The castle jutted up from behind its massive stone walls. A steel colored monument that sat atop a hill. Its black gates offered little respite from their cold, hard iron appearance. Colette felt her stomach twist again at the sight of them. She remembered the sound they made as they closed her in. Its loud clang sounded a promise that they would meet again.
Her father steered their cart up to the front of them. Their mare faced its iron bars. She gulped and peered up at the tower where Sebastian's study was. She could hardly make out the wain candle light through the crusted window.
Snow blanketed the ground beneath them and covered the tops of the walls. An icy breeze blew behind them as if it came from the forest itself. The sun was to begin its descent soon as the sky deepend into a golden orange.
Colette felt herself wanting to empty her stomach again and she reached towards her father. "Father, I..."
Then she saw him. Coming from out of the gardens. He wore a black tunic over black trousers. His eyes, a simmering shade of red-orange was the only thing that stood out from all the blackness.
She felt her chest swell with an emotion she hadn't felt in a while. Sébastien looked ethereal like a glimmering black shadow against the stark white of the snow. Her father reached for his gun and gave her a hard shove that sent her falling out of the cart and into the snowy ground below.
"Argh!" She grunted, landing on her side. The snow was unforgiving and hard. She felt her bones and muscle groan in agony as she wobbled to her feet.
"Father!" She yelled. Why did he push her off the cart? What was he thinking?
"Colette," Sébastien roared, running towards them. He clamped his claws around the black bars of the gate.
She saw him wince from the connection but stayed there, gripping the bars as some unseen pain filtered through him. His eyes squinted against it but his gaze never left hers.
So many emotions swarmed his eyes and Colette found herself tearing up.
"Father, please. What is the meaning of this?" She asked, twirling around towards him.
"Father," she breathed, bringing her hands up to her shoulders. Her heart faltered.
She saw his stormy eyes over the long barrel of his gun he had pointing towards her. Dread filled her inside and she didn't understand what was happening. Did her father intend to kill her? Why?
Sébastien let out a low warning growl towards her father. He bared his teeth through the gates.
Her father shot him a disgusted look. "Put your canines away, beast. You want to save your precious little play thing then come and get her. So help me I will pull this trigger."
He cocked the gun towards her and Colette fell back on her hands and scrambled away. The icy snow grated against her skin and she felt her fingers go numb.
"No! Father, please. Sébastien, don't. Don't come out the gates!"
Fear raced through her body. Fear of dying. Fear of Sébastien risking his life to save hers. Fear of what was happening before her. Her father had lied to her. He lied to her? Sudden realization dawned on her as her fathers body trembled from his perch on the cart.
He didn't want to kill her. He hoped Sébastien would walk through those gates to come rescue her knowing full well that he would die instantly. She filtered through her mind as what to do but she knew nothing she could say would sway him, would keep Sebastian from coming after her.
"Father, please." She cried, climbing onto her knees. She would beg him with every last breath she had if it meant Sébastien would live. She knew deep inside of her that maybe he didn't deserve to. After all the things he had done. All the people he had hurt, including her father. The amount of blood on his hands. She kneeled over and cried.
"Why are you doing this!" Sébastien seethed. Smoke bloomed from out the side of his mouth. His eyes were blazin as he watched helplessly on the other side.
Her father sneered at him. "Because you love her!"
Colette looked up at Sebastian and she saw his head slump down between his shoulders. He shook the gates with tremendous force and the snow that crusted its bars fell to the ground. He bared his teeth and ratted the bars again. Colette looked at him with deep understanding him and her heart sank. He loved her?
Her father spat. "Because you mared Beatrice and that poor kitchen boy. Because you couldn't keep your cock in your pants and led dozens of innocent people to their deaths. You murdered your own family in cold blood. How can I sit by and let you live. Let you lust after my daughter. To- to have done whatever you did to have the feeling be returned."
Colette lost her breath at his final words. He knew? Somehow her father knew she had feelings for Sébastien. She looked at the broken beast again. His eyes were wide as he stared in her direction. His mouth trembled and tears ran down his face. She clutched her stomach and bowed in agony. No!
She wished it all away. She wished she didn't return the feelings. She wished she had never set foot in this castle. She wished she had never met him, but even as she tried to squeeze the feelings out she couldn't.
"I will kill her," her father gritted out.
Sébastien snarled. "You wouldn't dare harm your daughter. You love her!"
