*~*Forbidden Lust*~*



*~*Chapter Five*~*



"So, princess. You've decided to wed, I see. Well that can be fixed quite easily....."

Andre looked at the piece of parchment on his desk. The feather-quill pen he had in his hand was dripping, leaving little ink dots all over the letter he was working on.  He grabbed the letter in his left hand and held it to the flame of the candle in front of him. It slowly went up in flames, scorching the tips of his thumb and forefinger lightly. He rubbed his hand and touched another piece of paper lightly. Frustrated, he stood and began to walk around.

He stubbed his toe on the large candelabra by his desk and screamed in anger. He threw the large metal post on the floor in exasperation. "DAMN YOU, BEATRICE! WHY DIDN'T YOU CHOOSE ME?" He bellowed at the top of his lungs before dropping to the floor, sobbing.

"DAMN YOU BEATRICE LAVERRE!!! WHY DID YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE HIM! Why? You hurt me so...." After a time he stood again, brushing his hair off of his face with a catlike agility. He walked out of the room, swinging his cloak over his shoulders. The fog consumed his body as he walked towards the castle with giant strides.

~_*-*_~

He stood in front of the castle gates, the wind barely moving his cloak. His eyes seemed to glow in the fog as he looked into Beatrice's window. She stood, looking out into the evening sky. Seeing a glimpse of what she thought was Joseph's coat, she waved and began her descent outside. She grabbed a cloak from her wardrobe and had the guard open the gates for her.

Andre stood stiff, waiting for Beatrice. She ran up and hugged him, still thinking it was Joseph. "Why are you so rigid, love?" She pulled the hood of his cloak off, seeing Andre's face. She screamed and began to run towards the palace. Just as she was about to step into the gate, the guard had closed it. Andre pounced on her.

"So....you think you can wed, princess?" His voice was deep and hoarse, nothing like the seductive musical tones that escaped his lips when they first met. "I thought you felt something for me when we met. What happened?" His voice broke, as if he was crying. Beatrice turned around to prove so, wiping his face gingerly with her hand.

"We're too different for anything to happen, Andre. Please.....Let me go." Beatrice looked at him with gentle eyes. With a swoop of his arm, Andre vanished in a cloud of black silk.

Beatrice stood for a moment, thinking about what had just happened. "What does he feel? I guess there's someone inside after all..." After a moment, she called to the guard and went back into the castle.

~_*-*_~

Andre stormed into his room, slamming his hands on his desk in anger. "DAMN IT, BEATRICE!" He stopped dead still, placing a hand over his lips. He had never said her name before. All she was to him was Princess.

He kept reminding himself of that as the night drove on, but he couldn't help his mind from wandering. He was later flooded with visions of what it would be like to be human again, courting the young maiden and living his happily ever after ending. The one he would never have.

He descended the stairs into his lower chamber, where he took out a small hand-held mirror. The jewels embedded in the gold frame glistened in blues, reds, greens and violets. He looked into its face, and whispered a silent spell. A single beam of white light shot out from the mirror, engulfing Andre. He vanished, only to find himself behind the glass of the mirror in Beatrice's bedroom.

~_*-*_~

Beatrice sat on her bed, writing in her diary. Her curly hair was partially down, spilling over her shoulders and hanging over the page. She sighed, thinking of Andre and what had happened between them. She looked up at her mirror quickly and looked down. Stunned, she looked up again, seeing Andre's form in her mirror. She stood up, holding a hand out and looking into his eyes. She scanned the glass, seeing his face, the tears he had cried still fresh on his icy cheeks. She smiled, not knowing why. She became warmer seeing his face, all cares escaping her mind.

"Andre? Why are you here? How...?" She stared, her eyes not leaving his.

"I had to see you, princess. You broke my heart..."

Beatrice, with a trace of annoyance, walked over to Andre's image. "Andre, you know as well as I do that we cannot be together. My parents--"

"WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR PARENTS?" Andre's scream shook the glass. "I know you feel for me as I feel for you. Why do you not follow your heart? Please...Tell me." His eyes glazed, shimmering in the candlelight. "I just want to know if you accept me. I know I'm not human, but please....Just give me a chance." The new tears came, slowly dripping down his face.

Beatrice traced his tears with her finger. She smiled, a sad smile flickering with her candles. "I wish I could." She turned, hiding the tears the were pushing from her eyes. She pulled a sheet from her bed, faced Andre again, and began to cry. "I'm sorry, but there's no chance." With that, she draped the sheet over her mirror and walked away, back to her diary.

"NO!" Was the cry from Andre as the sheet formed the now impenetrable barrier between he and Beatrice. "WHY?!?!? TELL ME WHY!!!" He banged on the glass, with no reply. Eventually, the sounds of Queen Charlotte's footsteps could be heard as she approached the princess' bedroom. He ended the spell, and found himself back in his dark chamber.

"What on earth was that noise? And why is your mirror covered up?" She looked from the mirror to Beatrice, puzzled about the screams she had just heard.

"There was no noise, mother." Beatrice looked up from her writing. "And I didn't want the small amount of candlelight reflecting off my mirror, so I covered it. Is something wrong?" She smiled sweetly.

"I guess not. You better get some sleep, dear, you're riding with Joseph tomorrow, you know." She walked out and shut the door gingerly behind her.

"Yes, mother. Good night." Beatrice finished another paragraph before placing the book gingerly on her vanity and slowly approaching the mirror. She grabbed the sheet apprehensively, tugging it off with a flick of her wrist. Andre was gone, and the mirror was unscathed. She blew out the candle on the table by her bed, and went to sleep.



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