Hiding From Light: A Beauty and the Beast Genderbend

Chapter 20

A/N: I want to say "I've got friends on the other side," but this chapter already has a quote. Anyway, this is the mysterious ghostly specter^^^

"You must learn some of my philosophy. Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure." -Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen

Brandon smiled to himself as he gazed outside the dark window at the swirling snow.

Ever since the somewhat awkward and forced dinner he'd had with the Lady of the Castle, aka "Sunshine", it seemed like they were closer.

At least he saw her every night at dinner without fail. Slowly, painfully, she seemed to be warming up to him.

He allowed his eyes to flutter shut, pulling up the image of Sunshine sitting across from him, elaborating on her latest project.

///

The Lady's hood was slightly pushed back, allowing Brandon to see her face, but still casting the slightest shadow as it framed her face. He decided not to tell her.

Surely, this was a sign of her growing trust in him?

"What did you do all day?" She asked him abruptly. "I didn't see you at all."

Brandon had to work really hard to control his expression. "You were looking for me?"

She blinked at him, her expression closing off in an instant. He laughed it off and answered her question before she decided to hide away from him again.

"I was in the library." He admitted. "I just... lost myself to the books. It's amazing. Truly the most wonderful room in this castle."

"You love libraries?" She asked.

He gave her a curious look. "I thought you already knew that."

Why else would she have led him to it?

She shook her head, the hood falling farther off her head. "No. I had no idea."

"Oh!" He snapped his fingers abruptly. "I also wanted to thank you."

"Thank me?" She looked confused by the abrupt change in subject, and a guarded expression was steadily appearing on her face again.

"For giving my book back." He smiled widely at her. "I realized I must have dropped it in the forest when the wolves attacked me because I couldn't find it anywhere. And you gave it back to me. So, thank you."

"Er... you're welcome?"

He grinned at her, and she gave him a strange look in reply. This one was completely uninterpretable to him, so he decided to distract her with a question of his own.

"What did you do all day?"

"I... was trying to get the princess to advocate for failing libraries, actually."

Brandon gaped at her, and she gave him a close-lipped smile, clearly attempting to hide her fangs.

"You're not the only one in love with books." She admitted. "Who else could have possibly been my friend all these years in my current state? Reading a book just made things more bearable. Ever since the curse, I can recognize that I don't belong anywhere but here. And even then, I barely belong here. It is a good thing I am unable to leave without the wolves attacking. After all, what would people say to a beast walking around? It is better this way."

"Not to mention, if I ever felt the need to escape, I had a built-in traveling room right in my own castle." She added quickly, the second it seemed Brandon would speak. "If things ever became too much, I'd find a book, with a lead character much braver and smarter than I am, and live vicariously through them. As an added bonus, it kept my mind off-"