Frederick didn’t respond, surprised his stepmother knew about his dalliances. She must have read his private journal entries. He wrote everything in that journal.
Everything
. Including how he felt about his stepmother.
“If you weren’t handsome—if you didn’t have that perfect, hard young body—no one would ever love you,” she said.
“That’s not true,” Frederick said. “It’s
you
no one will ever love! I hate you—”
She glared at him with fire in her eyes.
“—and if you hadn’t enchanted my father,” he whispered, “he would have hated you as well.”
The room went dark, the sconces on the wall all blew out at once by a strong wind. Goosebumps rose on his naked flesh, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up on end.
“You hate me?” She laughed, a manic sound that bubbled up from her throat. “You’re not the only one who can hate. You are a beast, and now the whole world will know it!”
Outside his window, lightning flashed and thunder boomed with a ferocity that made him jump in terror. All the while, his stepmother cackled.
Pain tore through him. It felt as if every bone in his body broke and rebuilt, knitting itself back together. His mouth hurt, he’d bitten his tongue and could taste the coppery blood on his lips.
“You. Are. A BEAST!” she screamed.
Frederick fell to the stone floor in agony. He raised his hand to keep her from hurting him, but…his hand…
Oh dear Lord in Heaven
His hand was gone. In its place was a huge animal…paw? No—a gorilla’s hand, black and covered in fur.
“What have you done to me?” he cried. Even his voice sounded different. Thick, rumbly, like a lion’s roar speaking human words.
The storm stopped. The room lit up with a soft glow from the candles in the sconces. His stepmother gazed at him thoughtfully, as if her anger dissipated once her spell had been cast.
“You have a mirror, see what I’ve done to you for yourself,
Beast
.”
Frederick tried to rise, but everything still hurt, so he crawled on all fours to the large mirror in the corner of his room. He roared in fright at what he saw.
The animal before him—it couldn’t be him, could it? A fearsome combination that didn’t exist in nature. His face only slightly resembled his own—he recognized his eyes—still green, still his. His cheekbones, and his jaw. But he had huge fangs, like a tiger. A mane, like a lion. And his body—what was he? A mix of man and gorilla, ten feet tall when he rose up on his hind legs, trying to get a better look. Muscles covered every inch him, not quite hidden by brown and black fur.
His thick, muscular arms hung heavy and low like a gorilla’s, but his legs had been transformed into those of a wolf’s. He had a tail! Dear God, he had a tail. He was hideous.
Frederick cried out in fear and anger, lashing out at his stepmother with a desperate swipe of his humongous gorilla hand.
“Serves you right,” she said, jumping gracefully out of his reach. “I sure hope you were right about your little girlfriend loving you for who you really are. Because until someone falls in love with you—true love—despite your monstrous appearance—you will stay a beast.”
“Why?” he asked, crouching on the floor in front of the mirror. “Why?”
“Because you broke my heart,” the enchantress said softly.
Frederick inhaled deeply. “No. I mean…” He paused, unsure if he should ask her, afraid it would make her change the rules of her spell. “I mean, why make it so the spell can be so easily broken, when Nadine tells me she loves me?”
She paused, sighing. “I didn’t make it that way on purpose, it’s just how it is. True love conquers all.” Reaching down, she patted his mane like he was a good dog. “It’s quite adorable that you really think that harlot will still love you when she sees you as a beast. She won’t.”
Frederick rose up to his full height, all ten feet of it, and screamed for her to leave him alone.
It came out as… a roar.
***
Later that night, Frederick prowled through his chambers, afraid to leave lest someone in the court decided to shoot him down out of fear.
His clothing didn’t fit, and despite the full coat of fur covering his body, he felt naked and too much like the beast he’d become.
“I need some pants,” he murmured to himself.
He couldn’t go to see Nadine without clothing. His cock had grown in proportion to his new, huge body, and hung lewdly whenever he stood. And he had to see her so she could break the spell.
