Beast Lord: (Beauty and the Beast) (Tangled Tales Book 3) Read Free Page A

open.
    “So are you saying you gave the command to attack, or were you waiting and being cautious again when it happened?” asked Arnon.
    “A little of both,” MacKay answered for him.
    “My God, it looks like I’ve lost over a dozen men under your command, brother.” Wolf scanned the grounds just shaking his head.
    “It was the witch. She brought us here,” protested Stefan. “It would have happened to any of you had you been in my place.”
    “It’s over now, so let’s take care of the dead,” said Lucio.
    “What a waste of soldiers,” Wolf mumbled and followed his father.
    The words reverberated in Stefan’s ears and a part of him died inside as he fell to the ground from the intense pain. He might have been cautious but he’d also fought like a beast today, but his family couldn’t see that. It was all Hecuba’s doing and not his fault, but they didn’t see it that way. If the witch hadn’t lured him here, none of this would have happened. If he lived, he swore from this day on his family would see a different side to him. He’d start being more like his brother MacKay. Reckless. He wouldn’t be so cautious but instead more eager to fight . . . like a beast.

 
     
    Chapter 2
     
     
     
    Lady Bonnibel Harcourt gripped tightly to the sides of the uncovered wagon as it crashed over rocky terrain, carrying her from the docks of Sandwich back to her home in Breckenridge in Kent. A guard escorted her from France, but she had no handmaiden with her since her father had said her betrothed would supply her with all she needed.
    For five years she’d been living with her older sister, Claribel, in France, and for three years before that, she’d lived with her younger sister, Oribel, being fostered in Scotland, right after the death of their mother. But both her sisters were married and now her father told her it was her turn to get married. He’d decided to betroth her to Lord Tostig Armestead of Wickhambreaux. She’d never heard of the man and could only hope he was witty and young, and not old enough to be her grandfather.
    She was already twenty, and way past marrying age. By right she should have gotten married at thirteen or fourteen, but her father had been so distraught by the death of her mother that he’d almost forgotten about her. She wondered if her father would even recognize her, and then again, would she recognize him? It had been so long. She hadn’t been home to Breckenridge in eight years now, and felt nervous about not only marrying a man she didn’t know, but also because when she’d left, she and her father were not on good terms. She hadn’t wanted to leave Breckenridge and certainly not before her mother’s body was even in the ground, but her father had sent them away quickly – and they hadn’t even gotten a proper goodbye.
    “Driver, can’t you go faster?” she asked, feeling an urgency to get back home. The day had started out as sunny, and the ship’s journey across the channel had been smooth. But as soon as she’d stepped foot on the shores of England, the sky darkened. Thunder boomed in the distance and lightning flashed overhead. This had to be a bad omen of some sort.
    She raised the hood of her cloak to cover her long, blond hair. When it started to drizzle, she tucked her book beneath her cloak. Le Roman de la Rose, or The Romance of the Rose was her prized possession, given to her by her mother while she still lived in Breckenridge. It was an allegorical poem speaking of the art of chivalric love, told in the form of a dream. The pages were colorfully illuminated with such beauty that even some of the beastly animals inside were fascinating to look at.
    Books were not common, and most books consisted of recordings of wars, battles, births and deaths. The clergy had more books than anyone, and they were written and illuminated by the monks in the monasteries. The Romance of the Rose spoke of courtly love and secret gardens, and she hoped her marriage to