The Beast and the Enchantress by Camille Peters
Chapter 12
It took me several more days to summon my courage. No matter how many times I rehearsed the confession I knew I needed to give, my anxiousness at the thought of speaking the words didn’t lessen.
My knees bounced nervously as I waited in the rose garden, casting several frantic glances towards the gate, searching for Gladen. I wasn’t entirely certain he’d walk the gardens today, but I was determined to wait all the same, desperate to get this inevitable conversation over with while at the same time hoping it’d never come.
The summer day was beautiful. The roses were in full bloom, their sweet perfume filling the gentle breeze that tangled my hair. I’d spent so much time here with the prince that each rose now contained a memory, ones I hoped to create many more of…but that would entirely depend on how Gladen received my confession, or if instead the truth would shatter the magical relationship we’d created together. How I desperately hoped it wouldn’t.
The sound of the gate opening caused me to swivel around to face the garden entrance, but it wasn’t Gladen, only a lord and lady taking a respite from the court to stroll the royal grounds. I released a wavering breath, one of both disappointment and fierce relief that I could delay my confession a few moments longer, and relaxed back against the bench to continue waiting.
I ignored the couple’s shallow chatter as they took several turns about the garden, instead rehearsing my confession to Gladen several more times, only pausing at the sound of the prince’s name. I glanced towards the lady who’d spoken.
“The foreign princess is even more beautiful than the prince’s last intended,” she said. “I’m certain His Highness will agree to the match; His Majesty will see to that. Now that his disfigurement has vanished, it’d be in the prince’s best interest to marry soon.”
I stiffened. Gladen was to become part of another political arrangement? How had I not heard about this?
My breaths came quick and sharp as despair warred with the anxiety already whirling within me. Long after the gossiping courtiers left the garden I tortured myself with thoughts of losing Gladen yet being forced to work alongside him while he lived his life with another woman.
Only the sound of the gate opening again and the familiar sound of Gladen’s footsteps stilled my frantic thoughts, as did the familiar way he lit up when he saw me. I studied his expression for any sign that he’d lost his heart to the visiting princess during the days we’d spent apart, but though I thankfully couldn’t find any, my worry didn’t entirely ease.
“Am I to extend my congratulations?” I asked as he settled beside me on the bench before he had the chance to speak.
His brows drew together. “Congratulations? Whatever for?”
“I’ve heard whispers that His Majesty is making another arrangement for you.” The words were painful to say.
Gladen immediately groaned. “So you have heard. I’d been hoping the rumors wouldn’t reach you; I didn’t want to cause you any unnecessary distress. This is the first opportunity I’ve had to escape in order to seek you out and reassure you in person. Needless to say, it’s been a very wearying week.”
My heart sank. “So they’re true?”
Gladen hesitated. “Only in a sense. My father is trying to arrange a marriage for me…but trying is all he’s managing to accomplish. He can make as many promises to the royal dignitaries as he wants and invite dozens of eligible women to the castle, but it’ll change nothing: not only am I tired of being his puppet, but I have my own arrangement in mind, and nothing will dissuade me from my chosen course.”
My heart lifted in hope. “And which course might that be?”
“The one we spoke of a few days ago.” Gladen scooted closer on the bench and lightly reached out to touch the back of my hand with his fingertip. I immediately stilled.
“Gladen?” I managed breathlessly.
He didn’t answer for a moment, his entire focus on lightly brushing up and down my hand, each distracting touch making it more difficult to focus on what I needed to tell him. “I confess there’s a reason far more important than my own independence for why I can’t agree to any of my father’s arrangements.” His smoldering gaze seeped into mine. “You.”
“Me?” I stuttered.
He nodded. “Meeting you has changed everything. You’ve not only helped me learn to be true to myself, but you’ve given me hope in a future I previously never imagined could ever be possible—that it can be filled not only with love, but with someone who sees me for myself and not the prince. And I won’t allow anyone, least of all my father or duty, take away what I’ve always wanted: love, and with it the woman who’s stolen my heart.”
His smoldering gaze met mine and my breath caught. Oh. For a moment I was lightheaded, even as my heart soared at his words. But my fierce joy was short-lived, replaced by fear that it’d slip away from me once I gave the confession I knew I couldn’t keep to myself any longer.
And yet the words wouldn’t come. Gladen shifted anxiously at my prolonged silence. “Are you alright, Dahlia? Do you not…share my feelings?”
I took a wavering breath. “Of course I share them. There is no one more dear to me than you.”
His entire expression lit up, and the next instant he cradled my face, his touch light as he ran it in a gentle caress across my cheeks. “I hoped you did. For years I feared love was not in my future, and yet…here we are.” Joy lit his gentle smile.
