Before Beauty by Brittany Fichter

Author:Brittany Fichter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, beauty, fantasy, magic, fairy tale, hero, beast, beauty and the beast, clean, retelling
Publisher: Brittany Fichter

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Arrows that Burn

In the weeks that followed, Isa fell into a routine that wasn’t altogether unpleasant. No snow had fallen since the early autumn storm her father had gotten caught in, so Isa continued her trips to the rose garden daily. And although her ankle and wrist were broken beyond repair, as the town healer had told her when she was a child, Isa felt her body growing stronger. Each day, not only did she revel in the dance, but also in the new roses that were slowly beginning to find their way back into the garden, despite the growing cold.

Isa also found daily relief in being away from the town gossip and sympathetic looks. Here, she wasn’t the town cripple. She had a purpose, confusing as it may be. And though she missed her family dearly, Isa felt for the first time as though she might find a way to make them proud.

Her most earnest prayer of thanks, however, was for having escaped Raoul’s wedding. The nuptials would have been impossible to ignore, had Isa still lived in Soudain.

The marriage of the chancellor’s only son would be at its height by now, the talk of the city circling around little else. Her neighbors’ outrage at his betrayal of her hadn’t even lasted a week after he had broken it off with Isa. By the time the wedding arrived, she would have been completely forgotten, and everyone would be anxious to see the beautiful bride who had so quickly captured Raoul’s heart. The wedding would come and go, and Isa was immensely grateful not to even need an excuse for her absence.

If she was honest with herself, the nightly dances still bothered her. They were too close to the moments that had been her most cherished until recently. Raoul’s cruel words continued to mock her as well, when she let her guard slip. Nevertheless, her heartache wasn’t any worse at the Fortress than it had been at home. And at least here, she was free to remain alone for the majority of the time, without family and friends helping to “keep her busy,” as they put it. Well, the servants were always nearby, but at least they never nagged her about being social.

In order to escape the lonely thoughts of her once beloved, Isa buried herself in reading the books that the prince sent to her. They weren’t very interesting, mostly names of monarchs and dry lists of their accomplishments, but they were a distraction at least. And as Prince Everard promised, his servants never made a move for her boots again.

It wasn’t long before a sort of truce formed between them, the prince learning how better to curb his tongue, and Isa striving to keep her tone at least civil, and sometimes kind. He even surprised her one evening by sending over a salve with his servants when he noticed that her left wrist was sore at dinner.

The invisible, ever-near presence also continued to make Isa’s life at the Fortress more enjoyable.

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