Depravity, A Beauty and the Beast Novel(26)
The water began to cool as I debated. I knew I shouldn’t. I would regret it without a doubt. Something bad would happen. Surely only an idiot would undress in a strange house with an angry beast lurking about. But he’d promised refuge. My scalp ached where Tennen had pulled out the hair, and the mud on my legs was making me itchy. Even with the fire blazing, it didn’t warm the room or dry me fast enough to drive away the chill.
The curling steam from the filled tub had me hurriedly undressing.
“Idiot,” I mumbled to myself.
A sigh escaped me as I sank naked into the water. With the hearth on one side and the table on the other to reflect back the heat, I relaxed a little. The tub was easily twice the size of the one we had at the cottage. I quickly ducked under the surface to rinse my hair. When I popped back up, I eyed the slightly dingy water. Rubbing my skin, I washed as best I could.
I was about to stand when the beast spoke from the darkness.
“How many times have I spared you?”
Like a startled hare, I froze, heart hammering. Blood rushed loudly in my ears, but still I strained to listen.
“Well?” he said in a growl.
“F-four,” I whispered.
“Four,” he agreed. “And I offered you any one thing you would have from the estate.”
Shifting to my hip, I cautiously looked around but couldn’t see him in either direction open to me. I looked at the table and could envision him crouched just behind it.
“What can you offer me in payment?”
“Payment?” I said, suddenly very afraid and wishing I hadn’t given the blunt silver away.
“Yes,” he said, growing annoyed. “Payment. What do you have?”
“Nothing,” I whispered in horror. Surely he couldn’t offer me refuge then fling me over the wall to my death because I hadn’t been aware it required payment.
A clicking growl echoed in the kitchen.
“Come now. Not nothing.”
My heart sank as I realized what he wanted.
“I am not payment.”
“And why not? Did I not care for you? Heal you?”
“Yes,” I said slowly.
“Stand, so I can see you.”
“No,” I said, sinking lower in the water.
His angry roar filled the kitchen.
“You would deny me after all I’ve given you?”
“You mean what you gave me freely,” I said bravely. “You never asked me if I wanted to be healed. You gave that freely. I never asked you to spare me.”
“But I did offer you one thing,” he said.
“And forced me to accept it in order for my release. You cannot demand a price for things freely given.”
Smothering silence claimed the room for several awful, long minutes. The water began to cool. I continued to watch for the beast, but he made no sound. My fingers wrinkled.
“Are you still here?” I asked as my bravery began to fade.
“Yes,” he said with an angry growl.
“You offered me refuge. Please leave so I can dress.”
“No,” he said smugly. “I will not freely give you my absence. I will need payment to leave.”
I snorted before I could stop myself.
“Payment. To leave.”
“Yes. Stand so I can look at you.”
“I am not a whore.”
“How does rising from the water make you a whore?” He laughed.
Glaring at the table, I had no answer. It didn’t make me a whore, but I would feel used and cheap. I thought of my sister and cringed. I didn’t want to let anyone take advantage of me like that. The fire started to die down, the flames licking the wood receded until just a few remained to dance on top the red hot coals.
“You ask too much for too little in return,” I said.
“What would you have of me?”
His willingness to bargain gave me hope.
“A dry shirt to cover me. Something to eat if you have it.”
“Done,” he agreed too quickly. “Now stand.”
His impatience worried me.
“Not yet. I want to see the shirt you have to offer me.”
He roared this time.
“Do you think me a fool? When I leave to fetch it, you will rise from the water and dress.”
“Had I thought of that, I probably would have,” I admitted. I’d been too worried to think that far, but as soon as he would have left the room, I was sure I would have done just that. Given his anger, I was glad he didn’t leave and give me the chance.
“I will remain in this water until you return as long as it doesn’t take so long that the fire dies.”
Silence greeted me again. I waited a few moments and asked, “Are you there?”
No answer. Despite my promise, I considered rising from the water and dressing.
The sudden appearance of a shirt tossed over the jagged edge of the table startled me. The white material of the fine shirt seemed out of place against the wood. I quickly reached for it, but it disappeared over the edge again.