A Tale of Beauty and Beast: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast (Beyond the Four Kingdoms #2)(4)

Except no one knew what laws had been violated. Or even the exact nature of the curse. They had simply noticed one day that no one had been seen leaving Palinar in weeks. Weeks that became months. Travelers and merchants who attempted to enter turned back with tales of desolate wastelands roamed by wild animals. A new feature in the once prosperous kingdom.

The last group had turned back after rescuing a man who had been mauled by a bear. I had sought out the man after winning the Tourney, but the rumors had been true. While his physical injuries had been healed, his confusion of the mind remained. He raved about a curse and a beastly prince, but his words made little sense. Of the other royals, Prince Dominic’s parents and younger sister, he would say only that they were gone.

Palinar was cursed along with my betrothed. Emptied of people and full of wild beasts. Shrouded with darkness which had begun to infect the other kingdoms. Its power had even reached out through Prince Dominic and twisted the Tourney he had called, nearly destroying Marin.

And Cole and his family had originally come from Palinar, moving to Marin long before the curse had cut Palinar off from the other kingdoms. But Jon, Lily, and I believed they had not escaped the reaches of the curse. The pride and greed in their hearts had provided fertile ground for the darkness that had already spread so far out of Palinar.

So, if Cole had escaped, that meant the curse had another agent roaming free, spreading the seeds of destruction further afield.

Let me know how the search goes, I projected, desperately wishing I could be there with Lily and Jon instead of riding alone in a strange and magical carriage toward a strange and terrifying fate.

She agreed, but she sounded distracted, and I knew I wouldn’t be hearing any more of the story today. I wished I had been able to pack one or two books, but my saddlebags had been full to overflowing with basic necessities. There had been no room for such luxuries, and I hadn’t expected to have the opportunity to read. I didn’t know if a book would be enough to distract me right now, with yet another worry chasing around in my mind, but even the feel of one in my hand would have been comforting, like a little taste of home.

My sister-in-law, Alyssa, had been largely responsible for the education of Lily and me, and she had a never-ending love of books. Lily had never stopped grumbling about it—although I noted she spent a lot of time in the library studying between Tourney events—but I had come to share Alyssa’s love. Or at least her love of fairy tales. Stories were exciting, since you never knew what you might find, what answers they might hold. But, at the same time, books were also solid and dependable; once you found a favorite, it never changed.

Would my new home have books? It was hard to imagine the infamous Beast sitting down to an afternoon read. I just hoped whichever castle he had chosen for his lair had a garden. If I couldn’t have fairy tales, I hoped I could have roses. Since summer had only just started, the ones in Marin had still been in bloom, and I had been sorry to leave them. Books reminded me of the comfort of home, but roses filled me with an alluring sense of hope. For surely any wonder was possible in a world that could produce such beauty?

Which made it just as hard to picture the Beast surrounded by roses as books. Nothing but disappointment could be gained by hoping for the familiar comforts of home in the trial ahead of me. Better, by far, to prepare myself for the worst—almost a certainty given the situation. Especially since I had now spent two full days traveling through Palinar, and I couldn’t remember having seen a single flower.



Lily kept me updated but, unfortunately, she had no real news. The search continued, but they had found no sign of Cole. The hours dragged on, and I ate the last of my food for a midday meal. My water was running low, too, since I hadn’t dared to fill it at any of the streams we had encountered during our rest breaks. Chestnut apparently had no qualms slaking her thirst at the waterways, but I didn’t trust anything in this cursed place. I could only hope we arrived at our destination—wherever that was—soon.

The carriage jolted and bumped, as the wheels hit a new surface. Peering out the window, I could see nothing but the endless plain, so I climbed onto the other seat to look out the front window. The road stretched ahead of us, its surface rougher than the smooth path through the flat wastelands.

We seemed to be slowly climbing uphill and, in the distance, I could see a line of trees. They disappeared into darkness, so I could only assume it was the start of a forest. I sighed. On the one hand, a change of scenery would be nice, providing a sense of progress that had eluded me in the constant plains. But on the other hand…I didn’t like the idea of trees pressing in close to the side of the road. I would have no line of sight, and the memory of the wolves still lingered in my mind.

Given how far away the trees looked, we seemed to approach them impossibly fast. Soon the path was indeed cutting its way through a forest, thick and dark. To make it worse, the temperature had started to drop, despite the season, and I heard the distant howl of wolves.

The carriage raced through the trees, and I shivered as the air continued to grow colder. Rummaging through my bags, I put on a cloak. I had no sooner fastened the garment, than I saw a snowflake drift past the window. Soon it was joined by another, and then another, and then a larger flurry.

Within minutes it was snowing constantly, patches of white building between the trees. Yet another sign of the disease infecting this kingdom. Marin had been bright and sunny and full of flowers when I left, as summer should be. But apparently in this forest it was perpetually winter. My last hope of any flowers dissipated.