Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 74631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74631 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 373(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
She slumps against me, burying her face in my shirt, her shoulders shaking with more tears. I pat her hair and drop kisses onto her head, wondering how one person can feel so much sadness. I would have thought she’d be out of tears, but she is not.
“It will be all right,” I tell her, hoping she believes me.
“No, it will not.” Elle lifts her head but does not pull away from me. “Who are you? The prince?”
Her question shocks me to my core. I am unable to answer her as she stares deep into my eyes. “You are both,” she whispers, and her discovery causes her eyes to widen, but not like I’d imagined.
Silence descends for a moment and I can only admit the truth. “Yes, I am. I once was.”
Her eyes narrow with confusion and I’m sure mine do as well.
“Prince…what is your name?” she asks, and it pains me to remember.
With haze clouding my judgment, I tell her, “My name is Henry.”
She whispers the name I used to go by and my eyes close. A pain rushes through me, and I shush her. Do not call me that, I wish to tell her but the words fail me.
To my surprise, she confides in me. “I do not know what to do with these feelings.”
“What feelings? Are you upset that I killed Lord Crawe? They were here to steal you away.” I know I should not be condemning men for trying to do the same thing I did, but I cannot help it. “If they had somehow found a way into the castle, they would have done everything in their power to take you back to the village and to kill me.”
“I know that is what they would have done. And I am not sad that Lord Crawe is dead. I am happy he’s dead. I have wanted men like him dead for longer than you know.”
She leans her head on my shoulder, and I keep my arms around her.
“It is,” Elle continues, “quite a different thing to see the others and to not know…” She’s not able to finish.
I gather her close to my chest and smooth down her hair while the last of her tears run out of her eyes. It must have been a shock for Elle to see so many dead at one time, all by my hands.
Elle’s shoulders finish shaking, and on her next breath, she lifts her face to mine and kisses me.
She kisses me as if she needs to in order to breathe. Her warm lips mold to mine and her chest presses to mine. She kisses me.
I go still, shocked, but then my body responds to hers as it has always done. I kiss her back, my heart unsteady at this contact. Elle is kissing me of her own volition. I have not demanded anything from her, and she is kissing me. It is a salty, tear-filled kiss, but it is a relief to us both.
When she pulls back, I run my knuckles down her cheek, reveling in touching her while I look into her eyes. It is so different from when she wore the blindfold. So much of her expressiveness is in her eyes, and it is a sin that I have not delved into the depths of her beauty like this before.
“I do not wish to harm.” I take a breath, stroking my thumb over her cheek. Elle’s skin is the softest I have ever felt. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever touched. I would steal her from her father’s house a hundred times over and never be able to bring myself to regret it. “I did not want to kill them, Elle, and I do not want to harm anyone else who comes here. But I will not let them take you.”
Elle’s lip trembles. “But what of my father?” she questions, and I am thankful I have prepared an answer, although I do not know its truthfulness in all certainty. I’m fairly sure of it, but not entirely as the world becomes red when the beast takes control.
“I would never harm him,” I tell her. “He is safe. He wasn’t among them.” She holds me tighter than before. Her gratitude is clinging to me.
I would lie a thousand times over to feel her touch forever. Although I pray that what I said is true. And if it’s not, I pray she lives in peaceful ignorance. I need her to love me. Simply to survive, I need her to love me like this.
ELLE
The beast kisses me, or rather the prince, I do not know which and I don’t understand what my mind has done to see him how he is now and yet as he was…but I know he is both. And I know that I love him. His hand rises to my face and his other arm circles my back to draw me closer.