Beauty and Her Beastly Love (Passion-Filled Fairy Tales Book 2) by Rosetta Bloom

until tomorrow. The value of the five roses she carried with her was more than double her father’s debt.
    She passed a few people on the street, but not many. She was the only woman, and she began to wonder if it was a good idea to be out at this time of night. She sighed. It didn’t matter. She had to get her father.
    She arrived at the jailer’s door and banged. There was silence, at first, and then someone came to the door, opened it a crack. It was Monsieur Rocharte, the jailer. “Beauty?” he said.
    “Yes,” Beauty answered. “Let me in. I’ve come to get my father.”
    M. Rocharte opened it further, allowing Beauty to enter. “Dear, your father can’t get out. He owes a great sum in debt. He is to be executed in two days. He also violated a contract for your betrothal.”
    “He never signed a contract with M. Dumas,” Beauty said. “It was a verbal agreement. He changed his mind. However, he did sign a contract with my husband.”
    M. Rocharte’s eyes widened. “Your husband?”
    “Yes,” Beauty replied. “I am married. The beast was a representative of my husband, and my father signed a contract for my marriage.”
    M. Rocharte shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, Beauty. He’s already been sentenced. I can’t do anything. Only a judge can.”
    Beauty reached into her satchel with both hands and pulled out a golden rose. “This is a gift,” she said, holding the flower out toward him. “It’s from my husband and myself to you. It’s to show our appreciation for your taking the time to bring a judge from his home so he can re-adjudicate the case with my new evidence. I have my marriage contract, as well as the payment for my father’s debts.”
    M. Rocharte looked greedily at the rose and attempted to gingerly pick it up. Only it was too heavy. Astonishment, then pure avarice, filled his face. He took both hands, lifted the rose, and said to Beauty, “Lock the door when I leave, and do not open it until I come back.” She nodded and watched him leave in the night.
     
    * * *
    The power of gold still somewhat shocked and amazed Beauty. The judge convened court after hours, looked at Beauty’s marriage agreement, and took the gold flowers she had in repayment of the debt for M. Dumas. After receiving an extra gold flower for his own time and inconvenience, the judge ruled in favor of Pierre and ordered him released.
    Beauty struggled with a weak Pierre to the carriage, which took them back home. In the carriage, she found an iron bar, which was just what she needed to pry loose the boarded door. She wondered briefly if the carriage were enchanted in the same way as the house — the thing she needed would be there. But, she didn’t have time to find out. She needed to get her father inside. He was shivering and gaunt.
    Once she got them inside, she lit the fire, because it was freezing inside and her father seemed so cold. He’d been pudgy when she left him, but now he was all skin and bones. No telling what they had been feeding him. Probably bread crumbs and water. No vegetables, fruits, cheeses or meats, probably. She looked in the cupboards, but they were bare. Her father had been in that jail for months, and whatever had been in the home was gone. Perhaps it had been taken when they’d boarded it.
    She went out back to the vegetable garden, to see if something, anything, had started to sprout again, but when she got there, it was just a pile of dead vines. It was still too cold. Maybe in a few weeks there would be something. She went in and looked at the rooms. Everything was gone. Everything. They had taken it all to pay her father’s debt to Dumas, and still they’d put him in prison. Still they’d planned to execute him. She needed to do something
    She ran back out to the carriage and sat inside it. She closed her eyes and thought of a warm feather mattress wound into a roll. She opened her eyes, and there it was. She said a quick prayer of thanks that the carriage was as