Beauty and the Beast

"He who is unable to live in society, or who has no need because he is sufficient for himself, must be either a beast or a god." - Aristotle (394 - 322 B.C.), Politics (4th c. B.C.), 1.2, tr. Benjamin Jowett

"Two years?" Riley hissed, his long-standing nervousness of the Beast forgotten as he stalked towards the unmoving animal. "What does he mean that he's been courting Darla two years? I've never seen aught of him before I left! How can I have been gone two years when I've only been here a couple of days?"

The Beast lowered its head again, bringing it almost level of the outraged man staring up at him. "It is part of my punishment."

Riley paused. Punishment? He'd known the prince was being punished. But he had no idea there was torture for the Beast involved. "What punishment? What do you speak of?"

The Beast gave its rumbling sigh. "I cannot speak of it."

"Of course," Riley retorted.

"Suffice it to say that time passes here differently than it does in the outside world, Riley."

A sliver of fear passed through the man. "H-how so? How long have I been here truly?"

"In the castle, only two days. In the outside world, a year passes for every day that you're here."

A stunned silence fell over them both as Riley stared at him. What did that mean for him? In the space of a week, everything he knew might have gone or changed forever. His friends would be old in a fortnight's time. His father would be dead and dust in less than two months. And Lizzy...

"What of my sister Elizabeth? Why was Darla so concerned about her?"

The Beast bent its liquid ruby eyes upon him. "Of all your family, she is the only one who clings still to the hope that you will return to her alive. She has shut herself up in her father's home and become almost a recluse, stubborn in her desire not to leave until you are safely returned.

"Your sister Cordelia is happily married and expecting her second child. She has no time to wallow in memories of you. Darla wishes to marry yet pities Elizabeth, and, since she became the eldest child after your departure, feels herself responsible for the well being of the family. Elizabeth's behavior worries her greatly. Your father is determined to forget you for he fears the slander of idle tongues that suggest he murdered an unknown wealthy man for his gold. So he in time he invented a tale that you had gone abroad and called off the search for you. Elizabeth knows nothing of this; your father has messengers come to her with the same disappointing tales and the pretence that they have been searching for you in foreign lands. But no one save Elizabeth believes you will return."

Riley drew a deep breath and when he spoke again, his voice was raw, vibrating with anger. "You knew all this. You knew about my family. And you said nothing."

The Beast's head turned from his and he read guilt in that tense posture. "I did. But they were suffering no physical hurt at your loss and I wished you to stay. Was I wrong?"

"Wrong? No, I suppose not. You are my jailor; why not hide the truth from me since you wished to keep me here, happy and blind to what happens in the outside world?" Cold anger seethed in those hazel eyes. "And now I have been gone two years and they already begin to forget me."

Red eyes contemplated him. "Have you not forgotten them? This is the first time you have spoken to me of them since you came here."

Riley's mouth opened and closed. This was true. He'd spoken of his family to Liam but he'd remained dumb about it to the Beast. After all, he hadn't wished to share confidences with this brute; he'd wanted to kill him and rob him of his treasure. Now it was his turn to feel guilty. "I-I know it. But I wish I'd known how much time I'd lost here."

"Why? To pain you as I have been? To let you know the world was passing you by? I could not do that to you, Riley." The Beast paused and crouched until its entire body rested on the unclean floor. "But this punishment, intended to make me suffer, has caught you in its net as well. I am truly sorry, Riley Finn."

Riley's fists clenched and unclenched as he looked down at the figure crouched at its feet. He was doomed to stay here forever with this accursed monster and, in a few more weeks, it wouldn't matter if he could win his way free. His family would be old and would have forgotten him like one dead.

But Lizzy remembered him and he recalled Collin's words. Had she really shut herself away like a cursed princess? He turned back to the mirror. "Show me my sister Elizabeth," he demanded.

The mirror's surface shimmered, grew cloudy and then cleared. Now he could see a profuse rose garden. He recognized these unique flowers as belonging to the Beast and he was momentarily confused. Had the mirror made a mistake and shown him the Beast's garden? Then a golden-haired woman came into view and he was startled to recognize Elizabeth.

She had become a lady, stylishly dressed in an ankle-length gown of shimmering blue fabric. Shoes in a floral pattern with flat heels adorned her dainty feet as she trod carefully on the ground. Her long hair was swept up in long ringlets curling over her forehead and down over her ears. It made her look older and a pang smote him as he realized how much he missed her.

Time had also filled out her figure. She was still of a neat, trim shape and rather small; apparently she would never grow much past her tiny stature. But her breasts were fuller, her hips a trifle wider than he remembered. Her expression was also graver as if she'd found little in life worth smiling at. Longing to comfort her and wipe the sadness from her face, Riley reached out towards the mirror, failing to remember she couldn't see, hear nor touch him.

She reached out and brushed a hand down one of the flowers, a faint smile diminishing her somber looks. It was an intimate gesture, such as he might have given Cullen once upon a time. Then a man came into view bearing a bouquet of flowers. Elizabeth looked up at him and her expression became one of pique. "What are you doing here?"

"Your father told me you might be here." The man smiled at her. She didn't return it.

"Well, here I am. What did you want?" Her voice held no welcoming warmth, only exasperation, as if this man's presence were tiresome to her.

