The Beauty in the Beast

Chapter Four- Origin

Ingram, the woman of strawberry blonde hair pulled into an intricate braid, would escort Sienna to a new corridor lined with paintings of former rulers; ones who wore the same dark eyes as the current king-therefore informing the curious guest as having been his ancestors. She would remain in study for a brief moment, taking in the details of these ancestral rulers before her focus would be taken to a single door at the end of this long hall. Marked by a single knob made of ruby glass, she would find it turned to reveal a spacious room designed in complicated artistry that made up the wooden context of the entire room. A fireplace and petite window too small to use as an escape would be on the wall directly opposite of her and a four post bed with a short canopy curtain would sit at her right, across from a long table holding a new chamberpot and a quill with fresh parchment set before an armoire.

“If there is anything you shall need, be sure to inform us...There is a bell beside your chamber bed if you require anything-”

“You mentioned ‘others’...What was the count of them? How long since they were here? And how is it the King knew my name?”

“If I were to answer your inquisition now, you may try to leave again and I so happen to adore the look of perspiration on his brow in your presence...I will offer you a piece of mind, however, heed it as you wish. If you think to leave again...I hope you understand the pain that will befall you outside of these castle walls. I assure you, you are safe here-for if he wished you dead...you would be.”

“What is it he wants from me? He will not explain it-”

“That is because he has yet to trust you...As you are weary of us...we are more so of you.”

“Why is that?”

“You could end any of our lives at any given point by a simple acceleration of your rage. Although Asmodeus and I are magically inclined, it does mean we could cease you...You should attempt rest now, I am sure you long for something more comfortable than straw and stone-I will return morrow’s morn to retrieve you for the day’s first meal...Rest well,” Ingram’s steps advanced back towards the exit.

“Sienna…” She spoke her name in a mischievous chime of her gentle cadence as it was believed that this was used as a tactic of manipulation to remind Sienna of her position on this food chain; either social or literal-in either aspect, she did not seem to fare well.

Sienna’s fingers would trace the details of her room until she had managed to touch everything new to her ownership and ending back at the edge of the bed. While leaning upon one of the posts, her eyes would fall to a gown intended for sleep as she had longed for the comfort of the bed that Ingram reminded her of. Before the sun had even fully set, she would bring her body from the clinching fabric of this unkind corset and into the freedom of this unconfined gown to rest.

However, the comfort of this bed would not bring her a necessary alleviation of her unsettled mind as it remained rampant through her tries of slumber. Tossing and turning within the comfortable quilt keeping her warm through this cold autumn night. With the moon now set at its highest apex within the sky, Sienna would come to a vivid dream of her final night in Ellemist; the night of her wedding that was expected to don lavish fabric and a promise of companionship; even though this was absent of love as it was a luxury meant for the wealthy, she would be left covered in the ichor of her husband of only an hour; forcing her upright in a sweat at the memory of such horrible events.

“No!” She cried out in pain as she reached for her chest, taking sections of both the quilt and her own gown, as she breathed a sigh of relief in learning the circumstances she was now present in were not those she recalled having been the genesis of such a nightmare. But as her gaze scanned the room for anything that would ease her; even something as simple as the moonlight offering its stygian promise in the form of this kind illumination, her eyes would focus on a single candle set on the surface across from her bed and a silhouette behind its flicker. She recognized the presence immediately as he did not speak a word as their eyes met and instead continued to look over the flickering candle in anticipation of her claiming the first prompt between them.

“Whatever is the need of your presence?” She would finally ask upon pulling the covers over her chest as she became deeply uncomfortable with his piercing gaze, not descending for even a second-and instead focusing on her own deep eyes.

“You were uttering in repetition...I was worried harm was being brought to you…”

“You do not seem to be standing in defense of it…”

“When I realized it as a dream, I was curious to know of what...If I have yet to frighten you and the thought of braving the outside world of these walls has yet to deter you, I was envious of what could bring your heart to such a pace...So I ask you...Who is this “Raul”?” Her skin paled at the mention of his name as she was not allowed a warmth in memory, instead, she was forced to remember his harsh hold to her neck and crude words in her ear of how he would ‘ruin’ her.

“I am simply being kind, pup...Yet I can learn the details myself, just as I had come to learn your name...yet I am aware this will not lead to you trust me. So I ask once more...Who is “Raul”?” Her fingers clutched the sheets tighter to her chest as he would now move upwards from his stance and to her side of the bed in seconds, the candle remaining alight as he now brought it between them; enough to bring the detail of her fright into the illumination. However, he was well aware that this accelerated pulse did not come from a fear of him, but at the mention of this name.

“You will come to mind me before your last breath is reached-”

“If you wish for me to trust you, perhaps you should consider refraining from threats-”

“My kindness has left me nowhere with you-”

“Kindness? Imprisoning me and leaving me to die by cobra or wolf is your ;’kindness’, I truly loathe to know your cruelty-”

“My kindness of allowing you a feast although you are undeserving of foods well beyond means you could ever afford, much like these chambers, your gown-my attention. In these attempts to be kind, you try my patience as well as my mercy-”

“I owe you nothing...Adrian.” His eyes flared in a rage as he had never allowed a subject-let alone one with such a silver tongue to speak his name without a title in attachment. In an extension of his wrath, with candle failing against the wind, he would pull her from the comfort of this room and down the corridor as she attempted to fight him.

