Page 3 of The Beast Between Us
He storms into the room, the door slamming against the wall. My shoulders flinch before I can stop them.
“I told you to pick up my coat from the tailor this morning.” His voice is slurred with sleep or drink…I can never tell which anymore.
“I…I’m sorry. I thought it wasn’t ready until tomorrow.”
“Don’t talk back.” His words snap like a whip. “Lazy, ungrateful girl. Always got your nose in that damned book while there’s work to be done.”
He grabs the book from the table and hurls it against the wall. The binding cracks. Pages scatter.
My chest tightens, but I don’t move. Don’t cry. Crying makes it worse.
“I can go now,” I say softly. “To the tailor. Right now.”
“It’s too late.” He waves me off and stumbles to the table, slumping into the chair like a sack of stones. “You never listen. Just like your mother.”
I turn quickly so he can’t see my face. The comparison always burns.
Behind me, the chair creaks. He’s already drifting, head nodding. He’ll pass out soon. That’s how it always goes. The storm, then silence.
I bend to pick up my book and pages, fingers shaking. Luckily, the pages are numbered, so putting it back together shouldn’t be an issue.
I clutch it to my chest and glance out the window toward the woods.
They say the Beast kills anyone who enters his land. That his castle is cursed. That the wind screams warnings if you get too close.
But the wind here screams, too. And the walls in this house feel more cursed than anything in that forest.
Maybe the monster is kinder than the man who raised me.
Maybe if I wander onto his lands, he’ll kill me.
I smile at the thought.
Death.
Peace.
Freedom.
Maybe tomorrow, I’ll take a little trip through the woods.
Chapter Two
Thorne
“Sorry for the intrusion, Sire, but Mr. Holloway is here to see you.”
I sigh and turn from the window, my gaze settling on Oswin.
“Unless Mr. Holloway has come bearing payment, I’ve no interest in entertaining him.”
“He’s being rather… persistent, Sire,” Oswin replies carefully.
From here, I can hear his heartbeat quicken. Not that I blame him. Being half man, half beast means my temper is rarely predictable.
Oswin is the only one who stayed after I took back the house. Brave enough to stand before the creature I’ve become, loyal enough to call meSireeven when I barely feel human.
One day, he’ll be rewarded.
