Beldon found Iago before Vanessa later that day. On his way back to his rooms to confront Vanessa about The Beast's knowledge of the book, he found Iago making the same trip.
He grabbed the servant's shoulder and spun Iago to face him, backing him up against a wall and shoving the book in his face.
"How do you know about this?" he demanded, his eyes almost black with rage and worry.
Iago's body language was as calm as ever as he looked at the book. "Are you not happy with your gift, Sir?" he asked.
"I'm delighted with it, what I asked you is why you know about it and why The Beast knows about it?" Beldon snapped. "Did Vanessa tell you? Is that how you know? Did she tell you about our conversation?"
"The conversation you and Vanessa shared on the balcony was a private one; she would never share such information with anyone, even The Master."
"Then why do you know?" Beldon cried, "Were you listening?"
"I overheard, I apologise."
Beldon's face went white. He let go of the valet and took several steps back until he hit the opposite wall. "How much did you hear?" he muttered.
"Most of the conversation," Iago admitted, smoothing out his clothing.
"Most?" Beldon whispered, slowly sinking to the ground. "You mean..."
"I heard what you would have kept secret," Iago admitted and Beldon tilted his head back, banging it back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling. Iago opened his mouth then stopped and looked down the corridor. Beldon sensed his shift from calm to irritation and looked around.
Sebastian stood at the end of the hall, looking between them, his eyes narrow and suspicious.
"Excuse us," Iago snapped before walking to Beldon, taking his arm and pulling him to his feet, not giving him time to protest before he pulled him away, heading back to Beldon's rooms, leaving Sebastian behind.
Once they were back in Beldon's rooms and Iago closed the doors behind them, he turned to Beldon just as Vanessa came out of a side room and saw Beldon's face.
"What happened?" she asked quickly, looking between them.
"He knows," Beldon muttered, walking passed, heading out to the balcony and dropping into his seat. "He overheard our conversation and told The Beast."
"What?" Vanessa cried and whirled on Iago.
Iago quickly held up his hands to fend off her fury and followed out after Beldon. Bringing a chair out with him, he set it opposite Beldon and sat down.
The bright reflective sunlight bounced around them, making Iago wince, shielding his eyes as he looked over the forest and Beldon glanced at him and blinked.
For a split second, no longer then a blink, it was as is the sunlight penetrated a few layers of darkness. It didn't rid it completely, it was like looking through liquid smoke, but Beldon saw the details of a man there. Dark skin and black hair with sharp eyes, his uniform a tailored coat from another land over trousers.
And then it was all black again, the only light being the light in his eyes as he looked at Beldon.
"I did not tell The Master about anything other than the book," Iago said, shifting to the edge of his seat and leaning forwards, his eyes locked on Beldon's.
Beldon looked away and Iago touched his knee to make him look again.
"I promise, Sir," he said gently, "Yes, I overheard it, I know what you have kept secret and what has troubled you for the last few days, but upon my honour, I have not told The Master this secret and I never shall. You have my word on that. I told him of the books because I thought they might bring comfort, after being away from home for so long. I will never tell anyone of your secret unless you order me to do otherwise. I would not betray your trust to anyone, Sir."
"And what of your Master?" Beldon asked.
"The Master would never ask me to betray your trust, Sir," Iago replied, his tone firm.
Beldon looked at him, then dropped back in his seat, looking at the sky, his arms unconsciously hugging the storybook tight against his chest.
"I'll ask you the same question I asked Vanessa then," Beldon said, not looking at him, "Does my... secret disgust you?"
"Never, Sir," Iago said instantly, "Nothing about you can or will ever disgust me. I am only sorry you feelings will not be returned."
Beldon gave a weak smile, watching a cloud drift into his peripheral vision - another storm was on its way. "Rosalia, my sister, appeared in the mirror again. The Beast hasn't said so yet, but Beauty is her. I wonder how I should convince her to come here. Explain that a candidate for her 'soul mate' can be found here? Oh maybe, that might work actually."
