Burly Tales by Steve Berman

Author:Steve Berman [Berman, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lethe Press
Published: 2021-05-13T00:00:00+00:00

The Most Luxuriant Beard of All

B.J. Fry

“MIRROR MIRROR, IN WHICH I peered, tell me who has the most luxuriant beard?” The king stroked his luxurious curls in front of the mirror. He’d been combing the beard, shaping it for years. Oils and balms imported from distant lands kept it silky and charming, a contrast to his brutish reputation.

“Ah, Your Majesty, can I say you are looking more masculine than ever? And may I just add—”

The mirror shook against the wall, vibrating and distorting the king’s reflection with his fear.

“—no other could compete with the amount of care and attention you pay your bristles.”

The king grinned, seeing through the faint outline of the mirror’s face, a prior lover long since transformed. A spell gone slightly awry.

The lover had asked for one thing when the king, a mere merchant at the time, brought up the parting. To be together forever. To be able to stare up at his face every morning and bid him goodnight every evening. Surely, the mirror likely had been just wishing for more of a relationship but the king could not grant that, not when his future husband, a prince at the time, had shown interest in him. No, the lover had to go.

And now, the one and true king could no longer remember his lover’s name. Forever to be called upon as the mirror. A fact that became apparent as soon as the mirror morphed into a fragile frame of glass.

“Yes, yes.” The king twisted his fingers around the small hairs. “But answer the question.”

“Of course, your most … magnanimous one.” The mirror dragged out his words, further delaying the inevitable. For he could see, through the mist and haze of his gaze, that the image of the king’s beard no longer drifted to him from the world of magic. No, a new face appeared, and with it a name he had only heard in angry tirades. The unwanted stepchild of the late king’s husband.

But man, his beard really was one of awe and beauty. The mustache hair practically tickled the mirror ’s fancy. If only he could still feel such things.

“And …” the king prompted.

There wasn’t much the mirror could do. Part of the spell that created him forced the image past his face and into the king’s reflection. An image of strength, courage, and daring. Dark black curls twirled down and around the husky man’s head. His dark locks swirled, encasing his face, making his pale blue eyes all the more striking. The beard highlighted his cheekbones, like a god of old, chiseled out of stone. Rosy, like his shiny lips that peaked out just beneath his waxed and shaped mustache. The picture was not easily achieved, but oh did it cause the mirror to tremble for an entirely different reason.

The king gasped when his stepson, Forrest Snow, was presented on the glass, whether from the shock at not seeing his own image or the awe of being presented with a truly magnificent specimen, the mirror could not be sure.

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