The sun is shining through the window when we next awake. I hear people moving about in the rest of the house. “It sounds like everyone is awake”
“Mmmm, I would say that sounds right.” He pulls me backward into him and I hiss as his arm crosses some very sore areas of my body. “Callie, I’m so sorry, I didn’t think—”
I place my hand on his arm to still him from his panic attack. “It’s okay, it’s going to take me a while to remember I’m covered in bruises, too.”
A knock sounds on the door, and we quickly sit up in bed, both cringing at how sore we are from yesterday’s battles.
“Your Majesty, we’re just about ready to head back to the castle,” Steve says from the other side of the door.
“We’ll be out in a moment,” he returns. After getting out of bed himself, he helps me to climb out and moves to a wardrobe I didn’t notice last night. He pulls out two sets of men’s clothing and places them on the bed. “You’ll need to tie the laces on the breeches extra tight to keep them from falling down your body.”
“Whose clothes are these?” I ask.
“I believe we’re in James’s room.”
“You kicked him out of his own room?”
“We all agreed you needed one of the beds after all you’ve been through the last couple of days,” he replies. “If it makes you feel better, Steve also let one of the women take over his room.”
It takes me some time and help from the beast to get the clothes on. Everything hurts. Muscles that haven’t been used probably ever. Getting beaten and tortured. Riding the horse through the woods all damn day yesterday, I need a break.
When we walk out of the room, everyone else is already outside. “Here we go again,” I say sarcastically, hoping we are close to the castle and we don’t have to ride for long.
* * *
Thankfully, the house we stayed in last night is somewhere in the trees between the two castles and we get back home within a few short hours. When I dismount, I awkwardly limp to the man waiting to take my horse back to the stables, wherever they are.
Kenna runs up to me as soon as I hand off my horse and wraps her arms around me so tight, I can’t keep a groan of pain from escaping my mouth.
“You had me so worried! I can’t believe you snuck away like that!” she says too loudly. Then her eyes roam down my body and the awkward way I’m holding myself. “What happened to you?”
“Kenna, can you please take Callie to the healer? She will need her wounds tended to as soon as possible,” the beast tells her.
Kenna nods to him and loops her arm through mine, leading me into and through the castle.
She takes me to the petite healer, Althea, who does her best to help me. She gives me some herbs and salves to apply as needed for my various injuries and something for Kenna to add into my bath.
Next, Kenna takes me up to my room and my jaw drops when I see the beautiful gown hanging from the open wardrobe door. “Kenna, what’s that?” I ask.
“It’s New Year’s Eve, miss. There’s going to be a ball to celebrate the end of the battle and the new year.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be able to wear that.” I gesture down at my body, now covered up, but she just saw all my bruises when we were with the healer.
“Oh, we can get you into it without a corset, miss. I’ll make sure not to lace it too tightly as well.”
She moves into the other room to prepare the bath, adding the herbs from the healer into the tub before several people come into the room carrying buckets of water with steam rising off the surface. Then she helps me to get out of the men’s clothes.
Slowly, I ease into the water, holding onto the sides to keep myself from slipping on the smooth bottom of the tub. Kenna comes in and helps me wash my hair. She scrubs extra hard and laughs as she pulls out various twigs and leaves tangled in it that somehow accumulated in our short ride today.
I scrub as hard as I can with the soap she hands me, doing my best to remove any residue left over from the previous day. Once I feel like I can’t get any cleaner, Kenna has me stand in the tub and dumps several buckets of clean water over my head to wash off any remaining bloody bathwater.
I climb out and dry off, and we add as many layers as she thinks I can handle. Then she leaves everything as loose as possible without the dress falling off or looking like a giant, beautiful burlap sack. Thankfully, the potion healed me enough where I don’t have to wear bandages, but the skin around my wrists is still tender. The bruises along my torso are still visible, and my ribs are still bruised. The bath seems to have helped all of these things, including the muscle soreness from shooting so many arrows and riding a horse for so long. But, unfortunately, as everyone keeps telling me, it’s just going to take time to heal properly.
