Crowned Heart (Beauty and the Beast Twist Tale)

A loud crash sounds from outside the kitchen like a tree has fallen near the castle. His mother grabs his pants leg hard, her nails digging into his flesh underneath the fabric.

“Rey, hurry get out of here. She’s here! She’s coming,” His mother says. Rey presses harder with the knife to slice through the rope, moving as quickly as possible.

A door on the other side of the kitchen opens suddenly, a massive figure appears in the door frame. Rey looks over and sees the creature towering in the door, the sunshine being blocked by its shape. It quickly closes the door, and walks closer to the pair, making small clacks from its feet as its paws make connect with the marble. He turns away from cutting the rope and moves the knife behind his back. Rey considers attacking the creature right when it comes closer to them. Not knowing though if he would be able to wound it so they could escape. Stay calm and use your senses to leave this place.

The creature stops a few feet away from them. “Who are you?” The creature's eyes were focusing on Rey fully. A thick bushy tail was swinging behind it, moving in quick movements. “What are you doing in my castle?”

Rey moves to speak to the creature but is interrupted by his mother. “Please, Miss, don’t hurt my son. He did not know that this was your castle, he was just about to leave. Please spare him, he is a good son and man, please.” His mother chokes out the last few words, tears running down her cheeks.

The female creature focuses her eyes on his mother, “I do not care if he is your son. If you are trying to escape your debt, I shall kill him now.” Her eyes turn to him with an eerie glim, the pupil of her eyes are shaped like a cat’s with greens and blues. “I can make it quick so he does not suffer any pain. Unless he leaves these grounds and never comes back I will see it as a show of dignity that he did not intend to insult the Lady of this Castle who is standing in front of you.”

Rey takes a few breaths and quickly stands up to be equal heights to the female beast. Dropping the knife onto the table as he stands to look the beast into the eyes. He comes up taller than her by a few inches, his eyes being almost equal to her own. “I do not mean to insult you, my Lady. I did not know that this was your domain,” bowing in a respectful way to the creature, “I have come to take my mother home. She cannot be here, she is old and no use to you. If you plan to eat her, I would taste much better being younger in years and health.” Rey straightens his back to stand up taller to better see the beast’s reaction and so he looks older.

The female beast laughs a small chuckle, “I was not planning on eating her, foolish man. I am a beast but I do not like the taste of humans.” The beast turns away from them, and then her eyes lock right on to Rey’s, “I was planning to make her my servant to pay back the debt that your family owes.”

Rey shakes his head, confused on what this debt could be that his family owes to this creature. His father had mentioned that he heard the beast mention it while taking his wife farther into the castle. “Is this because he touched that silver sword on the fireplace? He did not take the sword, it is still right here in your castle.”

The beast slams her fist onto the table, “Wrong. That is not what happened, that is only half of the truth of that morning.” She lifts her pawed fist from the table, “Oh, yes, you see I stopped them from leaving before they got too far with my sword from these very grounds. I took the sword back and grabbed your mother has payment before they could even exit this castle. That sword is important to this castle, without it I.. never mind. Stupid human, your father tried to steal my sword and your parents took lodging in my castle without my permission.”

Rey looks at his mother, and then back at the beast. He could see that the fur around her head was standing up a little. Was she getting angrier as they talked or was there another reason? “That’s not fair for her to pay back his debt just for a sword and lodging.” Her head was like a raccoon’s, the markings covering the fur with different patterns like a mask. “Have a heart, she can’t help you by being a servant. Why don’t you let the matter go? They didn’t know that this was your castle.”

The beast stamps her pawed foot hard against the marble, “A heart, what do you think got me into this mess? All you humans are the same.” She claws the table in one quick motion, leaving deep gashes into the wooden surface. “Selfish beings the lot of you. What is fair in this world? Your mother, Azariah has agreed to take your father’s place until I see fit to release her. She is my servant, I will command her for many years to do as I please.”

