Steel Roses

Beyond the Mirror

The night of the argument, Beldon returned to is room, slamming the door behind him and throwing the beautiful coat to the floor.

Vanessa tried to speak to him, worry in her face, but he just walked past, out onto one of the small balconies – where there were no mirrors – and dropped into the chair out there, crossing his legs and resting his chin on his knuckles, his eyes dark as he looked out over the moonlit forest, in the direction he had come from which would lead him back home eventually. He sat there for most of the night, slowly becoming more and more aggravated as he ran the conversation with The Beast through his head again and again until he finally wound himself up so tight he went to bed, clamping the pillow over his head and forcing himself to concentrate solely on sleep.

The next morning, he waved Julius away when the servant came to fetch him for fencing – much to Vanessa, Julius and Iago's surprise. He explained it away by saying he wanted to practice alone for a bit for he was not in good spirits and would not be good company.

They accepted the explanation and Beldon took one the swords with him, locking it into place on his belt before making his way to one of the ballroom.

For the first hour or so, he really did practice, because he could feel eyes on him and he had to stop himself looking to where he knew the slots for this ballroom were. He could only assume that was why he felt eyes on him – though he didn't know who the watcher was.

Eventually the feeling went away and he stayed for another hour, in case it came back.

And then, once he was sure it wouldn't, he ran out of the ballroom, into the library – closing the main doors behind him – and rushed over to the tucked away corner where the fairytales were.

He examined the bookshelf for a moment – seemed it had closed behind him after all. He had opened it by just falling against it last time – was it just a matter of strength to push it open? But then the one that had led into his room had been operated by a switch.

Finding the best spot to push, he flattened his hands against the books and pushed, heaving all his weight and muscle into his palms.

The wall slid backwards silently and he stepped back. He looked at it for a second, then grinned, slipping through.

The torches flickered to life as he mounted the stairs and then that was how he spent the rest of his day.

Exploring the different passageways and slots. He had originally intended to just brush over the rooms in the East Wing – he knew them after all – and he did at the start, until he looked through a slot to get his bearings and saw servants he had never met before.

Two of the maids perhaps? They were cleaning, but they were just clouds of mist, floating around the room.

The only reason he knew they were women was because he could hear them talking to each other.

"The Master had every right to be mad though."

"Julius only mentioned it in passing I'm sure. And I reckon Beldon must be bored out of his mind if he wants to spend more time with The Master."

"Hush yourself, Talifa."

"He's not listening, and I heard what he said to Beldon, it was mean. Not that The Master is ever anything else."

"Talifa," the second maid hissed. "It's not your place to comment. And the boy held his own perfectly well; his comment inflicted an equal amount of damage on The Master."

"Never seen someone stand up to him like that before."

Beldon pulled back, closing the slot, biting his lip, thinking back to the night before. He had struck out with the intention of hurting The Beast when he said those words... but he felt bad for it. It seemed his words really had hurt, and it put him on the same level as The Beast.