While my hair dries she does my makeup beautifully. Then she pins and tucks my hair in an elegant updo. “What about you? Don’t you need to get ready?”
“Of course, miss. I’ll be going to my room as soon as someone comes to take you down to the ballroom.” When she reaches the end of her sentence, we turn at a knock on the door.
Steve pokes his head in. “Your carriage awaits, madam.” He bows low and ridiculously moves his arm in an arc toward himself before standing with a big smile across his face and holding his elbow out in my direction.
Quickly, I squat down, snag the necklace from my coat pocket, and shove it into a hidden pocket in my dress. I don’t know what makes me do it, or why I felt the need to take the necklace off of the woman I killed. But something inside me tells me to keep the necklace with me, so I do.
Carefully, I stand from my crouched position and move toward him. Thankfully, there were some flat shoes in my wardrobe so I can minimize tripping over my own feet and further injury.
* * *
When we reach a large set of double doors I’ve never seen before, James stands beside the door. He opens it and announces, “The honorable Miss Callie has arrived.”
I feel the heat move up my neck and cheeks. Inside, it appears there are stairs going down into a large ballroom. All eyes are on me while Steve helps me down the stairs. Thankfully, he keeps me from tripping the entire way down.
“Seriously, who built this place?” I wonder aloud to myself.
“I couldn’t even begin to tell you,” he replies.
It’s hard to believe they created a ballroom under this mountain, but I guess when you’re digging down, it’s easier to fit things.
At the bottom of the stairs, the beast waits for me. His jaw drops while he watches me descend the staircase. “Here she is, Your Majesty,” Steve says, passing me off to the beast.
“Thank you, Steve. You may go be with your family now,” the beast tells him.
“Your family is here? I would love to meet them!” I say and both of them look at me and chuckle.
“Later, Callie First we must kick off the dancing.”
“I’m not sure I know your kind of dancing.” It’s been a long time since I’ve done any dancing. I’m afraid I probably won’t know any of the ones that were around back when these guys started getting banished here.
“Don’t worry, you can follow my lead.” He winks at me.
Taking my hand, he leads me out into the middle of the dance floor. He takes one of my hands and places it on his shoulder, then he rests his hand on my upper back before grasping my other hand in his. Off to the side sits a small orchestra, they start playing, and the beast waits a few beats before starting the dance.
We move across the floor, and he leads me beautifully. I feel like a princess. The others join in a few bars into the song, and we twirl and swoosh around each other.
The men are dressed in their best suits, the women wear beautiful gowns. Running around the room, even the children are dressed up for the occasion.
Several dances later, we move out of the dancing area to get some punch and refreshments from tables off to the side.
“I don’t believe I’ve thanked you for your help these last few days, Callie.” He looks at me over the top of the punch cup he holds.
I take a sip of mine before responding, “I don’t believe I’ve thanked you enough for rescuing me from Peter and Hook.”
“Truly, Callie, I’ve never been so terrified in my entire life.”
“Not even when you first came here?”
“That wasn’t terrifying, it was just an adjustment. When I turned around and I couldn’t find you, my heart stopped in my chest. I thought for sure they were going to kill you.”
“They almost did,” I mumble. He draws me into his side and kisses the top of my head.
One of the young archers comes up and asks for me to join him in a dance. The beast nods for me to join him. I hand my cup off to him before extending my hand to the young man. While he is not as skilled at leading as the beast, I manage not to further injure myself.
When we finish the dance, another man comes up and asks me to join him. I look at the beast on the sidelines and he nods to me again. Then, a woman comes up and asks him to dance and we spend the next several songs trading off partners.
Finally, Steve and James approach me at the same time and Steve says, “Callie, we’d like to introduce you to our families.” I nod to my most recent dance partner and follow the two men to where their families stand.
The wives call to their children, who are running around the perimeter of the room with the other children.
“Callie, this is my wife Abigail,” Steve says.
She curtsies to me and I nod in return.