Rey takes a few deep breaths and bows low again as he addresses her, “Lady of this Castle, please take me in her place. And release her from your command to allow me to serve you instead.”

Rey’s mother grabs his pants leg as the best she can with the rope restricting her arm movements, “No Rey, you can’t. Just leave me here.”

“Silence let him speak.” The beast’s eyes center on Rey again, “This might be interesting for a change. You are fully willing to take your mother’s place, to stay in this castle and do whatever I command of you until I see fit that the debt that your family owes is paid in full. Is that what you are saying?”

Rey stands up fully, nodding his head, “Yes, I will take her place to serve as your servant.”

The beast shakes her head, “Why should I take your word? What is it that you can offer better than her working off the debt herself instead of you, boy?”

Rey stands his ground, believing in his heart that what he is doing is the right thing to save his mother from her fate. “I am 18 years old, a lot younger in years than my mother. I am more capable of taking her place to do whatever work you see fit. You need me more than her, take me in her place, Lady of this Castle.”

The female beast considers his offer to take her place, the look in her eye shifting from him and her. “You’ll do I guess.” The beast walks closer to them, standing right in front of Azariah. “I won’t be needing your services since I have your son for that now.” The beast quickly grabs the rope around his mother’s chest and tears it with her claws. The ropes falling to the marble flooring, Azariah quickly stands up to stand next to Rey.

Rey’s mother moves to hug her son, “Reyy.”

The beast grabs ahold of Azariah’s shirt and starts moving her toward the kitchen door toward the front of the castle. “Stop leave me go, I’m not leaving you here to pay my debt that I had to take because of your coward less father. Leave me go, Reyy.”

Rey sticks his hand out to reach for his mother, coming up short with the jerk of the beast moving her away from his reach. Mom.

The beast continues to pull Azariah out of the kitchen, getting her halfway through the swinging door of the kitchen. “Don’t do this, I’ll come back for you I promise, Rey.” His mother shouts as she is dragged out of the kitchen and the door swings as they leave.

Rey looks at the swinging door, as the motion of the hinges slows down with no one standing in the frame. He can hear the sudden bang of the front door opening and closing with the roar from the female beast. Rey slumps down onto the kitchen floor, knees shaking with the shock and confusion of what he has just done. Will I ever see my mother or family again in my life? What will this beast do to me?

*

Cordelia bent over the fresh carcass of her kill that morning, gently skinning the fur away from the meaty hide of the deer. Moving from the ass end to the head with small movements of the blade. She starts to remove the skin working in a steady rhythm to the swaying of her fox tail moving with her. The sounds of the morning songbirds chirping away outside the windows of the kitchen to the morning air relaxed Cordelia’s mood. She was trying not to think about the way she treated Rey yesterday with the rude remarks and harsh actions. Thinking that she could make it up to him if she brought in a boar or turkey for Rey to cook. As she makes a move to cut the right front leg to remove the portion of the skin attached; she suddenly feels the blade of the knife bend under the pressure of her paws. The handle of the blade was pitched between her pointer digital pad and her thumb pad of her right paw. She kept her claws retracted within the membrane of her paws, not wanting to tear holes in the meat as she skinned her kill. Cordelia holds the blade up to her face to look closer at it, inspecting the blade. She gently bends the handle back into place but the opposite happens with the amount of pressure she uses. Cordelia bents the blade in the other direction and snaps it off. Holding the blade in two paws, Damn. She throws the broken knife to the ground and looks for another skinning tool to continue her work.

