Beast within the Beauty || A Beauty and the Beast Retelling

Chapter Thirty-Two || To Stand for a Beast

THOUGH THE SUN had not yet crept past the horizon, I heard the distant caws of birds imploring for the first rays to light the sky. Every time I shifted, I felt the stiff edge of the knife strapped to my arm. It was somewhat foolish to carry it with me with so little purpose but I found myself unable to deny the comfort it brought me. I sat nestled between the wall and the cot on which a child slept. She had slept through most of the night without much difficulty and was only now starting to toss and turn.

The walls of our home were thin enough that I heard the rustling in the floor beneath me. Though I was well aware of what it entailed, I made no move to rise from my seating. Soon, however, there would be need, for Joceline was beginning to stir. She fidgeted and turned, soon extending her arms and yawning.

"Ismae?" Knuckles rapped the door sealing this room from the rest of the house. "You are wanted down promptly."

"Within a moment," I called back.

And then Joceline cracked her eyes open. I watched, carefully, as a wide smile blossomed over the little child's lips. She rubbed at her eyes and began to sit up. Gingerly, I coaxed her back to her bed and whispered, "Go back to sleep, Joceline. I will be right here."

She did not. Her small body darted out and flew towards me, arms weaving around my neck as she clutched onto me. "Ismae! You're here!"

"I am." I held her tighter, burying my head into her shoulder. "I'm right here." She held onto me fiercely, nimble limbs wrapping around me as I stood to my feet and rocked her back and forth. Mon Dieu. "You are so big now, Joceline! I can hardly carry you." She giggled and only tightened her grasp.

"I missed you so much!" she blurted happily. "Nobody else is nice like you!"

I poked her nose. "Lying is not good," I reminded her. "Mother is very nice to you. So are Anne and Emil."

"But they aren't you," she insisted, still holding onto me tightly.

"No, they are not." I laughed something silly and unprovoked, pecking her cheek and whispering, "I love you so much, Joceline."

She wiped her cheek and crinkled her nose at me. "I don't like—"

I pressed another kiss to her cheek, earning a cry that was a mix of protests and giggles.

"Ismae!" she squealed in between chortles of laughter, smothering her palms over my mouth. "Ismae—oh no, please!" I tickled her feet.

"Now, now," I said, "you need to go back to bed—"

"No!" She grasped onto me tightly. "I won't!"

I paused a moment, sparing a second to study the stubborn look in her eyes, in her pouted lips. It did not take me long to realize that she would not go back on that. "How about...I tell you a story?"

Her eyes lit up. "And then can we play?"

I nodded. "After you sleep."

She was quick to scramble off of my lap and dive beneath her covers. When I went to stand as to grasp a fairytale book from the shelf, I felt her tug on the hem of my skirts. "I read all those books already," she said. "Tell me about the castle?"

"Of course," I whispered as I knelt beside her once again. My fingers went to brush through her golden hair, weaving through threads of gold. "Somewhere, deep in the forest..." She was smiling. "There is a huge, beautiful castle. The castle is surrounded by a sea of roses and snow waiting for someone to play with it. But its vast halls and furnished rooms remain empty...Not many people live there and there are no children. And it is because..." I leaned closer, tilting my lips toward her ear as if I were whispering a secret... "The castle is enchanted." She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Only those who are chosen can enter it."