Yes, here we were, and how I desperately wished this was a moment that could always remain, a wish that only grew when he slowly leaned down, his eyes glinting with purpose.
I knew he meant to kiss me, just as I knew that this kiss shouldn’t happen while I was still cloaked in my disguise, one which hid the woman who had cursed and disfigured him. Yet masking my mistakes hadn’t erased them, and Gladen deserved to know the truth.
Yet the part of me that feared that removing the spell I hid behind would change everything wanted to allow this kiss to happen in order to experience a glimpse of the love I treasured while it lasted. In this moment was not my past, but just us and this special closeness…one that was further bridged when his lips lightly caressed mine for a sweet, toe-curling kiss.
I immediately lost myself in him, in the feelings coursing through me, bright, beautiful, and far more powerful than any magic I’d ever experienced. If I could bottle any moment and preserve it forever it’d be this one—being cradled in Gladen’s tender embrace, feeling his heart beating against mine as his lips explored our kiss, and experiencing such love and utter peace.
I didn’t realize I was crying until I tasted the salt of my tears on our lips, causing me to hastily break away. Gladen’s eyes widened as he took in my tear-streaked face. “What is it, Dahlia?” He caressed my hair in such a tender way that for a moment I couldn’t speak.
His distress and anxiety seemed to deepen the longer the silence stretched between us.
“Dahlia?” he asked gently.
For a brief moment I was tempted not to confess, wanting to keep him with me. But I knew that’d be selfish, and such a path was too similar to the dark one I’d tread before, one I couldn’t bear to travel again.
“I’m sorry,” I finally managed to stutter. “I’d give anything, anything—” I couldn’t finish.
His brow furrowed. “Why are you sorry? Was it…the kiss?” His insecurity returned, and my heart wrenched that once more I’d caused him to doubt my feelings for him.
“No, of course not. That was beautiful.”
He relaxed, but his concern didn’t fade. “Then what’s troubling you? Please confide in me. I want to help you.”
I shook my head. “You can’t. If I tell you…I’m worried I’ll lose you forever. I couldn’t bear—” I couldn’t finish.
His fingers caressed my jaw to hook beneath my chin and lift my gaze to meet his, his own so incredibly soft. “You’ll never lose me,” he said. “I love you, I want you, and nothing will ever change that. I promise, Dahlia.”
His words enveloped me, lending me courage. I wasn’t sure how to begin, only that I needed to before I lost my resolve. I took a wavering breath. “My name…isn’t Dahlia.”
His brow puckered. “It’s not?” Despite his clear confusion, he still managed a lighthearted smile. He leaned closer, as if to share a secret. “Then you and I share something in common, for my real name isn’t Your Highness, no matter how many times I answer to it.”
I knew he hoped to make me smile, but I couldn’t quite manage one. His own faltered.
“I’m sure there’s quite a story behind your using a fake name. Won’t you share it with me? More importantly, I want to know your real name.”
“I’ve been hiding my true identity,” I said in a rush, my voice barely above a whisper. “I feared your reaction should you know who I truly was, what I did…for I did something I deeply regret. To you.”
His confusion only deepened, but it didn’t lessen the kindness in his eyes. “No matter what you did, nothing will change.” His tone was so tender, compelling me to trust him, a need which only deepened when he took my hands and lifted them to his lips. “I promise. For I love you.”
“And I love you,” I managed breathlessly. “Even though I don’t deserve you.”
He opened his mouth to protest the point, but his words faltered at seeing the anxiety twisting my expression. “My assurances to the contrary will be better received when I give them after learning why you think as you do. Please share your burden with me.”
I searched his eyes, aglow with such tenderness as he looked at me, even as his promise enveloped me. Could such a beautiful promise possibly be real? Could he truly accept and love me, despite everything I’d done to him?
“The easiest way to explain is by showing you.” I slowly extracted my hands and stood. I closed my eyes and concentrated on the spell covering me. I felt my magic rise from my skin and begin to glow, causing the enchanted disguise to slowly trickle away, removing the illusion.
By Gladen’s sudden sharp breath I knew the disguise had vanished. I braced myself before opening my eyes to take in his expression. He gaped at me, his face white with shock.
“You’re—” His eyes widened as he stared intensely at my face. “Enchantress…Astrid?” He said my name hesitantly, as if he couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were seeing.
I nodded. “Yes, I am Enchantress Astrid.”
He didn’t speak, only continued to stare, blinking rapidly as if trying to make sense of the vision before him. It was undoubtedly quite disconcerting for me to look like Dahlia, but for him to finally recognize me as another woman entirely.