She rummages through the drawers and cabinets within the kitchen. Most of the knives are too dull to slice the skin away since they’re used mostly for meals. Having no choice Cordelia washes her paws in the sink and starts skinning the rest of the flesh off with her claws. Knowing that Rey will wake up at 8 o’clock and start cooking at 8:15 for breakfast. She needs to fully skin the deer and hang it up in the cooler in the next 10 minutes so it’s ready later to pull the meat off. She thinks to herself that she would have done this earlier in the morning if not for her usual prey of boar not showing up while hunting. She was lucky to spot and corral a deer at 7:25 and carry the body back to the castle. This only allowed her a good half hour to put the deer away before Rey would appear in the kitchen. She didn’t want to make him feel uncomfortable with a carcass of meat that still had a face to the animal, it would just be a repeat of the first week that Rey started at the castle. Slicing through the thin membrane connecting the skin to the flesh, she manages to get the skin off a little faster with her claws. Steadying the head of the deer with her left paw and making small cuts along the face with her right pointer claw. She cuts along the ears cutting into the hind a little. Gently leaving behind a clean patch of deer hind still attached to the meat to finish off the skinning of the carcass. She’ll be able to hang up the deer in the cooler in a minute or so with this last claw cut to the flesh.

“One more cut should do the trick,” Cordelia places her paw back under the skin, claw outplaced to slice through the small membrane attached to the flesh underneath.

There is the sudden bang of the pots near the kitchen door behind her. Cordelia turns her head around to see Rey standing in the frame of the door. Her hands are still placed on the deer carcass, momentarily forgetting what she was doing with the appearance of Rey. Forgetting where her claw is exactly on the deer, she moves her hands as she turns to fully look at Rey. With the turn of her body, she slices her metacarpal pad (the pad in the center of her paw) while the deerskin falls to rest on the table.

“Ouch,” Cordelia moves her paw to look at the slice, seeing the small trickle of blood seep from the wound. She gently licks the wound with her tongue, the silver metallic taste of her blood mixed with some earthy after taste.

“Are you okay?” Rey appears in front of her, standing a lot closer than he has done before. He slowly moves his hand to touch her paw, she instantly moves her paw back not wanting him to see the cut. “It’s okay, let me see.”

Cordelia shakes her head, “No, I got it. I just cleaned it earlier, I’ll wash it out then.” She turns back around to the table away from Rey to refocus on the task that she was on. Gently lifting the carcass off the table to move it to the cooler she only moves it a few inches off the wood when Rey places his hand on the carcass.

“Your cut could get infected if you don’t treat it right. Licking it with your saliva doesn’t get out all the bacteria. And touching this dead deer doesn’t help.” Rey pushes the carcass against the table, making her let go of her hold. “Plus you just put your saliva on this meat.”

Cordelia looks at the hand she was using to pick up the deer, it was her right hand that she had just licked. She is mortified that she would do that to the deer, not wanting to gross Rey out and trying to make him feel more comfortable with her.

“I’m sorry. I’ll clean that piece right now and cut it off so it’s not with the others.” She moves to go to the sink to grab a cloth to wipe off the meat. When she turns around she sees Rey behind her, “Excuse me. I’ll be out of your way to prepare breakfast in a moment.”

“No, no. You're fine, let me help clean that cut. I feel bad that you cut yourself when I came into the kitchen. We can deal with the meat after we get that treated.” Rey moves a little closer to the sink, and Cordelia, stepping beside her. He looks at her with concerned eyes, as he gently places his hands on the counter beside the sink.

Cordelia looks at him closer, contemplating on whether to let him help her with the small cut. Looking down at her right paw, she sees that the wound is still open and a little bit of blood is still coming out. She’s dealt with scratches and nicks before when she was hunting her prey, getting smacked by branches or slipping on rocks in the rain. She has always just licked her wounds literally to stop the bleeding or to clean the blood off her fur. Cordelia feels her pride lessen as she puts her paw out in front of her, wanting to be a better person toward Rey to trust him. She nods her head and feels her fox tail droop to the floor. Her tail always matching her emotions inside, the one thing that she wishes would be different about this enchantment placed on her. This black fox tail attached to the back of her body always revealing her true emotions even to herself and to others.