He paid no heed to her cross behavior. Instead he held out the posy he'd brought. "Here, my lovely lass. These are for you."

She made no move to take them, waving instead at the crimson roses surrounding her. "As you can see I already have flowers. You're not about to sway me with an easy gift I already possess."

"Ah, but you don't possess flowers like these!" he said eagerly. He stepped closer, lowering his voice suggestively. "Elizabeth, have you not heard of the language of flowers?"

She raised her eyebrows. "Language of flowers? Since when do flowers speak? I know people think me overly fond of my roses but I've never had them talk to me."

He shook his head impatiently, tight black curls wagging back and forth. "No, I speak of the meaning people impart to certain flowers. Like that passage in Hamlet, when poor mad Ophelia hands flowers and herbs around to the members of the court."

Elizabeth nodded, her surprise at his erudition fleetingly overcoming her ill temper. "Yes, I know. Rosemary for remembrance, pansies for thoughts and all the rest." She smiled at him before recalling that she was supposed to be upset at his presence. "Well, what about it?"

He pointed out the various flowers in the bundled. "Indian azalea means 'true to the end', bay leaf is 'I change but in death', blue violets are for faithfulness, bluebells stand for constancy, red chrysanthemum means 'I love' and calla ethiopica 'a magnificent beauty' for I love a magnificent beauty," he added with a knowing look.

Elizabeth was intrigued in spite of herself. "And that one?" she asked, pointing at a yellow chrysanthemum.

"Slighted love," he answered sadly. "For my love is slighted. I have called on you faithfully-"

She interrupted him sharply. "Not because I've asked you to. In fact, I've told you time and again I will not marry you until my brother returns or I hear some news of him."

"And if you hear no news? What then? Do you mean to shut yourself away like a nun, never knowing the pleasure of love between men and women, never knowing the joy of a kiss?"

Elizabeth bit her lip, even as she turned away her eyes in confusion. "Romantic dribble. I thought only women were supposed to indulge in such whimsical fancies."

"There is nothing whimsical about love, Elizabeth." Ronald had crept closer, his voice lowering and passion burning in his blue-black eyes. Riley tensed, wanting to leap through the mirror and beat that man away from Elizabeth. To be sure, this was no Shawn McTeague and he could see honest love shining out of the man's eyes. He was proposing marriage to his dear Lizzy and had stayed faithful to her in spite of her constant rejections of his affections. But Riley still felt an older brother's possessive desire to protect his baby sister.

Ronald grabbed Elizabeth by the shoulders and spun her around. Before she could scream or protest, he planted a fierce kiss on her upturned lips. Elizabeth struggled briefly and then Riley could see the tension melt out of her as the kiss went on and on. He knew what she was feeling for he'd known the same only recently and his heart raced as he thought of Liam's firm lips and pliant tongue casting their spell over his senses.

The next moment, his sister began to fight and twist violently in Ronald's embrace until the man was forced to release her. "How dare you?" she screamed shrilly, her face flaming red and her breasts heaving with the turbulence of her emotions.

"I dare because I'm a man in love," Ronald growled. "I dare because I wish to make you my wife and show you all the things you've been missing from your life. I dare because I've been patient for two long years. Lizzy..." he went on.

"Don't call me that. Don't EVER call me that," she whispered. Her eyes had gone gray and cold, hostility and a kind of blankness in them that he remembered from when she'd spoken of sacrificing herself to the Beast. There was a hint of madness in those slate gray orbs that chilled him to the bone. Had his disappearance driven his sister to insanity or was it the harshness of her life altogether that had done it?

Ronald didn't recognize the madness. He only saw anger and held up his hands to placate her. Trying to regain the former mood of tenderness, he gestured towards the roses. "Do you know what red roses mean, Elizabeth? Amorous, passionate love," he finished and he reached out with one hand and tore off at least four of the blossoms before holding them out to her.

The blossoms were barely removed from their stems when they withered, turned black and dropped, petal by petal, from his hand onto the ground. In moments, there was nothing left of the flowers clutched in his fingers but twisted, blackened, thorny stems and both the blonde woman and her neglected suitor gaped at them in shock.

His sister's scream of anguish was drowned out by a roar from the Beast and Riley swung around, startled, to see the animal rear up and then collapse on the mucky floor, twisting about in apparent agony. "Beast? What is it? What's wrong?"

The Beast said nothing, only continued to writhe and howl in its distress.

__________

Elizabeth flew at Ronald, striking him with her fists and the gift of his bouquet. "You bastard! Look what you've done! Look what you've done!"

He threw up his arm to shield himself from the random blows. But in truth he hardly felt them, still stunned by the amazing sight he'd just witnessed. "Elizabeth, I'm sorry. I didn't know... what just happened here?"

She halted her assault on him to kneel on the dirt, heedless of her lovely dress. She gathered up the shattered petals, sobbing as they crumbled in her hands. "Oh, god. How could you? Do you know what you've done?"

"What is it? What have I done? Elizabeth?" He reached out a tentative hand towards her only to have her smack it away.

Her eyes, a smoky green with rage, glared up at him. "Get out," she hissed.

"Elizabeth, I'm sorry, truly. I didn't know, didn't mean..."

