Shut up, Mother. He’s the one.
“Sophie, she’s my mother,” he said, his shoulders dropping in defeat. “If she’s sick, I have to take care of her. My sister would never do it, and I couldn’t live with myself if my mother died because I wouldn’t help.”
Sophie stepped back, feeling beaten and sore.
His love had all been a lie.
He hadn’t actually wanted her at all. He’d just been better at hiding his horror at her appearance than the others had been. He saw her beat up half the town and had been too scared to tell her ‘‘no’ when she seduced him. He only stayed at the castle because he felt a moral obligation to honor his mother’s deal, and he was leaving at the first opportunity, just like all the rest.
No one ever wanted the beast.
Sophie ripped the door open. The five villagers ran back
