“Once upon a time there was a .. knight. A knight who was feared by many in their kingdom. They were right to fear him, for he was a fierce warrior, for he covered himself head to toe in steel- leaving some to believe there wasn’t a man under there at all, but rather a beast. The longer he wore his armor, the more people began to believe, began to fear.
This isn’t a story about the beast, this is a story about a beast, a beast and the man beneath the spell; Brave and loyal and suffering; For the knight was both, but very few could see anything but the teeth and claws. The knight had conjured an illusion, for who would ever approach a beast? Needed everyone to fear him, for the king was cruel and had many enemies. Enemies who sent their own warriors to steal from the king. And so the knight could do his job well, protect the king’s family and possessions, and strike out at those who would grasp for them.
You may think that the King didn’t deserve this loyalty, and maybe you’d be right; but even the blackest of hearts can hold love, and those that he held dear were not so cruel as him. His granddaughter, the princess, was beloved. She had a golden crown of hair, and shone like the sun, for she held kindness in her heart and wished to change the kingdom for the better. Yet the king’s enemies, seeing her kindness for weakness, never tired of trying to take her, never let her rest from the suffering they inflicted. And so the knight was not only a beast for the King, but to secure the Kingdom for people like the princess.
Many moons passed where the beast only wished to protect the kingdom, only worked to make their enemies afraid, make them suffer in return. The joy in his life came from potions and alchemy, another illusion. Finally, he met a beautiful maiden, one of the few smart enough to find something beyond a mask. She could hear music, the rhythm of a human heart pumping, and so she danced to it. Night after night she danced to that heart, she danced for the beast and the man beneath. Until one night she became tired and lost her footing. The knight knew that she had been cursed by their enemies, for he had suffered the same fate. So when the other knights rescued them both, our knight, our beast, decided to take the maiden far away where she could not be harmed by the kingdom’s enemies. They left for another kingdom, where the knight could finally remove the steel and the teeth and the fangs, where no one would know him as the beast so feared. And he was happy, he was human, he was loved.
What neither the knight nor the maiden could know, was that the curse had lingered.
Now the maiden was brave, and she was smart, but she had not been touched by the curse before, not like the knight. So she didn’t quite know how to be rid of it, and though the knight helped her and she helped him, and though they were happy together, she could not stop thinking of that curse, could not shake their enemies. The curse took a hold of her again and she fell into a deep sleep from which she could not wake.
Sometimes true love can not break spells, for the maiden had known the truest love of all; a beautiful daughter. The maiden loved her so, would always love her, would want her to know that she was everything.
The knight realised that, though they had left the kingdom, the enemies could still touch them. He was full of sorrow for the maiden he had loved, and began to fear that their child might one day be cursed the same. Began to fear that the curse still lingering on him would reach out to hold his child. That fear consumed the knight, until he told himself that he must no longer hold the child and risk the curse, until he told himself he must become the beast once more. He was to travel back to the kingdom to be closer to the enemies who had so hurt his family, to be able to strike out at them, to be able to keep their gaze on him instead of the child.
Before he could return to the old kingdom, he wanted to know his child would be safe, would be loved. And so he called upon a ghost from his past. A soul he had helped free, had began to bring back to life. She had been told she was nothing for so long, that she had begun to fade away entirely. Locked away in a tower by the man supposed to love her, so that he never need suffer her presence. Long ago she had gathered all of her strength and found a way from the tower, but it wasn’t until she met the dark princess that she truly escaped. The dark princess had rescued her and offered her a home at her castle by the sea. The golden crowned princess, whose heart I have already told you of, worked tirelessly with the dark princess to bring the ghost back to life. They would look for her when she was lost, and talk to her as though she were there, even when she didn’t believe she could be more than a ghost. And the knight, the beast, the man, well he became her hero. There wasn’t a time he looked through her, wasn’t a time when he wasn’t there beside her. And maybe it was the Universe creating a balance, for he could see her and she could see him. She had heard about the beast many times, in whispers and in shouts outside the tower window. Heard about the beast, but as with any creature, she decided she would see him for herself, would speak to him for herself, would keep looking and looking and looking and give him a chance to appear as he wished to. When she looked, not once did she see the beast. She wasn’t stupid, though many accused her of it, claimed it her fault for being locked in a tower so long, wasn’t stupid so she knew the beast was there for others. And so she decided to accept it, to love it, as every other part that made him our knight.
She planned to meet him to see the new year in, to wish on stars and begin to live. Instead she was taken away by enemies unknown, those who tried to rub away the colour put in her cheeks and the substance to her frame put there by the kind princesses and the brave knight. They searched for her, and she found she cared more that the brave knight would think she abandoned him, than she did to worry for herself. Still, our three heroes searched for her, and still the ghost was cursed. When she was found again, the first thing she did was apologise to the knight for not meeting him. Her curse, as it had always been, was to believe she was worthless, that she would only hurt others with her presence. So she left, and let the curse take her, let herself believe that abandoning her friends was the best way to keep them safe. And so you see now that the ghost understands the knight, knows why he has to leave his daughter.
So those many years later when the knight finds the ghost, she wants to tell him of how good he is, of how much she owes, of how she’s sorry. Instead she listens, because she knows that he sought her out for a reason, knows that the universe is throwing them together again. After all, she has been lost to him for so long, away from everyone she loves, and only now has she visited the dark princess, only know has he found her as she prepares to leave the faraway kingdom. She listens, because he’s telling her things without saying the words, so the words he does say must take a terrible toll on him. She understands this, she understands why, but more than that she knows that he has helped her live, that she owes him more than she could ever repay, ever be worth. She speaks so he doesn’t have to. It’s not as much as she’d like to say, not as much as she should, but maybe it’s everything. Yes. He sees her and she sees him. And the universe sees that she will love his child with all of her heart, will let that child break the curse upon her so she is full of life; a life she will happily give to protect that child.
And when the former ghost and the knight’s precious child return to the faraway kingdom, the sun shines brightly. The only beasts at their castle are eight mischievous hounds, and a sea monster the dark princess and former ghost swear to protect each other from with smiles on their faces.”
The former ghost closed the book. Even though she knew Gaia was far too young to understand what she was saying, to notice that she wasn’t reading at all but offering a variation of a story straight from her mind, she didn’t want to risk that someone older might overhear. The dark princess might not immediately recognise herself from the story, but she’d surely realise the lack of fiction if there was no book physically present.
As much as she loved her, because she loved her, she didn’t want to cause Veronika to question the day she had turned up with a toddler on her arm and asked “Room for two more?” Especially not when her friend had been kind once again, had not asked about the envelopes addressed to London every month.
It pained her to know Veronika suspected Edward was the absent father, but it would probably physically pain Laurent (and Veronika’s hand, as much as she liked him) if she suspected he was. No one could ever know.
In this kingdom all curses had been broken. In London, they still lingered.
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