We ate breakfast as a family, and it seemed quieter than I remembered until I realized it was me—I’d always filled the silence with chatter. Everyone looked at me between bites, waiting for me to speak, but as the pressure built, my mind only grew blanker and blanker.
“You said you’re not a prisoner,” Rob finally prodded.
“And she’s certainly not been put to work.” Callista reached out and shook my wrist. “Look at her soft baby hands.”
Rob asked, “So what have you been doing all this time?”
I pulled free, face hot.
“I—I read. Mostly.” I lifted my bowl to hide my face. “Scholars and poetry. And ... folktales.”
“It sounds as though you have everything you ever wanted,” Astra said, setting her spoon down delicately.
“Are you here to stay?” Father leaned forward, his eyes on my ring, which suddenly felt cold against my finger. “You never answered. If you’re not a prisoner, you can stay.”
My tongue froze once more. If I told him I could stay but didn’t want to, he would be heartbroken. To hear his daughter would choose to live with a beast rather than stay beneath his roof would break any father’s heart.
“I’ve promised to return,” I finally whispered.
It was unfair to Beast, to make him the monster tearing me from my family once more, but I couldn’t bear to hear them tell me all the reasons I shouldn’t want to go.
But Callista burst out anyway, her voice loud in the silence. “You shouldn’t have to live your life with a beast. Not when you could marry Stephan!”
My blood froze, and I nearly dropped my bowl.
“What do you mean?” I rasped.
“He came to the house a month ago, looking to marry you! He told us how you were secretly engaged—Beauty, you could have said so. He was even ready to fight the beast to bring you home.” Her eyes narrowed across the table. “But Father sent him away.”
My hand was around my thumb, ready to turn the ring, ready to run, but I swallowed hard at her final statement. I looked at my father.
With a sigh, Father stood. “We should speak privately.”
Privacy was hard to find in such a small space, but we went to the back room that served as Father’s bedroom.
I kept my hand tight around the ring. “Is it true Stephan came?”
“He had quite a story for me. He claimed my daughter was pregnant.”
I’d never felt the winter cut so keenly through walls.
“Papa—” My voice strangled.
Your father would be ashamed,Stephan whispered. I felt him hot on my skin, and my knees buckled.
Father grasped my elbows and eased me into a seat. I couldn’t read his eyes.
“Papa,” I tried again, but my jaw trembled. The heat was in my eyes. I couldn’t see, but I couldn’t break his gaze.
Don’t send me away,I begged.
Papa, listen,I begged.
I couldn’t say a thing.
Father’s voice was quiet. “He spun some long-winded nonsense about how you were so in love, you couldn’t wait. Secret engagement, planned elopement—none of it like my Beauty. I trust it was no crime against you to send him packing.”
My wordless gaping only grew stronger.
