Page 22 of The Beast Between Us
At the way I didn’t want to look away.
At the cursed rose, still resting near my desk like it belongs here.
Lightning splits the sky.
The windows tremble in their frames.
The storm isn’t coming.
It’salready here.
***Ella***
“Oh my,” I gasp, bracing myself as another boom of thunder shakes the floor beneath my feet.
Just moments ago, the sky had been clear…soft, blue, peaceful, calm.
Now, darkness coils around the manor like a living thing.
Rain lashes the windows. Wind howls against the walls. The very air crackles with energy, electric and wild.
“Where did it even come from?” I whisper, my voice barely audible over the storm.
Oswin appears in the doorway, his expression calm but tight.
“Sire,” he says simply. “He’s starving, apparently.”
I glance at the food I’ve been preparing…my hands trembling now, heart beating too fast.
What happens if I don’t finish in time?
What happens if I fail?
The spoon slips from my fingers and clatters into the pot.
Somewhere above us, thunder cracks again…closer this time.
And I have the awful sense that the storm isn’t just outside.
It’s inside, too.
“Sire requests triple the amount of food for tonight’s meal,” Oswin says, already peeling another potato with calm efficiency.
“Are we having guests?” I ask, reaching quickly for more herbs and vegetables to expand the stew.
“No,” he answers simply. “Beast and man have been fighting a great deal lately. It makes Sire… ravenous.”
I pause, hand tightening around the ladle.
Ravenous.
The word sits uneasily in my chest, echoing with something deeper than hunger.
“How often does that happen?” I ask, keeping my voice as steady as I can.
“Often enough.” Oswin doesn’t look up. “The longer they remain at odds, the more the hunger builds. And the more dangerous it becomes to ignore it.”
Thunder rumbles again…closer now.
