Steel Roses

Rosalia

Beldon lay flat on his back in the snow, his cloak sprawled out around him, looking up at the clear sky. He had come to be that way because when he had been walking the gardens, he had accidently backed into one of the gardeners – who looked like a dog – they had both been startled at the other and the gardener managed to trip him over in his rush to get away and hide.

So now, Beldon took a deep breath and slowly let it out, watching it coil away, the closest he had come to seeing a cloud all day.

There had been no sign of Beauty, all week and there had been no sign of any Beauty, and nothing more had melted.

He closed his eyes.

The poor Beast, the grounds had changed; as he had said, he hadn't seen green beyond the rose garden in years, and yet no Beauty appeared before him, nothing appeared in the mirror to give him some relief.

And as he felt that tinge of pity for The Beast, he pushed down another feeling that lurked below.

He didn't want to look too closely at it but he knew it was there. A pleasure that The Beast had yet to see Beauty. Even worse was he knew it had been there for a little while now, but he had come to notice it over the last week.

They were finally talking, really talking. They had finally broken through that ice that had separated them for the last two months. Beldon almost laughed. Who knew all he needed to do was talk about business? Such a simple, far ranging topic and he and The Beast spoke for hours.

Their half hour dinners turned into one hour, two hour, sometime even three hour long dinner parties, both of them talking and drinking, swapping stories, discussing business and just enjoying each other company.

And Beldon didn't want a girl coming in and taking that away from him.

He put a hand over his eyes.

What awful thoughts. That girl – whoever she was – was the key to The Beast's freedom. Not just The Beast, but Vanessa, Iago, Julius, Jasper – even Sebastian – and all the other staff who were stuck in strange enchanted forms until Beauty arrived. Beldon, his presence was just an unforeseen footnote in all this.

He sighed, and opened his eyes though his splayed fingers, listening to the crunch of snow behind him as someone walked his way.

"Beldon, what are you doing?" The Beast asked, stopping by his head and looking down at him.

Beldon met his eyes through his fingers, then let his hand fall away and smiled. "Sun bathing?" he offered, holding up his hands.

"Uh huh," The Beast said, taking Beldon's hands and pulling him to his feet. "You'll catch more than just a cold lying around in the snow like that," he said, brushing the snow from Beldon's back.

"At least I'm wearing a cloak this time," Beldon said.

"Not a good enough excuse," The Beast said, allowing Beldon to turn to him once he had finished.

"Where are you off to then?" Beldon asked.

"The rose garden, care to walk with me?" The Beast said, turning and starting in the direction of the garden.

Beldon followed, falling into step with him. When they had first started going to dinner together – after their music sessions – Beldon, despite his long stride, had struggled to keep up with The Beast. The Beast had quickly caught onto that and had changed his walk so that they now naturally walked at the same sweeping pace.

"Were you working?" Beldon asked as they entered the arches of the rose garden.

"Briefly, really I'm just getting excited letters from Princess Grace about the winter balls they'll be hosting."