Imagine the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.
That was the library for me. It was everything I could have ever hoped for. It had probably millions of books, each of which I could dive into if I had the time.
The smells emitted from the room were wonderful. Old books were one of my favorite smells.
The furniture and architecture was gorgeous, of course, but I was so distracted by the colorful spines of each book, and how neatly each book was perfectly placed in the shelves.
"Do you like it?"
I didn't have words. This was one of my biggest dreams: surrounded by millions of books. "It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!" I exclaimed.
The beast chuckled, which actually pulled at my heartstrings. When had been the last time he really laughed, or even felt some feelings similar to joy and happiness? "I am glad you like it."
I started wandering around. It was absolutely magnificent. I ran up the stairs to get a closer look, still completely mesmerized.
"What would you like to read?" I asked him, dancing around the bookshelves in glee, picking up as many books as I could fit in my hands.
The beast looked very confused. "I... I don't even know which books are good. I was hoping you would know."
I gave a small smile. "Of course I can pick one. I was just seeing if you had an opinion."
"Of course I have an opinion. I don't want anything... too feminine. I don't want a romance novel," he frowned. He was trying to maintain his tough exterior, but I could see through him. He really didn't even know what type of books were out there.
I looked around for a bit until I found one of my favorite books. "Romeo and Juliet," I explained as I set it down in front of him at the table.
"Isn't that a romance novel?" he looked at me with one of his eyebrows up, quizzically.
"Definitely not. Shakespeare wrote it as a comedy, then it switches to a tragedy in the middle. You'll understand when you read it."
I opened the book to the first page. The beast just looked at me, as if I had grown another head.
"When you say you don't know how to read, do you mean you have no idea, or you just don't read well?"
"I have no idea."
I kind of wanted to cry. Royalty like him should have been more educated by his age. "Well, let's start from the very beginning, then. Do you have parchment and ink?"
The beast brought over some parchment for me to write on. I taught him the alphabet, and how to pronounce each letter properly.
After probably a good hour and a half of that, I decided that I would just read him a little bit of the play, that way it wasn't all boring for him.
"Wait, do you mean to say that Romeo now loves Juliet, even though he was crying over Rosaline just a few minutes ago?" the beast furrowed his brows.
"Yes, that's part of the humor, actually," I chuckled, closing the book.
The beast stared at me. "Are we done reading for today?"
I stood up to put the book away. "Well, I thought we could be done for the day. It was a very good stopping point."
The beast looked thoroughly disappointed. It broke my heart that he wanted to learn so much in so little time. I didn't know how much time was left in the curse, but there couldn't be that much left.
"We can do this again tomorrow, if you'd like?" I offered.
"I would enjoy that, thank you."
I wanted to cry. The beast said thank you. I had almost never heard him be so polite and mannered.
"Would you like to meet at the same time?" I asked.
"Whenever you would like. I will likely be in my study, so please find me whenever you would like to begin," the beast did a small bow to me, then walked out of the library, as if he knew I was going to stay here and squeal over the books.
The next morning I woke up with a wide smile on my face. Hortense seemed to notice, because it was all she could talk about.
"So, the master and you really hit it off," she said as I got dressed.
"We had an enjoyable time. He really has no idea how to read, though," I was avoiding the real answer, honestly.
Hortense continued to tease me, while the rest of the servants seemed just as happy as I was that the beast was being more human-like.
When I went later that day to his study, which I had luckily figured out how to navigate, I found that he wasn't there. It freaked me out a bit, considering the fact that he had said he would be there, but I decided to remain calm, and just head to the library. I could always try again later.
The way to the library was long, but I managed to get there very quickly. I opened the doors, excited to see the beauty from the day before.
It was incredibly beautiful, just as before. Although, this time it was perhaps slightly more special, because the beast was sitting at the table we had studied at the day before, practicing writing the alphabet, and muttering the letters to himself. He hadn't noticed me enter, so I decided to sneak up beside him, grabbing Romeo and Juliet from a side table on my way over.
"May I join you?" I asked, taking a seat next to him. He jumped a little bit, which made me giggle.
"O-of course," he stuttered.
I helped him practice his alphabet for a while, and then we carried on reading Romeo and Juliet.
We carried on like this for weeks, with him practicing basic vocabulary and pronunciation, while I read stories to him.
After what I believed to be around 2 months, the beast even began to read to me. He still struggled with vocabulary in plenty of the novels, but he was reading very well.
I really enjoyed my time reading with the beast. I hated calling him that, the beast. He was undeserving of such a cruel title. I didn't want to refer to him as "the master" as all the servants did.
"Alayna, would you care to join me for dinner tonight?" he offered one night. We hadn't eaten together since that night where I had offered to teach him to read. Considering my track record for getting into a situation while eating with him, I was wary to accept. However, I enjoyed spending time with him, so there couldn't possibly be any harm that could come out of this.
