The beast’s body slammed into hers as he wrapped one arm around her, keeping them both on their feet. His other hand easily plucked the rose from her grasp.
Once again, Isa struggled to breathe. It was not because he was holding her too tightly; rather it felt like her heart had leapt into her mouth, blocking off her throat.
As soon as the rose was safely in his grasp, he released her.
She stumbled away from him, attempting to inhale. Her tiny breaths seemed unable to move past the lump in her throat.
“Never touch this rose again,” the beast said as he placed it back in the jar of water. His voice was calm, and he was standing tall. All that remained of the ferocious beast from moments before was the fur on his body. He turned back toward her, holding the jar and rose protectively against his chest.
“Never touch me again,” she spat, backing away from him as her lungs finally received air.
“Gladly,” he responded.
Isa slowly worked her way toward the door. She was not ready to admit defeat, but she did want an easy escape route. “What are you hiding?” she asked again.
“Nothing that concerns you,” he responded. “Thank you for your gracious hospitality, but it is no longer safe for me to remain here. I will be taking my leave in the morning.”
“No longer safe for you?” Her voice was incredulous.
He waved a paw at the floor. It was littered with a few broken roses. “I picked those this morning to offer as an apology for yelling at you the other night. I’m afraid that apology is rather useless at the moment, but I would like to extend it to you regardless. I lost my temper, and I should not have roared at you.”
“Does this apology also extend to the yelling that just happened?” Isa could hear the recklessness in her own voice. Part of her mind screamed at her in warning. If she was not careful, she would end up on the floor like the broken roses. But she was still not ready to cower in fear. The fact that he had twice attacked her without so much as scratching her fueled her defiance.
“I haven’t decided yet.” The beast had scrunched the fur above his eyes. “I feel rather justified about that, and I’m not going to ask forgiveness about something I do not feel sorry for.”
Isa nodded, accepting that explanation. She felt strangely calm inside, as though she were somehow disconnected from what was happening around her. “Where will you go?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Deeper into the mountains.”
“There is nothing deeper in the mountains.”
“I know.”
“Well,” Isa said. She was confused by his course of action, but she had no reason to deter him from it. “Goodbye, then.”
The wild yellow of his eyes had calmed to a regular brown. He blinked at her for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut.
This motion annoyed her. It was as though he were trying to commit her image to memory. A movement at his chest caught her attention, and she dropped her eyes to the rose in his hands.
A single petal gently detached from the base of the blossom. Slowly, seemingly lighter than air, it danced its way to the ground.
The beast released a slow sigh, as though pained in some long-suffering battle of patience. “Goodbye,” he whispered.
Chapter 21
Isa narrowed her focus on the leather square in front of her. She confidently scraped across certain areas of the leather’s softer side with a piece of dyed wax. It left clean lines and markings to denote where the various stitches and pieces of the cover should be placed.
He was leaving.
She should be glad. She was glad.
But she could not get him out of her head. Why would he go deeper into the mountains? If he made it through the mountain range, he would eventually find Chendas to the southeast. But no one traveled through the mountains to get to Chendas; they went around them.
Was it right to let him set out into dangerous unknown territory? Her personal wants struggled against her conscience. If she continued working—and said nothing—then Blanca would fill his sack with whatever food they had to spare. And she would never have to see him again. They had already bid each other farewell.
However, would she be able to sleep that night knowing that somewhere, cold and alone, Aden the beast was attempting to sleep on the hard ground?
He was abeast. He didn’t need her help or her opinions. No one ever wanted her opinions, except for her father. And he was the one who should be her sole concern at the moment.
