I woke up in a different room that clearly wasn’t my own. It was dark, the walls were a dark red, it resembled dried blood, and the curtains were ripped and faded. Everything was a complete mess except for the bed. The bed was in amazing shape and it still had its velvety glow. Which was weird due to the fact that everything in this room was in complete shreds and everything besides the bed was losing its color.

I swung the covers off my bed as my bare feet touched the cold pavement floor. I made slow movements around the room as I watched my surroundings. My breath began to shake as I felt as if I was being watched. I made it towards the door before swinging the door open. I opened the door to only see darkness. I took a step into the darkness only to fall down a hole. I screamed as I fell down into the darkness. A familiar pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness. The eyes surrounded me and sent glares into my soul.

‘Monster..’

‘Monster!’

I panicked as that day of the beast replayed into my head. The set of red eyes were soon placed onto a black silhouette. The silhouette swung closer to me and raised my head up with its finger.

‘You’re the true monster Kara, not me…’

Princess Kein’s face appeared through the silhouette as I watched her eyes with a shocked expression. She wrapped her hands around my throat as she began to choke me.

‘Monster,’ was all she chanted as she strangled the life out of me.

‘Monster! You’re a monster!’

‘She is nothing but a beast!’

The voices spiraling around in my head fused with Princess Kein’s voice as I cried from the lack of air coming into my lungs. Princess Kein was crying as well but she wasn’t crying tears, she was crying blood, but she was smiling. She was gaining satisfaction from this. 

“Y–You monster! Burn in hell!” Was all I could muster out of my throat.

Her grip tightened as her smile faded away and her eyes went fully black.

“I’m not the monster! YOU’RE the monster! I protected you! Saved you! Comforted you! Yet, you saw me as a beast! Nothing more than a fucking monster! I should’ve never saved you. You should’ve stayed as the laughing stock. The real monster Kara is-”

She leaned in towards my ear as I finally gave up my last breath.

“You.”

That’s when I shot up gasping for air. I looked around and saw Silfi, the maids, butlers, and my father with the royal physician looking at me. They all bursted into tears as they all rushed over and hugged me.

“I–It was all a–dream.”

I looked at my hands to see them shaking with fear as I felt my throat. I quickly got off my bed and went to my mirror to see bandages wrapped around my throat. I looked at Silfi as she finally calmed down from her crying session. She seemed to have noticed what I was going to ask but my father beat her to it.

“Kara, my sweet daughter, why did you try to kill yourself?! Silfi told me that you blacked out out of nowhere and in a flash you wrapped your hands around your throat and began to strangle yourself to the point that your face was turning purple. Silfi was trying to pull your hands away from your neck but you wouldn’t budge until a couple minutes later you finally let go. Please Kara! If there is anything wrong just tell me! I can’t afford to lose you just like how I lost your mother!”

My father’s words pierced my heart like knives as I bit my lip, holding back tears. I honestly wanted to tell him what had happened but I knew better than to just start yelling off saying that the missing or dead princess was trying to kill me. He would’ve thought I was grieving about something or that I was going insane. 

I walked towards my father’s tall figure and hugged him tightly as I buried my face into his shirt. He let out a sigh of relief as he hugged me back, rubbing his hands in a circular motion on the center of my back. I knew he was choking back his tears as he was hugging me because he wanted to be strong but I didn’t want that. I honestly didn’t care about him crying. The only thing that was really bothering me was Princess Kein. No one knows anything about her. She came out into the world one night for her coming-of-age ceremony but that was the last time anyone has ever seen her. No one knew about her being a shifter until one of the princesses I knew spreaded the word around as if it was the great plague. No one wanted a rude shifter as their future queen, not even me. So once they sealed off the gates towards the castle, that’s when the people found out that they couldn’t survive without the king and his money. My father wasn’t giving out a single dime to anyone because he wanted to care for me and only me. Yet, when the people went to finally ‘accept’ the princess, the King was found dead, and his daughter was missing. The people lost their minds and destroyed the kingdom. They destroyed their own town and homes as if it was nothing but a piece of junk that was blocking their way from money.

Society doesn’t exist without money. This society is nothing without the King’s money. So the people stormed into the kingdom and destroyed it all, leaving nothing but rubble. When a new ruler arrived, it was as if our original kingdom was nothing but a mere fairytale. Yet, no one knew what happened towards the King’s child. Some say she killed her father and ran, others say she stabbed her heart and killed herself, and the biggest one I heard is that she ran away to hide from the people but she was planning to return with an army of dragons and warriors to take back her rightful claim to the throne.

“What a bunch of bullshit..”

Releasing my father, I trudged off towards my room. After my little ‘suicide’ situation, I’ve been watched by a guard every single moment except the time I wish to relief myself in the bathroom. I used to think that everyone was being dramatic for no reason but now I wasn’t so sure about it now. I thought about everything that had happened not too long ago, they had every right to be scared and worried. They nearly lost someone that brightened up their day. They wouldn’t be the same if they lost me, my father would’ve offered himself as well just so he could join mom in heaven.

Yet, when I really think about it, why did I see Princess Kein in my dream? Why was she strangling me?

I thought about it some more before it hit me. Her spirit was haunting me for calling her a beast and a monster. I will admit that those words were harsh but they were the best words to describe what she is. She’s a shifter, a disgrace to society, and a bother to our people. She deserved her death. A monster like her doesn’t deserve a life to live.

