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“You have me,” he rebukes, holding on tight.
But that’s just it.
I need Beast. Desperately.
But does he really need me? What can I possibly give him?
I sigh.
He pushes me away. “You’re thinking too much again, aren’t you?” he asks, capturing my attention with a simple stern gaze. “Tell me.”
“I just …” I sigh and look away. “I feel like such a burden to everyone.”
“You arenota burden. Forget what your father told you. It’s not true.”
“But everything happened because of me,” I say, the words so visceral I can feel them slicing into my own heart. I step back to stop myself from falling into his arms again because I don’t want to put that on him.
My guilt is mine alone to carry.
“All you’ve ever done is help me. How do you think I broke free from those chains?” he says, his voice lower, more intense.
I suck in a breath, stepping back when he steps forward.
“You think I got that strength out of nowhere?” he says, clutching my arm so I can’t move away. “You gave it to me.”
I gave him that strength? How?
“Again and again. Not just in that cell, but before too. When you helped me fight Lex. When you stopped them from electrocuting me.” His grip tightens. “When you gave that flower to me.”
“I wanted to save us both,” I mutter. “I didn’t mean to—”
“Become my only reason for existing?”
The air feels too thick to breathe.
He pulls me close to him, despite the fact that my hand is right there between us. “It’s the truth.” His forehead leans against mine. “I’m in love with you, Aurora.”
He’s said it before, and I want to believe it, but can I?
“But how? You’ve seen what I look like. You heard what those men … and even my own father … call me.” His jaw tightens as I say the word. “Monster.”
And I don’t think I’ve ever seen him more enraged.
His eyes slowly travel down my face, all the way to his own chest, where my hand is still pressed up against him. And I become viscerally aware of just how madly he’s gazing at me and my deformed fingers … at how badly I wished I still had my gloves.
“My father used all his money to fix me, and it didn’t even work… I’m still a monster.” I mutter, not knowing what to say.
His hand rises, and he grabs my hand, entangling his fingers through mine.
“You arenota monster. You’re beautiful.”
* * *
Beast
She gaspsin shock as though she cannot fathom that I’d say that word again now that I’ve seen what she had to hide.
Whatever she was taught to believe while growing up, it’s all a lie. Made up by her lousy, thieving father who cared nothing about the daughter he was given.