“Where is it you are leading me now?! I command you to release me!” But his force was too great and her strength was dwindling from a lack of proper sustenance from a creature of her existence. His steps would only stall at the outside of a thick door marked by a rusted knocker that echoed throughout the space around them. Once inside, she was pulled down a set of steps that seemed endless, before coming to a darkened section of stone as she believed this to be yet another dungeon and shackled still once again.

“Sire, must it be now?” A secondary yet aged voice questioned as the sight of candles came alight without the need of a torch or a single connection of flame. Instead, they seemed almost instantaneous to her arrival; now showing a second figure within the darkness who was dressed similar to that of a monk but wore a scar across the entirety of his left eye which kept it closed from a loss of vision, and a complexion left pitted from a since healed sickness.

“My pet will not divulge information I wish…”

“Perhaps in due time…” The man spoke against him as Adrian turned in something resembling hatred as the man slowly nodded in silent agreement as he moved to a small chest before pulling out a long thin red candle and a few leather pouches.

“Must I remind you it is not ideal to know one’s thoughts-”

“I must know.”

“Very well…” The man spoke as he began to chant something beneath his breath as the flames turned cerulean, illuminating the space with this chilling alternative as her eyes would flicker in horror between them until her gaze fell heavy and her head fell in a bow.

“You may ask her what you wish to know and she will respond in truth, I assure it.” The man explained as Adrian moved in her direction.

“Why is it “Raul” brings you such fear?” He would inquire, moving to his knees as her voice would hesitate for only a second before her lips would part in response.

“As I was the final female wolf in existence I was expected to be joined in matrimony to him. He was a cruel man and constantly spoke of how he would make me his in pain each night. He had described the details of the pelvic relationships between a man and a woman to such an extent that brought terror to my heart. The night I was set to marry him, the ritual binding was interrupted and he was slaughtered, his blood staining my clothes as I held him in my hands, having lost control of my beast and killing him along with his men. Your men came soon after, placed me in chains, and took me to you.”

“What was the purpose of this marriage?”

“To sire a line of new wolves. I was to be procreated with and then killed.”

“Sire-” The elderly man attempted to speak as Adrian held his hand for a moment to silence this man until his hand fell and lifted her face by the use of his fingers taking hold of her chin so he was allowed to see her expression look back to him. He would brush the hair from her complexion as her eyes, now forced white and in a constant daze, were looking back at him.

“Do you intend to escape again?”

“Yes. I continue to seek the chance to do so. Even now.”

Adrian would look away in thought before returning his eyes to the man now standing behind Sienna.

“I wish for her to know what lies beyond these walls. Can you show it to her?”

“Are you certain, my Lord? It will frighten her.”

Adrian would nod. “Do it promptly, Asmodeus….”

Asmodeus would nod, gaining a few new items such as bones made into a crown, ash of an aged oak, and a strand of her own hair, before using a black candle as her eyes now turned black. Flames would fill her irises as she would learn the torment of the lands; creatures of unnamed existence roaming in the shadows, reptilian beasts with wings who breathed fire having hidden deep within mountains far above the land, bones of humans crumpled beneath the feet of both half human and half demonic beings, and finally the flickers of hellfire emerging at random along with strikes of lightning and measures of death impossible to count.

“Please!” She begged as her fingers came to take hold of Adrian’s wrists as his grip had moved to her cheeks to keep her steady.

“I beg of you, it is too horrible!” He would come to adore the desperate need of her clawed fingers digging into his skin as her eyes would now return to normal as he took the crown from her head and forced it outside of the circle. But this admiration did not come from causing her pain, it came from the desperation of need in her digits directed solely to him.

“Is there something that you can create in moments that will aid her to sleep?”

Asmodeus nodded as he moved to a work table set beyond the ritualistic markings he made in the floor prior to reaching into her mind as Adrian brushed a tear from her cheek as she now returned with the entirety of her consciousness. Only now, the strength she had against Adrian; the hatred was now replaced with fear as the memories of what she was just shown continued to play in her mind of the massacred lives and eventual death she would come to find if she were to disobey his orders.

“I believe you have come to understand now that Shadow Isle is not a residence, pup, it is a wasteland for what cannot exist with others...You do not arrive here for life...You come to die…”

“If that is what you wish for me...can you not show me the mercy of it now?” His hands would now retreat from her as she had come to realize her grip had remained on his wrists until this moment. He would then stand, wiping his hands on his sides, as Asmodeus handed a small goblet to his master.

“I am afraid I need you still...But if you desire that fate at the end of it all, I shall consider it…Drink this, it will help you sleep.” He would set the goblet before her as she had hesitated for only a moment until thinking of how she longed for a restful night; and eventually when she would come to bring the liquid to her lips-a faint taste of mint pressing past her lips, she would find a darkness of that enviable slumber to now take hold of her.