Page 68 of Beauty's Beast

For a moment, she could only stare at him. Without the mask, she could see the entire right side of his face, could see what a devastatingly handsome man he had once been.

He tried to turn away from her, but she cupped his face in her hands. “No. Look at me. We have to find a way out of here. Don’t you see? We have to find someone who can break Charmion’s curse before … ” She took a deep breath. “Before it’s too late.”

Erik stared down at his wife. She was beautiful, with her eyes flashing fire. And she was right. He couldn’t waste time lamenting the inevitable. He had to get Kristine out of there before it was too late. Perhaps, if one witch could cast a spell, another could break it.

“All right, my little warrior wife,” he said with a wry grin. “We’ll fight our way out of here.”

Or die trying.

Chapter Nineteen

Charmion sat before the fire, staring at the dancing flames. The big black cat lying in her lap purred softly, its back arching as she ran her fingertips up and down its spine.

“Vengeance is truly sweet, my pretty one,” Charmion murmured. “Sweet, indeed.”

Lifting one hand, she sent a trickle of power into the fire. Immediately, her daughter’s image sprang to life within the flames.

“He will pay dearly for every tear you wept, my Dominique, for every drop of blood you shed.”

She stared at the image until it faded from sight.

Soon she would have another child. Erik’s child. She would raise it as her own, love it as her own. The babe would never know its true parents but would grow up thinking that Charmion was its mother. And Erik … once the transformation was complete, he would be her pet. It would give her great pleasure to watch him, to see the intelligence in his eyes, the knowledge of who and what he had been.

It would be interesting to see how long it took for him to surrender his humanity, to forget he had once been a man and finally, fully, become a beast. In truth, she had expected him to succumb to the full effects of the curse long before now. She had underestimated him, she mused. She had known he would fight against the inner change with every fiber of his being, just ashis body fought the outer transformation. She had not realized how strong his will was, how deep his instinct for survival. And yet, no matter how fiercely he resisted, in the end, he would succumb. Her victory would be complete. Her daughter would be avenged.

She smiled, pleased, knowing that the intense inner struggle must be causing him even more pain and anguish than the physical torment he experienced as his body underwent the outer transformation. And the harder he fought it, the more painful it would be.

And now the woman was here, come of her own free will. Charmion laughed softly. She had never thought of taking the child until the woman showed up at her doorstep. She had known, in that moment when she ascertained the child’s sex, that she would take the babe. A baby, she thought, a baby for Christmas. It would be the best gift of all.

Sitting back in the chair, she closed her eyes. Things were turning out even better than she had foreseen.

Chapter Twenty

Charmion stood outside the cell, unable to believe her eyes. She had expected to find the girl cowering in a corner, in fear for her life. Instead, she was asleep on the floor, her head pillowed on Erik’s chest.

And Erik, now more monster than man, had the gall to smile at her.

An oath hissed through Charmion’s teeth. “You dare mock me?”

Erik shrugged. “Did you hope I would tear her apart?”

“Of course not!”

“Of course not,” he repeated. She wouldn’t want him to harm the child. “What will you do with Kristine, after the child is born?”

“When that time comes, you will no longer care.”

Fear’s cold, clammy hand knotted his insides. “The transformation is nearly complete, then?”

“Before the New Year, I should think.”

“And when it happens, will I remember that I was once a man?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Let her go, Charmion. Kristine has done nothing to you. She poses no threat. Send her away.”

“I might have, had you not asked it of me.”

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