Colette sat in a chair beside her fathers bed. She had a book open in her lap but her mind was elsewhere. She couldn't shake the cold feeling that death lingered nearby. Her father seemed to be doing better. Color had returned to his cheeks and his fever had gone down. She changed his linen wrappings earlier and his wound seemed to be healing. Beatrice came in with a small basin of warm water and a sponge. She helped Colette wash away the dirt and grime that still clung to her father and managed to put him in a clean shirt before tucking him back under the covers. That had been some time ago and now the sun was making its way past the tree line.
Her stomach growled with hunger and wondered when dinner would be served.
She took one look at her sleeping father and slipped quietly out of the room.
The hall beyond was wide and tall. The sconces flames flickered across the stone walls by some invisible breeze. Light splashed across areas on the wall where a darker shadow of what could have been paintings once hung.
Colette had wondered why there wasn't any form of history or evidence of past families that filled the castles every wall and columns. Why was the castle empty and void of life other than the few people and beast that resided here.
This is my castle. Sébastien had told her. Maybe it belonged to someone else before he arrived. Maybe he slaughtered the previous lord and all his servants and the ones he kept he commanded them not to speak a word about what had happened. Not to speak at all. Or. He cut out their tongues with his knife sharp claws.
A disturbing shiver went through her body at the thought.
She hurried down the hall and descended the grand staircase before padding out into the center of the great hall. She knew to her left was the way to the servants quarters and beyond that the cells, so she turned right and went down the hall until she started to smell stewed meat.
Down the hall and to the left she stood at the stair entryway that led down into a large kitchen. The kitchen was laid with brick and mortar from floor to ceiling and a large hearth took up one side of the wall while a long work table sat horizontal across the wide space. Shelves were fitted into the wall behind it along with another narrow table that stood beneath them. Various pots and pans, silver platters and serving ware lined the shelves. Cooking utensils dangled beneath them. A cluster of wooden bowls sat on the narrow table and beside them more cooking utensils and tools. On the other wall a tall cabinet sat in the corner hosting an array of porcelain plates, bowls, mugs and cups and other dishes. At the center table a few vegetables were laid out and beside them a bundle of dried herbs. A large knife had been plunged into the table and stood on its tapered point.
Colette's eyes flicked towards the other entryway that separated the kitchen from another room. From the size of it she assumed it was where they stored the grain and other foods.
The kitchen was terribly warm as the fire roiled in the hearth. A large pot was bubbling away inside of it. Colette stepped down into the space, stalking towards the table to grab a piece of what looked to be a carrot.
"Better to take the knife," a heavy, accented male voice trailed from the other room.
Colette dropped the carrot and it bounced off the table top and skittered across the floor.
A short, dark skinned man emerged from the room and made his way over to the table. He grabbed the knife's handle and plucked it from the surface. His hair was dark and unruly but kept short and away from his eyes. He looked to be at least ten years older than her. He didn't smile at her as he held the knife up to his face to examine the edge.
Colette swallowed the lump in her throat. "Why is that?" She asked carefully, eyeing the long, pink scars that ran across his neck and up the side of his cheek.
His lips twisted into a sneer before he sat the knife back down. "I sleep down here you see. Where I can be close to a knife if I need one." He slid his hand up his neck, a cloud of a memory surfacing his dark brown eyes.
Colette noted the bed of hay nestled in the corner of the room beside her. It looked to have been slept in. Multiple blankets were gathered on top of it and a small candelabra sat beside the single pillow.
"What is he?" She whispered and glanced over her shoulder. She wondered if he could somehow hear them with the wondrous, animalistic features he had.
The man spit onto the floor, wiping at his mouth with the back of his forearm. "A stupid fool is what he is. Was. Now he's a raging beast who'd take you right here on this kitchen table in a moment's heartbeat without blinking twice."
There was such venom and disdain in his voice and Colette wasn't sure what to make of the vulgar answer he gave her or the image that appeared in her head. A hot blush worked its way up her neck and cheeks.
"W- why would you say that?" She stuttered, fisting her skirt in her hands.
The man looked her straight into her eyes and said, "You wouldn't be the first."
Fear sized her and she stumbled away from the table, nearly tripping over the last step of the staircase as she scrambled to regain her balance. "I- I don't understand."
A deep chuckle rose out of the man as he shook his head in disbelief. "Of course no one has told you. How could they? That damn curse," he muttered to himself.
Curse? What curse, Colette thought. Is that why no one would speak to her? Could speak to her. She didn't believe in witches or magic. Yet, Sébastien was something completely outside the natural realm.
The man pulled open a small drawer from the side of the table where he stood and reached in. His hand came up and he was holding a small paring knife. "Here." He held the knife out towards her. "Take it. Put it somewhere on your body, somewhere you can easily obtain it if need be."
He was serious. Not a note of farceness in his voice. Colette tentatively walked over to the table and took the small knife he offered her. She slid it between her stay and skirt. She would need to find a more secure spot later but this would do.
"Thank you."
The man huffed and went to stoke the fire in the hearth. "His Lord wasn't always a beast."
Lord. So it was Lord Sébastien.
"It's been twelve years now since that old witch cursed him with that body. She stole his of course right after he stole hers."
Colette puzzled at the bit of information he offered her. Stole hers. How could one steal another's body?
