The Red Rose Among Thorns

SEVEN

Lilly Emerald belongs to LillianDuncan Aracel Mikaelson belongs to SkullPearlQueen

Meanwhile back at the castle Blake opened the door to her room and stepped out into the hall.  She was hungry so she went to find the kitchen.

However, instead of Charlie watching over her like Jenni had instructed him he and Cinder were making out behind one of the drapes. They were about to do something else when Charlie accidentally ripped the curtain down with one of his candle holder arms. Cinder tried to pull the fabric off him but all that ended up happening was they got tangled up in the fabric together.

"I leave for ten minutes and I come back to this," Jenni said sarcastically.

"This isn't what it looks like," Charlie said embarrassed.

"Mmm Hmm," Jenni said pulling the curtain off them, "well it seems I was too late to stop Blake from leaving her room."

"Well what do you expect? You're a broken clock," Charlie snickered messing with one of the clock hands on her face.

Jenni had always wondered if the enchantress that cursed them had a sense of humor. Before she was cursed Jenni never had a good sense of time and that seemed to have carried on into her transformation. She was a broken clock. Her face was cracked and the hands of her clock never pointed to the right time.

"Anyway," Jenni said annoyed, "let's go find her."

"Agreed," Charlie nodded, "race you!" He hopped quickly down the hall with Cinder tailing after him.

"Charlie! Ugh...what am I going to do with him?" Jenni muttered.

In the kitchen some of the servants were cleaning up from dinner. They were all pretty annoyed that the Beast had refused anything to eat after Blake had denied his request to eat with him.

"I can't believe I didn't get to play any sweet music. I just learned a new song and everything," Neptune, the grand piano said, as he began moving his keys around to play a melody. He had had walked into the kitchen from the grand hall so he could play music during dinner. But since there wasn't going to be any dinner he was more then a little upset.

"If that's supposed to be a song it needs work," Lilly said, "Hey Aracel a little higher please."

"Sure thing," Aracel said, hopping onto a stack of plates so Lilly could reach the top shelf of the cabinet better.

As humans Lilly Emerald and Aracel Mikaelson  were the head servants in the kitchen. They were in charge of making sure the cooks were all doing their jobs. Now that they were a spoon and a cup respectively their only job was making sure the cutlery that was once their coworkers were put in the cabinet correctly. Currently Lilly was balancing on Aracel's rim to make sure the plates were put away.

"Hello?" Blake called, walking into the kitchen.

"Hey there Blake," Yang said, "Do you need something?"

"I'm just a little hungry," Blake admitted.

"No no no! The master said not to give her anything to eat!" Jenni yelled running in.

"Hey look it's the fun police," Charlie said sarcastically.

Jenni glared at him.

"We can't let her go hungry," Cinder spoke up shyly.

The little clock groaned, "Fine. But if we get in trouble it's not my fault."

The others looked happy about that and started preparing dinner for Blake.

After she had eaten her fill Blake turned to Charlie, "Hey I don't suppose I could maybe get a tour of the castle."

"No!" Jenni screeched, "we were told not to give you food or let you out of the room, and we've already broken one of the rules."

That gave Blake an idea, "Well you seem like you know your way around the castle. You would be the perfect tour guide for me."

"Well I don't know about that," Jenni said.

Charlie caught onto what Blake was doing, "of course you would Jenni. Nobody knows the ends and outs of the palace better then you."

"That is true. Ok I'll do it," Jenni said.

Soon Blake was being led through the palace halls by Cinder, Charlie, and Jenni.

"That hall down there leads to the garden. The guest wing is that way. And to the right of us is the west wing," the clock said pointing around.

"Oh so that's the west wing," that cat Faunus spoke up.

"Oh umm yes. But let's not go in there." Charlie said.

"Why? What's so forbidden about it?" Blake asked.

"Nothing. There's nothing in there," Jenni said.

"Well if nothing is in there it wouldn't be forbidden," the girl pointed out.

"I believe what Jenni means is...come with us to the library," Charlie spoke up.

"You have a library?" Blake asked.

"Oh yes. It's right this way," Cinder said flying down the hallway.

Charlie and Jenni followed the feather duster to the library. Blake was going to but she was very curious about what was in the west wing. So she waited until the servants had disappeared down the hall before she climbed the stairs to the west wing. The wing itself was empty except for one room at the very end of the hall. Slowly Blake her hand on the doorknob and turned it.

Walking in the room Blake was taken aback by what she saw. What was probably once lavish furniture was torn to shreds. Pillows lay on the floor with their feathers strewn about. The wallpaper looked like something had clawed it.

In the center of the room was a huge portrait. The painting showed three people but it was just as torn as everything else in the room. The person on the far left was the most ripped up. It appeared to be a man, possibly a king, but it was hard to tell. On the far right was a woman. Her part of the portrait didn't even look touched. She was beautiful. She was wearing a golden crown on her white curly hair and a lavish blue ballgown. In the middle was a little boy. He was wearing a little black suit and he wasn't smiling. However what was strange was the part of the picture that showed the boy's eyes had been ripped out. Blake was about to move the torn fabric to see the picture fully when something else caught her eye.

That something was a strange red glow. The curious girl followed it until she came across a table. On it was a jar, inside was a red rose, and it was this that was glowing.

Blake removed the jar and reached out to touch the rose, but before she could grab it she heard a loud roar. The Beast had entered the room and he was not happy Blake was there. He knocked her aside and put the jar over the rose.

"I told you never to come here," he snarled.

"I-I know but-"

"Get out!" He roared knocking the table over.

"I'm sorry I just wanted-"

"GET OUT!!" He snarled again roaring in her face.

Blake screamed and ran out of the room.

The Beast was breathing heavily until he realized what he did, "oh no...what have I done?"