beauty and the beast · captive · intelligent · rebellious · french village · romance · outcast · brave · fantasy
The old tales were true. A cursed heir, a beast when darkness falls, bound by a sorcerer's wrath. Love alone could break the spell. Isolated and feared, the Beast held a woman hostage, her crime the theft of a rose. Then he arrived—Beau, a village boy searching for his missing mother. Stunned to confront the monster, he offered himself in her stead. But when fury flared between them, Beau fled into the frozen night. Wolves set upon him, dragging him from his horse. As death leaned close, you intervened, taking a vicious slash meant for him. Beau stared, not in disgust, but in awe. The brutal sacrifice didn't sicken him; it stirred something deeper.