A Beast's Tale

Chapter 1

I just wanted to read in the library. Alone. I didn't want to talk to anybody; I didn't want to hear anybody; and I certainly didn't want to see anybody.

Leon had accosted me in the hallway before I even made it to my office, yelling about my latest purge. He'd change his tune once he knew all the details surrounding that unfortunate event.

If I ever told him.

If Obsidian didn't win this time.

The near invasion, the arms dealing, the new weapons in development, the informant - everything was a mess.

Except for the library.

The smell of wood polish assaulted my nostrils as soon as I opened the familiar, large wooden door carved with intricate floral designs. Of all days for the head maid to insist on having the library cleaned. I frowned, scanning the room for the offender. The walls, lined floor to ceiling with bookshelves, shone from recent attention. The free-standing shelves scattered about the massive room had also been dusted. Not just one maid, then. At least two, potentially more. Even the woodwork of the ornate sofas, chairs, and coffee tables glistened. The large chandelier hanging from the center of the ceiling was dark, as were the smaller chandeliers radiating around it. The maids had left already. But, then again, they may not have needed to light the candles, with the ample amount of sunlight pouring in from the many windows along the southern wall.

A book lay on the window seat in the alcove below the central, largest window.

I crossed the wood floor, my booted footsteps intermittently muted by the occasional rugs imitating roses in bloom. I didn't tolerate books left carelessly lying about, but at least the volume of short stories that had been abandoned in the alcove was not one of mine. My irritation was growing, even before I saw the plain wooden door that guarded my inner sanctum standing open. Had the head maid lost her mind? It wasn't that the library didn't need cleaning occasionally, but she and the other palace maids knew better than to enter my private library without my permission.

Or had she hired a new one?

That stupid head maid couldn't take a hint. I didn't want or need a personal maid, especially one who was so foolish as to enter my personal library without my permission.

A soft humming came to my ears as I neared the open doorway. Her back was to me as she dusted the shelves. Flickering candlelight from the single lamp on the end table next to my chair cast a soft glow on the glossy strands of her long, black ponytail. She wore the usual warm weather maid's uniform, a black dress with short sleeves and a skirt that cut off just above her knees, a white apron tied neatly in a bow just above her hips. Her petite frame and slender limbs gave the impression that a stiff breeze would be more than sufficient to blow her away.

And this was what the head maid had hired for me? Laughable. She wouldn't last the day.

"Get out," I commanded.

She nearly jumped out of her skin as she turned to face me, startled by my arrival, but there was no fear in her bright green eyes as she looked me over. Surely, she knew who I was. At the very least, she had to recognize that I was a prince. And yet her eyes met mine with clear irritation. The foolish creature had taken offense to me. I could snap her like a twig, but she had to bite her lip to keep from blurting out a sharp retort as she steadily met my glare.

"You have something to say to me?" I asked threateningly.

She had to force herself to drop my gaze. "No, your highness," she said, her voice as soft as her humming as she feigned meekness.

I smirked at her mockingly. "A wise decision." I selected a book at random and went to my chair, watching her out of the corner of my eye as she left the room. "Shut the door," I added, and she did so without looking back at me.