And they lived happily ever after, Belle thinks - she has read it, heard it, spoken about them - as she lies still in her bed, listening to her husband's soft step.
He tries, always, not to wake her, and Belle allows him to think he has not, leaving this in the quiet of the deepest part of the night, but he cannot rest and neither can she while he is so driven.
The magic is long undone, but it is not so easy to wipe away the effects of years; every night Belle lies awake as her husband prowls the castle like the predatory beast he had once - and so long - been, wary of attack . . . an unease difficult to argue is unfounded.
Trauma and Caution (Beauty and the Beast; Belle/Beast)
He tries, always, not to wake her, and Belle allows him to think he has not, leaving this in the quiet of the deepest part of the night, but he cannot rest and neither can she while he is so driven.
The magic is long undone, but it is not so easy to wipe away the effects of years; every night Belle lies awake as her husband prowls the castle like the predatory beast he had once - and so long - been, wary of attack . . . an unease difficult to argue is unfounded.