Because he’s right.
What had I expected? That she would see my brothers and simply... accept them? That she would trust me enough to ask for explanations rather than assuming the worst?
Maybe she was right to run.
The thought feels like swallowing broken glass.
“She was supposed to be different,” I whisper, the admission torn from somewhere deep.
“Perhaps,” Romulus says gently, “she was exactly what she appeared to be. And perhaps that’s why this hurts so much.”
I look at him sharply.
“You fell in love with her, didn’t you?” he continues. “Actually, genuinely in love. Not just possession or desire, but real feeling.”
I can’t answer. Can’t admit it aloud.
“And now you’re wondering if maybe—just maybe—you’re the monster in this story after all.”
TWENTY-NINE
HANNAH
Darkness has fallen completely.
I’m finally warm again, though I’m not entirely sure how that’s possible.
I should have frostbite on at least some extremities after that exposure, but when I finally extract my feet from the blankets to put on the thick socks that the kindly cabin owner offers, I can wiggle all my toes. Same with my fingers and nose. My host also provides an oversized flannel shirt, sweater, and corduroy pants that I can only keep up with a belt we have to punch extra holes in for my smaller waist.
Sure, he fed me soup and more hot chocolate-coffee until I felt it all sloshing warmly in my stomach, but still...
I don’t know much about Celsius conversion, but I do know zero degrees means freezing. The thermometer outside his kitchenette window reads negative forty degrees.
Maybe I avoided frostbite because I kept moving constantly?
Or... far more likely, it’s because of something Beast did when he healed me.
Apparently, he granted more than one miracle.
Am I enhanced somehow now? Or just able to withstand extreme cold? Did he do it so I could move comfortably around his unheated castle, or was it an unintended consequence?
I went to that dungeon seeking answers and only managed to unleash chaos while generating a thousand new questions.
Has Beast returned home to find the others loose?
I shiver despite being warm in my borrowed clothes. The old man misinterprets and drapes another blanket around my shoulders, but I shake my head and stand.
I feel remarkably strong considering how weak I was hours ago, collapsing in the snow like that. I should be far more sore, too, given how far I ran without stretching.
A month ago, just standing on these legs for a few hours—not even walking—would have left my muscles in spasms all night.
Fresh tears gather unexpectedly. Tears of pure gratitude. To Beast.
These past few years, I swore I’d pay any price, do anything, if only...
You said that before you knew what the price actually was.
So what if I made a pact with the devil? I went in with my eyes open. Mostly open, anyway.
