Page 70 of The Beast

Bitter disappointment fills my veins.

I head out of the clearing and back into the woods without saying another word, my mouth clamping into a thin line.

CHAPTERFIFTEEN

“It’s so good to see you!”

I’m on my way from the castle room I have taken as an office to the library, which is a floor below. When I hear the disembodied girl’s voice, I pause. The girl’s accent is distinctly American, the vowels drawn out and flattened. But it’s not Ella’s voice.

A second later, I hear Ella respond. “You too, baby girl! How are you? How have you been feeling? Tell me absolutely everything!”

Listening closely, I determine that I’m actually listening to Ella talking to someone while pacing the floor below me. The acoustics are tricky here and for some reason, I can hear them as clearly as if they were standing in front of me. Slowing my footsteps, I walk down a couple more steps. I hear the faint echo of conversation, but it sounds far away now. As it probably should be. I shouldn’t eavesdrop on Ella; there is probably a reason why she chose to have this conversation in the darkened hallway of the second floor.

But I’m curious about who she is talking to and what she has to say. What if she complains about being here? Or worse, what if she tells someone about witnessing the journalist’s murder?

I can’t have that. So I back up a couple of steps, which brings me back into sonic range. Suddenly I can hear Ella’s conversation again.

“—he said I looked like a string bean!” the girl’s voice complains.

I take a couple steps down to where the stone wall stops, peering down to catch a glimpse of Ella. She is dressed in a slinky pink silk outfit, one of those numbers that is shorts on the bottom and a connected tank up top. Her back is to me and I notice her fantastic ass first thing.

God damn, she is breath taking.

She turns to the side and I catch a glimpse of just who she is talking to. The other girl is young, brown-skinned, and looks a good deal like Ella. She has to be related. Ella’s sister, maybe.

I steal back up to the acoustic sweet spot. This is definitely just blatant eavesdropping at this point. But again, I need to know that Ella isn’t pouring out her tale of woe to her sister. That would definitely put a target on not just Ella, but her sister too.

Ella sighs. “It’s always good to hear from you, Joy. I miss you like crazy over here, maybe we can reinstate our scheduled FaceTime chats?”

“Hey, you have more of a schedule than me. But… from what it sounds like, you don’t think you are coming back anytime soon.”

I listen intently, crouching down to hear a little better.

“I don’t have a plan just yet. I promise you, you’ll be the first one I call when I finally know anything.”

Joy’s voice sounds pouty. She heaves a sigh. “Fine.” There’s a pause. “Daddy wants to talk to you.”

For a second, Ella doesn’t answer. I wish I could see her face to figure out what exactly is going on in her head. One of the things I appreciate the most about Ella is her expressive face; it’s normally very easy to read and if she can fake the emotions that cross her face, I haven’t witnessed it yet.

“All right. That’s fine,” Ella says at last. “Pass me over to him.”

“Okay. Love you! Miss you!”

“I love you so much, Joy. I miss you constantly.”

“You too. Okay, here’s Daddy.”

“Ella,” intones an older man, “You’ve been gone longer than I expected. How are things progressing with Lord Grayrose?”

Ella is obviously fighting or pacing, because her voice sounds farther away when I hear it next. I try moving a step down then two steps up the stairway until I hit the sweet spot, but it fades away again.

“I’m spending most of my days alone with his daughter, Isla.”

Her simple lie catches me off guard. Ella and Isla are never entirely alone. If I’m not here, then Natasha is. And even on the rare days where Natasha and I are both needed outside the castle, Ella has Henri and Mrs. Wolf here to help out. The castle’s staff are well-versed in Isla’s wants and needs.

So why is Ella complaining that she is often left here alone?

“It sounds like you are making excuses.”

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