Beauty Slays the Beast: Pride & Prejudice Inspired, as Influenced by the Classic Fairy Tale, 'Beauty and the Beast' by April Karber

Author:April Karber [Karber, April]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Pride and Prejudice & Related Fandoms, Not in Amazon Library, To Transfer, Fantasy, Alternate Universe
ISBN: 9781500688196
Google: 1a3KoQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1500688193
Goodreads: 35482479
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2017-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

“Mrs. Reynolds,” spoke Elizabeth meekly from across the sitting room, all her hope drained since her encounter with Mr. Darcy, “I have erred and it has once again brought me to reality. I know you are loyal to your master but you are also kind and reasonable. I came across a pink room with a small piano and sat down to play…” Mrs. Reynolds gasped, already able to guess the remainder of the story.

“The piano is not to be played in Pemberley again, Miss Elizabeth. His sister was a master at the keys, young as she was, even before Mrs. Gardiner came to us. She had the benefit of every master that he brother could lure here and she improved daily though it never seemed possible she could ever get better.” Tears streamed freely down Mrs. Reynolds’ face and Elizabeth felt tears well up in her own eyes.

“What happened to her?” Elizabeth asked, fearing she already knew the answer.

“I cannot speak of it, Miss Elizabeth,” she whimpered. “There is a heavy curse upon this household, Mrs. Reynolds,” said Elizabeth after a while, and knew she had hit the mark when Mrs. Reynolds looked up, disturbed enough by this revelation to check her sobs. It was what Elizabeth had suspected and feared for quite some time and, though it was hardly to be believed, it was the only answer. An enormous castle invisible to the naked eye, shut away where no one comes or leaves, its master –transformed from handsome lord to hideous beast.

“What did he do to bring this all upon you? Why is it not only him?” she asked, barely above a whisper.

Mrs. Reynolds met her eyes most gently, as if to say that it was the question that had all harbored these many years. When she would not answer, Elizabeth voiced this question in the manner of a demand:

“How long?”

Mrs. Reynolds took a deep breath, sighed, and turned to look out the massive windows: “A century tomorrow.”

“My staff –MY staff, were too afraid even to tell me, Miss Bennet. So I demand that you disclose exactly what has frightened them so,” Mr. Darcy insisted of her the following day.

After Elizabeth’s discussion with Mrs. Reynolds, Elizabeth decided to carry on with her plans to hold an assembly for the staff in the ballroom and only alter the date. She decided it would be on the morrow, on the anniversary of the curse upon Pemberely without the approval of its master. There was little time needed to prepare as the staff was so enormous and so moved by the excitement of the event, that a day and a half was more than sufficient. Arrangements slowed when word got out that the kind Miss Bennet whom had made this all possible had neglected to mention the gathering to Mr. Darcy.

None of the staff members were brave enough to admit the plans to the master himself, but few had the foresight to drop hints here and there to ensure that their punishment would not be as severe as the others once the whole truth was out.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.