"Beauty and the Beast"

Chapter 20

lol ok  here you go! i know i was supposed to update long ago but oh well! lol i like this chapter so i hope you all enjoy!!! :) My story is 100 pages on word and that is the most i've ever written! lol well this is the first story that i actually stuck with long enough to write this many pages! and i'm loving it!!! :) so enjoy!!!

recap: Adam's POV

“Thank you Charles,” Faith dismissed him.

“May I just say, my Lady, you are learning to be a Queen quite effectively, dismissing the servants like true royalty.” Faith laughed and stood.

“Oh forgive my audacity!” She begged him as she waltzed out of the room. Adam watched her leave. She seems happy…

 

Faith skipped into the room Martin inhabited. Lenora had lit a fire and opened the windows a crack to rid the room of the stale air from not being in use. Martin was fast asleep on the large bed in the middle of the room. The sun shone out on the horizon, the beginning of evening slowly approaching. Faith settled before the fire to wait upon Martin’s awakening. It was not long she had to wait though before Martin let out a low groan of pain.

“Martin! You are awake! How do you feel?” Faith inquired. Martin jerked at her voice and stared at her blankly.

“You… it… the b-b-b BEAST!!!” He stuttered out. Faith let out a sigh. She supposed it was only natural to react this way. After all she had responded the same way herself but after being with him she could no longer view him in such a dismal light that is cast upon him for his cursed appearance.

“Now Martin, just hear me out.”

“How can you be calm?!?! That monster has you trapped here and you are CALM?!?!?!” He yelled. His face was turning a light shade of red and Faith could see him shaking. He moved to get up but she rushed over and pushed him down before he could. He struggled to get free of the constricting blankets but froze when Faith spoke again.

“He does not keep me here against my will. I have been free to do as I wish since I arrived,” she explained. Several emotions crossed his face, shock, incredulity, and anger remained.

“Are you saying you have chosen to stay with this fiend?” His voice was level but she could hear his impending wrath.”

“Well… At first I did not. In the beginning I wanted to go home but I had no way of telling how to traverse through the forests. But now…” Faith was at a loss for words. How could she explain the way their relationship has grown?

“But now… what?” His voice was still filled with doubt but he was willing to listen to her.

“He is more then just a beast, Martin. And I care for him. I was going to go home today and check up on everyone, tell them I am safe and happy, but then I came into the throne room to find you.”

“You were not planning on staying?” Faith relate with his confusion for she did not full understand her choices herself. There was once a time when she dreamed of fairytales and her Knight in shining armor coming to whisk her away. There was once a time when she would wait, night after night, to see if Adam would come back to her. Now… now she dreamt of fairies and giants. Now she waited, night after night, for the next day when she could see and talk to ‘Lewis’ again.

But how could she tell Martin this? He had grown up being fed the same terrors she had about the haunted Beast that stalks the Black Woods waiting for innocents to fall into his trap and devour them.  That was not ‘Lewis’. He was sweet and gentle. He had a temper at times, yes, but he was only a lost child craving love, a love that Faith wanted to give him.