Black Magic ▸ Prince Adam

VIII

CELESTE REMEMBERS

"LISTEN! WOLVES! WE must be close to the castle!" Maurice told the hunter and his sidekick from the back of Gaston's carriage. He had managed to look crazier than before, with his eyes quickly looking in every which direction and his hair was even more disheveled than before.

The three had been in the forest for quite some time. The forest wasn't nearly as menacing as Maurice made it out to be, and Gaston was quickly growing tired of the older man and beginning to wish that he didn't volunteer to even entertain Maurice's tale.

"Maurice, enough is enough." Gaston said, turning to look at the man behind him. "We have to turn back."

Maurice shook his head. "No, look!" He said, pointing ahead of them as he got out of the carriage. Gaston and LeFou watched the older man point at a particularly tall tree. Though he wasn't  sure whether it was the same tree that had fallen in his path, Maurice decided that this was better than nothing. "That is the tree!" He shouted, "I'm sure of it. Of course, it was downed by lightning at the time, but now it's been restored to an upright position. By magic, it seems...."

LeFou kept his eyes on Maurice while he leaned over to Gaston. "You really want to marry into this family?"

The Captain clearly lost the last ounce of patience that he had. The whole reason Gaston listened to Maurice's crazy tale was so that he could blackmail Belle into marrying him, but what was the point if the brunette beauty was nowhere to be seen? "I'm done playing this game of yours." He snapped, getting out of the carriage and walking over to Maurice. "Where is Belle?"

"The Beast took her!"

"There are no such things as beasts!" Gaston shouted, his anger becoming too much to control. "But there are wolves, frostbite, and starvation."

LeFou quickly got out of the carriage, almost tripping as he rushed to his best friend. "Deep breaths, Gaston," he said. "Deep breaths."

Gaston listened to his sidekick, calming down significantly. "So," he started, reaching for Maurice. "Why don't we just turn around and go back to Villeneuve? Belle's probably at home cooking up a lovely dinner while making Celeste read to her."

"You think I've made all this up?" Maurice backed away from Gaston and stared at him in confusion. "If you didn't believe me, why did you offer to help?"

"Because I want to marry your daughter." The Captain finally revealed his plan before starting back to the carriage. "Now let's go home."

"I told you! She's not at home, she's with the—"

Gaston, once again, lost his temper. "If you say 'beast' one more time, I will feed you to the wolves!" He bellowed, ready to cause physical harm to the older man.

"Stop!" LeFou cried, getting between Gaston and Maurice. He put his hands up defensively in front of the larger man, as if to calm a dangerous animal. "Think happy thoughts." He spook soothingly, "go back to the war. Blood, explosions, countless widows." He let out a sigh when he saw the rage leave Gaston's face.

"Widows," Gaston sighed contently. He pushed LeFou aside and smiled at Maurice before straightening out his coat. "Please, forgive me. That's no way to talk to my future father-in-law, now is it?"

Maurice almost scoffed at the man. He was well aware of the fact that he wouldn't win a fight against Gaston, but he would not hesitate to if that meant Belle was safe from him. "You will never marry my daughter.

Gaston snapped at that statement. He pulled back and punched Maurice, so hard that the older man fell to the ground unconscious.

"I saw that coming." LeFou sighed to himself.