Married to the Beast

SETTLING IN

Rose

  I was led down the hall for what felt like an eternity to a smaller room on the opposite end of the king’s bedroom. It was smaller than the king’s room but still nonetheless beautiful. As soon as the large doors closed behind me I slumped to the floor crying, my body racking with sobs. I cried until I was out of breath and my lungs ached and my heart felt like it was going to explode. The more I looked at the foreign room in front of the more I cried over and over again. 

   When there were no more tears left and my head was pounding I laid down on the cool floor and curled up into a ball my body shaking. I was so tired I didn’t know when I drifted off to sleep but when I rolled over I felt softness beneath me and I jumped up looking around only to realize I was in bed. I know for a fact that I didn’t get into the bed last night so who had put me in bed and tucked me in?

After panicking for a few more seconds I didn’t care. I went back to sleep hoping I didn’t wake up or that I would somehow drift off into sleep and reach back home. 

 There was a loud knock on the door waking me from my sleep and it took me awhile to remember my surroundings and how I'd gotten here. I had to admit the bed was incredibly soft, the softest I'd ever been in. How long had I been sleeping for? The knocking continued not helping with my pounding headache and I got up to open the door. There stood a chubby maid who looked very motherly.

“Good morning my lady, I’m assigned as your maid and it’s time for you to wake and get ready” she said chirpily.

I stared at her groggily and I must be a sight to see with dark circles and hair tangled everywhere. I didn’t feel like going anywhere and I just wanted to sleep the rest of my life away. 

“ Going where? Plus I don’t have any more clothes” I barely whispered.

The woman laughed and replied.

“ To breakfast with the King and his family and we have tons of new dresses for you here”

This was too much and a lot to take in. I barely had seven dresses at home and I didn't know what to expect from a royal family or what they expected from me. I groaned in frustration and padded after her dreading this breakfast. She showed me a large pile of dresses sitting on a table outside and my mouth was hanging open. That's way too many dresses for one person to wear.

“ Close your mouth my lady you just woke up and there’s flies about. I will ready the bath and you pick a dress. Then I will all have the rest hanging in your closet by the time you get back from breakfast along with other garments”

I was stunned. 

“Sure” I managed a smile and sat on the bed while she prepared the bath.  She was incredibly nice and I made an effort despite my situation and how I was feeling to be nice to her. The warm water was very soothing and I relished it. I felt anxious; I wasn't used to large gatherings and these were royals. These were the people everyone spoke about and wanted to be who ruled the kindgom. I wanted to choose a black dress to depict how depressed I was but Miss Clare wouldn’t have it so I went with a simple baby blue dress and placed my hair in a tight braid at the back. Combined with the dress it made me look like five years old but I didn’t care. My eyes were still slightly puffy and dark underneath.

As I headed down the hall I remembered my balcony meeting with the King and my eyes filled with tears again and I almost doubled back to my room. But then I remembered father and his worried eyes looking out from the doorway of our home when I had left and I put on a brave face and decided I was going to be a good actress and at least play my part. I could at least do this right?

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Kadmus

Kadmus was very annoyed by everything lately and that wasn’t a good thing for a man holding in his beast. He really wished there was some other way out of this mess but the only way seemed to be death and destruction. 

It wouldn’t have been so bad being married to Rose except he liked the life he was living now and being a bachelor had its perks. He didn’t want to be married, marriage wasn’t for him nor a wife.

He liked freedom and also didn’t want a goody two shoes farm girl interfering. He would have to extend himself and he didn’t want that or her. 

Yes the visions were erotic and blissful but those were just snippets. Life could end up being total hell and he just didn’t want to feel anything. He was okay with not feeling anything. She would submit like everything else beneath him and he would put her in a corner until he needed to make use of her. 

He started to realize there was something very irritating about her. He didn’t know if it was the way she expressed all her emotions but he would just have to stomach her until she gave him three children at least. 

He was so deep in thoughts that he didn’t realize he was heading down the halls to her room and not the library. He was almost there and his advanced hearing could hear the sobs from beyond the door. He started to feel a bit guilty because he was mostly well probably entirely the cause of her distress and then he shook it off. It didn’t matter he would always be the monster in the story so why should he act any different. 

The crying stopped and he remembered her looking out the window from his bedroom as if she was considering jumping. He could hear her heartbeat slow down and her breathing slowed down as well and he figured she had fallen asleep. 

Pushing open the doors quietly there she was curled in a ball on the cold floor. She really was beautiful. She looked so peaceful and fragile. In one swoop he gently picked her up and brought her to the bed. She was warm and soft and fit in his arms perfectly. Still deep in sleep she nuzzled into his chest enjoying his warmth and sighed. 

He gently placed her in bed and pulled the sheets up around her, her face looked angelic. There was a sudden sadness in him. If he reached out his fingers he could touch her. It was hard looking at something you could never truly have and he couldn’t give her what she needed. That’s why after this deal was done and she played her part he would let her go.