Her father pulled the trigger and a shot exploded beside her in the frosty earth. Snow and muddy earth splattered across her face and side. Colette screamed and her whole body froze up from the impact as fear seized her.
"No!" Sébastien roared and ran to open the gates. He came barreling towards them as soon as they swung open and Colette found her voice again.
"Sebastain! No!" She cried out, reaching towards him.
He halted right at the threshold. His breathing was all over the place as his eyes scanned her body, searching for any visible wounds.
There was none and her father angled the gun towards her again, having reloaded it during the time Sebastain opened the gates.
She looked at her father with pleading eyes. "I-I..." she couldn't keep the pain that shuddered through her body as she tore open her heart. "I love him father. I love him!" Hot, burning tears fell from her eyes as she confessed what she was too scared to recognize.
She loved Sébastien.
"Colette." Her name was a soft rumble from where Sébastien stood between life and death.
Her fathers face crumpled in pain as he swung his gun towards Sébastien and pulled the trigger.
She watched as Sebastain was flung back from the impact to his chest and she screamed taking off towards him.
"Colette!" Her father yelled, scrambling over the edge of the cart. He fell with a heavy thud to the ground, groaning in agony as he helplessly reached towards her.
She did not give him a second glance as she ran to kneel beside Sébastien. Blood pooled beneath his left shoulder and stained the snow a deep red.
"Sébastien. Sébastien, please." She ran her hands over his face and chest. Her fingers felt the warm blood spilling from the hole above his left pectoral.
His eyes were closed but she heard him groan and felt his chest rise slowly.
"Sébastien," she whimpered. She knew from the beginning that they were destined to never be together. She knew death stood between them and that's why she chose to walk away. She couldn't bear the thought of leaving him, but he was leaving her and it hurt even more than she imagined.
"Colette," he panted, reaching for her face. She took his paw against her cheek. She felt his claws graze her scalp.
"Is it true," he sputtered, coughing. Colette grimaced in pain, nodding. Tears fell like fresh springs down her face. She would watch him die.
He smiled faintly and his hand fell from her face. Colette felt him heave out a strangled breath before his body went slack.
"Sébastien?" She shook him but his face fell to the side, his mouth hanging agape. He was dead.
She felt her heart splinter into a tiny million pieces.
"No!" She cried, covering his face with her chest as she struggled to pull him into her arms. "Please, no. I love you. I love you." She cried.
Her fathers strangled pleas carried through the air from behind her. She could hear Gregory's name on the wind and turned to see her husband walking cautiously toward her.
His brown cloak billowed out around him and his hair was unbound. Its red ringlets whipped and tangled around his stricken face.
Colette looked at the beast in her arms and closed her eyes. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know if Gregorie was there to watch her run to Sébastien side and admit that she loved him while he breathed his last breath. She felt shame fill her body. Was she horrible for loving both of them? Was that her curse?
"I love him." She whispered, clutching Sébastien's head to her chest.
Gregorie came to kneel beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shuddered. She didn't deserve his gentle touch. He should be yelling at her. Slapping her silly for making a fool of him. For marrying him when her heart belonged to someone else. But he did none of those things. Instead he took a calloused hand from Sébastien's side and placed it on top of hers.
"It's alright." He whispered. "It's alright that you loved him before you loved me." She heard his voice crack with emotion and she sank further into her shame and guilt.
No! She wanted to scream. It wasn't alright.
It wasn't right.
This hand she held. It wasn't right.
It wasn't Sébastien's.
Colette wiped her eyes and blinked away the misty film that glazed over them. She stared at the tanned, callused hand in hers. Its nails were crusted in black muddy earth. She followed the tan skin until it disappeared into the sleeve of Sebastian's black tunic.
W-what is this?
Her eyes shot to his face and she clamped her hand over her mouth, gasping. A swath of bright, white-blond hair cascaded down a face she did not recognize. Her heart stopped as she felt his chest rise beneath her fingers. She looked at Gregorie who then stood up. He looked down at her with red rimmed eyes. He smiled faintly before turning to leave. She watched him go through the gates towards her father who stared with shock at what they both beheld.
"C- Colette?" The stranger's voice rasped.
Colette shuddered and let loose the breath she had been holding. The stranger turned over in her arms and the blond hair fell from his face and she saw a man with startling blue eyes. He blinked slowly, bringing a hand to his face as he closed his eyes and traced every inch of it with his fingers. She felt him tremble in her arms.
