L A B E L L E E T L E B A R M A N O U — [ co-created with faeriviera ]
A Found Sisters Tale
based on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast
“I already told you, I can’t!”
In a fit of desperation, she seized her damaged sleeve and swiftly tore it off, shocked gasps echoing through the chamber. There, just above her wrist were angry red marks that looked like… Aamir’s blood ran cold upon realization. He could barely register Karima’s grip on his shoulder tightening almost painfully or the strangled sound that escaped his older sister, sharp and shocked.
Looking back on it, Isabelle could barely believe that she had the audacity to do such a thing when facing a fearsome looking stranger, but she steeled herself, staring unblinking into eyes too big for its beastly face.
“With all due respect,” her strained voice broke through the silence, “I doubt you’re the one I need to be afraid of.”
The painful stillness of the room was broken as the youngest beast—another sister, it had to be with curled, black fur and too big eyes like that—suddenly appeared at her side. She couldn’t have been more than fourteen, Isabelle thought and again she wondered how the three beasts ended up alone in the old mirrored palace.
“Akka, annah, please, can’t she stay?” She turned pleading eyes to Karima and Aamir, plopping down next to Isabelle on the love seat. “At least until we figure out what to do about that horrible—“
Aamir just barely pulled his gaze away from Isabelle in an effort to focus on an answer he still didn’t have, but before he could speak—
“Munira,” Karima interjected, her tone full of exasperation and fondness that could only be found with siblings, “We’re not going after the man.”
He supposed he was grateful for that, he thought with a frown, his older sister was usually right. Whoever did this to Isabelle deserved to be torn to shreds for making her think the likes of him was her only option, but the siblings couldn’t risk going out into the world… not when they looked like this.
“Alright, alright,” Munira conceded with a pout, “But then can’t she stay for a bit? We can’t just throw her out to the wolves!”
Through gnashed teeth, Aamir slouched back and grumbled, “Ironic choice of words. Am I going to be allowed to get a word in, petite soeur?”
A giggle escaped from Isabelle, amused at the sight of him acting more like a petulant young man than a fearsome beast. Then she remembered… he was still a creature that might not take kindly to being laughed at, least of all when he might let her stay.
gugu mbatha-raw as beauty | riz ahmed as the beast
Isabelle Toussaint doesn’t fit. A bookish black woman surrounded by people who can’t even fathom that she should even exist, let alone live among them. Her only real comfort is reading her stepmother’s old books, tales of dashing musketeers and secret princesses, and daydreaming about sharing her own stories with the world. During an errand to pick up new parts for her father, she unfortunately catches the attention of an entitled man who believes he deserves a most rare and exotic flower. With the village rallying behind him, there seems to be no way out… until she and her stepmother come across a glorious old palace while searching the woods for her missing father.
His rejection of a spiteful fairy’s advances left Prince Aamir and his sisters in isolation for years, racing against a deadline to free themselves from their beastly forms. The Bhatia family never thought that taking in a man lost in the woods would lead to his daughter seeking refuge, but at Isabelle’s insistence, she becomes a welcome guest. If Aamir can bring himself to lower the defenses built up after all these years, the curse may finally be broken.