I tied my hair up before putting on a green skin tight dress, green gloves, and a pair of shimmery green and gold heels. I made my way out of my room and towards the door that led to outside. The door swung open and I was tackled to the ground.

“H-Hello to you Mikacellia..” (Mika-Cell-e-a)

The short blonde girl squealed as she hugged me tightly. She began to cover my face with kisses, smearing her pink lipstick all over my face. I crinkled my nose with disgust and motioned one of the guards to get her off of me. 

Once they got her off of me I began to ask her why she was here. Her gaze darkened as she chuckled wickedly.

“Kara Grapp, I came here to tell you that you’re now my official wife-”

Before she could even finish her sentence, something came crashing through the glass window that was right next to the door. I turned my attention towards whatever crashed through the window, and I wish I never did. Snarling at me and Mikacellia was a tall black dragon. Its eyes were blood red like ‘The Beast’. The guards rushed over but were quickly smacked away by the dragon’s tail. The dragon glared into my soul and it lowered its head. A person slid off the dragon’s head and landed perfectly onto their feet, well heels in this case. A tight red and black dress was being worn by this figure but they had a cloak over their head.

“Who the hell are you?”

The figure didn’t say anything, all they did was stare at me and Mikacellia, who was amazed by the dragon. Mikacellia ran over towards the dragon, reaching her hand out to touch it.

“Mikacellia, no!” I screamed out.

The dragon roared and went to bite her hand off but the figure raised their hand, causing the dragon to halt its movements. Mikacellia’s face was filled with fear.

“Monster! That dragon is a monster!”

The figure slammed their heel down causing the dragon’s eyes to slit and darken. That’s when I realized who the figure was. This scenario was playing out all too well. The figure took off their cloak, their lilac hair flowing in the wind, and a crown becoming visible onto their head. It was no other than ‘The Beast’ itself.

“K–Kein…”

Kein turned her head towards me as she walked towards me. My heart was beating fast as I began to sweat from nervousness. Her slender fingers combed through my hair as she slid them down towards the outline of my jaw. Her eyes burned a hole into my soul. She smiled wickedly, her sharp canines showing.

“Did you miss me?”

Kein teased before laughing at me. Seeing her stride towards Mikacellia, my heart began to skip beats which resulted in me hiding my flushed face. She wrapped her arms around Mikacellia’s waist and pulled her close to her. My heart stung as I watched this all go down. 

“Why is she pulling her in and not me?” I mumbled under my breath.

I shook my head, stunned by what just left my lips. Mikacellia’s cheeks were dusted pink as she looked up at Kein. 

“How’s my little cookie doing?”

Mikacellia blushed harder than a fresh tomato as she tried to push Kein away.

“D–Don’t call me that anymore!”

Kein tilted Mikacellia’s chin upward as she leaned down. Their lips nearly three centimeters away from becoming a kiss. My body moved on its own as I stormed over towards them and ripped Kein away from Mikacellia. I came back to my senses and scowled at what I just did.

“What’s wrong Kara? I thought she was nothing more than a beast to you.”

Mikacellia innocently smiled at me yet her words were as sharp as knives. Kein’s face hadn’t changed at all even though four full years flew by. She was still stunningly gorgeous and the way her eyes would stare into mine just rekindled the flame I thought had burned out. 

“She is a beast, just a rather attractive one…”

Kein suddenly burst out laughing as she began to melt away. Mikacellia’s older sister, Emzeira (E-mez-ra) emerged from the melting of Kein. That when the gears in my head began to turn, my blood began to boil, and for once I lost my cool.

“What the absolute fuck is wrong with you two?!”

Everything was nothing but an illusion. Kein being alive, the dragon, her and Mikacellia’s bond, and her smile. I bit my lip with disgust as I raised my hand and slapped Emzeira.

“You are nothing but a beast! Kein would never stoop down in looks but you, you have no damn class that you would fall for a whore! You are a disgrace to your family name! Both of you are! Get the fuck out!”

“K-Kara wai-”

“NOW!” My anger clouded my vision as I clenched my fist. I was fuming with rage. They were just messing around with me and my now knowledgeable feelings for Kein. They knew how I felt about her because they were at the ball being a bunch of nosy asses. I just never noticed them because I was so focused on Kein and her eyes.

“You are both banned from this place forever,” was all I said before sending the guards for them.

I stormed off towards my room and slammed the door as I threw myself onto my bed. I threw a fist at my mirror, causing it to shatter. I screamed out in rage as I continued to slam my fists against the mirror. The shard pierced into my skin but I didn’t care. I was too upset to even give a single shit about anything.

“Kein! Why? Why did you do this to me? YOU MONSTER! I...I HATE–”

I couldn’t finish my sentence because it wasn’t true. I didn't hate Kein at all, I like her more than I should. She helped me so many times during the ball yet all I did was shut her out and cast her away. I even called her a monster when she was just trying to protect me from the laughs. Yet, I was so blind by what she turned into that I called her a monster and ran away from the one person that helped me.

“You were right Kein...I am a fucking monster.”

I looked at all the broken shards on the floor before looking at my cracked reflection. My knuckles were bloody, my eyes were pale, my skin was dry, and my heart was broken. I touched the mirror and chanted a few words, causing the mirror to repair itself. Once the mirror was repaired I noticed that it was turning red and golden words began to appear on it.

‘The Grapp of the house, the Blouss of the sea, chanted by bonds of thee, blood shall be shed for better or worse, fix what has been broken or die from your curse. You have until the day of her age when she takes the throne, but for now you must find her and bring our true heir back home’