"No one plucks these roses. NO ONE. Even I leave them untouched. If you knew anything about me, you'd know that." She rose to her full height, shorter than his by almost two feet, but imposing in her rage nonetheless. "Take your stupid bouquet and your pitiful love and get out. Do not return here, ever."

"Elizabeth, don't punish me for a foolish mistake. How could I have known?"

"GET OUT." There was no ire this time only frost dripping from her eyes and her voice. She clutched the petals and threw them on to the rest of the roses. Then she swung on her heel and stalked back to the house. Her head held high, she never looked back once at the man standing disconsolately in her garden.

__________

Riley stood over the Beast, helpless to aid it. The animal still continued to thrash on the grimy floor, its whole body shaking from whatever unseen pangs had it in their grip. Riley stepped closer only to have the Beast swing its head towards him and growl fiercely. In that noise, there was nothing of human tones and Riley shrank away from the gnashing teeth and wild red eyes. This was truly a savage animal and he was trapped in one narrow room with it, the creature's thrashing body between him and the only door to escape. He pulled his knife from his boot and held it at the ready, praying that he wouldn't have to use it.

The spasms that wracked the Beast's frame, however, were even now subsiding, the howls and roars diminishing to whimpered groans of pain. Finally, it lay still, harsh sobs dragging from its enormous body, glazed eyes staring sightlessly in Riley's direction. Riley continued to hold his place, the dagger extended in front of him, until the Beast sighed. "R-Riley?"

"Beast?" he answered cautiously.

"I-I am too hurt to move. You..." It paused to pant harshly. "Y-You will have to make your way back to the upper floors on your own." The creature paused to groan in pain again and Riley was emboldened enough to replace his dagger in his boot and approach. He draped one stalwart arm lightly across the Beast's back, peering into its face anxiously.

"How can I leave you? Aren't you still in pain?"

"Yes, but it fades even now. You may leave me. I will have my servants bring the mirror to your room." The Beast sank to the floor again and shut its eyes, its furry sides heaving as it gasped for breath.

Riley stared at him, wrestling internally. This was a mad thing he was contemplating. But he couldn't let the Beast stay here suffering no matter what his better judgment might counsel. "Nae. You don' have to stay here," his country burr lending softness to his words.

"Where else? This is the place for me. Leave me be, Riley Finn. A few hours and I will be well again. You needn't fret yourself about me."

Riley sank to his knees beside it, uncaring of the mess on the floor. "If you don' come wit' me, then I'm stayin' here wit' ye."

The Beast lifted its head, its snout wrinkling as it contemplated him. "In this filthy sty? No, Riley, never."

Riley grinned at him, mischief lightening the concern in his eyes. "Then there's only one thing for it."

Riley had called out for the Beast's invisible servants to come to his aid. At first he'd received no response to his plea until he pointed out how their master needed help. Then, before his bemused eyes, unseen hands had lifted up the Beast's bulky physique and carried it up the many stairs to Riley's room.

A colossal tub of hot water, big enough to encompass the Beast's sizeable frame, had been waiting in Riley's bedroom and Riley watched the Beast lowered into it. It had protested feebly at this treatment and then sighed happily as water cascaded across its dark fur, turning it even darker with its moisture. It rolled one red eye at Riley and sighed, "Why do you do this? My injury is not physical and certainly not mortal. I would recover in time. Why didn't you leave me where you saw me?"

"I told you. That place was vile and I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you there to suffer alone. Isn't this much better?" Riley finished, waving his arm around the room.

The creature nodded, sending ripples across the water. "But you made it clear to me the first time we met that you didn't want me here."

Riley ducked his head shyly. "Maybe I've changed my mind. I have to admit the company isn't so bad as it once was."

The Beast wrinkled its snout so its teeth were bared and Riley realized this was its attempt at a smile. It climbed cautiously out of the tub. Riley had to admit the water made it look somewhat diminished. It was still of a formidably large size. But wet, it looked less dangerous, almost cute like a soaked puppy, and Riley smiled at the thought.

The Beast caught it. "What is it? What do you find so amusing?"

Riley hid his expression behind his hand as he affected a coughing fit. "Nothing. Tell me now what ailed you in the dungeons. You were hurt when that man plucked my sister's roses. Do they have some hold on your life, then?"

The Beast chuckled weakly. "That they do, Riley Finn. You have discovered my true weakness and, like the mythic creatures in any fairy tale, it is something so absurd and simple as to be considered laughable. Let the roses be plucked or torn from their moorings and it causes me the most exquisite pain. The rose your father took provoked the same reaction although the pain was not so great since he took only one instead of a handful as your sister's suitor did."

Riley was stunned with this intelligence. Was this all it took to bring the Beast low then? Now that he thought of it, his weapons had never caused the Beast to show the slightest apprehension but the destruction of a few fragile flowers would be enough seemingly to bring the animal to its knees.

The Beast's life was in his hands. If a few torn roses brought it pain, surely the destruction of many more would be enough to kill it. This was the first good news he'd gotten since he arrived here. Yet he couldn't bring himself to do anything with this knowledge. The Beast's kindness, a dozen little favors and considerations that it had shown, the ease of its confidence and the thrill of their hunt rose up to rebuke him for his malevolent plans and something inside him quailed at the darkness of his thoughts.

[You're a hunter, are you not?]

[Nae, but this wouldn't be hunting, not to kill him by shredding a few flowers. That's magic, fell sorcery, and no true hunter would stand for it.]

