Page 41
“Just leave me alone,” I mumble.
He’s quiet long enough that I begin to think he might actually listen to me and leave, but then he says, “I’ll show you the castle, and where you can and can’t go.”
That—that captures my attention immediately, and my eyes snap open.
“Stop crying,” he says. “And get up.” He heads toward the door while I stare after him, but before stepping into the corridor, he pauses. “And dress warmly.”
When I realize he’s serious, I get up quickly and wipe the remaining tears from my face before reaching for the wool sweater. I barely have my fingers around it before he interrupts me.
“Long sleeves. I want you to change.”
Because he’s not locking me in or forcing himself on me, I turn toward the armoire without arguing and rummage through the clothes until I find a long-sleeved shirt to replace the short-sleeved one I have on. I pull the first shirt over my head, quickly tug the other one on, then reach for the wool sweater again.
Once I’m dressed, I turn to look at him, and he gives a small nod before gesturing me forward with two long fingers. I’m surprised I don’t trip over my own feet in my mad dash to get out of the room. The moment I’m safely in the corridor, he closes the door behind me and turns left.
For a while, neither of us says anything as I follow him through the castle, keeping several steps between us while trying to look everywhere at once. Now that I’m not wandering around terrified of being caught, I notice things I missed earlier—the carved wooden doors tucked into alcoves, the tapestries hanging between tall windows and narrow corridors branching away from the main passage in every direction. Every turn reveals something new, and despite everything, I find myself looking around like a child. I crane my neck to stare up staircases and slow whenever we pass an open doorway until he gets too far ahead and I have to hurry after him.
He doesn’t seem bothered by my curiosity. Every so often he glances over his shoulder to make certain I’m still there before continuing without a word. We climb another staircase and cross a long corridor I haven’t seen before, this one warmer than the others, until he finally stops in front of a heavy wooden door and pushes it open.
I know right away it’s his room.
I hesitate at the threshold because stepping into his bedroom feels entirely different from wandering through the rest of the castle. Then something moves near the fire and every ounce of hesitation disappears.
A cat.
She’s curled into a ball near the hearth, her fur illuminated by the firelight. The moment I enter, her head lifts and her bright green eyes find me. I forget about the man behind me entirely as I hurry across the room and crouch several feet away, holding out my hand and waiting while she studies me.
“Hi, sweetheart,” I murmur.
She eventually rises and stretches before padding toward me, sniffing my fingers for only a second before rubbing the side of her face against them. A laugh escapes me as I scratch under her chin, then run my fingers carefully through her soft fur when she pushes closer.
“Oh, aren’t you beautiful?”
The cat answers with a deep purr and leans harder into my hand. Some of the tension I’ve carried since leaving my room eases enough that I sink onto the floor beside her and let her climb partially into my lap. I completely forget that I’m supposed to be looking around until I remember the man standing behind me and glance back at him, one hand still buried in the cat’s fur.
“What’s her name?”
“Soleil.”
I continue stroking her for another few seconds before a thought occurs to me, something so obvious that I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to realize.
I don’t know his name.
This man has taken over my life, taken my virginity and taken me away from everything I know, yet I’ve spent weeks terrified of someone whose name I’ve never even asked. When I turn toward him, he’s already watching me.
“What’s your name?” I ask quietly.
He frowns, but when several seconds pass and he still doesn’t answer, I turn back to the cat and resume stroking her back. Soleil’s purring fills the room until he finally answers.
“Rhys.”
My head snaps toward him.
The name is familiar, although it takes me several seconds to understand why. Then my father’s voice comes rushing back to me, along with a story he used to tell me when I was little, one everyone knew some version of—the beautiful young woman named Belle who found herself trapped inside an enchanted castle with a Beast.
Only my father’s version was different.
Belle hadn’t simply disappeared into some nameless castle and fallen in love with a cursed prince. She had married the Beast and remained here with him. According to the story, whatever humanity she believed she’d found under the monster’s exterior had never truly existed. The Beast wasn’t a misunderstood prince waiting for someone to love him enough to break a curse.
