Beauty's Mirror- Paranormal Regency Beauty and the Beast

Chapter One

Four Years Later

Bella paced outside her father's study. Her brother, George, was home from University for the first time in two years. He had chosen to spend his other holidays in London or with friends. His visits home had been infrequent since their mother died four years before.

Bella had spent those years attempting to justify his seeming lack of care for the family. First, George was at Harrow and then Oxford. Both were long distances from the family estate near Dumfries. Papa had been so proud, at first, to send his son to Oxford instead of Edinburgh. Now, she heard raised voices, and it was clear the two men were arguing. Bella pressed her ear against the door.

"Impossible! He's a mad man!" George shouted then flung the door open. Bella stumbled forward, and he caught her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked as he roughly set her to rights.

"No, of course not."

George held her eyes, sorrow and despair filling his. "Get out of here, Bella," he whispered but urgency laced the words. "Run off with your own life. Father will do nothing but make a slave of you."

"Father needs me," she said.

George frowned. "Meg and Kate are almost grown."

Bella shook her head. "Hardly."

"Meg is the same age you were when Mama died."

"It's different," she said. I'm different, she meant.

"It's not."

"George, what are you and Bella whispering about?" their father gruffly called out.

Panic filled George's eyes again. "I'm leaving, Bella. I don't know where or when I'll see you again. It's not...not safe for me here."

"What do you mean? Papa would never hurt you."

"Son, if you're not leaving, then get back in here and let us solve your problem like a man."

George's shoulders tensed and then fell. He pushed past Bella.

"George?" she called after him. "George!"

He continued to walk on without looking back. He called for his coat and hat. Certain he only meant to ride and calm his nerves, Bella turned toward her father. Shutting the door after entering, she took a deep breath before speaking.

"What was that about?" she asked as she made her way to the tea tray. A cup of tea with two sugars always eased her father's moods. A cup of tea with two sugars and a splash of port, actually.

"Your brother got himself into trouble," he said after a long suffering sigh and took the offered cup. "Ah, no one makes me a cup like you do," he said before raising it to his lips.

"What kind of trouble?"

"I've done my best to keep my girls safe from the rogues of the world. But there are men who enjoy the vices in life."

"Are you saying George is one?" She could scarcely believe it of her brother.

"No, but he's been taken in by one. Men of wealth and power that see him as an easy mark. English. I should never have sent him to London."

She held back a retort reminding him he had once been proud to send his son to school with the English. "What can we do?" She moved about the room, picking up tossed aside books and clearing dishes. The housekeeper died shortly after Lady Beauley and had never been replaced. Recently, they let their maid go as well.