[What does it matter whether you kill your prey with snares, bows, dogs, traps or magical enchantments? A dead animal is a dead animal. There's no such thing as honor where beasts are concerned.]

[It has honored me. It has respected my wishes and my privacy. I can't repay it with such treachery.]

[Yet it would be dead and the castle and its treasures yours.] That last thought held no true appeal. Was the castle not his already, by the Beast's actions if not words? And what did he care for riches? They had never swayed him as they had his sisters and his family was well off, judging by what he'd seen. Then again the scene in the mirror might have been a trick. But then why show his family in distress? Why not show them all happy and smiling so that he might abandon them to their respective fates and stay here trapped in blissful oblivion?

Riley paused as he remembered something. "Beast, could you explain something you said earlier before I became involved in my sister's love life? You said you were being punished. How can that be?"

The Beast sighed and shook itself, the water droplets landing all over the room. Riley held up a towel in silent reproach and began toweling the Beast off briskly, before any more fluid could fly. As the towel swept over the creature's head that seemed to give it courage to speak, although rather muffled by the linen.

"This is a kind of punishment. So many years have passed since I came to the castle. And these are our years not those of outside. So I have been here for many of your centuries now," the Beast finished sadly.

"Centuries?" This was more startling news. Just how old was the Beast?

Before he could ask, the Beast shook off the towel and sank down on the floor, resting its huge tusked head on its paws. He sighed, a gusty sound that swept through the room like the bellowing wind during a thunderstorm. Then the sound died away as he spoke once more. "Even if I were to leave this place and not be hunted for a trophy, killed for my ugliness or be captured to find myself in a carnival sideshow, the world has drifted on without me and I have no more place in it. All that I knew, loved and cared for has passed away. Were I to return now, I would be naught but a relic and curiosity of bygone years."

"Then-you really are trapped here," Riley mused softly. The prince had said as much about himself. Were his circumstances the same as the tusked creature crouched on Riley's floor or were they of a different nature altogether?

Did any of that really matter? The Beast claimed that he was a relic. That would happen to Riley if he stayed there long enough. Yet he couldn't leave now, not with the Beast seeming so frail and weak. He would stay one more day-no, half a day. Then he would make a very special request of his captor.

__________

The half-day passed very pleasantly. The Beast seemed to experience no more pain from his hurt although he moved more slowly and without his habitual grace when he walked. He brought Finn to the library as he was too weak for any more strenuous activity.

In Galway, Riley had been bored with books when forced to study; he thought the real world outside of literature was what was important and found no use for fiction or poetry and history was nothing more than the study of dead men and their dusty pasts. But the Beast made the books come alive, telling of the people who were written of in the pages as if they were alive still, real and vibrant in their triumphs, loves and losses. He infused the pages with passion and spirit, inviting Riley to make his own comments and observations. They spoke to both man and animal of distant lands and Riley felt a longing to visit those places, such as what he'd once known in The Growling Lion when he spoke to the travelers who came through there.

When that activity palled, the Beast sat in front of the mirror and growled out various commands and Riley looked in wonder as the faces of peoples in far-off countries rose in front of him, chattering away in their foreign tongues and wearing their outlandish clothes. He was reminded of his unspoken desire. But he could see the Beast's pleasure in his company. The animal was happy, not as a dog was when its master was near, but with the joy of true companionship, what he had craved from the very beginning and he couldn't bear to bring that to an end. Not yet.

Riley's concern about Elizabeth gradually faded in significance. The half-day stretched out to two as Riley discovered new delights in the Beast's friendship as the animal took him on a tour of the grounds, pointing out this or that structure and its significance in the castle's history. There was another hunt, this time with Riley on the black charger and the Beast tearing alongside him to bring down an elk. Riley's shot was true this time and the elk crashed to the ground and rolled over at once; it didn't stir again.

The Beast once again granted Riley the major portion of the spoils but Riley insisted on eating with him. The Beast hesitated and then lowered his head to a sizeable shank. He tore into it greedily with his tusks and Riley swallowed hard to see his ferocity as he ate. But he knew this was merely the Beast's way and he himself was in no danger. After a while, he ignored it and finished his meal before packing up the rest of the carcass to take back with them.

__________

That night, he stood in front of the mirror again and called to see his family. He smiled in wonder to see his nephew and niece Cory and Abigail walking and running about with the rambunctious energy of toddlers. Their mother fanned herself and thanked the heavens loudly for the use of nurses and servants to take care of over-active children. Darla was holding a darling baby with the changeable eyes of the O'Connells and cooing over it with a mother's love beaming from her face.

Elizabeth was nowhere in evidence and Riley was almost afraid to look for her. Was she still all right-or was she dead? Her sisters didn't mention her and a quick look over at his father's house showed no sign of her. Fearing the worst, he commanded the mirror to show him his sister.

Elizabeth appeared, dressed in a stark white gown. There was a white wimple over her head and the whole unflattering outfit cast a severe drawn look onto her face. She was kneeling on the floor, scrubbing at the tiles. As the mirror's view moved around the room, Riley could see that it was of very plain, even mean, furnishings with nothing of note except a rough hewn nightstand with a basin and a jug of water on top of it, a low bed with only a cover and no pillow and two chairs. There was nothing else adorning the walls save a heavy cross.

