I opened my eyelids slowly, telling myself that they weren't as heavy as they felt. I squinted, being blinded by the bright light that shone on me. My right hand rested on my stomach, while the other one laid on the bed I was in.

My bed.

A noise from the corner made me look up. I glanced around, looking at the broken glass and scratched wallpaper that hadn't been there when I left. Then my eyes landed on him. The Beast. His arms were crossed in front of his chest and he was leaning against the door in a carefree manner.

He looked at me with uncaring eyes. "I take it you are awake."

Everything about that sentence told me to get away as fast as possible. It sounded like claws on a windowpane.

I met his eyes. "Apparently I am." My voice was rough and cracked. I cleared my throat, then repeated my sentence louder.

He uncrossed his arms and stood straight. "Good."

We looked at each other a few more seconds.

"I--" he starts.

"What--" I began at the same time. We both stopped, then he continued like I never spoke.

"I believe that I told you to come in before sunset."

I bit my lip, wary of the answer I should give. "You did," I agreed slowly.

"Obviously, you didn't listen."

I raised my eyebrows and sat up carefully. "I did listen. The sun hadn't set yet when I was outside."

"No!"

My hand bolted behind me. I was in the crawl-away-backwards-quickly position.

The Beast paced back and forth. I noticed his cane was gone.

"You disobeyed two of my direct orders. Two of them!"

I stared at him in disbelief. "What did I disobey? I was doing exactly what you told me."

He growled. The hairs on the back of my neck stood straight up.

"You were not. You were outside past sundown. You also ventured outside of the castle grounds!"

"When did I go outside the castle grounds? I was near the it at all times."

"When you entered the water, that's when."

My mouth dropped open. How dare he?

"I didn't enter the water on my own free will! What, you think I like drowning? Maybe you should try it sometime. Does wonders for your life expectancy!"

Sarcasm dripped off every single one of my words. The Beast froze momentarily, surprised at my outburst, then growled louder.

"You should know better than to speak to those who you believe to be 'rescuing' you." When he spat out 'rescuing' he made air quotes with his fingers. "No one is coming for you! You are stuck here for however long I wish."

Something inside me snapped. I felt rage boil up, feeling like it was suffocating me.

"Maybe I just wanted to see the only family that I don't hate again," I whispered. A tear traced down my cheek, which I quickly wiped away.

"Tough. You won't. You made that decision when you decided to stay. I couldn't care less about your family. Or you for that matter," he added as an afterthought.

I just shook my head. I was strangely calm after his hurtful words. He turned to leave, but I spoke up, unable to not have the last word.

"If someone you love shows up after you know that you will never see them again, what would you do?"

The Beast stopped and turned around. "I have no one that I love. I have no one that loves me. That is why--" he stalked up to my bed and leaned over me. "I don't care about you, or your so-called family."

There was a tug at my neck and a popping sound. I looked down. Draped across the Beast's white hand was my silver necklace.

"Give it back," I choked.

"If you want it so much, then fetch, little dog." He threw it toward the window with all of his strength, making it hit the glass. Spider-like cracks formed in the glass and a round hole penetrated the window, making it clear that it was gone.

He turned back to me. "And with that, Lizaveta, adieu. I hope you enjoy your new prison, because you will never set foot outside this castle again. You will see no sunlight nor moonlight, you will not feel the air against your face, you will be here and you will die here."

The rage that boiled up inside finally overflowed. I didn't cry. I stared directly into his eyes and whispered my next three words with power, meaning every ounce of what I said.

"I hate you."

Something happened behind his eyes, something momentary, something sad.

I didn't care.

I said the sentence again and again, getting louder each time I spoke those three words.

"I hate you."

"I hate you!"

"I HATE YOU!"

My door slamed shut as he exited. I continued screaming at him with malice, wanting him to be hurt as much as he had hurt me.

No, more than he just hurt me.

Underneath my screams, I heard a roar. It was the same roar that I heard when he changed next to my room. This time, though, it was filled with pain.

My hatred quickly turned to sorrow and my screams turned to sobs. I couldn't stop myself. I fell face down onto my pillow, wetting it like a rag.

I'm sorry.

***

I jolted awake. I didn't even know when I fell asleep, let alone what woke me up. I looked to the window, praying that it was still there. Momentary panic hit me as I looked at the blackness surrounding the area, but then I almost laughed at myself.

It was dark outside.

I pushed myself up from my bed with my hands, then slowly started to walk over to the glass. I smiled softly as I looked out, watching how the moonlight glistened off the ponds and the top of the fountain.

Regret swarmed over me. Looking outside reminded me of the fight, and that reminded me of what I said. While his actions were uncalled for, it was not consent for me to tell him that I hated him.

Something nagged at the back of my mind.

Do I hate the Beast?

I shook my head.

No, I don't. I can't hate him. He saved me from the men in the forest and allows me to stay in his castle. He even taught me some magic. All of those times, he was anything but hateable. More than a few times he has been unlikeable, but not liking someone is different than hating someone.

My hand moved towards the bottom of my neck, where my necklace usually sat. I grabbed for it, but found nothing.

That's right. He threw it through the window. For some reason, tears pricked at my eyes.

It's just a necklace, Zara.

A muffled crash made me jump. Another roar followed close behind it, signaling what caused the noise. In fact, whimpering moans had been ringing throughout the castle since I woke up. Dread gnawed at my stomach as it dawned on me what I should do. I took a deep breath and went to my nightstand, where a long candlestick was. I scooped it up, grabbed my shawl, and snagged my dagger, which I brought along without a second thought.

