Arranged To Marry The Beast

Chapter One: She must be insane

Six years and some months later

"Eat your food honey, the King of Amborwa would not like to find his bride scrawny and malnourished sweetie, eat my love." Jessica urged her daughter sweetly as she fiddled with her food.

Her words were indigent of emotional substance, which angered her daughter.

Blaire's unhappiness had persisted over the years, her discontent advanced more rapidly following the strike of puberty. She was no longer a pliant, easy to twist little girl, she was now a young adult at seventeen and very much opinionated.

Sighing in exasperation, Blaire stabbed a poached egg with her fork and slowly chewed on the savory little bit she felt she could ingest. Her eyes skimming over the food repeatedly, she reached her breaking point.

"Stop it mom, just stop it! I am tired of this, of this insanity!" As Jessica pinned a reproving stare on her, she continued to hurl the words which were so deeply insulting to him, The Feared One. "I am tired of hearing the same thing everyday, there is no King of Amborwa, no one has came for me, I have not seen him, he does not even have a name… the Son of The Moon was made up, he is just a legend and he does not exist, mom!"

"First of all, do not raise your voice at me, where are your manners?" Jessica scolded, narrowing her eyes and Blaire's glower naturally switched to a more reverent stare at her mother's harsh tone.

"Are you calling your mother insane? That better be the last time you say such things, do you want to anger The Son of The Moon, do you? Do you wish to doom us all? The King of Amborwa will come for you when he feels the time is right, just because you haven't seen him, does not mean he does not exist. He is real Blaire, you better start showing more respect for your future husband."

Jessica herself did wonder why The Feared One had not came for Blaire yet, she thought he would take her away when she was sixteen. She knew the Beast had not changed his mind, she heard him moving about in Blaire's room in the depth of the night, as he always did and she never would disturb his little routine.

She was undoubtedly certain that if not at sixteen, the great one will come for her daughter when she is eighteen years old. Soon she will leave her, Blaire's eighteenth birthday was five days away.

"The King of Amborwa is very rich and generous, he will take very good care of you as his Queen, you are not going to lack anything, sweetie. Aren't you excited Blaire? You're going to be a Queen!"  An eccentric Jessica asked her daughter, whose expressions remained dull and annoyed.

"I know you are getting impatient, I also thought he would have taken you to his palace by now, but he must know that you're not ready and is giving you time to prepare yourself for your new life."

'Impatient?'

'She must be insane. She really has lost her mind.' Blaire thought to herself as her mother dished out the staunch reprimanding words, as she welcomed the notion of her daughter marrying a Beast enthusiastically. 

Blaire thought that her being promised to a Beast praised to be the most dangerous creature to ever exist since birth was normal, until a year ago, she garnered the courage to ask the girl from her grade  she had befriended when her arranged marriage will take place and the girl stared at her like she was tipping over to the insane side.

Over the years, she had learnt that she was the only unfortunate one who had been given to a King the second she was born, a mythical king for that matter. When she reached seventeen years, Blaire became certain that Lucas was right all those years ago when he told her that the one she was promised to was just a tale of fiction. Once she had made that conclusion, it was difficult for her to endure her mother's aberrated speech.

She even found herself disliking the woman who raised her under the influence of her madness, more and more each day.

That dislike, eroded her complaisant nature and she began to ask the questions she had lacked the bravery to ask when she was younger.

"I do not have a future husband, mother, I never agreed to marry anyone, I won't accept this." Blaire's tone was more calm than before, yet she laid her words with a firmness Jessica did not want to have to become accustomed to.

Jessica did not know where she went wrong, but she had failed in making her daughter love The Feared One.

Fear was gradually clambering over her mind, she was worried that if Blaire continued on this route, that would led to her rejecting the Beast-

Then all would be lost, all would be doomed.

"Baby, let me tell you a little story, so you understand." Jessica weaved her fingers together and stared her daughter dead in the eyes. "A long time ago I made a mistake, a mistake I could not correct, a mistake that costed me everything. Only you can rectify that mistake, you are the one The Son of The Moon wants as his Queen and for you, he'll do anything. Before you were even born, I had to make some very difficult decisions.. we don't all get to choose our destinies and you my dear, are destined to be the Queen of Amborwa, if not, I would not be here, nothing would be here."

Her mother had a tendency of designing lies to inspire fear in her so she would be obedient, she had learnt not to fall for her manipulation, but the look in her mother's eyes as she uttered the brief narration was genuine enough to awake dissonance.

"So I have to suffer because of something you did?" It was utterly unfair, she was so young yet she lived like a prisoner.

Other girls her age had the luxury of a curfew that extends to at least ten o'clock, other girls had phones and the privileges of fast-paced communication and entertainment, other girls could date and have boyfriends, they could accept party invitations without much stress- while she was restrained by her mother's strict rules.