An older woman, dressed in gray robes to her white, poked in her head. "Sister Mary Elizabeth?" Riley started. Sister? Did that mean what he thought it meant?

Elizabeth looked up, wiping her forehead with one hand and cocked her head at the other woman, a question in her limpid eyes. They were still that mournful gray. Elizabeth's eyes turned green only in the grip of strong emotion, most notably when she was happy and Riley was certain she wasn't happy now no matter how peaceful she looked. "Yes, Sister Mary Susan?"

"There's summat here to see you. You'll have to come down to the front gate since he's not allowed on the grounds."

Elizabeth raised her eyebrows in surprise. "He? But the pastor came to see us just last week. He wouldn't be back again so soon."

"It's not the pastor. He says he's a friend of your family. He says he knows you."

Hope flared in Elizabeth's eyes. "What does he look like? Is he tall and broad-shouldered with hazel eyes?"

But the other woman was already shaking her head, regret at destroying Elizabeth's hope in her doughy face. "Nay, he's tall enough, but slightly built, with black, curly hair."

Elizabeth's eyes shuttered once more. "Tell him I don't want to see him."

"Oh, but the Mother Superior says you must. It's the only way to be certain of ye."

"Certain? Does she doubt my faith? Have I ever shown signs of wavering?" Elizabeth snapped. "I'm more than ready to take my vows. I needn't wait the eight months."

The other woman looked at her reprovingly. "That's not for you to decide, my child. Besides, it's not a question of faith. That's why she's ordering you to talk to your young man."

"He's not my young man," Elizabeth muttered almost peevishly.

"Then there can be no harm in going to see him," Mary Susan stated calmly.

Elizabeth visibly wrestled with the decision. Then she got up slowly and walked out the door. Another gray-clad sister stepped out to watch her go and as soon as she'd rounded the corner she turned to Mary Susan. "I don't understand. Doesn't the Mother Superior have faith in Mary Elizabeth?"

"No. She's not sure Mary Elizabeth has faith in herself and she may be choosing this path for all the wrong reasons," Mary Susan replied.

"But I've seen her at prayers, devotions and doing her chores. She's never wavered nor shown any signs of changing her mind about the course she's chosen."

"Exactly," Mary Susan stated to the baffled sister. "No true novitiate reaches the point of taking the orders without feeling doubts about the calling at least once and yet Mary Elizabeth claims to have no disbeliefs. That's suspicious in itself and I believe the Mother Superior's choosing this way of testing her."

Mary Sharon smiled proudly (but not too proudly; she was a nun, after all). "I'm sure Mary Elizabeth will pass. Her faith is strong."

Mary Susan sighed. "That's what I'm afraid of."

Riley turned from the mirror. He'd seen enough. Somehow his sister's insanity had developed into religious mania. What could have possessed her? He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. That was his Lizzy; once she got an idea into her head, it took inhuman effort to get her to relinquish it.

It was still daylight; the Beast had to be somewhere about the premises. But he'd never summoned the creature before even though it always seemed to find him. But his need now was urgent; he couldn't wait for the animal to show up in its usual way. Then it hit him. "Show me the Beast," he commanded the mirror. The mirror's surface wavered and cleared. He saw the Beast crouched near a small pond. He recognized the area from his second day of exploration; he thought he might be able to find it again if the Beast didn't leave it before he got there.

But no, the animal was still there, his mammoth head lowered to the water and a large bluish-black tongue coming out to lap water into its jaws. Riley waited until he was finished and then he turned and contemplated him calmly as if knowing he was there all along. "Riley Finn? I am glad to see you. The day is hot. Do you mean to swim?"

He blinked. Although the cool water did look inviting, he had more important things on his mind. "Beast, I must leave you. My sister Elizabeth is about to do something very rash. She means well." He paused for just a moment. "Actually I have no idea what she means. But it's a foolish decision she's making nonetheless and I just know it has to do with my disappearing. I have to go back to see her, try to talk her out of her thoughtlessness if I can."

The Beast said nothing for a very long while and Riley's heart sank. Did the creature mean to refuse his request? Then he sighed, the sound hissing all through the space and causing nearby birds to take flight. "Very well, Riley. You will go to see your sister and leave your poor Beast to die alone here."

There was no reproach in his words, only deep sorrow and resignation, as if death would be a natural consequence of his departure and the other had already accepted it. "No, Beast, no. I wouldn't do that to you. I mean to leave for a little while only, long enough to let Elizabeth know I'm not dead and she needn't do-whatever it is she's trying to do. I promise I'll be gone only a day."

The Beast shook his head sadly. "Troubled family affairs take more time to untangle than even you realize, Riley. I will give you a month to conclude your business with your sister."

Riley frowned. "A month? No, surely it won't take as long as that. And how much time is that to you?" He tried to figure out the passage of time in the Beast's world. A day here was 12 months there. Then a month in his world would be... "Two hours? That's all it will be to you, won't it?"

"And what are two hours to one who has known centuries? But you must stay away no longer than that. Otherwise..." His voice trailed away and he looked out over the pond. His posture became one of distant dismissal as if already bidding the Finn man goodbye.