Rey gently touches her right paw moving it closer to him, he turns on the water to the sink and places her pad under the flowing stream of warm water. He leaves it there for a minute and takes it back out, turning the water off with his other hand. Rey grabs a bottle off the shelf, releasing her paw to grab ahold of the lid. Cordelia watches as he opens it, and then he looks inside for the contents. She turns her head confused on what he is exactly doing, remembering that the bottle contained alcohol.

“What are you going to do with that?” Rey gently once again holds her paw with his hand and with the other moves the bottle above it in the air. “Rey, what are you..” Rey pours a small amount of the liquid onto her right paw and immediately she feels a searing pain as the liquid works into the cut. “argh.”

Cordelia whips her paw backward out of Rey’s hand, holding it closer to her and immediately puts her tongue to the wound. Feeling the need to clean it with her salvia and to cool the burning sensation of the small cut.

“Don’t do that,” Rey says moving his hand toward her.

Cordelia moves back out of his reach and gets a full taste of her blood mixed with the alcohol on her coarse tongue. She does a double-take, her taste receptors on her tongue going crazy. Cordelia wanted to get the taste off her tongue, trying to lick her fur off the top of her right paw to mask the flavor in her mouth. She quickly turns to the sink, turning on the water and running her tongue under the stream to cool off the flavor on her tongue. Taking her hand out of the water, she turns to look at Rey with a grimace on her face.

Rey lets out a small laugh, “You never have alcohol before. It’s not that bad.” Rey moves the bottle to his mouth, smelling the opening first and then taking a quick sip of the liquid. Cordelia watches his reaction almost being the same as her own. Rey’s face contorts in disgust and he turns to spit out the liquid in the sink.

Cordelia lets out a giggle feeling like Rey knows how she feels, but it was worse for her since she has more taste receptors on her tongue than he does. Rey washes his tongue out under the water of the sink too. He turns to look at her with his face beside the faucet, and a smile crosses his face with his mouth still hanging open. Rey steps back from the sink, turning the water off and stands beside her.

“That was nasty. How long was that alcohol sitting there for? I feel like my tongue is going to fall out and land on this floor.” Rey shakes his head, grabbing ahold of the bottle and dumping the rest of the liquid down the drain.

Cordelia moves away from Rey and the sink, going toward the table for the deer carcass. “Now you know how I felt when you poured it on my paw and I tasted it in my mouth.” She picks up the carcass with her left paw to carry it to the cooler on the other side of the kitchen.

*

Walking down the long corridor, Rey avoids the cobwebs hanging in long strands from the ceiling to the floor. These webs are blocking some of the paths down the hallway back toward his room. He didn’t see any spiders so far within the webbing since he first arrived a few weeks ago to stay in the palace with his keeper. This monster-like person was different from what he thought when his father first told him that his mother had been taken prisoner. The reason being his father had taken an important object from this female monstrous being. She ruled over this never changing, engulfed in darkness and misery of a palace. The structure of the palace was falling apart around her with no one else within the vicinity. Taking a turn where the cobwebs are fewer in number, Rey wanders down another corridor. Not recognizing anything on the walls, the view from the windows not showing anything that he had been seeing before on his trek to his room that she had given to him for the time being. Rey sees something he hadn’t seen before in the passageway of the corridor he is in. A pair of doors that have no spider webbing on them or around them. The door is clean, there is not a speck of dirt on the surface or the floor around it. Stepping a bit closer to the frame, Rey can see that the door is slightly ajar. Not meaning to he places his hand on the wood which swings the door open slightly more than before.

“What am I doing? I shouldn’t be entering a room which is not mine, this could be her room or..” Rey’s hand moves to his side, and he turns in his spot to walk away from the door. But he doesn’t move away from that clean surface under his feet. “What is in there? And why is it the only room clean that I have found so far within this whole place that I haven’t cleaned myself.”

