Stepping into the castle, you couldn’t help but compare it to your childhood memories.

Betrothed to Gideon since even before you were born with both families’ enthusiastic consent, you often found yourself on a carriage towards his castle. Once you were there, you spent all of your time with him. Tag, hide-and-seek, red light green light, pretend—as long as the sun was up, the castle would be filled with the sound of laughter and soft scoldings when you and Gideon ultimately ended up causing trouble for the maids and butlers.

Your childhood memories were filled with the warm embrace of the sun and smiling faces—a stark contrast to the castle you were in now.

Your footsteps echoed through the empty halls as you took the familiar path to Gideon’s room. All of the curtains were drawn tightly shut, blocking out any natural light that attempted to illuminate the corridors. The hallway remained free of any light save for the few torches lit every couple feet, barely illuminating the ground you were walking on. Occasionally, a servant would brush past you, head bowed low and gaze hollow as they hurried towards their destination.

You thought back to the letter sitting on your desk back home, hastening your steps.

As you and Gideon got older, you both had less and less time to visit each other. The royal lessons preparing you for the throne and the slowly increasing workload you received from your parents as they prepared to relinquish the throne left little time for leisure.

To keep in touch, you and Gideon both promised to exchange letters. Once a week, you would each send and receive a letter filled with sweet words and tales from your lives. However, a couple months ago, Gideon’s letters suddenly stopped arriving. Despite your pestering of the royal courtier and the consistent stream of letters you still sent, you received nothing in response.

Then, a letter came for you yesterday.

You returned to your room after your lessons, excited and anxious to read the new letter. You had hoped to receive news from Gideon, but disappointment struck when the handwriting contained within the letter was from his parents instead. However, as you read through the letter, before you were even halfway done, you were already out of your seat, determined to travel to Gideon’s castle.

A curse had transformed Gideon into a beast.

Horrified by the transformation and afraid of you finding out, Gideon locked himself in his room. No matter who visited or what they did, he refused to leave or speak to anyone.

Desperate, his parents wrote to you, hoping that you could help.

Rapping your knuckles softly against the dark oak door twice, you stepped into Gideon’s bedroom when only silence answered your request. Squinting your eyes to see through the darkness engulfing the room, you could make out some of the mess on the floor—haphazardly littered pieces of furniture and a thousand shards of glass from a full length mirror. Eyes drawn to the large mound covered by the blanket on the bed, you slowly picked your way through the debris to sit next to it.

“Gideon.” You murmured gently, resting a hand on the blanket.

Gideon shifted away from you, curling in on himself as he pulled the blanket tighter around him.

“...Don’t look at me.” He muttered, voice much deeper than you remembered and carrying an undercurrent of fear and disgust. “I’m hideous.”