Spoiler Alert - Advised to read Beauty and The Beast first
About this short:
This was a bit of information that never made it into the Beauty and The Beast novel. There was no time and there were more important things to talk about but it concerns something we saw near the start of BATB.
This scene is set some months after the end of Beauty and The beast (before Sleeping Beauty)
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Beldon glanced up, watching the teetering tower of books that loomed over him for a moment, before stepping back, just in time to avoid being crushed as the entire pile came thundering down right where he'd been standing.
He let out a sigh.
Honestly, these rooms were a disaster. How Luka had lived in them for so long without allowing any of the servants to tidy up the place was beyond Beldon's understanding.
He had barely survived a couple of months in the castle before he'd gone to work cleaning up the West Wing – though boredom had played a large hand in his decision to do so.
He crouched down by the pile and started lifting up the dozens upon dozens of books in the small room off Luka's old bedroom.
Beldon knew it would have been a long shot to find the book he was looking for but he'd nevertheless thought to try.
Luka, as it turned out, was not tidy. Not when it came to things like books and papers.
His office – if left unattended by the servants – resembled a scene of organised chaos. As opposed to Beldon's office which was immaculate. (Their use of personal space in areas such as the bedroom was a different matter of course.)
Beldon clambered over the pile that had tried to flatten him and rummaged further into the depths of the room, going as far back into the darkness as the candle would let him.
He was just about the turn back and retrieve another candle for the empty wall holders when something caught his eye.
Something was glowing at the back of the room.
Frowning, Beldon picked his way into the shadows, reaching forwards to feel his way to the light, careful not to trip and crash face first into the ground.
More books hid the source of the light from view and he quickly hauled the towers aside.
The light was emanating from under a cloth. It was a ragged old thing and Beldon grimaced as he took hold of it, sliding it away and tossing it aside.
He looked back to what he had revealed and his eyes widened.
A table stood before him and a large bell jar sat on top of it.
And under the bell jar lay a blue rose.
It was vivid, bright blue, almost like his own eyes, and it was the source of the light. It gave of a soft blue glow, brightening the darkness.
It should have been beautiful.
But the rose was crushed.
The petals were mangled and cracked. The stem was broken in two places. It was like someone had stepped on it.
Frowning, Beldon carefully removed the bell jar and picked up the rose, examining it.
Had he seen this rose before?
"Bel?"
Beldon launched a foot in the air, dropping the rose.
A hand reached past him, catching the rose before it could hit the ground and he looked back to see Luka stood behind him.
"My goodness you scared me, I didn't think you were home until this evening," Beldon said, putting a hand to his heart.
"The meeting concluded much faster than anticipated," Luka said, looking down at the rose, his long, slender fingers carefully smoothing the crumpled petals out.
"Did I damage it?" Beldon asked, leaning forwards.
Luka was quiet for a moment, then smiled slightly. "Not this time."
"This time?" Beldon copied, raising an eyebrow at him. "Meaning?"
"Well... you did stand on it."
"What? When?"
"The night you ran away after that fight up here. Do you remember there was a rose?"
Beldon stared at him for a moment, then his eyes widened. "That's the same rose? How? That was months ago."
"Yes, well, they have long lifespans."
"Not that long."
"This one does." Luka slid past him, setting the rose back on the table and picking up the bell jar, carefully putting it over the rose and throwing the sheet back over it.
"Why are you keeping it when it's so damaged? There are other blue roses out in the gardens."
"Yes but have you seen any that glow?"
"No."
"Exactly, that one is special. I can no longer do as I wished to do with it, but it still holds sentimental meaning to me so I keep it."
"Why? Did it belong to someone?" Beldon asked as Luka turned him around and they made their way out of the room, stepping out into the main room.
"No, it should have belonged to someone though," Luka said as they sat down on the sofas.
"Who?"
Luka smiled slightly as he looked back at the room.
Beldon raised an eyebrow at him. "Someone from your past?"
Luka looked back at him. "Did you know that rose was part of the reason I was cursed?"
Both of Beldon's eyebrows rose and he shook his head. "I thought you were cursed for rejecting the daughter of The North Wind."
