Page 51 of Beast of Blood and Roses
My legs felt steadier now, and the bone-deep exhaustion that had weighed me down was finally lifting. Steam fogged the mirror, but I didn’t need to see my reflection to know I looked better than I had when I’d stumbled in here.
As I toweled off and got dressed, my mind wandered back to the vision the amulet had shown me. My father looking younger, well-dressed, gambling away money he supposedly didn’t have. Something about that image nagged at me, like a murder mystery novel when I couldn’t put all the clues together.
I came out of the bathroom, steam trailing behind me, andfound Colette standing rigid by the window. Her small frame was tense and alert, her shoulders drawn tight as she peered through the glass with unusual intensity. Beast had probably instructed her to be ready to catch me if I collapsed. The thought made me smile despite everything. His protectiveness was both touching and slightly overwhelming.
I headed over toward her, my bare feet silent on the cool floor. “What are you looking at?”
She startled slightly at my voice and turned away from the window quickly, too quickly. When she glanced at me, I caught a flicker of something in her eyes before she shuttered her expression. “Nothing,ma chérie.”
Something in her stance didn’t settle right with me. There was a forced casualness to her movements, the kind of studied nonchalance that screamed there was definitely something to see. My pulse quickened as unease crept up my spine.
I moved closer to the window, trying to see what had captured her attention so completely. “Colette, what’s out there?”
Her hand shot out to gently but firmly guide me away from the glass. “Please,mademoiselle. Perhaps we should go have breakfast now?”
Whatever she’d seen, she clearly didn’t want me to know about it, and it made my stomach clench.
I broke away from Colette’s grasp and rushed to the window, my chest tight with fear. Below in the garden stood a beautiful blonde woman in jogging shorts and a white T-shirt, but everything about her screamed danger. She wasn’t just looking up at the house. She was staring directly at me, as if she’d been waiting for me to appear.
Her green eyes seemed to glow with an otherworldly light,holding an intensity that made my skin crawl. There was something about her that felt wrong, something dark and magical that radiated from her like heat waves. The air around her seemed to shimmer, and I could swear I felt her power pressing against the glass between us.
A slow, predatory smile spread across her perfect features as our eyes met. She tilted her head like a cat studying its prey, then deliberately placed her hands on her hips in a gesture that felt more like a challenge than a casual posture.
Behind me, I heard Colette’s sharp intake of breath. “Mon Dieu,” she whispered.
The woman below held my gaze for another long, chilling moment, her smile never wavering. Then she turned and walked away with fluid, unnatural grace, but not before giving me a little wave that felt more like a promise than a goodbye.
My blood ran cold. Whatever she was, whoever she was, I knew with bone-deep certainty that she’d come here for me.
Colette’s small hand clasped my arm with surprising strength, her fingers digging into my skin. “We need to get away from the window.” I could feel her trembling against me, fear radiating from her like heat from a fever.
“Colette, what’s wrong? Do you know that woman?” This time, I allowed her to pull me away from the window, her urgency finally breaking through my curiosity.
She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, her weathered face pale as parchment. Her eyes darted toward the window as if she expected the blonde woman to materialize inside the room.
“Please, you’re frightened.” I gently placed my hands on her shoulders, feeling the tension coiled there like wire. “Tell me who that woman was. You obviously know.”
She glanced around nervously, then escorted me to the farcorner of the room, as far from the window as possible. When she spoke again, her voice was so low I had to lean in to hear her. “That was Tinker Bell.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, the sound sharp and disbelieving in the tense air. “You mean from Peter Pan? She’s a fairy?”
Colette shook her head vigorously, her gray curls bouncing. “No,ma chérie. Tinker Bell is a witch—a powerful one. She’s the head of the Moon Coven. And she has a very dangerous history withMonsieurBastia.”
My laughter died in my throat as the cobwebs cleared from my mind. “She’s the one that cursed all of you, isn’t she?”
“We must tellmonsieurthat she was here.” Colette opened the door with trembling hands.
Beast was already waiting in the hallway, fully dressed but still damp from his shower. His green eyes immediately locked onto our faces, reading the fear there with alarming accuracy. He scowled, his entire body going rigid. “What’s wrong?”
“Tinker Bell...” Colette’s lower lip trembled uncontrollably, and she had to swallow hard before continuing. “She was here. Outside, looking up at Rosalie’s window.”
The blood drained from Beast’s face, then flooded back in a wave of pure rage. I instinctively stepped back, unsettled by the sudden shift in his demeanor. Without a word, he bolted down the stairs, taking them three at a time with inhuman speed.
“Wait!” I called out desperately, but he didn’t even slow down. The front door slammed open so hard it rattled the entire frame.
Panic shot through me like lightning. I hurried down the stairs after him, my feet barely touching the steps.
“No,mademoiselle, you mustn’t!” Colette reached for mewith desperate fingers, but I twisted away from her grab, my determination overriding her fear.