He continued on, setting the iron poker down and leaning against the mantle. Sweat glistened across his forehead as he looked beyond her into the past.
"The day he took her was the day that changed his life completely. It wasn't just his life but his servants' lives as well and everyone who resided in the castle. He was cursed to become a hideous beast, while his servants lost their ability to speak. Not only that, if he or anyone dared to step outside the castle's outer walls... death. They would be met with immediate death."
Colette reeled over the terrible story. She wondered if those who weren't here chose death over staying in the castle with him.
"Then, h- how are you able to speak?" She wondered if this curse somehow overlooked him.
He only grimaced. "I was not apart of the Lord's household. I was sought after by his butler Niel through a letter seeking a kitchen hand, male or female and without family or home. A young boy had posted the notice in my village and I had just arrived in the area. I am not from here originally and was seeking work, but was being refused by almost every person. You could maybe understand my desperation when I came across the notice. I followed after the boy who then steered me in the direction of the castle. At first, I thought surely I would be turned away when I set foot in the castle's grand entrance but I was only ushered into the great hall. It looked like a battle had taken place. Furniture and paintings, so many portraits had been torn or shredded apart. Columns had been knocked over, broken into chunks of granite. I should have turned right then and there if the pay wasn't so enticing. Little did I know what I signed my life over to. Whose hands I had willingly handed my life to." He wiped at his brow with his shoulder.
"Lord Sébastien has a horrible temper. He- he sometimes can be set in a drunken sort of rage. He says it's the curse but the things he does, the time he..." the man looked away, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"It's better for you if you did not know."
Colette nodded emphatically, but still felt that she had the right to know what had happened here. What did Sébastien do to have this man sleeping in the kitchen? She wondered if those scars were from him too.
"Thank you. For telling me. It's honestly a relief to hear another person's voice besides my own and... his." Colette admitted rather feebishly.
"Aarav. My name is Aarav Bakshi. It's a far greater pleasure to hear your voice."
Colette smiled slightly, a bit abashed by the compliment. "What do you mean that you signed your life away?" She inquired.
Aarav sauntered over to the table and ran his hand across the woods smooth surface. "I was told that I would never leave the castle's walls again. That I could not contact anyone outside the walls. I had to swear this place, the Lords... condition to secrecy. I was told all of this through a written letter and asked to sign my name with blood. If I broke the contract then it would be my blood they'd come for." He sighed heavily, pushing a piece of vegetable around the table. "I've been here now for eight years. I was just a boy- a young man when I came here. Foolish enough and desperate enough to sign that contract. Now with my pockets full, it seems a waste being that I can't go out and purchase things."
"Did you know of Sébastien... the lord's condition before signing the contract?"
Aarav shook his head bitterly. "I knew that he was a danger when provoked and that I was to keep to my quarters during the day and to stay away from the right wing tower where he presided. And if I shall ever encounter him, we'll... they prayed that I wouldn't."
Colette leaned against the table. "That didn't occur to you to be a warning of any sorts?"
Aarav chuckled softly and ran his fingers through his hair. "I was young. Young and brawn enough to think I could hold my own against some old Lord."
Little did he know, Colette thought. That Lord was powerful, keen and malicious looking. She wasn't sure how old he was but that he had been in this beast form for twelve years now. She still couldn't wrap her head around it all. How was all of this possible? How had she somehow managed to find her way into it.
"The others, where they ki- did, did they... die?"
Aarav grabbed his chin as he reflected. "When I arrived, many of the servants I found out later killed themselves. Families who worked and lived here banded together and decided dying was better than living in fear of being killed by him."
"Did he kill- I mean did he ever kill anyone?" Has he killed anyone recently is what she really wanted to ask.
Aarav looked over at her. "Yes."
Colette clenched her jaw. She and her father needed to leave as soon as possible.
"But it's been a few years since that fateful day. Many of the Lord's family, what few relatives he did have presiding in the castle had been slain unintentionally I was told. Lord Sébastien control over his rage is..." he slowed to choose his words carefully. "Precarious. The relatives who did not die at his hand chose to die at their own. Sébastien has them out back in the family's tomb. He is the only one left. The relatives he has outside of the castle walls have completely disowned him and he has not received a single word or coin from them. His wealth, however much he does have and as far as I know comes from exotic trade goods carried out by hired marchants. I don't know more than that other than a young man comes every week to deliver parchments and receive anything Niel might hand him through the gate."
Colette ate up every piece of information Aarav fed to her. She had to assume the lack of conversation he received over the years urged the words to come rolling out of him in an endless wave. That wave however was cut short by an interrupted cough. Colette turned to find Niel standing at the kitchen's threshold.
"Niel." Aarav nodded. "Come to fetch the Lord some supper?"
Niel eyed the man with quiet contemplation before his gaze settled on Colette.
"I-I came to find something to eat," she admitted. It was the truth. What was exchanged between her and Aarav was a pre-course to dinner.
"I think it's time for you to take leave Madame...?" Aarav started.
"Moreau. Colette Moreau. Please, call me by my first name. I think we have passed formalities now." She gave the butler a sideways glance before taking off.
"It was a pleasure talking with you." She said over her shoulder.
"The pleasures are all mine. I'll be sure to give you an extra crust of bread" he called after her.
Colette turned in time to say thanks to witness Neil give Aarav a pointed look. She kept forward, trying to mask her smile.