Riley made bold enough to stroke the Beast's fur, trying to get the other to meet his eyes. "I'll return to you, Beast. I promise. And a Finn's word is worth something." The Beast didn't move at this and Riley vacillated, not wanting to go without giving him a further assurance of his return. Yet what could he say that wouldn't sound like a feeble lie? Eyeing the creature's hunched shoulders, Riley Finn took his leave. There was another to whom he had to make his goodbyes.

__________

Riley managed to find the cabin again easily. The castle paths twisted in their usual way, but somehow found himself in front of the small enclosure again. The prince had said all he need do was linger out of doors to see him. But he wanted this to be a special encounter between him and Liam; the cabin made this intended encounter warmer and more intimate.

However, sleep eluded him once he'd undressed and lay between the thick sheets. He tossed and turned, unable to close his eyes without being troubled by thoughts of the Beast. He cared for the animal, more than he had realized. Somehow fear had turned to understanding, hatred to compassion and loathing to-something else.

The Beast was more than an animal. He had proven to have his moods, tempers, loves and hatreds like other men. Riley opened his eyes, startled at the path his thoughts had taken. Like other men? The Beast wasn't a man; he would be the first to point that out and it was madness to believe him anything other than a wild creature. Yet wild creatures had no fondness for books, no love of roses, no longing for human companionship. Only men and women felt such things. There was more to the Beast than mere animal appetites.

Thinking of animals, he brushed his hand down his chest and touched the bone pendant, as always nestled above his heart. He thought of Gavrin and his longing for company in that lonely cabin he'd built, the one Riley had never gotten to see. Had it looked like this? What would have happened if Riley had taken him up on that offer? Gavrin had an animal's shy wildness and the passions of a man. But he would have shut Riley away from the world; he would have had no patience for the world's unknown beauty and desires for the outside as the Beast did. And would he ever have broken his reticence to tell Riley what he'd truly wanted from him?

Riley sighed and let the pendant slide from his brown fingers. It was useless to think of such things. He'd never once asked the mirror to show him Gavrin. That was proof enough that his former affections had been those of curiosity and confusion more than anything else. Whatever a boy might have felt for the older huntsman, they were nothing compared to what he felt for the prince.

Thinking of Liam made Riley smile and he settled deeper into the bed. His eyes drifted shut as serenity reigned in the cabin at last.

__________

A splash of water across his face made him open his eyes, sputtering. "Are you going to sleep the night away?" a laughing voice called out.

Riley sat up on the blanket, smiling as he found himself on the bank of the pond he'd visited earlier with the Beast. Liam was paddling about in the water just a few feet away and grinned when he saw Riley staring at him. "Come in! The water's bracing." He arched his body and dove under the surface, his back, buttocks and legs slicing almost soundlessly through the water.

Riley gulped when he realized the prince was naked. The kiss had occupied his mind until he could think of nothing else but he hadn't thought of what might follow it. Liam's nudity made his heart flutter as he thought of contemplating that bare perfection up close. What the night might bring he was completely uncertain of; nudity created a whole different territory his mind shied from exploring.

Liam surfaced again and cocked his head at Riley. "What's the matter? Don't you know how to swim?"

"I-um, not really," Riley stammered. That was as good an excuse as any for keeping his distance.

"But the water's really shallow." The prince swam closer, his upper torso lifting from the water. "And I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you," he added in his caressing voice.

Hazel eyes followed the droplets as they poured down that magnificent wide chest. Here was a broad form to rival his own, only pale where his flesh was dark from being in the sunlight. What would it be like to touch him and...? Again, his mind shied away even as frantic voices inside urged him to take the prince up on his offer.

"No, L-Liam. I have something to tell you." That was another handy excuse for staying away. Sure enough, Liam's face grew shadowed as if he already guessed what Riley had to say.

The next moment he ran out of the water, exposing himself completely, and threw himself on the prone man on the shore. "Talk can wait until after you've had a swim." He began wrestling with Riley, laughing as the other man tried to wriggle out of his embrace.

It seemed Liam's hands were everywhere, grasping at his shoulders, sliding under his loose shirt and cupping his ass through his breeches. Riley tried half-heartedly to fend him off but lost the battle when the prince's hardness, now bare to the moonlight, rubbed insistently against his own. First Liam was on top and then Riley had the advantage. He reared back to look down at that beautiful face, the dark hair splayed across the blanket. Liam arched up, his cock throbbing against Riley's. His face was flushed now with more than laughter and the wildness had returned to his eyes. "Oh, Riley," he breathed. Then he flipped the hunter until he was flat on his back again.

"Now you'll have to take a swim. Your clothes and body are all dirty." Liam darted a quick kiss on his lips and pulled back laughing once more as he dove into the water.

Riley watched as the man flung himself fearlessly into the water. The prince was avoiding conversation; he sensed that. If he wanted to speak to him before this night's dream ended, he would have to follow. Before he could change his mind, Riley swiftly chucked off his clothes until he wore nothing but his bone pendant. Taking a deep breath, he ran and hurled himself into the pond.

The water closed over his head and he felt a moment's panic. As he'd told the prince, swimming wasn't one of his strong points. But before fear could take him completely, a pair of strong arms wound around his waist and tender lips brushed his cheek.

