The horse and carriage disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, leaving behind only the shimmer that freshly-sown magic always seemed to do. When the wind blew again, the shimmer dissipated into the night air.
Belle turned around and marched back through the castle door, closing it firmly behind her. She stared at the open expanse of the great hall, and breathed in the scent of cut roses, the bouquets that adorned every flat surface imaginable.
“I do believe I am ready for sleep, now,” she said aloud.
Perhaps Frederick would hear her, in some other plane or dimension, and he would meet her in her bedchamber.
Belle smiled and danced up the stairs to her suite.
***
At the edge of the forest, hidden from view, the Beast watched silently as Belle’s chance at escape disappeared into the night. He exhaled slowly, not even realizing he’d been holding his breath, awaiting her decision.
She had chosen to stay. The very fact humbled him.
The relief was indescribable. After their rocky start, he’d almost lost all hope of getting Belle to care for him, to be able to look at him and see something other than a monster.
“Thank you, Beauty,” he whispered, his words lost in the blowing wind.
He wanted to go inside and reward her for her loyalty, but after a long night of fruitless hunting, he was so exhausted that he might have to fall asleep and meet her as Frederick in his dreams, instead.
The animals in the forest, like Belle, were less afraid of him now, which should have afforded him even more chances to kill. But instead, he found himself watching their beauty from afar, and he couldn’t bring himself to hurt the creatures—not anymore. He was a changed man.
Maybe this was what the enchantress had meant, all along. That a woman could change him from a beast back into a man. He certainly felt more human than he ever had in the past ten years since the curse struck him.
But it wasn’t just a woman that he needed. He needed true love.
For the first time since he found Belle, love seemed like a very real possibility. He still had a chance.
They had a chance.
***
Later that evening, Belle awoke to the sound of her bedchamber door creaking open. She sat up, holding the white linen bedding up against her breasts, blinking until her eyes adjusted to the dark.
“Frederick?”
“Good evening, Beauty,” Frederick said softly. “May I sit with you?”
Belle smiled and patted the space on the bed next to her. She had no guilt or shame about inviting Frederick into her bed, after all, he was her dream-man, her fantasy, and she fully intended to make good use of him.
Even if he was possibly a little bit real.
“Fairies, some candlelight, please?” she requested.
Candles flickered to life throughout her bedroom, illuminating Frederick’s handsome face as he sat beside her.
“I’m glad you stayed,” Frederick said. “I would have missed you terribly if you’d left.”
“Now I know I must be dreaming,” she said, uncertain if she felt relief or disappointment. “Because no one knows what happened earlier other than the fairies. And me.”
Frederick grinned and cupped her face in his warm, large hands, pulling her in closer for a kiss. She opened her mouth to him, accepting his tongue, and, in a moment of reckless abandon, pulled him on top of her body.
“I thought you said we couldn’t make love,” Frederick reminded her. “The Beast would know.”
“I belong to the Beast,” she agreed. “Look, he marked me.” She proudly displayed her bite mark, spreading her legs lewdly beneath him.
“The Beast deserves to have you first, before I do. Are you ready for that? To make love with the Beast?”
Belle swallowed hard. The thought both terrified and aroused her. “Yes. I am.”
Frederick dropped his hand between her legs, finding her wetness there. Carefully, slowly, he penetrated her with his finger. First one, then two. Then three.
Belle moaned as she stretched, but she didn’t try to stop him. She knew what Frederick was doing.
He was preparing her for the Beast.
“Aren’t you jealous, Frederick?” she whispered, moaning as he circled his fingers, lubricating her with her own juices. “Don’t you care for me at all?”
“I can’t explain, Beauty,” he said. “But I’ve said from the start that you must love the Beast.”
“But what if I love you?”
She covered her mouth with her hand, shocked by the words that had fallen out of her, seemingly of their own volition.
“Is your heart big enough to love me, and the Beast?” he asked.
The prospect had never occurred to her. Frederick and the Beast were like two sides of the same coin, one refined and handsome, the other brutal and beastly. And yet she desired them both.