Before Beauty by Brittany Fichter Page A

of
it near Megane. Or Mother or Father. Besides, if I don’t do as he
says, do you think he’ll really spare me? My fate is sealed either
way.”
    Isa sighed and leaned against her
horse, closing her eyes as she spoke. “But the rest of you have a
chance, particularly Megs. Let me do this for her. Please don’t
take it away from me.” She drew in a shaky breath and added, “I
don’t think either one of us could live with ourselves if something
happened to her.”
    The icy look had melted off of
Launce’s face, leaving the torn, helpless expression of the little
boy Isa remembered from long ago. She breathed an inner sigh of
relief as she saw her words sink in. Launce had always been
protective of her, but they had grown up as a team. Megane was, on
the other hand, the baby. Pranks they had played on one another
were simply not played on her. The unspoken rule was that she was
to be protected above all else. And this was Isa’s only hope for
convincing her brother to let her go.
    She knew she had won when she saw
tears welling up his eyes. Without another word, her little brother
pulled her into a hug, and Isa clung to him, the fear and anguish
of separation suddenly surrounding her.
    “ You must keep Father from coming
for me,” she sniffled into Launce’s shoulder, her words rushed.
“You have to remind him that whether I stay or whether I go, the
prince will have me in sickness or captivity. I will be a happier
captive if I know the family is safe.”
    Launce finally pulled out of the
embrace, still glaring at her. But he helped her back up on her
horse and gave her a stiff nod before turning back down the
path.
    Feeling even more alone than
before, Isa turned her horse off of the main road, and the Fortress
came into full view. The great stronghold was nothing new to Isa.
She’d visited it many times with Ansel as a child, but never had
she seen it been so empty.
    The lofty battlements looked cold
and foreboding without the soldiers at their posts. And the great
front gate was closed. It seemed the prince wanted her to ask
permission before entering his domain, to be remind her of just how
small and insignificant she was.
    The old resentment flared up again
as Isa stared at the distant, lofty gate. Prince Everard might be
forcing her to come, but that didn’t mean she was going to play by
his rules.
    Isa turned her horse abruptly away
from the front entrance. Skirting the outer wall, she headed around
to the back of the Fortress, hoping the hole hadn’t been patched
up.
    The bushes had grown since she’d
last visited, but to her relief, the gap hadn’t been discovered.
When she was small, the servant children had shown her the opening
in the outer wall, explaining how they used it to get in and out of
the Fortress without their parents’ knowledge. It was covered by a
dense thicket of foliage, barely big enough for Isa’s horse. But
once she made it through, she was very glad she had come this
way.
    Much less intimidating, the
servants’ entrance was smaller and had fewer grandiose
architectures. If she’d gone farther down the road, Isa would have
made it to the servant’s gate. What had been open for her father,
however, must have been visited by some sort of spirit keeper, for
the back gate was now closed.
    Isa rode through the open fields,
noticing for the first time a strange set of great statues that
filled half of the meadow behind the Fortress. They seemed
innumerable, large effigies lined neatly up in perfect rows and
columns. Snow covered most of the figures, but there was something
eerily human about them. They most definitely hadn’t been there
when she was little. Each one had unique features, carved of stone,
and yet giving the impression that they could walk away whenever
they pleased.
    When Isa finally arrived at the
royal stables, she took as long as she possibly could to feed and
groom her horse. As she worked, she seriously considered spending
that night in the stable. Her animal