Something shifted in the air. He turned to his bed, and lying next to the shredded clothing his stepmother had torn from him while he was still in human form…were pants. Large pants, with a hole for a…tail?
“What the hell is going on?” he wondered.
A piece of paper appeared on the bed, next to the pants. He tried to pick it up, but only succeeded in swatting at it with his new hand. Sighing, he leaned forward to read the spidery handwriting that sprawled across the note.
Ask and ye shall receive, Beast. The castle will comply, since no one else will.
All my best,
Your beloved Stepmother
Frederick growled and pulled the pants off the bed. But he didn’t know how to use his new appendages. The claws on his feet ripped everything, and though his animal hands had opposable thumbs, learning to use his new body was going to take some time. And he didn’t have time. It was useless.
“I need the damn pants
on
me,” he yelled at the empty room.
The pants moved as if of their own accord, pulling up onto his wolves’ legs, buttoning themselves. He looked in the mirror.
Well, I look like an animal in clothing. Wonderful.
He frowned, but the Beast in the mirror revealed the expression as a horrific grimace with fangs. He tried to smile, to see if that was any better, but it was worse.
How would he ever convince Nadine that he was really himself?
His eyes. They were still human. That girl had stared into his eyes for hours when they made love. They’d spent many nights with her tied up to her bed, gazing at each other as he entered her. Surely she’d know it was him.
He was still himself, on the inside. Since she loved him
(
if she loved him
)
then she would know it was still him. His life depended on it.
Frederick waited until the middle of the night, when everyone in the castle would be asleep. He crept out of his room, past the ballroom, and went into the grand foyer and out the door. It was a long way to town. Normally he wouldn’t risk taking the shortcut through the woods at night because of the wolves, but now he felt quite certain that if anything, the wolves would be afraid of
him
.
Running was faster on all fours. He sprinted through the forest, actually enjoying the way his body responded when he ran. He’d never felt so big and strong in his life.
The lights were out in Nadine’s father’s house, as he expected they would be. But her room had a door to a balcony, and she always left it unlocked so he could visit her. Hopefully she’d left it unlocked, even though he’d already taken her once today.
Climbing the tree to her balcony was easier in animal form than it had been as a human. The muscles in his new body were incredibly strong. He pounced onto her balcony from the tree and hovered outside the door, panting.
He had to make her understand,
before
she saw him. Or he was doomed.
Let the door be open
, he prayed.
It was. Perhaps Nadine had remembered it was his birthday after all.
Frederick slipped inside her bedroom and covered her eyes with his heavy hand, taking care not to scratch her pretty face with the unkempt gorilla finger nails.
“Nadine,” he whispered.
The girl whimpered. “Who are you?”
“It’s me, it’s—” His voice sounded different, though, coming from his new vocal cords. He tried to tell her what happened with the enchantress, but the words wouldn’t come out. It just sounded like angry growling.
My stepmother is an evil witch who turned me into a beast. If you love me the spell will be broken.
That’s what he kept trying to say, but the words literally could not come out. That witch had cast a spell to keep him from telling people what she’d done!
It’s only a spell, I’m still in here, I’m still Prince Frederick!
But only growls emerged from his mouth.
Nadine struggled, pushing his paw away from her face. Her eyes widened in terror, her mouth fell open in a gasp,
“Please, Nadine—”
I am Frederick!
Fuck.
“Look at my eyes,” he said, grateful when the words came out. “You know me.”
Nadine screamed at the top of her lungs. “Help me, Father! Help!”
Frederick heard the clomping of feet down the hall. He dove out of her room and into the tree, jumped to the ground, and ran.
“Help!” she screamed.
He spared one last glance up at the girl he thought loved him. The girl who didn’t even recognize his eyes, his soul.
She howled in fear, and he ran away, back into the woods.
He could still hear her words, echoing in his ears.
“It’s a BEAST!”
Chapter One (Ten Years Later)
The Beast
—for that was what he was now, no longer Prince Frederick—stood at the large bay window and stared out onto the empty landscape surrounding his abandoned castle. A storm raged through the sky, pouring rain down in heavy sheets of water.
