asked as he undressed and slid into the bath, listening as the main doors opened.

"No," he replied, smiling, dropping his head underwater and running his hands through his hair, coming up a moment later. "Morning Julius."

Julius smiled at him as he collected Beldon's clothes, kneeling beside the bath.

"Good morning, how are you?"

"Fine," Beldon said.

"Fencing practice today?"

Beldon grinned at him. "Of course, you've still beat me again."

Julius sneered at him and then they both froze as Vanessa appeared in the doorway, looking like a gorgon as she loomed over them.

"What did I say about fencing until his shoulder was completely recovered?" she growled.

Both boys winced at the same time. "Not yet?" they offered.

"Not yet indeed!" she snarled and marched out again.

They stared at the door for a moment, then quickly turned to each other, putting their heads close together.

"One o'clock in the ballroom?" Julius suggested.

"Perfect," Beldon said and they grinned at each other before Julius stood up and left the bathroom, Vanessa growling at him.

Once bathed and fully awake, Beldon got out of the bath and dried off, pulling on underclothes and walking out into the bedroom, Vanessa bustling around nearby.

He still felt he should have been highly self-conscious by her presence; she was there in flesh and blood now after all, but he had become so used to her being around - and she him - that it was no concern anymore.

He smiled slightly as Vanessa debated over two shirts.

Still so precise about her work, but now she had the freedom of the castle. She could come and go when she wished. She had access to her own private rooms again.

She hadn't found her husband though. No matter how much anyone and everyone searched, he was no longer in the castle. Vanessa hid her pain and disappointment well, saying she was used to him not being around now, but it still left him wondering where the man could have gone.

Roughly drying his hair, he tied it up and changed into his usual attire.

"Do you know where The- Luka has gone?" he asked, wincing at his mistake and Vanessa smiled over her shoulder at him.

"You'll be used to the name soon enough," she promised, "You just need to say it more. And I don't mean only a night."

Beldon stared at her for a moment, then his face turned a blazing red. "Vanessa!" he said in shock, gobsmacked by her brazen words, "I can't believe you'd s-" he started before stopping at voices beyond the door.

"He's not here and these are Beldon's quarters, you don't need to come!" Iago was saying, irritated as he hurled one door open.

"The Master lives in these rooms as well now, so I have every right to," Sebastian snapped, throwing open the other one and marching in. Sebastian was a tall slender man, with sharp dark grey eyes that lay behind thin spectacles, and blonde hair that was slicked back over his head. Sharp and smart, dressed in a traditional butler's suit, as opposed to Iago who wore a long fitted coat of black and red over flared black trousers.