Steel Roses

His Tale To Tell

That night, Beldon lay awake in his bedroom, his own bedroom, moonlight pouring in through his open window, a night chill inspecting the room, blowing through his old clothes and rustling book pages.

He could almost hear Vanessa's snap in his ear, telling him off for leaving the window open when he had only just recovered from a fever the day before.

The guests had all either retired to their rooms in the cottage or had gone back to their rooms in the village.

Beldon gazed out of the window, his hands behind his head, listening to the night, then looked to his bedside table, where his mother's storybook lay. The rest of the collection was still neatly arranged on the bookshelf above his desk.

His eyes travelled the dark room and he noted the lack of mirrors. He had become so used to the dozens of mirrors around his room in the palace; the distinct lack of them was strange to his eyes.

His eyes continued to drift around the room, until they came to rest on one of his bags. It was the bag with the shard of mirror in. He looked at it for a long while, then slowly sat up and slipped out of bed, walking over to the window seat, sitting down and picking up the bag. He sat there for a time, just looking at the bag, before he finally opened it and reached inside.

He stopped as his fingers touched something that was neither cloth nor glass. Slowly taking hold of it, he drew it from the bag and closed his eyes.

It was a rose.

A perfect, beautiful red rose, like the one his father had brought for him the night everything had changed.

He leant back against the window frame, looking out over the snowfields and forest.

"Southern Winds," he said gently, "Please set The Beast free. I think he deserves it."

A tender breeze came up to meet him, brushing across his face and in the distance; he could hear a gentle voice on the winds, like a lullaby.

He closed his eyes as warm air wrapped around him, the music lulling him to sleep in the dark.

~~~~

The next morning, Beldon awoke to find an audience awaiting his story. At first he had woken up confused and disorientated, not knowing where he was and automatically calling for Vanessa, before he remembered he had finally returned home again.

So he had got up and got dressed and come downstairs, with the intention of going into the kitchen, only to see a large group sitting in the living room, watching him.

He stopped in the doorway, raising an eyebrow at them.

There was his father, his brothers and his sisters, Raoul and Louise, as well as Jean and Christian, all sitting with tea half way to their lips, looking at him.

They were quiet for a moment, then Beldon pointed towards the kitchens. "I'm going to make tea," he said and walked out of sight before any of them could stop him.

When he came back with his own cup of tea, they were all still sat there and he sighed, taking the armchair that had obviously been left for him as the storyteller, one of the two by the fireplace - the other being his father's.

"So you weren't away travelling?" Jean said as soon as Beldon sat down.

"And you didn't want to stay away," Louise said.

"No and no," Beldon said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Then... what happened?" Christian asked. Raoul glanced at him and Christian narrowed his eyes at Raoul, making Raoul glower in return. Beldon rolled his eyes at them and they both returned their attention to him.