A room full of soldiers eyes stare at Emilia, including the pair of eyes on the throne. There is an empty circular space between the soldiers and the throne. One man stands at the center of that circle with his hands clasped behind his back, Victor.
“See!” The king shouts, “The soldiers are weak, because you are weak. Soldiers, kill that creature!”
A noticeable number of soldiers rush out of the room. Men closer to the King’s age, some even older, surround the king pointing their swords at Emilia. Many of the men look ready to defend their king to the death.
Only a few young soldiers stand beside the prince all of them hold spears. One soldier hands Victor a sword. A few guards rush up to Emilia, but she jumps over them. Many men rush to protect their prince, but it’s too late.
Emilia jumps on top of Victor pinning him to the brown marble floors knocking his sword out of his hand. He tries to fight to get up, but somehow, Victor can’t move. His arms are pinned to his chest underneath Emilia’s paws.
The beast looks into Victor’s eyes. Though the eyes start out blue, there is a flash of deep dark brown carrying a familiar sadness he’s met before. Deep in the brown is sadness, loneliness, worthlessness, fear, and hopelessness.
“Emilia?” Victor whispers. Her eyes change fully to dark brown from when she was human. From when she constantly avoided his eyes.
Emilia looks away again but softens her weight on his chest. He moves his hands to cup her furry cheeks. Emilia shakes her head as tears fall onto Victor’s bare chest. She turns away then dashes out of the throne room. The soldiers are too stunned to move.