"I was." He looked back into the dark room again. "And it was partly the fault of that rose."
~~~~
"Honestly, Sire, you shouldn't spent so much time doing the gardeners' job," Sebastian said, looking down at the second prince who was on his hands and knees in the dirt of the rose garden, examining one of the rose bushes that spouted glorious yellow flowers.
"They have enough to be getting on with," the prince said as he sat back on his heels. He pulled off his gardening gloves and pushed his short silvery-blonde hair back from his eyes, letting out a breath and wiping smudges of mud from his face.
"As do you, Sire, your coronation for example, and your sister wedding."
Luka was quiet for a moment, then took a slow breath, standing up. "My brother will return, he wouldn't just abandon me."
"Luka, Prince Braydon is—"
"He'll come back," Luka cut in, "As for Briar... well we'll see about that wedding."
"She insists on marrying him, Sire."
"And I said I shall see." Luka set his gloves aside and turned, walking away, the staff bowing to him as he passed, making his way back around the mote of the castle, up over the bridge and through the grand front doors, into the entrance hall.
"You have several more meetings today, as well as a dinner. Lady Genevieve is here, as is Lady Lucinda."
Luka sighed, running a hand through his hair.
"I'll see Genevieve but I have no time for Lucinda."
"Sire, she was Prince Braydon's fiancée, she must take precedence over Lady Genevieve."
"She is Braydon's fiancée – it is not past tense until we find him dead – however I have nothing to say to her. I do not know where Braydon is. I cannot offer her anything Braydon did. Lady Genevieve on the other hand is a childhood friend; I can make time for a childhood friend."
"Sire," Sebastian hissed as they made their way up to his office. "You cannot give one priority over another."
"And yet I will. Where is Briar by the way?"
"She left for the Play Castle this morning; she didn't plan to return until tomorrow unless you called for her. Her fiancé is visiting her there."
"So long as everyone follows me rules; they cannot spend even a minute alone together and he is not welcome to stay as a guest."
"The castle servants were all reminded and prepped yesterday night, she will not be left alone."
Luka took hold of his office doors and threw them open, stopping at the sight that greeted him.
Across the room, set in front of the balcony doors so it caught all the sunlight that streamed in, was a table. A vase sat on the table and a blue rose stood in the vase, glittering in the light like water drops or diamonds were stitched in the petals.
It was the woman who stood by the table that made him stop however.
Lady Mariana stood in the sunlight, looking down at the rose, her near-ethereal beauty haloed by the light. Her golden hair poured down her back, loose in glorious waves and her eyes of sea-blue shone.
She looked around at him as he entered and smiled.
Luka sighed then held up a hand to Sebastian and the valet bowed before walking out, closing the doors behind him.
"You craft such beautiful roses, Luka, but this is by far your greatest success," Mariana said, her voice carrying across the room like wind chimes.
"What are you doing here, Mariana," Luka said, coming forwards, his eyes flicking to the rose.
"I heard you had created a new rose, I wished to see it."
"Well you have seen it."
"Now, Luka, I understand you are going through a very stressful time at the moment, but you always have time for me."
"No, I don't, My Lady, I have time for very few people at the moment."
"You have time for your roses."
"My roses are my way of releasing the stress of the day, thus I do not like them touched without my permission, even the ones in vases."
"You have time for Lord Alexander."
"Alec is different."
"Why is it he is so special?"
"Do you really need to ask?" Luka asked, dropping into his seat behind his desk.
Mariana swept over and leant against the desk, looking down at him as he collected sheets of paper for the meetings later that day.
"Luka, my dear, when was the last time you slept?" she asked gently, running a hand through his hair.
He drew away without looking. "Last night."
"Really? That isn't what I heard."
"One should not believe everything they hear."
"Like not believing you right now?"
"Must you be here, Mariana, I have so much to do."
"My darling, I am worried about you."
"I do not want you to worry about me, I have Alec for that."
"Oh yes, you have Alec, and Victoria, and Edward and a whole host of people you can pick and choose from at your discretion and that frivolity will came back and slap you one day."
"Are you here for a reason or do you just wish to criticise my lifestyle."
"I came for the rose."