My voice shook as I spoke. “One stormy night I called upon you to gift you a rose, one I had placed a curse upon. The magic worked, disfiguring your appearance.”
He swallowed, and after several attempts to speak he finally found his voice. “It was you?” Disgust tinged his disbelief, causing my eyes to burn.
“It was me,” I said. “I’m the one who cursed you.”
He said nothing, but when I settled back onto the bench, he scooted away as if no longer wanting to be close to me, a gesture that spoke louder than any words ever could. “I—don’t understand. I’ve never understood. Why…why did you curse me?”
“Because I was blinded by my own anger,” I explained. “At the time I thought seeking revenge was the only path open to me; an enchantress only resorts to such measures for a reason, and at the time I felt I had ample reason to do what I did.”
He still stared, seeming perplexed…and hurt. “But…why?”
“You hurt my sister.” The words came out hardened as the wound I thought I’d entirely healed from reopened. “You broke her heart when you slighted her in the garden, this garden. She’d finally managed to heal after our parents’ deaths, and your rejection despite your past friendship caused her to slip back into that darkness. I thought you a conceited prince who cared nothing for others’ feelings, least of all my dear sister’s. I wanted you to pay for what you did, and because I have magic, it seemed the perfect way to enact my revenge…so I did. And at the time I relished it.”
He continued to stare, the pain in his eyes deepening. “I—don’t remember doing such a thing.”
I snorted. “Of course you don’t. But I do. Thus I chose a curse that would reflect the state of your heart; the fact it changed you only proved your guilt.” I regretted the biting accusation the moment I gave it, especially considering I no longer felt this way.
His shock slowly wore off, allowing his hurt full rein, which was quickly escalating into the anger I’d always feared but knew I wholly deserved. “You’d condemn me so easily?”
“You were cold and cruel,” I said. “So yes, I did.”
He opened his mouth, likely to argue, before he paused. I watched him consider my words before his shoulders slumped. “I…likely did as you said. I found the attention of fawning women wearying, for each reminded me that no one could see past my title, and thus I’d never find someone who could truly love me.” He lifted his gaze, still hardened. “My actions were wrong, but did they truly warrant such a punishment?”
“At the time, I thought it fitting, but it went wrong.” I lifted the hand that had once been covered in warts, which I only now fully realized had mirrored the state of my own heart. “It touched me too, and because of the hatred I felt towards you at the time, I suffered the same fate. In my desperation to break the curse, I disguised myself so you wouldn’t know who I was and…”
“…got close to me.” Despair hardened his expression once more. “That’s the only reason you were able to look past my title, past my disfigurement. It was never about me, but only yourself. At the time I thought you were different, but I should have known no one would ever see me as anything more than a prince.”
“But I do see you,” I said desperately. “Whatever I felt before is gone now that I know you for who you truly are. And because I do, everything is different. But I was afraid the truth would change what we’ve created, so I wanted to hide it. But that isn’t love. I had to tell you, despite knowing it might cause me to lose you.”
Emotion and perhaps even a bit of understanding flickered in his expression…before it faded. “How can there be love without trust? Could I ever trust you after what you did to me—not just the curse but the lies that followed, ones you still kept from me even after things were changing between us? Was any of it even real, or was it all a trick of magic?”
“Magic can’t create love,” I said.
“How do I know that’s true when I’ve witnessed firsthand that it can create not only revenge and deceit, but false hope when it made me wrongly believe I could finally obtain what I’ve always wanted?”
The full meaning of his words settled over me. “So I am losing you after all, despite your promise I never would.” Though I knew it was inevitable, my heart broke all the same.
For a moment he hesitated, but it vanished in an instant, replaced by his own anger. “That promise was made to Dahlia, a woman who’s nothing more than an illusion. You are not who I thought you were.”
And with those words he stormed from the garden without a single look back…until he paused at the gate. He stood there for a long moment, his breaths short and sharp, before slowly, ever so slowly, he glanced over his shoulder to take in my tear-streaked face.
“Was all of it a lie?”
I tried to convey all I’d grown to feel for him in my look. “No, Gladen, it wasn’t. That’s why you deserve to know the truth. And even if you can’t keep your promise, I’ll keep mine: your heart wasn’t the only one stolen, and now that you have it, I doubt I’ll ever get it back.”
So many emotions filled his eyes as he stared at me before he finally turned and left me sitting in the rose garden with the pieces of my broken heart scattered around me like the petals of the surrounding flowers, all the sweet memories they contained now tainted by the one that had taken Prince Gladen away from me forever.
I should have known that even a man as wonderful as him could never love the woman who’d turned him into a beast.