A Beastly Beauty

"Don't go near the door, a beast lies await, to eat your flesh and carve another name upon his chest." It's a tale, a myth my village has lived by for centuries and I Luna Wethering found the story curious, a mystery to be solved.

"Tame your curls now!" My mother instructs as the wind blows open through the window as the sun illuminates my wild, golden curls as I try to brush them down. Mr. Matton, a duke from the city has come to claim a bride and while I am of peasant blood, my mother has made great effort to try to change not only my standing but our families.

Everyone has already saddled their horses or their carriages while many like my family will simply walk the distance, especially after we spent our earnings on more cows and chickens, to build up a harvest for the town and us.
"Luna!" My mother calls and I walk out in a generational dress that's two sizes too big. It seems my ancestors could afford to eat while we cannot.

My mother even scoffs at the fit and she starts getting her pins out. A few stabs too many and I'm ready to leave in white. "He must see you as a bride." She tells me as she touches the dress, before looking up at me.
"Your crystal blue eyes will save you from your skinny frame, pale skin and unruly hair." "If he sees them, he'll know the beauty even your father possessed." My father, he died ten years ago during the war, which left Monrey, my eldest brother to run the house.

He used to be a brother to me but he grew up fast at just fifteen years old, to my ten and now he sits in the same chair as father, always holding a drink in his hand as he gazes out the window. "Make sure she's picked." My brother speaks and my mother hums. It's the first time my brother has acknowledged me in weeks, except when I'm to feed the animals and harvest the crops.

It seems even my brother wishes me gone. I try to lift my lips into a smile as my mother looks me over once more before opening the door. "You'll have to pick up the dress while we walk, can't have it dirty upon meeting him."
I do as she says but the weight is a lot as we walk two miles up the road to the small castle where our king and queen reside. Our village is humble and small but still we have a royal family to rule over us like anywhere else. I believe my mother would marry me off to their son, if they weren't six and ten.

The dress starts slipping through my fingers as we make it to the stone walk and up we go with everyone else as I recognize many of the girls, all around nineteen and twenty, eligible to marry. I wait in line with everyone and the line moves as my mother walks away. "Do your best." She tells me as all our parents wait outside as we enter through the double doors.

Once closed, I hear it. "Too fat." "Too skinny." "Not pretty." One by one I watch them leave, pain or anger written clearly on their face and easily half the town is gone in a matter of seconds until twenty of us are left as he tells each of us to stay to the right.
I do so as I ponder marriage. The man, Mr. Matton isn't what we'd deem attractive with his balding head and large stomach but this sacrifice is made for our families, for his wealth and protection and we all understand this.

He stands from his chair now as he takes a closer look at each woman. "Tell me what you're good at." He asks Marina, a true beauty and a family who's almost too wealthy to marry off their daughter yet must do so as well since her father plans to expand the village to the west. "I'm a very good cook and I've sewn many of my own dresses." She says, her voice soft and he smiles awfully as I swallow.

I wait as he moves down the line, until he stops at me. "Wow, you surely are the most beautiful woman here." "Now tell me your talents." "I feed the animals and harvest the gardens." I tell honestly, yet his hands yanks at my own as he brings them up, observing the filled down nails, the cracks and callouses as he looks up with such disgust, I step away, pulling my hands back.

"A woman should never be worn down by such work, you're no better than a man, escort her out." He commands and with the iron grip of his male servant, I'm tossed out onto the mud, soaking a once white dress as rain starts sputtering down.

I feel relief for not marrying such an ugly man but my mother and my brother had made our situation clear, my situation clear. They need me to be married off and now I'll come home with nothing.

I stand up, feeling the ache from hitting the ground and feel a shake in the ground and look around. There's maid walking about, gardeners and they don't notice nor feel what I do. It comes with the thunder this time and I hear it, a low growl and I find myself drawn to it, the door my friends and I joked about, heard tales about and as I walk around the castle to the old wooden door, adorned with claw marks, I am called to open it, to peer inside and discover the mystery that's been hidden here.