Facing reality

Elira stared at him as if seeing him for the first time.

The flickering torchlight cast shadows across his face — a face that had once felt charming, arrogant, maybe even safe — but now… was something else entirely.

Her lips parted, trembling. "You're… the beast?"

Elric didn't respond.

That silence, once regal, now felt cruel.

"You're saying you—" she stepped back a little, shaking her head, "—you were the one who tore those soldiers apart? Who growled at me? Who picked me up like I weighed nothing and dragged me back to the castle?"

He looked down, then nodded once.

She laughed, but it wasn't amused. "No. No, you—you can't just drop something like that on me and stand there like you've told me what time dinner is!"

"Elira—"

"No!" she snapped, her voice raw. "You don't get to hide behind your title now. Explain it. All of it."

He finally lifted his gaze, and in it, she saw not a prince—but a man full of pain.

"It's a curse," he said quietly. "One I've lived with since I was fifteen."

"A curse," she echoed. "Right. That makes total sense. Because waking up in a strange world, being chased by murder-troops, almost forced into marriage by a beast-prince wasn't weird enough already."

"Elira, I didn't mean for any of this to happen to you—"

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Because you would've run sooner!" he snapped.

She blinked.

He stepped forward, voice low. "And if you'd run again... you might not have survived this time."

She turned away from him, pacing in circles like her thoughts were trying to claw their way out of her skull.

"So let me get this straight," she said, counting on her fingers. "You're cursed. You turn into a giant terrifying beast every night—no big deal. And you thought locking me in a room and pretending to be two different beings was somehow the better plan?"

He flinched slightly.

She continued, voice cracking. "And I—God—I trusted you. I told you I didn't want this life, and you just kept... lying!"

"I didn't lie."

"You lied by omission," she snapped, turning on him. "Which is just as bad."

"I was trying to protect you."

"I'm not your delicate responsibility, Elric! I'm a person!" She looked at him, eyes burning. "You should've given me the truth and the choice. That's what someone who respects me would've done."

He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "You don't understand what this curse is. What it does to people. To me."

"Then make me understand!" she yelled. "Because I've been dragged into your world, nearly died twice, and now I find out I'm living with a prince who turns into a monster every night!"

"I'm not a monster."

"Then prove it," she said, voice quieter but sharper. "Tell me everything. From the beginning."

He hesitated.

"Elric," she whispered. "I need to know who I'm standing in front of. Who you really are."

He looked at her for a long moment — as though he were weighing every secret he'd carried for years.

Then finally… he spoke.