"I would enjoy that very much," I replied, giving him a small smile.
We went to dinner right after that. Luckily, the kitchen staff had prepared a meal for us to enjoy.
"Is the meal to your liking?" he asked, looking up from his own plate.
I wanted to die laughing. He had soup covering the fur on his face. He clearly was not accustomed to have soup in public. "It is delicious. Thank you for inviting me," I giggled.
"Is something wrong? Why are you laughing?" he furrowed his eyebrows.
I wasn't sure if I should tell him the truth. Sure, we were much more friendly over the last few months, with the lessons and all, but he still sort of scared me. He still had a temper, and he still was the same beast from before saving me. I just knew more about him, which changed my perspective. I was still incredibly cautious over everything I said around him.
"There is a bit of food stuck in your hair, Sir," I replied. I called him "sir", as I still had no idea how to address him.
He wiped a bit out with his napkin, but quite a bit was still stuck. I fought back the urge to laugh. "You can call me Elliot," he responded with a small smile.
"Elliot. That's a nice name," I responded. I was glad he told me to call him that, as it was a very human name, but it was kind of weird to call him that after so much time of referring to him as the beast in my mind.
"My mother's father was named Elliot. Supposedly he was a great man," the beast opened up. I was prepared to hear all about his past, but he unfortunately left me hanging. "I'm afraid I must leave you now. Thank you for joining me for dinner."
He left in a hurry, almost as if he were fleeing something. I was almost offended, but I assumed it was nothing significant. He just had something he had to attend to.
Mrs. Potts entered the room, sending the dishes to the kitchen to wash up. "Hello, dear. How was dinner tonight?"
"It was delicious, thank you," I smiled at her.
Mrs. Potts gave me a very pointed look. "You know that's not what I meant, dear."
I sighed. "It went well. I can't tell if I'm supposed to enjoy spending time with him or not. I definitely don't hate spending time with him, but I'm technically a prisoner of his."
Mrs. Potts then took her turn to sigh. "Dear, I believe you stopped being a prisoner of his a while ago. Does he really strike you as the type to keep prisoners?"
She had a very good point. He was a fairly nice guy, despite all that had happened to him. If I had been in his shoes, who would have known how I would have turned out, or how anyone would, for that matter?
"You have a fair point, Mrs. Potts. Do you need any help with the dishes tonight?" I offered, hoping it would give me something to do.
"No, dear. Thank you for all that you do," she smiled, then went off, leaving me by myself in the dining room.
I decided to take the time by myself to think. What were Elliot and I? Prisoner and master? Friend and friend?
I didn't know, but I knew which one I preferred.
I left the dining room and headed back the corridors to my bedroom. I supposed that was the first sign that I wasn't really a prisoner anymore. I had a bedroom. Very few prisoners I had ever heard of had their own bedroom.
Very few prisoners also taught their master to read. Very few prisoners also ate dinner with their master. Very few prisoners also called their master by their name.
Instead of heading straight to my bedroom, I strolled around the castle, exploring a bit more. I was down a hall that looked mildly familiar to me, when I noticed the door with the light shining through it.
I wasn't foolish enough to go in their again, but I did hear voices coming from it, which intrigued me. I pressed my ear to the door, hoping to hear something worthwhile.
"Cogsworth, I don't think we're going to make it." That voice belonged to Elliot.
"Don't be silly. I'm sure the curse will be broken in time. How long is left?" Cogsworth replied.
There was silence for a minute. "Not long. There are only two pedals left on the rose. That's maybe 2 months, at best."
Cogsworth gave a very loud sigh. "How is the curse broken, Master? If you told all of us servants how it is broken, maybe we can help break it."
I was slightly offended that Cogsworth didn't include me in suggesting I be told how to break the curse, but I brushed it off. I was possibly about to find out, anyway.
"It's impossible, Cogsworth."
I almost sighed. I wanted to know, that way maybe I could help.
"Nothing is impossible, Master. No mountain is too far, no river is too distant, no magical glade is too impossible to find."
Elliot gave a sigh. It was almost a giant sighing fest. "The problem is, Cogsworth, there is no potion to be made. There is no special concoction of magical objects that makes a counter-curse. The only way to break the curse is if a woman falls in love with me, as I fall in love with her."
There was a long bit of silence. I, too, was deeply silenced. My brain turned off. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating. I certainly wasn't breathing. Was that why I was here? I was here so that, maybe, I could fall in love with the beast and break the curse? Then what? He'd dump me on the side of the road? "Thanks for breaking the curse, please never return!"
You know that's not true, my subconscious scolded me. I sighed. I decided I had heard enough, and got up and left to my bedroom.
When I arrived, Hortense looked like she was prepared to hound me with questions. I think she saw the expression on my face, however, and decided against it.
"Are you alright, Alayna?" she tried to comfort me. Unfortunately, when you're numb no comforting helps. Nothing helps when you're numb.