Beauty: Part II

The servants helped him inside and I watched, unable to move. My father, the man who was always so completely in control, had never seemed so weak before. It scared me to see him so broken.

Finally, when all the things had been packed away and all of the fine things had been properly admired by my stepsisters, we all sat in the parlor. Stella and Diana draped themselves across the couches. They couldn't care less about Father's condition, but came to listen anyway. The servants had placed father in the easy chair. Stepmother was away on a visit, so I wouldn’t have to suffer her haunting presence while Father told his story.

The rose lay on the coffee table. Even in the dim firelight, it gave off an otherworldly glow, its scarlet petals becoming embers in our eyes.

I sat down at his knees and looked up at him, waiting for him to begin. He took my hand, holding it in his own thin, white ones.

“All was well while I was in the city,” he began quietly. “I was able to trade our goods for a fair value. Swiftly, I found as many beautiful gems as any young lady could want and found enough yards of expensive silks to clothe an army of princesses.”

He nodded at my stepsisters and I smirked, knowing that there would never be enough jewels or expensive clothes to satisfy them. He took a deep breath and continued.

“But I could not find any flowers, or at least not any beautiful enough for my little girl. I visited every florist and merchant in the city. I looked at Dutch tulips and English primroses. I sought every flower imaginable, but in the dark of winter, they were all beginning to wilt and I could not disgrace myself by bringing home a wilted flower. None of the silk flowers were lovely enough. Finally, I resigned myself to coming home empty-handed.”

He looked down at me.

“I hoped you would forgive me,” he said. “We left the city at noon, two days ago, hoping to ride through the night and arrive by morning. I was a fool. We should’ve waited until the next morning but I was eager to be home again, after so many weeks spent away and I didn’t want to wait. So, like a spoiled child, I commanded the servants to load up the carriage and we left.”

“The forest at midnight was not the one we had known during the day. The paths turned and betrayed us. The familiar landmarks hid themselves and the canopy of black branches crowded out the starlight. Soon we were lost, with nothing but a single lantern to light the way. We had almost given up hope. We had been going to stop where we were and spend the night in the carriage, waiting for daylight to reveal where we were, but then the lantern lit on a garden.”

“It was the most beautiful garden I have ever seen in my life, with every flower I’ve ever known, and some I could not name. The colors blended together, brilliant reds and blues and greens and purples. It looked like an exotic painting. And surrounded by snow, in the dead of winter, these flowers bloomed as though it were July. In the center of the garden sat the roses and they glowed as though the sun itself lay inside them. ”

“The garden stood at the foot of a great castle. We hadn’t noticed it before. The entire structure sat in darkness, with not a single window lit. I thought, surely its owners must have abandoned for warmer climes. And I thought that they wouldn’t begrudge me one little rose. They probably wouldn’t even notice one missing, not after they had been gone for so long.”

“I climbed out of the carriage and made my way to the center of the garden, careful not to trample any flowers. I removed the pen-knife from my belt and gingerly clipped a red rose. I was looking at the flower in my hands when a roar knocked me off my feet.”

“My hands sprang to cover my ears from the painful noise and the rose fell to the snowy ground as I met the gaze of a fearsome beast. He must’ve been over seven feet tall, covered in a shaggy brown fur, and one of his claws wrapped itself around my throat as he lifted me off my feet. His grip began to choke the life from me and I couldn’t breathe. A deep gurgling voice, accompanied by a foul stench, came from his snout.

‘What are you doing here? You thought you could steal MY roses and get away with it?’

I couldn’t reply, couldn’t find the air, but somehow, I must’ve coughed out the words ‘my daughter,’ because I swiftly found myself on my behind once more.

His eyes narrowed and he growled at me as I struggled to scoot away. I could see sharp white teeth, each as long as my finger and I dreaded what he would do to me next.

‘What about your daughter?’

I explained to him your request and how I couldn’t return home without a gift for you. I explained,” he tripped over his words here, as fresh tears fell from his eyes. “I explained how much I love you.”

“He told me that a price must be paid. He said… he said that I would take the flower but only in return for a life. That I must return there, to his castle, a week from that day, or that I must send you, my own precious flower, in my place.”

He stopped talking and broke down weeping.

I knew then what I must do and I hated it. I knew I could not let him go back into that forest. I could not let him face that creature.

I only asked for that silly flower because I wanted my father to notice me. And now, thanks to one foolish choice, I’ll never see him again.