On the following day, the Prince arrived once more at the poor cottage after the woman refused to show up. He walked through the yard, eyes catching on a beautiful garden with roses adorning healthy bushes. A scowl moved onto his mouth when he realized that the beautiful woman he saw just the day before hadn't even had the decency to wait for him outside the disgusting abode.
He grimaced as he knocked on the door. No one answered for a long minute, and becoming impatient, the Prince shoved the door to the cottage open. Inside the woman stared at him with wide eyes from the kitchen. "Come. Now," the Prince ground out between clenched teeth.
"Please... I have to take care of my brother," she exclaimed once more, begging the Prince. "Another day, please!"
"I will not be waiting another day you wench! Gather your things, whatever it is that you need, and get to my castle!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Anger burned inside him at her refusal to listen to his command of gathering her things. So, he turned away after waving her to get moving, and crossed his arms.
After waiting an excruciating ten minutes, he turned once more to the empty room. He strode towards the back of the cottage that was rotting around him. He kicked open a door to the inside of a room he couldn't help to be drawn to.
It was the only truly lit room in the entire house. Inside was a small candle with a pathetic flame waving back and forth. It was a bedroom.
The woman who had been so keen on marrying was laying on the bed with blank, empty eyes. Blood stained the fabric she laid on top of. A single dagger stuck out of her chest, piercing her through the heart. Her head was turned to the side, eyes staring right at him, or rather... right through him.
In a sudden fit of rage, the Prince grabbed the candle. He threw it to the ground and watched as the wooden floor caught alight. He turned around, leaving the house without another look back. He left, leaving the fiery house for whoever noticed it first. Unknowingly, he killed the sick, sleeping boy within.
Two weeks passed, and the Prince's twentieth birthday arrived. On that night, he was unable to rest, his mind too active and his eyes staring up at the ceiling. He rose from his bed to stalk the halls of his castle.
A crisp knock sounded at the two large front doors as he walked by. He paused in his step, wondering if he was only just imagining the sound. Except, it was quickly followed by two more clear knocks that even garnered one of his servant's attention.
The Prince strode forward, his long legs taking him to where one of her servants stood. With a wave of his hand, he dismissed the man before he could touch the door. The servant bowed lowly to the Prince before disappearing back into the shadowed hallways of the castle once more.
With a harsh jerk, the Prince tugged open the door. His fingers tightened their hold on the handle when he noticed who stood outside.
The same beautiful girl who had killed herself two weeks prior was standing before him. Her form was transparent. Long, beautiful hair tumbled in waves around her, moving by an unknown force, as there was no wind.
"Dear Prince, you destroyed not only my life, but my brother's and mother's as well. Until you learn the meaning of love and of sacrifice, you shall be cursed. Henceforth, you shall be confined to these castle grounds you flaunt so easily. If you dare to leave, you will begin to die. With every breath you will suffer, as my brother did, by choking on invisible tendrils of smoke," the woman explained, voice cold and empty.
"Ha! You think you have best me, you phantom? I can still marry and be King of this wretched kingdom! I am the Prince, after all," the man explained. Instead of fear, he shoved the threat back at the woman with a wide smirk.
Her mouth morphed into a thin line and she only nodded her head. "Yes... except you will not age nor be able to bear children," the woman continued, weaving the spell as she went. "Until you find a woman who loves you and you can say the same, you will be immortal, and forever lonely." She turned away to stare at the barren yard and barren iron gate.
Her form floated above the ground, light shimmering off her form brighter and brighter. A single vine began to climb the gate. It was joined with many more following quickly through the iron.
Thorn dangerously gleamed in the dull light of the stars. The wind blew, uncovering the blue-tinged moon in the sky.
At that moment, roses bloomed on the gate, one after another.
"Ah, the only one who will be able to open or touch this gate from the outside will be beautiful... yet dangerous. She will teach you more than you can ever hope to learn from your books, dear Prince. The girl will teach, but she shall die because of you," the ghost explained with a slow smile.
"She will... die?" the Prince asked, eyes slowly widening.
For some reason, the woman who the ghost spoke of, he was lost in thought of her. Despite his harshness, his stone heart and his cold exterior, he felt fear and guilt for whoever touched the gate.
"Yes. You will know, as these roses, and the chance to break this curse will die. You, your loyal servants, should they choose to stay, and whoever else walks these grounds will not age. You will be left loveless and exiled from the world," the woman finished.
He stared at the roses, out on the cold, snowy staircase. The woman had long since disappeared by the time he turned back to where she had once stood. "She will die... unless she never comes and touches the damn gate," he whispered aloud to the night.
With a harsh twist, he disappeared inside the castle once more.
The Prince, from there, told his servants to vacate if they did not truly wish to serve him for eternity. None left.