Liam surfaced with Riley in his arms and plunged again, entwined together. Riley struggled a little and the prince let him escape. Then followed a game of chase as the two men sought to capture each other. The constant rubbings, the casual touches of the prince's hand against his body had the desired effect. Riley's cock was clutched and stroked all too quickly before the prince swam out of his reach. Liam's body would then return to press against his own, his cock flapping between Riley's spread thighs. It was an unbearable tease for it fired Riley's blood in spite of the coldness of the water.

Their hands slipped over each other and Riley thought he would burst from all the hunger surging through him. His original intentions were fast being forgotten as he was teased by the cunning prince. Liam dove under him and pressed him against the bank. Before Riley could protest the loss of movement, he felt those same lips he'd been longing for close over his hardness and swallow him down to the root.

Riley cried out in disbelief, his head falling back and his hips arching forward into that suction. Liam had his thighs firmly gripped in his hands, making certain Riley didn't pull out of his embrace as the mouth moved back and forth on him. The silken pull was irresistible, all the more powerful since the prince's head was hidden beneath the waves. Riley whimpered and arched forward again, feeling a trembling all over his body. The heat descended to his balls and cock and he tugged frantically at Liam's hair.

"Liam, please! Oh, god! I can't stop! I shall...!" But the prince couldn't hear him and Riley didn't mean for him to cease in any case. With a sharp cry, he spent himself into that knowing mouth. He sagged forward but those lips continued to pull at him and he shuddered, a second, lesser spasm racking his frame.

That dark head broke the surface, joy and mischief shining over the wet face. "Did you like that, Riley?"

"Like it? Words fail to tell you how much." Riley cocked his head. "But I thought you couldn't eat meat?"

Liam's eyes widened and he burst into laughter. Riley experienced an undeniable thrill at making the prince laugh. It was beyond wonderful to know that he could bring this unhappy man such joy with so little. He cupped Liam's face and brought it up to his own, tasting his own juices inside that sucking mouth. Liam allowed it for a moment and then rose entirely from the water. He reached out a hand and the hunter took it in his own.

Liam led Riley back to the shore and pressed him down on the blanket. He paused, his naked body motionless beside Riley's, his shadowed eyes asking a question. Riley panted softly, only partially because of the swim. Something was about to happen, he didn't know what, and Liam wouldn't stop once he'd started. He couldn't speak, only nodded and tilted his head, breathlessly, as he waited for a kiss.

But Liam didn't kiss him, his mouth trailing instead over Riley's wet body. The slickness from the pond was causing his tongue to glide effortlessly over Riley's nipples, his tongue leaving trails of heat as it went. Liam lifted his head to spit into one hand and pressed it between the other's legs. Riley's thighs parted automatically and then he stiffened, his eyes widening with shock.

Long fingers were insinuating themselves into his arsehole and Riley clenched his legs to protest this unseemly invasion. This was wrong and he grabbed at Liam's shoulders to shove him away. The next moment those lips returned to plunder his mouth, this kiss demanding while the tongue plunged and swept across his own. He was sufficiently distracted so that those fingers probed and swept around the inside of his body, coating his passage with the spittle and thick remains of Riley's spending.

Riley's body arched, a muffled cry of surprise swallowed by Liam's mouth as the touch pushed deeper and prodded something inside him. Pleasure whipped through him and he pumped his hips shamelessly, worked by those same relentless fingers. Now his fingers dug into those muscular shoulders, drawing Liam closer, refusing to let him go.

Then the prince's lips parted from his and Riley groaned in disappointment as he removed his hand. He had been about to cum again and that pleasure had been ruthlessly cut off. Then the man shifted above him. In the moonlight, the prince's body became a shadow blocking the light and a vision of loveliness tipped with frost and silver. And Riley had never thought any man beautiful before meeting him...

Then that hardness that had been poking him insistently in the thigh since they'd lain down left his leg and pressed against his ass. Riley needed to stop this before it went any further. It was surely a sin to do this, worse than a few passionate kisses. Yet this was what his time in the castle, his whole life had been leading to and, as the prince pushed his way inside, he bent his body to meet him.

There was pain as the wet, firm length forced its way into the virgin passage. But the prince stopped at the first hiss and waited until Riley settled again. Then he began rocking over him. Soft murmurs, like the cries of wounded animals, breathed past Riley's ears, only gradually forming themselves into words.

"Ah...ai...so...you're so...Riley...Riiiiilley..." Liam's back arched as he cried out. Riley squeezed him between his legs and Liam's eyes widened, the liquid dark of them meeting Riley's hazel ones. Riley grabbed him harder, his mind barely able to grasp what was happening. The moon gilded the prince's shoulders; those pale fingers glided across his skin and he could now taste the remains of fruit mixed with his own seed under the prince's tongue as it thrust into his mouth in rhythm with the cock.

Liam pushed harder, faster, and it was all Riley could do to keep up. His hands, inexpert though they were, weren't idle, sliding over that strapping back and finally grabbing the ass flexing and relaxing as Liam plunged deeper into the hunter's body.

Untrained in holding back his pleasure, Riley was the first to lose control. His back bent to the breaking point, forcing the prince to brace himself on both hands if he was not to be bucked off. White cum shot between the two of them, spilling down Riley's belly in thick, pearly drops. However, Liam was not yet finished and his length plowed him a few more times before spending himself deep in Riley's body. He collapsed against the heaving chest beneath him and rolled over to let Riley breathe.

