To Love a Beast

By M.T. DeSantis

Worthless beauty…

Cursed into the body of a weak jora, Kerani must understand her flaws and the flaws of a singular life if she ever hopes to regain her brujgor strength. But how can she do so when she doesn't even know what that means?

Loyal beast…

The strongest protector of his clan, Elgano spends his days fending off the wovus that have encroached more and more on brujgor land. Kerani is a distraction he neither wants nor needs, but his honor won't let him push her away when she needs his help.

A high fantasy reverse Beauty and the Beast retelling where the beauty wants her claws, and the beast might be her only chance to get them back.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kit 'n Kabookle Literary, LLC
• Release date: Apr 24, 2024
• ISBN: 9798224785001

M.T. DeSantis

Born a New Englander, M.T. DeSantis moved south in early adulthood, realized she actually liked winter, and promptly moved back north. She's currently trying out life as a Michigander/anian with her family, who also (mostly) actually like winter. When not making word magic, M.T. can be found practicing yoga, attempting to make friends with the oven, or trying to read while people keep talking to her. For some free stories from M.T. and to sign up for her periodic newsletter, follow the very pretty and convenient link below.

Book preview

Kerani

By the ashes above , how she missed her claws. The tesmuno tree lashed out, and Kerani recoiled. The fanged branches snapped at the air, barely missing the exposed skin of her arm. She snarled at the delicate peachy-pink flesh stretched over her frail bones. Soft and useless growths tipped each finger, barely strong enough to scratch an itch. It had been...how long had it been? Too long to be trapped in this feeble jora body. If she lived to see the Eragua ashes fall from the sky, she would never adapt to such weakness.

I will have my meal back. Kerani growled. The noise may have been the contented purr of some small critter. The animal part of her voice was gone, too—taken by the curse. The jora hag who had not been jora. A bitterness like the uliti fruit she struggled to retrieve filled her mouth. She was brujgor. Brujgor were meant to dominate, to conquer, to be strength unmatched. She had treated the supposed jora like the inferior being it should have been, and because she offended the wrong being, she paid with all that belonged to her.

Kerani flexed her muscles to the point of pain, fighting away her self-pity. Brujgor had no reason to pity themselves. Jora she may have appeared, but years of training and a lifetime of practice were not washed away by a curse. The uliti fruit awaited its retrieval. Bouncing on the balls of her feet, Kerani counted to three and pounced at the tesmuno tree, ducking to slip beneath its awakened and furious fangs. With a lithe movement, she snatched the uliti from where it nestled in a hollow of the tesmuno’s spiny bark. A branch whipped back, grazing Kerani’s bodysuit. She danced from reach.

You thought you would best me? Contempt dripped from her words. The sheer disgust in her voice ached to her core. It was her disgust which put her in this situation. Still, she could not force herself to stop. You, a mere tesmuno, are no match for a brujgor. I am power. I am strength! Kerani spun, uliti held high overhead. Head thrown back and limbs strong, she could have been a painting of pure magnificence. I am—

A growl interrupted her.

Who dared? She opened her eyes.

A pack of wovus, canine guardians of the tesmunos, stared her down. Saliva dripped from their sharp, gleaming fangs, and the hatred in their black pupils crossed the twenty or so feet to her. The leader stepped forward, jaw snapping. Powerful muscles rippled beneath its gray coat.

The uliti slipped from Kerani’s grip. Her strength of a moment ago vanished, replaced by jora trembling. Her cursed and