The red dress fit perfectly.
Of course it did. Everything in this castle knew my body better than I did. The fabric clung to my curves, left my shoulders bare, and fell in waves to the floor. The neckline dipped low enough to show the black rose collar in stark contrast against my skin.
I looked like I belonged to him.
The collar pulsed warm as if agreeing.
I found the East Gallery at noon exactly. It was a long room with windows on one side showing the snow-covered gardens. Paintings lined the other wall. People I did not recognize staring down with sad eyes.
Léandre stood at the far end beside a table set for two.
He was not alone.
A woman sat in the chair across from where I assumed I was meant to sit. She was beautiful in a way that made my chest hurt. Perfect pale skin, white hair that fell to her waist, eyes like ice. She wore a dress of silver that seemed to be made of mist and moonlight.
Not human.
"Belle." Léandre's voice was carefully neutral. "Come here."
I walked the length of the gallery. My shoes clicked on marble. Both of them watched me approach.
The woman smiled. It did not reach her eyes.
"So this is your little pet."
"This is Belle." Léandre pulled out the empty chair. "Belle, this is Morgane. She holds the other half of my curse."
My blood went cold.
The woman who had done this to him. The one he had mentioned in the garden weeks ago.
Morgane looked me over like I was livestock at market.
"Pretty enough, I suppose. Though I expected someone with more spine. She looks like she would break if you breathed on her wrong."
"Careful," Léandre growled.
"Oh, territorial already?" Morgane laughed. It sounded like breaking glass. "How sweet. Tell me, little pet, has he taken you yet? Has he buried that monster cock inside you and made you scream?"
Heat rushed to my face.
"That is enough," Léandre said.
"I am merely curious." Morgane picked up her wine glass. "The contract specifies willing surrender before the winter solstice. That is tonight, in case you have forgotten. Midnight, to be precise."
I looked at Léandre. "What is she talking about?"
His jaw clenched. "Sit down."
I sat.
He took the chair beside me, not across. Close enough that I felt his heat.
"The curse has conditions," he began. "I told you some of them. Not all."
"Because you are a coward," Morgane added cheerfully.
He ignored her. "The curse can only be broken if someone gives themselves to me willingly. Completely. Before the year ends."
"You said I had to serve you for a year."
"That is true. But there is more." He would not look at me. "On the winter solstice, at midnight, you must surrender your body to me of your own free will. No threats. No bargains. No collar forcing truth. Just choice."
My stomach dropped.
"And if I do not?"
Morgane answered. "Then the curse remains. He stays a beast until he dies, which will be soon. His humanity fades more each day." She smiled. "And your father's debts come due immediately. With interest that has been building for months now."
"How much interest?"
"Enough to take everything. The farm. The house. Your sisters become wards of the state." She sipped her wine. "Or they could come work for me. I always need pretty young things."
Rage burned through my fear.
"You are a monster."
"No, darling. He is the monster." She gestured at Léandre. "I am simply a woman who was scorned and took her revenge."
I turned to him. "What did you do to her?"
"Nothing," Morgane said before he could answer. "That is the problem. I loved him. I gave him everything. And he looked at me with the same empty politeness he shows everyone. No passion. No fire. So I made sure he would feel something, even if it was only hunger and rage."
Léandre's claws dug into the table. "You cursed an entire castle. Hundreds of innocent people."
"They served you. That made them guilty." She stood. "But I did not come here to argue ancient history. I came to ensure the little pet understands her options."
She walked around the table until she stood behind my chair. I felt her cold presence at my back.
"You have until midnight, Belle. Give him what he wants, break the curse, and your family stays safe." Her hand touched my shoulder. Ice spread from the contact. "Or refuse, and watch everyone you love suffer."
"That is not choice," I said through clenched teeth. "That is blackmail."
"Is it?" She leaned down, lips near my ear. "Let me ask you something. Do you want him?"
The collar stayed quiet. The question was not for it.
"I do not know."
"Liar." Her hand squeezed. "I can see it in the way you look at him. In the way your body responds when he is near. You are wet right now just from sitting beside him."
