Of Beast and Beauty Read Online Free PDF Page B

fish bone. I lift my chin, holding my head high as we move swiftly toward the city proper. I do my best not to think about dying with the taste of this stranger on my lips.
     
    Dying . If I’m dying, I’ll never get the chance to tell my father that I have dreams that live outside the tower, to confess how much I need something … more. Tears fill my eyes, but I don’t cry. I sip in a breath and hold the air in my lungs.
     
    The soldier pats my rough hand with his softer one. “My name is Bo.
    I’ll stay with you until the healers come. My father would want that.”
     
    “Your father?”
     
    “Junjie,” he says, his voice dipping and sliding on the last part. That’s why he sounds familiar. Junjie’s son. “My father’s spoken of me?”
     
    “No. I didn’t know he had a son.”
     
    “Oh.” The word is a stone plunking sadly into the water.
     
    “But he doesn’t speak to me often,” I say, feeling a little sorry, despite my fear and the shame still lingering on my lips. “Most of the time he’s only at the tower to steal my father away on business.”
     
    “Yes. The king … I …” He sighs, a pained sound that sets fretful things stirring in my stomach.
     
    “What about the king?”
     
    “Nothing.” He walks faster. “Your wounds need treatment.”
     
    “No. Tell me. What were you going to say?”
     
    “I can’t,” he whispers. “Your health is the most important thing.”
     
    “I feel fine.” I do. The scratches still sting, but the feverish sensation is gone. I’m no healer, but it doesn’t feel as if there’s poison in my blood. It makes me wonder …
     
    Has my slight mutation made me immune to the creature’s venom, or … could the texts about the poison in Monstrous claws be wrong? Was the Monstrous lying when he said I’d die without his help, saying whatever
    he had to say in order to escape to the river?
     
    “The river.” My hand tightens on Bo’s arm. “The Monstrous wanted me to take him to the caverns where the underground river flows. That must be how they—”
     
    “We know,” he interrupts, making me sputter. I can’t remember the last time I was interrupted. Have I ever been interrupted? “There were three other creatures. Their hair was damp when we captured them. My father guessed where they’d come from. There are guards in place now. No more Monstrous will get into the city tonight.”
     
    “Did you kill the others?” I ask, afraid to hear the answer. The Monstrous are terrifying, but they also have language and pain. They aren’t the complete savages Baba and Junjie have made them out to be. There’s a chance we might be able to make peace with them.
     
    “Not yet.” Even in those two small words, his bloodlust is clear.
     
    “They speak our language,” I say gently. “They might not be as savage as we’ve thought.”
     
    Bo’s muscles flex beneath my hand. “They’re worse. They’re devils.”
     
    “Devils or not, it doesn’t make sense to kill them if we don’t have to.
    It will only make things worse for the city.” I think of the Monstrous man, how he endured my fingers roaming his face. He could have killed me, but he didn’t. He showed mercy. How can we do anything but offer the same?
     
    “It will be up to you to decide, of course.” Bo’s voice is stiff. “My queen.”
     
    “Don’t call me that,” I snap, wishing I didn’t need his arm to guide me. I’d prefer not to be touching this soldier anymore. “I’m not queen yet.”
     
    “Yes, my lady,” he whispers. “You are.”
     
    I am?
     
    I … am .
     
    The ground turns against me, and I trip over the raised edge of a paving stone. Bo catches me and holds me up by the elbow. His hand is larger than I thought. It circles my bone, making me feel like a child, but I’m not a child.
     
    I am queen. I …
     
    That means …
     
    “Baba …” There isn’t enough breath in me to finish the question.
     
    This can’t be true. Baba was with