That forced Luka to turn to look at her. "Excuse me?" he said, his eyes turning to thunder in a second and she looked over to the vase.
"I wish to own your finest creation," she said simply, "It is your pride and joy, I am sure, but I will have it. I deserve a priceless gift from the man I love."
"You can't," Luka cried, jumping to his feet as she pushed away from the desk and walking to the table. "That rose does not belong to you!"
"Which is why I am asking you to give it to me," Mariana said, gently taking hold of the stem and lifting it from its vase.
Luka's hand shot past her in a second and he wrenched the delicate flower from her fingers, making her wince as the thorns caught her skin and she looked at him, a glare forming, darkening her bright eyes.
"It is not mine to give to anyone," Luka snarled, backing away from her, clutching the rose to his chest.
"How dare you, I will not be denied anything," Mariana snarled.
"I deny you this!" Luka snarled back, "I will not give this rose to you!"
"Why not? Who's is it? I will take it from them, they cannot deny me!"
"It belongs to the person I love."
That stopped Mariana in her tracks and she stared at the prince for a long, long moment, before a shriek of laughter escaped her, a hand flying to her mouth to stop herself.
"Love?" she cried, "Who could you possibly love? Alec?"
"No, not Alec."
"Who then? Edward? James? Do not tell me it is a lady, I will not lose to another lady! I will not even accept defeat to a man."
"They do not have a name."
"What nonsense, who are they? I will not have secrets hidden from me! Tell me! Now!"
"I can't, I do not know who they are. I merely know that there will be someone... eventually, I am sure of it."
"Ridiculous," Mariana said, folding her arms, "you do not believe in love. You have such little value for the emotion, who would ever love you even if you did come to like someone?"
"You claim to love me."
"I am not like mortal man, I am of the gods. I see the world in ways you cannot. My love is not like that of your people."
"Your love being a possessiveness of objects."
"I am the only person who would love you and your bitter belief in romance," Mariana pointed out, "What do you think tainted young Grey's view of the world, if not your jaded eyes? That rose will never belong to anyone so give it to me; it is something that is too beautiful for anyone but those of the gods."
"I intend for it to belong to someone one day."
"And how will you make that happen when you do not understand love?"
"I shall simply have to learn, should the right person come along."
"Such a person does not exist in your lifetime, Luka."
Luka narrowed his eyes at her, before pushing past her and picking up the vase, carrying it to his desk and setting it down; carefully placing the rose back inside and sitting down.
"Perhaps you are right," he said, looking at her, "perhaps love is not for me. It leads to such awful emotions and tedious situations. I never wish to feel the heartbreak my father felt when my mother vanished. I resent the feeling of pain I suffer from the disappearances of my brothers. I would not wish to feel such emotions for more people, I do not want to be willing to die for someone – I am loath to believe there is someone so important out there for me – so you are correct, I do not know if I shall ever fall in love. But nonetheless, this rose has been created with one purpose in mind, to be given to whoever I come to love, so you may not have it."
Mariana's delicate fingers curled into fists and she looked at the rose.
"I fear you'll come to regret those words one day, Luka," she said, walking forwards and leaning down, gently planting a kiss on his forehead. "You'd do well to change your mind."
"You'd do well to give up," Luka replied and Mariana smiled, stepping back.
"Until next time, my prince of roses," she said with a dismissive wave over the shoulder, "I look forward to making you mine."
"Until next time, my goddess," Luka replied, bowing his head, "I shall yet again resist."
The doors closed behind her and he looked at rose that glittered in the sunlight. He let out a sigh and turned in his seat to look out of the window. Out across the great expanse before him, overlooking untouched green lands.
Part of him knew the Lady Mariana was correct in her prediction that he wouldn't know love in his lifetime – the idea of it set his skin to crawl. The pressure of love was too great; he couldn't understand the benefits when heartbreak lay at the end of it...
But...
He looked at the rose again then reached over and picked it up, tilting his head back and slowly twirling it between his fingers, watching the glow shimmer in the light.
"Even if I'm long dead and gone, one day someone's going to come along for you," he said softly, smiling slightly, "be patient, you'll be adored when you're finally found."