I was.
I hated that she was right.
"Wanting and choosing are different things."
"Are they?" She straightened. "Well. You have hours to decide. Choose wisely."
She walked to the door, then paused.
"Oh, and Léandre? If she refuses, I will come for the sisters myself. I have always wanted daughters." Her smile was poison. "I will teach them everything their mother should have."
She disappeared in a swirl of silver mist.
Silence filled the gallery.
I stared at the table. At food I could not eat. At wine that suddenly looked like blood.
"Why did you not tell me?" My voice was barely a whisper.
"Because I wanted you to choose me without knowing." He sounded tired. Old. "I wanted something real."
"Nothing about this is real. It is all threats and curses and bargains."
"I know."
I stood up. The chair scraped loud against marble.
"I need to think."
"Belle."
"Do not." I turned to face him. "Do not ask me for anything right now. I cannot."
He nodded once.
I left before I started crying.
***
I spent the afternoon in the library.
Not reading. Just sitting. Staring at nothing.
The collar was heavy around my throat. A reminder of who owned me. Who had always owned me, from the moment my father signed that contract.
Lucien found me as the sun set.
"You should eat something."
"I am not hungry."
"You need your strength for tonight."
I laughed. It came out broken. "Do I?"
He set a tray down anyway. Bread, cheese, fruit. Simple things.
"For what it is worth," he said quietly, "the master cares for you. More than I have seen him care for anything in seven years."
"He has a poor way of showing it."
"He is a beast. They do not court, they claim." Lucien moved toward the door. "But he has never once hurt you. Never forced you. Even when the blood moon drove him mad, he chained himself to protect you."
"Because he needs me to break his curse."
"No. Because he would rather die than see you harmed."
Lucien left me alone with that truth.
***
At eleven, I returned to my room.
I bathed. Dried my hair. Stared at my reflection in the mirror.
The collar looked like it had always been there. Part of me now.
I touched it. The roses shifted under my fingers.
"What should I do?" I whispered to my reflection.
She had no answer.
At eleven-thirty, I heard his footsteps in the hall. Slow. Heavy. Pacing back and forth outside my door.
He did not knock.
At eleven-forty, I opened the door.
He stood there. Still dressed. Hands clenched at his sides. Eyes burning gold.
"I will not force you," he said immediately. "Whatever you choose, I will accept. If you say no, I will find another way to protect your family. I swear it."
"There is no other way."
"Then I die. But you walk free."
The collar stayed loose. He meant it.
"Your servants," I said. "What happens to them if you die?"
His jaw clenched. "The curse takes them too."
"How many?"
"Thirty-seven."
Thirty-seven lives. Plus my family. Plus him.
All of it on my shoulders.
"That is not fair," I whispered.
"No. It is not." He stepped back. "You have fifteen minutes. I will be in my room. Come to me if you choose. Do not if you cannot."
He turned to leave.
"Léandre."
He stopped but did not look back.
"If I come to you," I said slowly, "if I do this, I need to know it matters. That it is not just about breaking a curse."
"It matters."
"How do I know that?"
Finally, he looked back. His eyes found mine.
"You do not. You have to trust me."
The collar pulsed.
Truth.
He left.
I stood in my doorway and watched him disappear into the darkness.
The castle clock began to chime.
Eleven forty-five.
Fifteen minutes to decide.
I closed my door.
Took off the red dress.
Stood there in nothing but the collar and tried to remember who I had been before this castle.
Before him.
I could not.
That girl was gone.
The clock chimed again.
Eleven fifty.
Ten minutes.
I walked to my wardrobe. Found a robe. White silk that Lucien had left earlier.
For the bride, the note had said.
I put it on.
Eleven fifty-five.
Five minutes.
I opened my door.
The hallway was dark except for floating rose lights. They drifted toward his room like they were showing me the way.
Like they knew what I would choose before I did.
I walked.
Each step echoed.
His door was open. Waiting.
The clock struck midnight.
I stepped through.
He was already on his knees.