Riley lay clasped in the prince's arms, thoughts swirling through his mind in no particular order. Liam swept his hand across the ridged stomach, lifting the sweets from Riley's cock to his lips and licking them from his fingers. Riley's eyes followed this in disbelief but he didn't shy away when Liam kissed him again. When their lips parted once more, he sighed in regret, "Liam, now we must sp-"

"What does this pendant truly mean, Riley?" The interruption was not subtle and Riley glared at Liam in frustration. But the brunette's eyes avoided his as he plucked at the bone ornament resting above Riley's beating heart.

Riley sighed. Liam couldn't evade him forever and perhaps Riley could use this change of subject to his advantage. "Someone I knew gave it to me in my old village."

"So you said. Who was she?" the prince asked in his soft voice.

"His name was Gavrin."

Liam's lips thinned and there was a hint of jealousy in those ebony eyes when the prince asked coldly, "He was your lover then?"

Men didn't become lovers; everyone knew that. And Gavrin had never been that to him. But that's what the other man had wanted so long ago only Riley had been too naïve to know it. Were he and the prince lovers now? Riley flushed and hurried to answer him. "No. He wished to be but there was never-I mean, he didn't say, not in so many words..." He faltered, bit his lip and nearly lost his courage. Then he resumed, starting from what seemed a safe vantage point.

"It came about because of a boar hunt. I'd been wounded and Gavrin told me he wanted to live with me. Well, he made the offer although so spoken I didn't know how much he wanted it to happen. But then my ma died and we came into a fortune. My family left for Galway and I lost sight of Gavrin. I don't know where he is or what he's doing now." He looked at Liam curiously. "Don't you know this? I thought you were watching my family?"

"Evidently I missed a few things," the prince responded dryly, muted delight again coloring his voice. He rested his hand on Riley's thigh, stroking it. His sensitive fingers ran in circles over the ridged scar, high on his leg, and Riley sucked in a breath, his heart speeding in his chest while his cock twitched in response.

Then he grabbed at the prince's hand, gripping it tightly. "Liam, I'm leaving the Beast's castle tomorrow." Well, he hadn't meant for it to come out so bluntly and he glimpsed Liam's anguish before his expression became shuttered and distant.

"The Beast has released you. I knew he would."

Riley lifted his head to stare at the other. Liam had sunk on to the blanket beside him, his body half turned away so that Riley could see only part of his profile. "You knew? How could you know he'd do that when I told you from the beginning I was his prisoner?"

Liam turned back and Riley was shaken to see the passion blazing out of those eyes. The prince's voice was harsh now, with none of its usual melodious timbre, as he spoke. "Because he knew your need would drive you to seek out your family sooner or later and his sole wish became to see you happy and grant your wishes."

Riley was still confused. "How did you know he would feel that way when I was unsure?"

"Because I know he loves you even as much as I do." The words were spat out in a kind of defiance and yet despair tinged them. The words trembled in the still air between them as Riley found himself locked helplessly in Liam's gaze.

"Y-You love me? Liam, you barely know me. We've met only three times and part of me is still uncertain whether this is not all a kind of madness brought on by this bewitched place."

"From the first moment I saw you, I was drawn by your looks," Liam confessed, raising a hand to brush Riley's cheek. "And I hoped you would prove as kind as you were handsome. And don't forget I have watched you for many years now before we ever met. I know you, Riley, better than you could imagine. There is only one thing that remains a secret to me and must know before you leave. Even if the truth crushes me, I must hear it now." Liam let his hand fall away and whispered, "Riley-do you love me?"

Riley bent his head, avoiding that gaze. "Liam, I-I don't know. You have made my youthful fancies flesh and shown me what Gavrin only hinted at all those lonely years ago. But I don't know if this is love or a mere lust of the body."

"Do you wish me happy? Will it pain you to leave me?" Liam pressed.

"It will. But it pains me to leave the Beast as well," he added quickly.

Liam's eyes widened. "Do you love the Beast then?"

"No!" The answer was too quick, born more out of embarrassment than truth, and Riley scrambled to recover. "I mean, I esteem him greatly and it seems he too is cursed by evil magicks like yourself. But I don't know if that is love. I only know what I feel goes deeper than obligation. Because of that, I mean to return to him before two hours pass."

Liam sighed. "It will seem longer than that to me, Riley. I will not be able to follow you once you leave the Beast's environs. When you sleep, you will no longer dream of me. Perhaps you will dream of this Gavrin instead," Liam added half jokingly.

Riley was stunned. "Y-You won't be in my dreams? But I, we've barely, what I felt just now..." He paused, a flush flying over his skin and turning it brick red.

"I will be with you again if you return." But now Liam was sad as if he didn't believe in him and Riley was stung at his unvoiced accusation.

"I will return. I know the Beast doubts me but why do you?"

"Because I don't know if what you feel for the both of us is enough to bring you back," Liam murmured, the anguish returning and making his voice catch.

"I will return. I've given my word," Riley added when Liam didn't respond.

The prince leaned up and grasped Riley with new urgency. "Until then, let me give you something to remember me by."

Their bodies rocked together again, this time with Riley on top, witnessing Liam's mouth gape wide while his face twisted as if in agony. He came in Liam's body as the prince clutched him hard and cried out his love.

"Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it." - The Bible, The Song of Solomon, ch. 8, v. 7


TBC