It reminded him of the storm on the night he was turned into the Beast.
His stepmother had left that night, ten years ago, after she’d enchanted him and the castle. She took all of the servants with her. Beast pitied the next unfortunate fool who fell under her spell like his father had done.
“I would like a fire,” he commanded, pointing to the large stone fireplace.
It immediately lit up, creating a warming glow. Beast sat before it and watched the flames dance. The scent of roses from an open window drifted through his drawing room, and he ordered the window to shut to keep out the rain. Pity it would also keep out the intoxicating scent of roses as well. The thorny bushes were under every window to deter thieves, but Beast loved them for their roses. They provided the only beauty he’d seen in ten long years.
He couldn’t even bear to cut the blossoms, for fear of killing their beauty.
BANG
.
Beast jumped in his chair. What was that? The front door—
Banging.
No one had come to the castle since his stepmother left. He had a suspicion she had cast a spell over the town so that they’d forget it even existed. That
he
existed.
BANG. BANG.
They’d come—he’d lived in fear that at some point the townspeople would come to slay the Beast. But now he welcomed it. What was living, if he was forced to live his life alone in this vast, empty castle? Unable to seek out human contact. Unable to do anything other than wish for a girl to come along and break the spell.
But the castle’s enchantment didn’t work that way. When he was hungry, a meal appeared before him. When he wanted a bath, one was magically poured. But there was no response when he wished for company. He knew, he’d tried.
“Fire, go out,” he grumbled under his breath. The room fell into darkness once more, and Beast hid in the shadows, awaiting the fate of the stranger knocking on his door.
“Please, may I come in?” a man’s voice called. “I’m lost and there were wolves at my heels—waiting for me at the castle gate. I beg you, let me in.”
***
To Henry Castelle, the merchant standing before the intimidating castle door, the only thing that kept him banging on that door was the sure knowledge that if he didn’t get shelter tonight, he would die in the woods.
“Please,” he called, “I mean you no harm, for the love of God, please let me in!”
The door creaked open. Henry gasped in relief and entered, quickly shutting the door behind him. He looked up gratefully to thank his host, but no one was there.
“H-hello?” he called. “My name is Henry Castelle, I apologize for the intrusion.”
His voice echoed off the high ceilings, bouncing back at him. The castle appeared to be deserted.
“If I might warm myself by your fire and spend the night, I will be eternally grateful,” he said. To no one.
To his surprise, a fire shot up in the fireplace, the warmth drawing him in closer. An empty chair sat in front of the fireplace, and he sat down, sighing with relief as the chill slowly seeped out of his bones.
What made the fire start, in an abandoned castle?
“Thank you, good fairies, for being so accommodating to a poor stranger such as myself.”
No answer.
His stomach rumbled loudly. Henry laughed, his nervousness coming through despite his best efforts. “Sorry, how embarrassing. I’m quite hungry.”
It felt strange, talking to what he could only assume were benevolent fairies, but when a tray piled high with food and hot chocolate appeared before him, any strangeness he felt disappeared.
He touched the food gingerly with the fork, afraid it would disappear into thin air the same way it had arrived. But the food was real, as real as his hunger. Henry ate voraciously.
Taking the last sip of chocolate, and feeling sufficiently warmed by the fire, he stood and began to explore a bit.
“If there is a bed where I might spend the night, I would be very grateful,” he said aloud to the fairies. “I’ll be on my way in the morning.”
A glimmer of light caught his eye. Candles lit by themselves along the walls of one corridor, and Henry tentatively followed the path they set out for him.
One room’s door was ajar. He peeked in, and seeing a freshly made bed and a warm fire glowing in the fireplace, took off his boots and laid down. With a full belly and the nightmare of his ordeal in the woods behind him, Henry fell asleep the moment his head hit the soft satin pillow.
The following morning, a tray with coffee and fresh fruit awaited him. His clothing, which had been soaked through in the storm the night before, was dry and hanging in the open armoire.