My door was unlocked and I tiptoed out without thinking, knowing that if I thought about what I was going to do, I would lose my nerve. Quietly, the door closed behind me. This was my fault, and I needed to fix it.

Where would he be?

My question was answered quickly enough. The candlelight flickered onto the walls, and I saw deep scratches that ran down the entire length of the hallway. The few pictures that hung lopsided were either torn to bits, lying on the floor, or both. Smashed glass and overturned tables littered the walkway.

I've got a bad feeling about this.

I gulped, then followed the trail of destruction around the corner and up the hall. I went past the kitchen and the dining room until I reached a part of the castle that I had only been once before, on the night that I ran into the woods. I stopped in front of the big wooden doors that covered up the wall in front of me, knowing exactly where I will wind up as soon as those doors opened.

The Beast's room.

Another moan crawled its way out from behind the walls and reached me, tugging at my heartstrings. With trembling fingers, I reached for the door handle, moving like a snail. My hand grasped the cool surface and somehow, I managed to convince myself to turn the knob and step into the room.

With my heart in my throat, I whispered, then spoke louder. "Beast?"

I cringed at the only name I knew to call him, not liking the way it sounds.

"Beast? It's Zara."

A growl escaped from the far corner of the room. I held my candle up and caught a fleeting glimpse of a creature curled into a tight ball, holding it's head with it's hands. My feet shuffled forward, and my action was immediately met with a snarl.

"Don't...move." The words were forced out, as if saying them was a challenge. I froze and watched as his whole body shrank slowly. Long claws on his finger retreated, leaving the short ones I was used to. Hair, dark hair that covered his body pulled back, leaving his white skin glistening with sweat.

Slowly the Beast got to his feet. His back was still turned slightly away from me. The black strap that circled his head to hold his mask in place was missing.

"Lower your candle."

I did.

"What do...you want?" he questioned through labored breaths.

I heard the soft click of the door behind me closing.

No turning back now.

I opened my mouth to answer, then noticed everything scattered around the floor. More glass was shattered on the ground, and a dresser was completely overturned. Huge claw marks ran up and down the bed that was pushed against the wall, and the stuffing fell out from the large tears. A few things still sat upright, the largest of them being a flower vase that balanced precariously on a small table at the end of his destroyed bed.

Of all the times to be brave.

"I, uh, I came to apologize," I squeaked, hating how my voice betrayed me.

A low, dark chuckle came from the Beast. "For what?"

My heart pumped louder and faster than before, if that was even possible. "Um, for saying that what I said."

He started to shake. A hand moved up to his temple, and the other clawed at the wall.

I continued stupidly, ignoring the danger signs in front of me. "I don't hate you."

He froze and darted his eyes over toward me, turning his unmasked head slightly in my direction.

My curiosity is going to kill me.

I took a step toward, wanting to know what he looked like without his mask. The Beast tensed and growled again. I stopped moving.

"I'm sorry for what I said, Beast." I was continuing from my apology. "I don't hate you."

Then I added in a whisper, "I can't."

Suddenly, I was thrown backward. I hit the wall next to the door hard. A heavy weight pushed against my shoulders, pinning me to the floor. The little bit of light from the candle has disappeared.

"You should hate me, child. Hate is good. You need to stay away from me."

His eyes were brighter than their normal red. They were same color that they were when he attacked the people in the forest. When he spoke, it has an animal sound to it, laced underneath his normal voice.

I tried to catch my breath, to breathe with him sitting on top of me. I couldn't speak. He knocked the wind out of me.

The Beast slowly walked his fingers up my shoulder and licked his lips. "Otherwise, girl, you might end up like those men in the forest."

My eyes wided as he leanef over me, the bottom half of his face still hidden. Somehow, I got my hand free from underneath me. I punched him in the chest, as hard as I could.

"Get. Off. Of. Me."

I could literally see the realization of what he was doing hit him. He scrambled away and faced his back to me, gripping at the sides of his head.

I sat up, trying to calm myself. My whole body was shaking. I ducked my head in between my hands.

One, two, three, four.

An unearthly yell came from the Beast, making me jump to my feet. He slammed his arms on top of the flower vase, shattering it. Small trails of blood immediately appeared on his arms, marking where the glass imbedded itself. He rammed his already injured arms against the bed frame, splintering the wood, then punched the wall.

A loud snap of breaking bone brought me out of my fear. I ran to him and grabbed his wrists, trying to stop him from hurting himself more.

"Stop it! Stop!" I started to look into his eyes. My head snapped to the side and pain raked across my face, making me fall to my knees and cry out. I pressed the palm of my hand against my cheek then pulled it away, feeling the three scratches on my face.

I heard him move toward the door. At the same time, the sound of breaking glass reached my ears, the door opened. No doubt he used magic.

If he gets out...

I threw my arm out to the side, as if reaching for him. The door needs to close, the door need to close.

"Stop!"

_______________________________________

Well, that was fun.

This and the next chapter were some of the first scenes that I thought of for this book. I was going to put it all into one big chapter, but apparently, this was longer than what I thought it'd be.( It would be close to 5,000 words if I combined them.) I am really excited that I finally got to write this down.

Thank you for reading! If you liked this chapter, feel free to vote and comment what you think!