Chapter 1
Bella raced acrossthe tower’s uneven stone floor to her father’s cell and clasped his icy hands in her own.“Papa!”
“Bella!How did you get in here?Get out before that beast sees you!”
“Papa, you’re freezing.”Puffs of vapor floated out of their mouths in the crumbling tower.“I’ve got to get you out of here.”
“No.Go, before he finds you.”He coughed, a sound utterly horrifying to witness.
A looming shadow enshrouded them, and Bella turned to behold a behemoth blocking her exit to the stairs.The beast’s giant taloned paw dashed out and wrapped around Bella’s throat, lifting her from the ground.As her feet dangled, she wrapped her fingers between his nails and her skin to give herself breathing room.
“Put her down!”her father coughed.
“What is a beautiful thing like you doing here?”the beast growled, his voice so low and animalistic as to cause her hairs to stand on end.
“Please, let my father go.”
“Intruders must pay the price.”
“But he’s dying.Surely you can see that?Please, let him go.”
“Why should I?He shall only send more people here to interrupt my peace.”
“I won’t,” her father promised.
“I do not believe you,” the beast growled, the sound deadly and dangerous.
As another ongoing round of coughing wracked her father’s body, Bella pried one claw away from her throat.Desperation overtook her.“Take me,” she offered.
“You,” he scoffed, then set her down.“You?”
She gasped as his paw fully released her throat.“I will stay in his place.”
“Bella, no!”her father cried, but an enchanted key floated out of nowhere and turned in the lock.The beast yanked her father out of the cell and spilled him to the ground, then lifted Bella by her shoulders to face him.His eyes glowed red in the darkness as they scanned her body.“I will come back to deal with you later.”
She was thrown onto the pile of straw in the very cell her father had just occupied as the door slammed shut behind her.She spun and reached her hand through the bars.“Papa!Wait!”
But they were already gone.
“Please let me out,” Bella called an hour later, but no one replied, though she had hoped the enchanted items she had met were still lingering somewhere on the stairwell.She shook the bars on her tower door, but despite being old and rusty, they held fast.She banged her fist twice more, hoping the talking broomstick and pair of manacles that brought up a crust of bread for her were still within earshot.“I’d already agreed to stay.You don’t have to imprison me.”
Silence.
She gusted out her breath and slid down the door.Under the wan wintery light fanning in from the tiny window, Bella made out a rickety chair missing a back leg and the pile of straw that rustled on its own.She hoped it was mice and not rats.Anything but rats.With nothing to do and chilly darkness descending, Bella picked up the chair and set it against the wall for support.If she balanced just right, she might be able to keep her feet and skirts off the ground and remain unmolested by whatever furry vermin stirred in the chamber.
In a lifetime of questionable decisions, this was by far her worst.
“Oh, Papa, I hope you can forgive me for my impulsiveness.”Not that he could hear her.If that looming beast of a creature downstairs were to be believed, her father was on his way home to their quaint provincial village in exchange for Bella remaining in his stead.
She sighed.Home.Where three men of questionable character and dubious hygiene kept vying for her hand in marriage.She knew she would have to choose one of them eventually, but Bella kept putting it off, much to her father’s dismay.Yes, of course Papa stated he worried about who would care for her when he was gone, but Bella wasn’t ready for that step.She wanted to accomplish something significant in her life—adventure or employment or, best option, start a school where anyone could learn—before she was forced into a wifely role.
Being imprisoned by a beast in an enchanted castle, however, was not on that list.
The hay rustled some more, and Bella stomped a foot at it in her irritation, hoping to scare the creature away.Instead, something small glittered as it emerged from the mound.
Intrigued, Bella leaned forward.Assuming it to also be enchanted, she said, “Hello.Who are you?”
The item tipped forward in what Bella thought might have been a bow or curtsey.“I am Mrs.Loomis.I was a seamstress here, my lady, before...well,before.”