"Sébastien?" She whispered, scared that it wasn't him who laid in her arms now.
The man opened his eyes and she felt every emotion that bled from them as he stared at her in wonderment. He blinked again. "Y- you look different." He reached to touch her face and Colette shuddered from the unfamiliar touch.
She couldn't help but smile. "You look different."
Sébastien rose onto his elbows and his tunic slid off his tanned shoulder. It was three sizes too big now and Colette examined the man before her. His long, muscled body laid across her lap. His trousers were baggy around his bottom half but she could make out large, muscular thighs and legs that ended in callused feet. His legs were coated in a fine dusting of brown hair. Not fur, but hair. His forearms were covered in hair as well, not as dark but light and golden. She reached to touch the hair that fell from his head to his shoulders in straight locks and it felt soft and thick.
"Everything about you is different. Human." She whispered. Staring in utter awe of his striking beauty. He was beautiful in his beast form, but now as a human... he was breathtaking.
"Lord Sébastien!"
Colette and Sébastien turned towards the male voice and saw Niel running towards them. His eyes landed on Colette and she saw a wave of relief pass his face before they found Sébastien's. He stopped in his tracks and fell to his knees. He looked at the man in her arms and cried out towards the sky. "Gods be it a miracle. Our young lord has returned to his former glory!"
Colette felt her chest tighten with emotion and Sébastien ambled to his feet, lifting her with him. He held her hand as they made their way over to Niel who was crying with joy and relief.
"It has been too long since I've heard your voice." Sébastien spoke. His voice was deep and velvety.
Colette felt a familiar shiver run down her spine.
She hesitantly looked over her shoulder at Gregorie who was helping her father into the cart. He turned to look at her and his eyes fell to their clasped hands. Shame gripped her heart and she pulled her hand from Sébastien's.
He looked down at her concernedly before turning to look over towards Gregorie.
"Is that your husband?"
She nodded, dipping her head down. She felt so ashamed of herself.
"I'm sorry." Was all he said.
Niel pulled Sébastien into his arms, hugging him tightly before doing the same to her. He pulled back and examined her fully. "How? How did you break the curse?"
Colette shrugged, abashed as Sebastain grabbed her hand again.
"It doesn't matter. What matters now is that the curse is broken. Where is Beatrice?"
Niel shook his head. "Probably hiding my Lord. I have no doubt it was her doing that led them here. Her and Colette's father." The butler pointedly looked over Sébastien's shoulder.
Sébastien grimaced before his eyes turned cold and he turned to stalk towards the gates. He did not let go of Colette's hand and she awkwardly followed behind him.
"Sebastin, please." She pleaded.
Gregorie turned towards them and grabbed her fathers gun from out of the cart. He did not point it at Sébastien, but held it firmly across his body. Sébastien slowed and stopped two yards away from him.
Colette looked at Gregorie who he kept his gaze firmly on Sébastien. Her father was pale in the face as he sat in the cart. He looked like he would faint.
"He was only trying to protect her." Gregorie gritted out.
Colette grimaced. He would protect her too if it came to it.
Sébastien sneered. "Leave my castle and never come back. I will not hesitate to kill you if you step one foot within these gates again."
The threat was sure and Colette's father nodded vigorously. Gregorie glanced once more at Colette before climbing into the cart and steering his and her fathers mare towards the way they had come.
"Be careful." Colette squeaked out. Gregorie nodded as they trotted away.
"He loves you." Sébastien spoke, beside her.
She looked up at the cool and calculating man. Was this truly Sébastien?
"I know."
He turned to face her. "Do you love him?"
Colette's bottom lip trembled as she choked back her tears. "Yes."
Sébastien's face softened and he brought her hand to his mouth. She felt his lips brush across her knuckles and her eyes fluttered as a pleasurable sensation ran through her.
"I- I love you too. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you when I knew." Perhaps things would have ended differently, but she was happy he was alive and free from his curse.
Sébastien closed his eyes and pressed another kiss to her hand. "You smell like snow and earth."
He opened his eyes and she saw the desire behind their opulent surface. She gulped.
"Come. Let's get you in some dry clean clothes. Niel?"
The butler stayed behind the gates to give them space but hurried over as soon as he heard his name.
"Yes, Lord Sebastain?"
"Prepare a room for Colette. She will stay the night."
The butler looked surprised but nodded and started off.
Sebastian turned once more to her. "I've missed you."
Colette felt her face flush. "As have I."