Free Depravity: A Beauty and the Beast Novel (A Beastly Tale Book 1) by M.J. Haag

dark misty trees as the sky began to lighten.  Finally, before a large gnarled oak growing at the edge of a pond, they released me.  I landed with a splash in the waist-deep waters and scowled.  Dripping wet, I stood weighed down by my heavy skirts.
    “Confounded dress,” I muttered, struggling toward the shore.
    The tree groaned, a low noise of wood rubbing on wood, then gave several small splintering cracks as the surface of the trunk began to shift.  I stopped my approach and stood still in the knee-deep water to watch with wide eyes as a face formed within the wood.  Rough, slashed bark eyes squinted at me, and a great long nose twitched as if the eyes couldn’t believe what they saw.  Below the nose a wide mouth opened slowly, looking as if the tree was breaking and about to topple.  Instead, it spoke.
    “Teach him,” it said in a series of cracks and groans.  The leaves above trembled with its effort.
    “Who?” I whispered, fear and awe having stolen the volume from my voice.
    “Free us,” it continued as if it didn’t hear me.  The trunk tilted forward again as the mouth closed and the nose sank back into the bark, leaving only the slitted eyes until they too winked out of existence.
    Looking around at the woods, I waited for more, but nothing else happened for several long minutes.  Shivering, I climbed out of the water and walked back toward the wall.  This time, I took the turnips, every one of them.
    From the traps, I managed to gather two rabbits, which pleased me until I wondered how to skin them without dirtying my dress.  After my dunking, it was clean once again.  While I contemplated my dilemma, I continued home, glad to see a faint glow in the kitchen window.  Bryn willingly surrendered her apron, only raising a brow at my damp state, and I set to work, eager to eat rabbit for breakfast.
    Father stepped from his study as I handed over the dressed game to Bryn along with her now dirty apron.
    “Father, do you know of the estate’s history?” I asked, ignoring Bryn’s peevish glance.
    He shook his head.
    “Only what we know from the villagers, that the beast guards the estate for the Liege Lord to prevent theft and whatnot,” he said absently, looking in our food storage for something to eat.
    He was right. The information he knew was nothing I hadn’t already heard.  When we’d moved here, I’d been young enough that I hadn’t cared about the beast or the estate beyond the need to stay away from them.  However, since both the estate and the beast seemed to have taken an interest in me, I needed to learn more.
    “I’ll bring some of the rabbit to the school when it’s ready if you’d like,” I said to him.
    He nodded his thanks and left as I moved closer to the stove to dry and enjoy the scent of cooking meat.  Bryn left to milk the goat and check for an egg from our single hen.  In the warm silence, I contemplated which of the villagers might know more regarding either the estate or the beast.  Miss Medunge, the baker’s sister, loved gossiping and probably knew everything about everyone, but I didn’t want to chance meeting up with the baker.  The butcher hadn’t lived here as long as we had, and the seamstress didn’t have any interest in anything other than her cloth and customers.  The Coalres were out of the question for obvious reasons.  That left the candle maker.
    *    *    *    *
    After taking a covered plate to Father, I cautiously hurried to the candle maker.  I’d yet to face Tennen or Splane after their last attempt to have the beast kill me and wanted to keep it that way.
    The candle maker’s bell above the door rang as I let myself in after a brief knock.  He looked up from his work with a smile.
    “I hadn’t thought to see you so soon,” he said.  “But I’m glad you’re here, nonetheless.  I have something for you.”  He stood with a grunt and shuffled to a low shelf near the back of the room.  Lying on the rough board,