Page 101 of Beauty's Beast

She looked up at Caddaric, her eyes wide with panic. “What have you done?”

“Nothing, my lady. I have only sent him to the dungeon. It is the only place I could think of where he cannot escape. We dare not keep him in one of the rooms. One of the maids might accidentally open the door, or he might leap through a window.”

“The dungeon,” Kristine said, her voice tinged with despair.

“He will be comfortable there. There are furs for him to rest on. Fresh meat. Water. Clean straw on the floor.”

“But to lock him up … ”

“Kristine, it is for his own good. I had promised not to tell you this, but now I fear I must. It was Erik’s intent to go to Charmion, to become her pet, to let her think he was fully her creature, and then try to destroy her. He had asked me if I could find a spell to protect him from her.” Caddaric shrugged. “I found one that might have worked, but there is no way to be sure.”

“What kind of wizard are you, anyway?” Kristine cried.

Caddaric drew himself up to his full height. “I do the best I can, Lady Trevayne, but the truth is, Charmion is the most powerful witch I have ever known.”

Erik paced the cell, his anger growing, spreading, until he thought he would vomit it up. So she had decided he was nothing but an animal after all, to be locked away in a cage.

He howled his fury until the cold stone walls echoed with his rage, all the while remembering another dungeon, one filled with mirrors.

He had to get out of here, had to find Charmion, had to destroy her before the child was born.

He heard the dungeon door opening, footsteps on the cold stones. Her footsteps.

“Erik?” Kristine knelt at the door, her beautiful green eyes glistening with tears. “I’m sorry, so very sorry.”

She reached through the bars.

And he growled at her. Growled his anger, his frustration, his helplessness.

She jerked her hand back, her eyes wide and afraid. “Erik?”

Dropping to his belly, he crawled toward her, whining softly.

“Oh, Erik,” she breathed. “Caddaric told me you were going to try to destroy Charmion. That’s why we locked you up.” It was not fully a lie, she thought, nor fully the truth. “We couldn’t let you go. Please forgive me, but I cannot bear to lose you.”

He stared up at her, the need to speak clawing at his throat. So much to tell her.I love you. I love you …

“Caddaric said he thought he had found a spell to protect you from her evil, but he said there was no way to be sure it would work. You understand, don’t you? I couldn’t let you go. I just couldn’t.”

She reached through the bars again, and he licked her hand.Kristine, Kristine, know that I will always love you …

“Kristine? Are you down here?”

“Yes, Caddaric.”

He was at her side in minutes, his face flushed. “I think I may have found the solution.” He glanced at Erik, then tapped her on the shoulder. “Come upstairs, we need to talk.”

Kristine glanced at Erik. “All right,” she said, but when she started to rise, the wolf took her hand in his mouth and tugged softly. “I don’t think he wants us to go.”

Caddaric looked at the wolf, disconcerted, as always, to see human eyes in the wolf’s face. “I think we should discuss this upstairs.”

Erik growled low in his throat.

“All right,” Kristine said. “We’ll stay.”

“Kristine … ”

“This involves Erik, too. He has a right to know.”

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