Rey turns back toward the door, placing his hand on the wood once again. This time the door doesn’t shift with the pressure of his touch like the first time. He gently pushes the door open to the full length, “Just a peek inside and then I’ll quickly go back to my room. She shouldn’t notice that I was here if I am quick.” He slowly walks into the room, not noticing the dust and cobweb footprints that he is leaving behind him as he walks across the marble floor. Rey sees a four-poster bed that is draped with curtains and finery with portraits decorating the walls around the elegant room. He stops in front of one particular painting that is hanging above the mantle of the fireplace that has a small amount of kindling burning within the hearth. The painting is of a royal family from long ago, centuries or decades from the present. Everyone in the painting is standing in a formal royal position, the King, and the Queen have their hands placed on top of the shoulders of a prince and princess that stands in front of them. The family looks happy but rigid with the ceremonial painting, there is a gold placard underneath the painting. The engraving states in bold letters ‘Federline Royal Family of Stonethorn Castle’. Rey looks closer at the princess feeling as though she is almost familiar to him like he had seen her before. Shifting his glance to the items resting on the mantlepiece, Rey inspects the few items that are there. The item that draws his attention the most is a pocket watch that isn’t making any noise and the hands aren’t moving either. He feels drawn to this watch more with the odd sense that it holds some importance to the nature of why it’s not even keeping time. Rey’s hand slowly moves toward the object but before he even touches the surface of the metal he feels a small electric charge go through his finger. His hand jumps back by the surprise of the electricity, how could this pocket watch shock me. Rey’s hand moves back to pick up the watch, gently holding it in his palm. He lightly touches the glass, turning the frame of the watch more to look at the engraving of the words on the opposite side of the inside. Rey holds the pocket watch closer to his eyes, the small words being difficult to read.

“Put that back!”

Rey spins around to see his keeper standing in the doorway of the room, looking directly at him with piercing cat-like eyes, “I’m sorry, the door was open I just..”

The female creature quickly walked toward him, her big bushy black fox tail swaying with her quick steps. Rey steps back away from her as she snatches the pocket watch out of his hand to rest it back on its place on the mantle. Her eyes rest on the mantle and then look up at the portrait of the family. Rey watches her hand slowly move to the portrait, almost touching the canvas but recoils before getting too close.

“What right do you have to wander around especially into this room? This room is off-limits, you shouldn’t be in here. I didn’t ask you to clean this room, it’s already been done by Me.” Her long black mane of hair shifts with her slight movement away from the painting toward the middle of the room. Rey stays out of reach of her arms just in case she decides to swipe at anything. He had seen her do it before with the pillar in the gallery, her swiping to kill a fly that was flying around her face but missed resulting in hitting the pillar. She had taken a chunk out of the stone which he had to replace and repair, that was only a week ago.

“I didn’t mean any harm, I was searching for my room and I got lost with the different passages. This room was different from the others, I didn’t know that it was private and I could see that it was already cleaned before I entered.” Rey looks directly at her, trying to be sincere. “Look I didn’t mean to strike a nerve with you, you already told me that certain things are private and sensitive with me being here. I didn’t know you meant this room.”

She turns away from him, walking to stand next to the four-poster bed with the curtains hanging down. She stands facing away from him besides the bed, her long goat-like horns poke out from her hair almost coming into contact with the ropes from the bed. “Just get out of here Rey, you’ve done enough for today. Don’t come back to this room ever again, you can clean any room in this palace but three. Once your debt is paid you can return to your pathetic family of thieves, I won’t need you anymore. Now leave!”

Rey shifts in his spot, why is she acting so cold and what is up with her today. This whole day she has been on edge and snappy like this particular day is the worst. Throwing plates onto the floor, breaking a window that he just got fully clean in the parlor and finally yelling at him when he had finished cleaning the study that was located near the parlor. “I can help you if you want, you don’t have to shield yourself from what you are feeling or facing. Even though I am here to just take my mother's place with my father’s mistake, it doesn’t mean that I can’t help you. You’re not a monster through and through like your appearance suggests or by how you act. You can trust someone to help you..”