She would not even let her talk to a boy without grilling her with the third degree and making her out to be the worst sinner.

Insanity.

That's all it was.

Almost seven years ago, her mother hastily uprooted her from the city and took her to a miniature country she did not even know existed.

Blaire hated Bervon, not because of the fact that she had to leave her city life behind because that's what her non-existent future husband preferred, she hated how severely simple Samout, Bervon's capital was. The country was under-developed and at least five decades behind on technology, she lost almost all the luxuries of the city and became no better than a villager in the medieval era. Then to make matters worse, her mother enrolled her into an all girls school as soon as they arrived.

She had not interacted with someone of the opposite opposite gender in almost two years.

The last boy she spoke to, who was from a near-by village had tried to court her. Theno Morego disappeared, just like Lucas and was never found.

Jessica had lost plenty as well, but she had no other choice but to accept the loss. She went from being a Chief Executive Officer of one of the biggest Advertising Agencies in the world, to being a senior accountant for a factory.

She never had to worry about finances, the Beast made sure of that.

"Finish up your food, you're going to be late for school."

"This is unfair, I want to live like other girls." Blaire lamented.

"Blaire!" Jessica warned. "Stop comparing yourself to those villagers, you are a future Queen, they are nothing but peasants."

It was going to be a long five days.

She needed her out of her hair already.

              ~~¤~~¤ ● ~¤~~~¤~■~~

"Your mom really doesn't like my mom." Blaire commented as she recalled events of the morning. The woman had given her mother the most bitter glare she had ever seen, just because she had taken the parking spot she wanted.

"She's just jealous of her, your mom is very pretty Blaire, she still looks twenty five even after seven years, rumour has it she is a witch and mixed herself a serum for eternal youth." Raine chuckled, dragging her behind the ancient exam hall.

Raine was her only friend at school, Blaire avoided making friends because she was tired of being judged because of her mother. Jessica had always embarrassed her in front of her friends. Her and Raine had been friends since her first day at Samout City Girls High School and she, among many others, had always remarked on her mother's youthfulness. Her mother had always looked the same to her, it was as though she didn't age.

Her mother was adored by the locals, because she hid her insanity very well.

"Also, my dad might have a crush on your mom, that's why he no longer takes me to school."

Blaire sat on one of the round rocks dispersed behind the old building, feeling that tinge of sadness she always felt when someone mentioned anything regarding their father.

A father.

She never had a father, that never bothered her as a child, until she went to primary school and watched with envy all the other kids talk about and interact with their fathers. She was never bold enough to question Jessica about her father.

"Blaire? Are you okay?" Raine nudged her upper arm, snapping her out of the reverie.

"Yeah, I was just thinking about the assignment Mrs Morline gave us." She tucked her peachy strawberry blonde hair behind her ear, cracking a crooked smile.

"Urghhh… don't even get me started on that b!tch," Raine rolled her thin eyes, her hair was jet black and naturally straight and she looked to have a strong Asian origin, "she has nothing better to do with her life than t0rture us, I'm not going to write that essay, I would rather shove my head into the ground… ohh!! I was going to tell you… the Plarconville High boys are throwing a party at central cliff and we're going." The girl squeaked, Blaire smiled sheepishly.

Central cliff or as it was notoriously known as "Make-out, Put Out" cliff, was a haven on the outskirts of the city where teenagers could drink, make-out and put-out the whole night. The Plarconville High boys threw a big party every summer, which Blaire never attended despite being invited all the time.

With a rueful gaze, she declined. "Uhmmm… I don't think-"

"No! No! No! You're not saying no this time, we're going to central cliff tomorrow night, I'll drag you by those big titties if I have to." 

"My mom would never let me go, Raine."

"You can just sneak out the window like I always do," a carefree Raine shrugged, "you're not going to be a senior forever Blaire, this is the last seniors' party you'll ever get the opportunity to attend."

Blaire deliberated, she had always craved the experience of mingling wildly like other teenagers, of having fun without a single care but she feared going against her mother. She had not yet unearthed all that deeply-rooted fear her mother had sown in her since she a child.

"Everything I do is for your own good honey, you don't want to know what would happen if you ever angered The Son of The Moon, you really don't want to know sweetie, The Feared One should not be angered and he does not want his future bride entertaining boys, he is a very jealous Beast."

She remembered her mother's words vividly, word by word. For years she was cautious and afraid for she believed that he was always watching her, that he would come for her, that he would punish her greatly if she disobeyed him.

But he did not exist.

There was no Son of The Moon watching her.

The Beast who had devoured many and remained unseen by living eyes, was not real.

'He is not real, the King of Amborwa is not real." Blaire chanted mentally. She was tired of missing out on life because of a myth.

"You know what, I am going to the party and I am going to have fun, Raine, lots of fun."