Werewolf Bride

A Proposal For My 18th

*Engagement ring pictured above*

I departed from the palace even more nervously and inwardly conflicted than how I arrived, and I didn't suspect such a thing was possible. 

In the span of twenty-four hours I must have been bitten by a werewolf, enchanted by a witch, attended a ball, met a Prince, and then was proposed to by said Prince while offering immortality and all the riches I could want.

And a handsome husband, of course...though he later promised that we could each go our separate ways after our fifty or so years ruling the Kingdom. 

On the walk home, I can only count my breaths...in and out...in and out...in a panic as I gently twist the new ring on my finger.

Yes, of course I had accepted the proposal. A proposal on my eighteenth birthday. Not as romantic as I had imagined, but somehow I was finding myself unable to say no nevertheless. I know Prince Carlos does not make the rules, but even he knew you can't turn down a proposal that provides you with the simple choice of: marry me and be rich and young forever, or die. 

Feels a little bit too good to be true...Something makes me suspect the Prince doesn't know as much as he believes he does. 

When I arrive home the house is silent. I assume they had all left for the market. I went straight for my room, itching for a relaxing and thorough bath to rid myself of any reminder of last night. I fill up a tub with water and lay down, soaking and thinking of any way to hold onto my sanity. 

Don't tell anyone except your family that we are engaged. When things are ready I will publicly court you and then later announce our engagement. Likely in two months time, my father will step down and we will hold funeral before my coronation and then our wedding shortly thereafter. 

Prince Carlos's words repeated within my head. My actions for the next few months are completely planned out for me...well, actually the next fifty years of my life are out of my control, aren't they now? Then after that, all I'll have is Carlos. My family cannot suspect my lack of aging or my condition.
I couldn't care less about losing Marie, Laurie, and Harriet...but what of my father?  This simple thought keeps picking itself deeper into my mind. What of my father? I suspect he knew of this all along. Yet...on my eighteenth he chose not to be home. A small pang of distress fills me as I throw myself down on my bed. 

The first full moon after your eighteenth birthday was the day you were to be bitten in accordance to the agreement between your mother and The Beast.  Then, every night afterwards you will change until you gain control. 

Did father know of this agreement? It certainly appeared so, as he did already know mother would not be returning that tragic night. That she made a "sacrifice". 

A sacrifice that entailed choosing my life for me and dooming me to an arranged marriage and life of solitude as an ageless monster. Words cannot express how I feel about this revelation.

All through the day Marie and her daughters were gone, and I remained inside my bedroom, pacing and pacing until I could barely stand any longer. I gradually came up with a plan to leave this place. They cannot force me into a marriage if they cannot find me...It will be a lonely life, but I will leave a note for my father, and I will be better off trying to live normally somewhere else than being forced into a life of lies. It doesn't matter anyways. Either way, I have lost everything. My humanhood, my humanity, my chance at love, my chance at family. Any children I will have are likely to have my terrible ailment and I would hate to pass that along. I'm better off sneaking off quietly, and doing the best I can out there. Perhaps I will sell the ring the Prince gave to me. I should have enough to buy passage into another Kingdom. Perhaps I will have enough left over to purchase a book store and live a humble life. I'll buy a cage to lock myself in every night so that I cause no one harm. 

 When they returned home as the sun set they invited me to dine with them...an invitation I refused. I wasn't hungry. Nothing appealed to me anymore. I wonder if this lack of appetite is due to my upset on my life change, or even worse, due to my ailment itself.

Is my appetite supposed to change? Will my diet remain the same? There are far too many rumours to possibly distinguish which are true and which are bogus. There are too many things I forgot to ask Carlos...but to be frank, I was desperate to get away and end that nightmarish conversation. 

I prepared to sleep, and hid my small suitcase under my bed. I will leave first thing in the morning. 

Just as I was about to curl up in my bed Marie's loud voice rumbled down the hallway in a spit of rage. "CHARLOTTE!" I barely had time to  prepare myself before my bedroom door was thrown open by a stepmother spiting fire. Metaphorically, of course. 

"This is all your fault, you vile monster!" She points her finger at me menacingly. She races up to me and attempts to grab me by my hair. 

"I haven't done anything to you!" I protest. "You have to keep calm and tell me what's happened before attacking me Marie, we've been over this." I try to calm her, but it doesn't appear to be working this time. Something terrible must really have happened this time. 

"Your father! He isn't coming home!" Marie falls to her knees suddenly in a fit of tears. I am not sure if she is mourning for his company or his income. 

"What? Why not?" I gasp. 

"The Beast!" She screams. "The Beast has taken him hostage as he believes you will not stick to the agreement." Her angry eyes speak everything I needed to know. 

They have all known about this all along. 

She grabs my left hand fiercely, breathing a small breath of relief when she sees the ring on my left finger. "At least you have accepted the proposal. Just stop those second thoughts!" She demands.  She stands in front of me and calls for her daughters. "Girls! We need to tie her up." 

My heart pounds as I watch Laurie and Harriet run into my room, chains and ropes in their hands. 

"We can't have you harming anyone until you have learned to control yourself. Last night was close enough. Thank goodness you had the sense to only wander and snag a deer." Marie's voice was stern, and heartless. I was used to her stiffness straight from my childhood, but even this was hurtful. They forced me to the bed and they tied me to the bedposts. Marie's eyes darkened as she sprinkled specks of water around and on top of my body. Under her breath she muttered a few words, circling my bed, as if I were being exorcised. 

"This should keep you put all night." She mutters before leaving, locking my bedroom behind her. 

And so it appeared that I may be stuck without escape.

This woman is the same witch she was pegged for all those years ago, and now I am beginning to think my father never had a choice in marrying her in the first place. Not when she had her heart set on being the witch in aiding my transformation. 

And I also am beginning to accept he figured it all out long ago and knew what fate waited for me on my eighteenth, the night of a full moon. 

You were my biggest and pride and joy.