"Sir," Iago said, cutting him off. Beldon looked at him. "Don't think about it for now. It's not for you to worry about until The Master announces that he believes it to be Miss Rosalia."
Beldon looked back at the sky again. "I suppose," he muttered.
"Beldon," Iago said, the use of his name getting his attention. "Do not torment yourself before it is time to," he said firmly. "It will not do you any good."
~~~~
That night at dinner, Beldon arrived before The Beast so he took his usual place and set the storybook on the table, opened it and flicked through the stories until he came to The Missing Prince.
He looked through the illustrations, paintings of The Prince and The King together, The Prince leaving on his journey, the meeting of the different seasons and the stages of his transformation, first his hair turned white, then his lips turned blue, then his eyes iced over and finally his heart froze and the chill spread out over his body and he froze.
He looked at the individual paintings of the seasons. They actually did resemble the four siblings. So, perhaps whoever had illustrated at least this version had known of the appearance of the siblings.
"It's a beautiful book," The Beast said right by his ear and Beldon shot a foot in the air and almost straight out of his seat, his heart beating wild in his chest. He hadn't heard the door open or The Beast approach.
The Beast straightened as Beldon looked up at him.
"What?" Beldon said, a hand to his chest.
"The book, it's a beautiful collection," The Beast repeated, walking to his chair.
"Oh, yes, it is," Beldon said, turning to watch him. The Beast took his seat and Beldon looked at the book again, before holding it out. "Would you like to look through it?" he offered.
The Beast looked at him, then, instead of just taking the book, he moved his chair so he sat directly to Beldon's right and then took the book, setting it on the table and opening it to the first page.
And then they sat in silence, but unlike the silences that had been presence before they had started to talk with ease, this was a comfortable silence, no pressure or weight in it as Beldon started to eat and The Beast worked his way through the fairytales - like The Swan Girl, The Liar's Noose, Sheep's Clothing and The Quest for The Fickle Heart.
When Beldon was finished, The Beast was looking through the story about The Letter Lady - he had skipped the story of The Missing Prince - so Beldon sat back in his seat with his wine and just looked at The Beast.
Of all the people to fall in love with, he fell for Raoul - a man who was born to love a woman - and a beast - a man whose entire future depended on him loving a woman.
He closed his eyes.
If he ever got home, maybe he would just marry whichever woman Antoinette chose for him and be done with it.
If he were married to a woman, he would not stray to a man, whatever his feelings.
But then how could he do that to a woman? How could suffer her a loveless marriage when his family believed in love?
He sighed.
Maybe he would just announce his life as a conformed bachelor. His uncle had done it and no one had made much comment, perhaps he could do it as well. With two brothers and three sisters, there were enough to marry for business as well as love.
Maybe he could do that.
Just give up on love...
Beldon's eyes opened and he looked around in confusion. Moonlight streamed down on him and he was lying on his back.
He blinked, then pushed himself up, looking around. He was in his room, in bed.
"Vanessa?" he called, his voice rough.
Vanessa came out of the dressing room with a shirt in her hands and smiled. "You can go back to sleep, dear," she said.
"What happened? When did I come to bed?" he asked.
"Oh you fell asleep at dinner," Vanessa said, walking back into the dressing room and appearing a moment later, the shirt gone. "The Master brought you back here and put you in bed. You barely even stirred other than to say goodnight. You're clearly exhausted, why don't you get a long sleep?"
Beldon frowned at her. The Beast had brought him back. He didn't even remember dozing off. He looked around and found the storybook on the bedside table. Reaching forwards, he ran his fingers down the old leather cover - the image of a prince with a sword and princess with a cat stood back-to-back pressed into the material - then he lay down on his side, his fingers hovering on the book for a moment, before he pulled the covers up over his shoulder and curled up to sleep again, turning onto his other side, just out of a patch of moonlight.
~~~~
thanks for reading guys! help share this is you don't mind
Next up on Wednesday
(and i MEAN wednesday because i do know the days of the week,)