From that day on the Prince proclaimed he would become a beast, if only to save the woman he was bound to kill because of a curse.
Annelie stared at the pages of the book in her lap. Her eyes were unable to leave them. There was more... more about the man who was known as the Prince. It seemed as if from there on out the Prince wrote in the first person, and had written in it for a long, long time. Except, the points in time in which he wrote seemed to be stretched out in the book. It was almost as if years had gone by before he would touch it once more to add in another entry.
She swallowed and set the book down on the bed, right beside her.
Her mind churned with unwanted thoughts, and she closed her eyes tightly. The Prince, the gate covered in roses, and the undeniable fact that something about the castle was amiss. It all began to make sense to her.
A sudden need to continue reading hit her, startling her mind into action once more. She grabbed the book and flipped to the page she had left off. Slowly, she laid down on the bed, getting comfortable there. The book was held carefully in her hand as she continued to read where a new page started.
The curse that the woman spoke of, it is true. I have not aged in the past five years and have been left unchanged. My servants, all are frozen as if time has stopped around us all. If this is my punishment, why does it have to affect them as well?
They do no deserve to be stuck as they are. Yet, they tell me that they cannot imagine life without the castle walls around them.
Perhaps they are idiots, every single one of them... At least I have their worried looks to fill my days, rather than just an empty room, an empty castle.
Last year, the town has stopped trying to get in contact with me. They have finally realized that I will not be involved in my own kingdom any longer, even as they suffer.
I know they do not understand why I have forsaken them so, but it is a necessary precaution if I am to save the girl I am supposed to love.
Love?
What is that word?
I have never known in my life to carry such emotion. It has always been lust, never love. How strange, this curse. Yet, if I keep to my plan on keeping the girl safe, then I shall never know what true love feels like.
It is a small price to know that she will live and that one day, if I am strong enough, I may be able to break this curse.
More time seemed to pass between his writing. Slowly, she knew exactly what was going on and why the Beast she had come to know had been so cruel.
Entry after entry, she read on. There were little things that worried the Beast as he came to be consumed by his own loneliness and anger. The Beast, the part of the Prince in which he created to just scare off those around him, became a part of him. At once, he was the Beast and the Beast was the Prince. No longer could he distinguish which was which, and it scared him at times to find that he was liking being the monster.
As Annelie read on, the life of the man she had judged so harshly became clear. Yet, before she could finish up to the latest entry, the door was pushed open in a harsh manner.
She jerked the book closed and pressed it to her chest. Her heart trembled as she saw the large form of the dark-haired man who she knew as well as he knew himself. He was angry. No... he wasn't just angry, he was raging.
He stormed across the room, grabbing onto her arm with a single hand. Somehow she was lifted off of the bed, her legs hitting the edge of it as he grabbed the book with his other hand. "You dare to take my things! Have I not welcomed you enough? How dare you, you thief!" he shouted at her. He threw the book across to the wall, and it hit was a harsh thud.
Annelie closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth quickly. "N-no... please! I-" she was cut off as he grabbed her face with his other hand. He pulled it so that his dark eyes were on her.
"Look at me, you thief! I want to see your eyes as you make up excuses and lie to me!" His voice echoed off of the walls, making her body tremble as bruises were probably slowly forming on the wrist he held like he could break it at a moment's notice.
Annelie opened her eyes and stared into the intimidating dark void that was his gaze. She swallowed as she shook her head. "I-I didn't! I d-didn't take a-anything from you! I-I found th-thi-this book on my bed! I swear!" she exclaimed with tears rushing into her green eyes. Instead of his gaze softening and sense returning to him, he scoffed.
"Oh, so this is how you want to play you little, pampered brat? Well..." the Beast started with a sneer on his face and a flash in his eyes that frightened her far more than his words could.
He threw her onto the bed once more and chuckled as he stood at the side, staring down at her. Annelie tried to crawl away, but his hand wrapped around her ankle, keeping her in place before him. "Please! I didn't take anything!" she pleaded, shaking all over. The man before he was not the man she had grown to know. In his place was the full form of the Beast that he had become over the years.
Suddenly his body was on top of hers, holding her down so she had no way of escape. Sobs began to leave her as she was forced to look up into his eyes. "Please..." she whimpered. Yet, his eyes were so cold, and there was no amount of words she could say to make him snap out of whatever had taken him over.
Like a violent wave, his lips crashed down onto her's, demanding her surrender and taking all in once fell swoop. Annelie tore her mouth from the Beast's and turned her head away with another sob escaping her. Then, her head was jerked back to the side where he could cover his lips with hers once more, canceling whatever protests she could make.
His weight became suffocating, and she couldn't breathe. Fear pounded through her, overtaking whatever wonderful sense of pleasure he had brought her before. This time, she wanted nothing more to escape the Beast's grasp and make a run for it.