Description
"Take me instead." I said with no hesitation. I felt my father's cold fingers wrap around mine through the steel bars. "Belle, no." He was cut off by another body rattling coughing fit. I don't know how I knew, but the man hidden in the shadows softened somehow, thinking over my proposition. "You would...take his place?" Papa yelled out more protest, but I ignored them for now. "If I did...would you let him go?" "Yes..but you would have to stay here forever." I bowed my head, my mahogany waves come forward as a curtain to hide the shame written on my face. Forever?...Was I really willing to give up my freedom to a man who I just met? "You have my word." I heard myself say "Done." He sneered as he dragged my father by his shirt collar, leading him up the stairs and out of the damp dungeon.
Author's Note
