𝐂𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄𝐃 | 𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬

𝐗𝐈𝐕. 𝐅𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐡 𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬

𝐌𝐑𝐒. 𝐏𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐒 𝐏𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐄𝐃 some hot water into a bowl. Celine moved the bowl closer then dipped the rag in her hand into the water. Once soaked, she wrung it out then turned to the beast who had started to lick the wound on his arm.

"Oh, don't do that." She tried to pull his arm away, but he growled and fought against her as she tried to clean the wound. "Hold... still."

She managed to dab the rag against his wound and he immediately roared in pain, pulling his arm away. He growled and snapped in her face, "That hurts!"

Celine crossed her arms. "If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much."

"Well if you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened!" The beast spoke between gritted teeth as he referred to his arm. "It was foolish to run out into that storm."

"If you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!" Celine retorted.

The beast opened his mouth to continue the argument, but needed a second to think. "Well you shouldn't have been in the West Wing!"

"If you didn't have such a bad temper, I wouldn't be here in the first place!" Celine snapped.

Realizing he didn't have anything to counter her rebuke, the beast sulked, turning his head away from her. Cautiously, she brought the rag back up to his arm.

"Now, hold still. This might sting a little." She gently dabbed the rag against his arm again. The beast winced and grunted in pain, but didn't lash out like the last time. Celine gently broke the following silence, "By the way, thank you... for saving my life."

The beast looked over at her surprised. He replied with the same soft tone, "You're welcome."

Once satisfied that the wound was clean, Celine applied a salve that she made from supplies found in the kitchen then wrapped it to prevent an infection from growing.

The beast held his arm close before inspecting her patch-up job. "Where'd you learn to do this?"

"The wrap or the salve?" she asked, but answered before he could clarify, "My mother taught me. She's a real miracle worker when it comes to medicines and herbal remedies... I was a clumsy kid, so she taught me to take care of myself early on in case she wasn't around in the moment."

"And now I'm urging you to take care of yourself, dear," Mrs. Potts gently interrupted. "It's been a long day and you're soaked to the bone. If you don't change you'll have a frightful cold by the morning. Come now, off to bed."

"But I still need—"

"We can take care of it," Mrs. Potts insisted, "Off to bed, dear."

Celine sighed and begrudgingly stood. She followed Mrs. Potts to the staircase, but cast one last look over her shoulder at the beast sitting in his chair. A fond smile crossed Mrs. Potts' face as she noticed the concerned look on the girl's face; however, Celine failed to notice the smile as she walked up the stairs to her arranged room.