~~~~
"Of course, then you happened to stand on it and it was damaged but you were the one who was supposed to eventually own that rose," Luka said, pushing his long hair from his face and draping his arms over the back of the sofa, looking across at Beldon who stared at him.
Beldon opened his mouth, paused, closed it, opened it again, frowned. "To be fair... you did scare me that night and I wasn't looking, I didn't mean to crush it," Beldon said and Luka laughed.
"No, you're right, that night was... well, we needn't bring it up."
"But Lady Mariana, you rejected her then and there so why the curse?"
"Oh, I rejected her every time we met," Luka said, waving it off, "that was normal but our dynamics shifted soon after. Not long after that conversation Briar disappeared. That... changed me. I suppose I became more like the person you knew when you first came here. I lost my tolerance for everyone. I no longer cared for her games of love and possession, as I told her one day. She didn't take kindly to that and... well you know the rest."
Luka's eyes flicked down, looking at the tips of his boots as his eyes grew distant, drawing back to the past.
"I'm sorry."
The words startled him, making him look up and Beldon smiled.
"For what?" Luka asked, confused.
"For standing on the rose, after you had cared for it for so long."
"Oh," Luka said, looking towards the room the rose was stored away in. He was quiet for a moment, then drew in a slow breath before a smile formed. "It's alright," he finally said, looking back at Beldon, "That rose actually became something of a torment to me over the years. The thing I claimed I would give to the person I loved mocked me for over a century because there was no one to give it to. Honestly when you stood on it, it came as something of a relief, I thought it was an omen, a sign that I should just give into my fate and stop clinging onto a meaningless, empty life, dragging my servants down with me."
He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to the opposite sofa, dropping down beside Beldon and laying an arm over the back of the seat, crossing his legs and looking at him, his hand coming up to brush Beldon's hair from his bright blue eyes.
"And yet here you are," he muttered, "Somehow just a single rose doesn't seem good enough for you."
Beldon looked over their shoulders, back towards the room then smiled before leaning forwards, catching Luka's jaw and pulling him forwards into a soft kiss.
"Thank you for creating a rose just for me... even if I did kill it," he said gently, before grinning and standing up just as Sebastian knocked on the main doors and walked in, ready to drag Luka away to work.
"I'll see you at dinner?" Luka asked as he stood up.
"Of course," Beldon said, rolling up his sleeves, "Where else would I be?"
Luka smiled at that, watching Beldon march away, vanishing back into the room they had left, coming back a moment later, hauling books out with him. He was off again. He was going to clean up that entire room. All he'd come up for was a book, now there was a good chance he'd be late for dinner.
Luka made to note to come collect him before seven before he followed Sebastian out.
That blue rose eventually turned up in Beldon's bedroom, sat damaged but still glowing in a vase on Beldon's side of the bed. Neither of them motioned it when it appeared but in a castle filled to the brim with roses, Beldon certainly paid that one more care than any other.
Luka did consider creating another one. He knew how to, it had been many, many years certainly, but he still knew how to do it. However, knowing Beldon as he did, he knew that Beldon wouldn't want a nice, new shiny one that didn't bare any flaws or scars, built solely for it beauty.
He was perfectly happy with his beat up, old rose that had waited over a hundred years for him.
~~~~~~~~~~~
So this is a new thing I'm trying for the New Year - these shorts. If they're not popular or people don't care about them, I won't bother but I thought it might be nice for you guys to see characters again because they obviously won't get as much page time outside of their title novels.
With all that's been happening The Frog Prince at the moment (some of you will know what I'm talking about) I realised I really needed to give my heart/emotions a break - I know I choose to write these plotlines but it can get really tough sometimes and some things are unbelievably draining for me to write - it's very rare that my stories control my emotions to the point that I struggle with them but it does happen lol - I hope you understand~
I figured I needed to write something that didn't do my heart in. Thus, here we are.
I hope you like seeing these two again. Let me know if you want more of these types of stories - who you'd like to see - what they will be about and I will try to accommodate.
There's no set schedule to these stories, they will come out as and when I write them.
I won't write any shorts for The Frog Prince until that novel is finished but that should be very soon.
Anyway, until next time:
Thanks for reading
vote, comment, share, enjoy
See you later~