"I'm glad to hear that," Laurent said, eyes lingering on the Beast. He was pleased by the creature's love of beauty--of art, of literature--and pleased that the creature did have a sense of logic. Perhaps something could be made of him after all. They could learn to tolerate each other, with these new rules, and a shared love of art and reading. "I think it's important to question the things you took as given, and to doubt those that you once would have trusted implicitly. It's a sort of growing up, and I don't think everyone reaches that stage."

He stayed close beside the beast, arm hooked around the beast's massive forearm, body lithe and graceful even with the simple act of walking down a corridor. He made the beast look graceful simply by his presence.