She suddenly turns around, her cat eyes focusing on him fully. Her tiger-like brow narrowing into a glare directed toward him, burrowing a hole into his chest. “Shut up Rey, you don’t have the right. You are just a servant, you don’t know anything about my life or what I am feeling. Get out or else you’ll regret it more than taking your mother’s place within these walls of my palace.”

Rey nods his head, not wanting to make the situation worse than it already has so far today. Not knowing what she would do to him, she wouldn’t kill him like she has done to the boars or deers that she has brought into the kitchen. Tearing apart the carcass in front of him and eating the meat raw without any regard for him until last week when she changed a little. When she would eat the raw meat from the animal it would stain the gray fur around her neck that resembled a wolf or snow leopard with the animal’s blood. Slowly walking past her toward the double doors, he hears her shift the weight of her cheetah pawed feet on the marble floor. As he places his hand on the door to exit the room, he hesitates for a moment. He doesn’t want to anger her more but he knows that she is hurting. This being the only explanation for her behavior turning so much when they were getting along so well the other day but today being drastically different. He turns back around to face her, but she is facing the bed instead of the entrance. Her black fox tail is not swinging or swaying anymore it is practically touching the marble floor. The raccoon-like ears on top of her head are flattened against her hair, had what she said to him hurt her or was she expecting him to go against her to do what he wanted even though she had threatened him.

“My lady, are you sure you are okay?”

She swings around so fast that her horns get tangled within the cords of the curtains of the bed, yanking her head backward slightly. She gives a small groan and moves her hands toward her horns trying to get a hold of the small cords circled the bottom and top of her horns. He watches as she fumbles with the cords since she couldn’t get the pads of her paws to grip the small ropes to pull them off her horns. Her paws being almost like a savannah cats than the rest of her body. Rey slowly walks over to her and immediately extends his hands to gently loosen the cords not thinking about if she might scratch or bite him for touching her without her permitting him first. He uses his fingers to pull the cords away from the tender area at the bottom of her horns. Rey unravels the strands of her horsehair with the cords as well to free her from the bed. Rey feels like she is watching him as he gently works the knots and tangles out of the hair and cords from her horns. He manages to pull the cords fully off her and he steps back to give her room. Rey is very close to her at this point, seeing the protruding snout of her nose that is like a red panda and the raccoon-like markings covering her face like a mask that is hiding her face from others.

“Are you okay? You don’t have to be so defensive with how you are feeling, my lady. You can trust in me, I will be here lending an ear or shoulder if you need one. Isn’t that really why you wanted to keep my mother or me here? Your lonely here by yourself, I know that life can be rough at times and bad things happen to good people. But that isn’t the end of wanting to try to find joy and other people to be around in the world when life is a struggle.” Rey shifts a little and looks down at the ground and then back up at her. “I’ll leave you alone now and go back to my room to give you some space. Have a good night.”

Rey turns away from her and walks to the door to head back to his room. Hoping that what he has said will make her feel better or that maybe she can trust him more with how she is feeling. As he is about to step outside the room, he hears her shift her feet again this time being different with the sudden sound of her voice adding to the noise.

“Rey, you can call me Cordelia if you want. And I am sorry about earlier, I didn’t mean to be rude to you and I don’t think of you as a servant. I know that we haven’t gotten along great today but I’ll try my best to be better tomorrow. I don’t want to get into it today for the reason of my behavior but I am truly sorry.”

Rey doesn’t turn around to face her, and places his hand on the door, “I understand my lady, it’s okay. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. I will take my leave for tonight, good night Miss Cordelia.” He removes his hand from the door and walks away from the room, a small smile spreading across his face. Not paying attention fully to where he is walking almost stepping into cobwebs as he proceeds down the corridors. His mind only thinking about what just happened with his keeper, finally finding out her name and maybe more of an understanding of her within these darkened walls of the dilapidated palace.