A Tale of Beauty and Beast: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast (Beyond the Four Kingdoms #2)(3)

Chapter 2





A jolt made me roll off the seat of the carriage and crash to the floor. We had started moving. I groaned and pushed myself to my feet, rubbing my hip bone. The wheels hit a bump, and I staggered before hurriedly sitting down. Rubbing my eyes and yawning, I grumbled to myself at the rude awakening.

After checking that Chestnut trotted behind us, I munched on a cold and unappetizing breakfast. I wondered how long before Lily woke up…then if I could possibly fall back asleep while the carriage was moving…and then I surveyed the chaos again and sighed. I supposed I had better tidy up. The Palinaran royal family had several castles and palaces, and I wasn’t completely sure where I was going. Which meant we could arrive at any time.

I tidied all of my belongings neatly back into the saddlebags and used a small mirror to tidy up my hair and dress. When I felt as satisfied with my appearance as was possible in the circumstances, I settled back to watch out the window and await developments.



When the light began to fade, I gloomily surveyed the chaos of my belongings that had once again spread throughout the carriage. The hope with which I had packed them in the morning now seemed foolish and naive.

I sighed. Lily had done her best to keep me entertained, but there was only so much she could do from afar. She had even read me one of my favorite fairy tales for a couple of hours, but then she had been called away by other duties. She was betrothed to Marin’s crown prince, after all, and Marin was currently full of foreign delegations. Treaty negotiations were still underway between our own kingdom, far away in the Four Kingdoms, and all of these lands except Palinar. She could hardly come up with an excuse for spending the whole day locked in the library reading.

I had thoroughly examined the inside of the carriage by this point, of course, and had been unimpressed to find my betrothed had failed to include any supplies. Thank goodness I had packed myself a generous supply of food and water before fleeing Marin.

As I munched on another cold meal—each one was becoming more unappetizing than the last—my thoughts dwelt on my betrothed. The Beast. Just the thought of him made me shudder—with revulsion or fear, I wasn’t entirely sure.

I shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of provisions. Why would a cold-hearted monster consider my comfort at all? Millie, Jon’s cousin and a new friend, had told us all about how each Princess Tourney was shaped by the ruler or heir who called it. It made sense since its purpose was to find his perfect match and true love. And our Tourney had been frightening and dangerous—a terrifying glimpse into the dark nature of the crown prince of Palinar. So powerful was his curse, that it had reached out through him to corrupt the Tourney itself. What awful acts had he committed to bring such a curse upon himself?

I knew I couldn’t possibly be the true love for such a man—if man he still was. The truth was not that the Tourney had chosen me, but that I had cheated, using the secret connection between Lily and me to circumvent the rules and gain an advantage. She had planned to sacrifice herself to save me, but it was a sacrifice I wasn’t willing to let her make. I had never tried to work against her before, and my victory had been hard won. A hollow victory if not for the look on Lily’s and Jon’s faces at our joint betrothal ceremony. I would sacrifice myself again for my twin’s happiness.

Except I was determined to make it a short-term sacrifice. As I had knelt beside the Beast’s proxy at our Betrothal Ceremony, I had promised myself that I would travel to Palinar and find a way to break our betrothal. A way that didn’t violate the ancient laws. Then I would find out what the Beast had done to curse his people, I would defeat him, and I would free them. I would make sure that he could never hurt me again. And then I would return to Marin.

It was an excellent plan, except that I had no idea whatsoever how to do it, and two full days of travel hadn’t brought any enlightenment. When I fell asleep for the second night, I didn’t let my mind listen for any voices—I didn’t want to know what my subconscious thought.



Sophie. Lily’s grim-sounding projection woke me even before the carriage began to move the next morning.

What is it? I came awake quickly having only been half-dozing.

We’ve just received word from Marin’s prison. Cole has disappeared.

What!? I gasped. What about Sir Oswald and Corinna? I asked, referring to Cole’s father and sister.

They’re still there and claim to know nothing about his escape. Lily sounded tired. The sky had barely begun to lighten—how early had she been awoken with the news? The duke has turned out all the guard, and they’re searching the city. He seems confident we’ll find him.

Lily didn’t sound like she shared her future father-in-law’s optimism, and I understood her concern. The duchy of Marin was a city-state—by far the largest city either of us had ever seen. It must have a great many hiding places. And that was assuming he hadn’t made it across the border into southern Talinos, or across the straits to one of the other kingdoms.

I groaned. The duke was never going to find him. And who knew what danger Cole would stir up? Every indication suggested he had been deep in his father’s plot to steal Jon’s father’s throne—a plot we had only just managed to foil. And his treachery against the duke was actually the smaller concern.

The darkness we had defeated in Marin, had started in Palinar. The locals assured us that a curse so large and so devastating could only be the result of a kingdom turning their backs on the godmothers and breaching the ancient laws.