“And this is my wife Imogene,” James adds.
Looking between the two, I recognize the similarities and ask, “Are you two sisters?”
“Yes, miss,” Imogene replies.
“We’ve always been told how much we look alike,” Abigail tells me.
“The boys are running around here somewhere. I’m afraid they’re having too much fun running around the ballroom with their friends.”
“Probably off somewhere picking on our daughters,” Steve chimes in.
“It was lovely to meet you, Callie, but I must get James out onto the dance floor,” Imogene says, and James holds out his arm for her to take.
“You’ll come over for dinner some night, won’t you?” Abigail asks.
“Of course,” I respond, and Steve whisks her out onto the floor as well.
Theodore approaches me and extends his hand to me. “May I have this dance?” I nod, grateful to dance with someone I know better than those I met just days ago because I stood beside them on the battlefield.
“Are you married, Theodore?” I ask while we twirl across the floor.
“No, ma’am. I’ve never found a woman worth settling down with.” I nod in understanding. He spins me one last time, straight into the waiting arms of the beast, who immediately whisks me off the dance floor, back over to some refreshments.
“I have something to ask you, Callie,” he starts, but our attention is diverted when someone yells that we have ten minutes until the new year. “But first, I want to show you something.”
He takes my cup and plate and places them on the table, grabbing my hand and leading me back up the stairs. We move through many tunnels and up many staircases in the mountain, moving up all the time.
I hear a shuffling behind me and realize everyone is following us up to wherever we are going.
At the top of the last staircase, he pushes open a set of double doors and we enter a large room, one entire wall made of glass. And I think we must be on a side of the mountain I haven’t seen before. I would have noticed this much glass on the side of the mountain.
“Whoever built this place had some amazing technology. It took me forever to figure out how to open the false rock covering the windows,” he whispers in my ear as he moves us right up to the window.
I touch the cold glass and look out at the surrounding land. There are trees as far as the eye can see, and the river I encountered can be seen flowing in the distance, the moon glistening off the water.
“Why are we up here?” I ask.
“You’ll see.” He moves to stand behind me, arms gently wrapped around my waist. His warm breath across my cheek gives me goosebumps as we wait.
“Five.” His breath skates across my skin, my hair tickling me as it gently moves against my neck.
“Four.” His arms pull me closer to him and I hold my breath in anticipation of what is to come.
“Three.” His arms leave my waist and he trails his fingertips down my arms, hands entwining with my own.
“Two.” He releases one of his hands and runs his fingers down my neck. I tilt my head to the opposite side to give him access.
“One.” He leans in and kisses my neck. Tingles reach all the way to my core and I gasp at the contact.
“Happy New Year!” everyone shouts together, and as soon as they finish, fireworks, or something that looks like fireworks, fly over the water, and the enemy castle. Their reflection on the still surface makes them look even more magnificent.
I gaze at the beauty of the different colors lighting up the world outside the large window. I release his hand and move closer to the glass, touching its cold surface.
The beast comes around my side, and I turn to face him. “Happy new year, Callie,” he says as he gently places one palm on my cheek. His other arm wraps around my waist and he pulls me into him. I can feel the warmth of his body against my own.
“Happy new year,” I reply, moving my hands to wrap around his neck, fingers clasping together, his braided brown hair not allowing for me to run my fingers through it as I want to.
He moves closer to me, giving me the opportunity to move away, to stop this from happening. Everything around us fades away and we stand in our own bubble of whatever this is. Too slowly, he presses closer to me. If he could pull me any closer to him, he would, though my dress prevents it. My own blue eyes flash back and forth between his brown and ice blue ones.
It feels like it takes forever and finally I pull his face to me, closing the remaining distance between us, tired of waiting for his slow descent. As soon as I feel the warmth of his lips against mine, they’re gone. His warm arms falling away in the blink of an eye.
The smell of him is suddenly an echo on the breeze. An icy chill whispers across my skin and I wrap my arms around myself, tears falling down my cheeks. I open my eyes to my bedroom at my parents’ house.