Love Is Never Ugly

Chapter 11

After she had gotten ready for the day, Charlotte took a moment to wait and see if anyone else would come by her room like perhaps another servant but after awhile she became bored and decided to explore her new surroundings.

She quietly and slowly stepped out of her room and started walk about the castle, taking in the sights of estate. Everything was so different from her bedroom, it was all so dark, dismal, and twisted. Black tree walls all disfigured, dead leaves up top, spider webs in corners, rooms that were so eerie. She wondered why her room contrasted from the dominant style of the castle? Furthermore why was everything here so dark to begin with? Then again the master was pretty much a killer so it probably made sense that this place so creepy.

She didn't really like this castle very much. Now she would admit that it was impressive because of the design and the rich furniture but there was no light, no color, no warmth. How could anyone live like this? How could someone thrive on the dark and the cold? She knew for certain that she couldn't. At least not for long.

Then she found one room that peeked her interest. It was an art gallery, one full of oil paintings and marble sculptures. The paintings were elegant and very expressive, Charlotte found them to be very lovely anyway. One painting was of the face of black cat with it's golden eyes gleaming in the night, another was a moth fluttering it's wings in the moonlight, and a third was of a spider weaving it's way through a web of dew drops. All of them either depicted the night or something dark, all except one painting and it greatly contrasted with all the others.

This painting was very bright, colorful, and it was portrait. A portrait of a woman sitting in a garden of roses with the sun shinning down on her. Her hair was long and brown with silver braided in it, her eyes were a deep violet, her lips curled into a gentle smile, and she was wearing a silken gown that matched the silver in her hair. She was a very beautiful woman. Probably one of the loveliest Charlotte had ever seen although she couldn't help but notice how funny the woman's ears looked. They were pointed and curled, she had never seen anyone with ears like that before. Either way, Charlotte decided right that painting would be her favorite.

She turned attention to the sculptures, all them brilliantly crafted to resemble animals or humans. She smiled at them because they reminded her of how her father back when they were wealthy would purchase a sculpture to show off in their house. When she was little her father would often be much too busy to attend to her and her sister never wanted to play with her so she invented a game where she would pretend that sculptures and statues were actually living.

"Good morning." She said curtsying to them as if they were alive. "My name is Charlotte I am very pleased to meet you all."

She pretended that she was at one of her father's parties and that the sculptures were their guests. She grabbed the billows of her gown and began to dance while humming a melody to herself, imagining that one sculpture of a young man had come to life and was serving as her partner. She thought that she was alone so she didn't care if she looked silly by doing this. However she wasn't alone.

From the shadows Alastor was watching her intently, observing her behavior and actions to everything around her. He listened her to hum and muse out a few la, la, la's as she became more wrapped up in her fantasy. Her voice was as beautiful as she was and the same could be said for her graceful steps.

"Such beauty." He thought as he watched her. "Even those pretty yet vile she devils known as fair folk cannot compare to her."

"You could have had her. That lovely brow, eyelids like two white rose petals. A body trembling with tender disquiet. What if those rose blossom lids and her eyes rest upon you?"

"She must never see me. She would die of terror."

"She should be dead by now. What are you waiting for?"