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I throw the door open and draw her in. Rose stands there with her eyes shut as I rush to open the curtains.

"Can I open my eyes yet?" she asks eagerly.

"Not yet," I answer as I pull back more curtains to allow light to spill into the room. Her room. My Belle's room. Though it was really more of a library. Shelves reached the ceiling, filled with magic tomes and scrolls. It was Rose's room. Surely she would remember now.

"All right, now!" I shout. Her blue eyes open and widen in awe of the enormity of the accumulated knowledge.

"Oh my--" she gasps. "Whose are these?"

"Yours," I smile. Her smile dazzles me and I breathlessly watch her run to the shelves.

She takes down a tome and opens it. My heart plummets as confusion crosses her face.

"What type of books are these?" she inquires. "I've never seen anything like this before. I can't read this language. In fact, I've never seen a language that even looks like this. Can you read this?"

I swallow my pain and manage to reply, "No."

"Then why do you have these books?" Rose replaces the tome on the shelf and removes a scroll.

"A sorceress who once lived here used them. They were hers."

"It's odd though. I can't read this, but somehow I feel like I've read this before. But I couldn't have, could I? After all, I've never been here before." Her hand trembles as she shelved the scroll. She touches the spine of a ancient tome. "Flower Spells."

She gasps and I glance at the tome. It is in the same language as the other tomes. "What is it?"

"It was odd. It-It was as if I knew the book. Or perhaps it knew me. But there was this energy, understanding between us," Rose stammers. "I don't know if I can explain it any better."

She takes it down and opens it. "The Enchanting Lily," she reads aloud. "It's a little smudged there. I can't really read it. But it looks like it says atemi. Atemi lithla restro." A lily illusion appears between us.

Just like the rose Belle made that day so long ago.

"AAAH!" Rose screams as she drops the tome. "What--what is that thing!?"

"Magic." I reply. "It's merely an illusion though." I stretch out one huge paw and wave away the lily.

"I-I-I must go." Rose leaves the room, leaving me alone in my beloved's chamber.

I know now that I was right. Rose is Belle. She may not know it yet, but her magic, the book she could read, her memories, everything said she is. She isn't afraid of me. She could see that I am human despite my appearance. As only my Belle could.