Beauty and Her Beast
Chapter 20

As the weeks passed, Anna found herself settling into a little changing schedule of entertaining Lord Beauchamp a few hours a day to read, and being left to her own devices for the rest of the time, then returning to spend time with him after dinner.

During the time she wasn’t with him, she’d begun to spend more and more time in the lavender grove, finishing the books he would only let her start in his presence.

When she tired of reading, she would walk the gardens with a basket, trimming flowers that she would arrange into bouquets for no one but herself. She even made flower wreaths to crown the heads of the marble statues placed throughout the gardens. To each statue she gave a name and spoke to it as if it were a real person, trying to fill the emptiness she felt in her heart.

Little did she know it, but her actions were observed by many eyes and her conversions with statues were heard by many ears. All of this information was given to Agnes who in turn relayed the girl’s deeds and words to Christian. Through these means, he began to have a better understanding of her true characters.

He slowly began to realize that Agnes had been right the entire time. Anna was the only one he seemed to be able to find any interest in. On Agnes’ advice he decided to watch her personally, observing her from afar.

On this day, he found her sitting once more in the lavender grove, reading aloud to a cherub statue. She was so deeply engrossed with its words that she failed to notice him move up behind her. As he watched a tear escaped her eye as she turned the page in her book.

“Yet I am weary of this restless woe,

This hubbub on the empire of the air,

That storm on storm doth still engender so,

As if the skies were never to be fair,

Forsooth the Earth, that is to ruin heir,….”

“I always did love Thurlow’s work,” a deep, but familiar voice said behind her, “I used to think I was the only one.”

Anna started, then lowered her book and began to rise from the bench where she’d been seated.

“Don’t,” Christian said, placing a hand on her shoulder, but what Anna saw was not a normal hand, it was large and covered by thick wiry hairs, nails long and unkempt. With a gasp Anna’s body stiffened in fear.

“Don’t worry,” he said softly, his hand heavy on her shoulders. “I will not harm you, but as you have already noticed by my hand, I am not a normal man.”

“Is this the reason you have hidden yourself in the shadows whenever I am in your presence?” Anna asked, still too afraid to move.

“Yes,” he breathed, his hot breath raising goose bumps on her neck.

“You may not look like a normal man,” Anna ventured softly, "but can you be kind like one?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Christian admitted, daring to step closer to her. “I would like to think I could, but I do not know if that’s possible.”

Slowly, Anna turned her head, looking up into Christian’s face.

What she saw was a monster with fur that was a tangled mess of knots protruding in all directions. His face was covered with the same grizzled fur that encircled his head, only it was shorter and finer. His mouth was a maw of overlapping teeth and fangs, which flashed yellow in the sunlight.

As she gazed up at him, Anna took a sharp breath, her face changing from fear to recognition.

“You,” she breathed, her hand going to her mouth. “You were the coachman who brought us here.”

It was not a question, merely a statement.

“Yes,” he admitted, taken aback by her lack of revulsion. “It was me. How did you know?”

“You’re eyes,” she breathed, “I’ve only ever seen that shade of blue once.”

“I was so earnest to see you,” Christian explained, “that I donned a cloak of magic to disguise myself.”

A look of confusion began to replace the shock of recognition.

“But why didn’t you just tell me?” she asked, turning more to see him better.

Christian chuckled softly, “I didn’t want to scare you.”

Anna thought for a moment and nodded.

“I think that was wise,” she agreed. “To see you then would have scared me greatly.”

Christian was amazed that Anna was acting so calmly. Most people who had seen him had fainted or screamed and run in fear, but Anna was sitting here, talking to him as if there was nothing wrong.

“Aren’t you afraid of me now?” he asked.

“No, my lord,” she said after a moments thought. “I’m not.”

“Please, Anna, call me Christian,” he said. “May I sit with you?”

Anna picked up her book and moved over on the bench to give him as much room as she could.

“Yes,” she said, “it is your garden after all.”

Christian lowered himself awkwardly to the bench.

“Why aren’t you afraid of me?” he asked looking at her.

“I have been here several months,” she clarified, “and in that time you have provided my clothes, food, everything that I ever needed or wanted. Never once, in all that time have you been cruel. I see no reason you would start now,” she ended matter-of-factly.

Unable to argue with such logic, Christian nodded.

“Will you read to me?” he asked. “I know you read to me already this morning, but I would genuinely enjoy hearing more.”

Anna smiled and began to read aloud, Christian soon losing himself in her voice. Though she was not as beautiful as he preferred, and she was more reserved than he liked, Anna did have something about her that made him want to be around her. She had a calming center that seemed to profuse the air round her.

Her simple habits and fearless way of stating the truth had an unexpected effect on him. He liked her, despite having no desire for her.

Anna’s voice carried throughout the garden, the words reaching Agnes as she sat at her study window looking down on the pair. Thanking whatever god there was in this enchanted world, she watched as a tear rolled down Christian’s furry cheek. Agnes had known since the first that Anna was the one; the one who could save them all from this horrible curse. Turning away, she picked up her quill, and dipping it in ink wrote another name on her ledger.

Since this curse had been laid on Christian, she had kept track of those among the servants who had faded away. No one knew where they went, they just seemed to disappear and never return. The list now covered two pages; among the names listed were Agnes’ son and grandson. It was only the hope that one day the curse would lift and she would see them again that had kept her going.

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