Belinda and her mother live in poverty. Their only hope of escape is if Belinda can use her natural beauty to make the prince fall in love with her, but when Belinda meets him, she finds she can't help but be honest with him. She assumes that once he knows the truth, he will throw her out of the palace- or worse. But it turns out the prince has a secret of his own... This is a twist on the traditional Beauty and the Beast tale, written for @BeautyandtheBeastUK 's short story competition. It's about the lengths we'll go to for the ones we love, and the power of inner beauty.

This story is similar to the beauty and the beast story but takes place in modern times. Isabelle Beaumont is nineteen years old and absolutely beautiful. Her brown hair reaches all the way to her waist and her green eyes are breathtaking; as told to her by a very annoying and very stubborn Stephan. She visits her grandmother in France and is once again told the story of the untamed beast. The legend says that many years ago when knights and mythical creatures walked the earth there was an untamed beast who vanquished an entire kingdom and to this day still lives in the castle. It is said the only way to tame the beast is to show it how to love. Belle finds this childish but when her grandmother is taken by the beast her only choice is to take her place and stay. Will Belle be able to escape or will feelings grow?

Allura means beauty. Though she is trapped in her father's service, she learns to be free in her imagination, in her singing and books. When her father is held hostage by a strange red-eyed beast and sells Allura for his own freedom, Allura faces the choice to rescue him or to take her chance for liberation. She chooses the path of love and is given a magic blessing in the form of a rose to take with her. What will she find? Her death? Or perhaps true love? Credit to Amanda Hull for the graphic art in the picture and photographer Raechel Barnett. Image used with permission. Author Note: This story was written because of a task I recently took on to re-write a favourite fairy tale. I chose this one because my Mother used to tell it to me all the time as a child without a book to read from. I loved it and it makes me remember her with happy memories even though she has now joined the mysterious after-life.