Beauty is Blind

I came into this world kicking and screaming and killing.  Not that I meant to, though.
These words open Calista Rose Shepherd's story.  Born the 21st day of Wintersong, the longest night of the year in the Year of the Lion, her life comes at the cost of her mother's, and her twin brother's.  Her own life is cursed, with unnatural purple eyes that see nothing, she pays the price of a bargain her mother made.  Sometimes, though, she thinks she can make out colored silhouettes or smudges of people against the vast whiteness of her blindness, as if she's fighting the curse.
Meanwhile, in Sandulf, the country neighboring Leander, the king makes a mistake and has a child with a servant girl.  Since his own wife is barren, the king makes the child a prince, calling him Lysander.  Three years later, his wife gives him a son, and young Lysander, his mother, and two young servants are sent to the abandoned Leandan castle and forgotten.  Lysander, who prefers to go by the name his mother gave him, Damien, grows up with rejection and hate heavy in his heart.  When his mother gets sick and dies, it pushes Damien over the edge.  He has no one left in the world, and everyone who loved him has abandoned him.  He still feels his father's rejection as if it just happened.  And he's determined never to care about anything or anyone so that no one can hurt him.  He takes it a bit far...and well, this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, so can you see where this is going?

Purple Roses... they're important

I found this online...and it's so perfect for Calista

Me messing around again... the background's black for a reason. (purple roses again...)

I try to explain the extremely complicated climax of the book- don't worry, it doesn't make any sense, despite being called "Insanity Explained" on my computer.

Random Trivia:
Calista is terrified of water
Damien hates light and likes to keep the shades drawn.  He's kind of a gloomy person.
Calista likes to play the tin whistle and loves music

I may change Damien's country (Sandulf) to Bjorn, Volos, or Bade, since I kinda want to use Sandulf as the location for a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, Melusine for The Little Mermaid, Hansika for The Six Swans...you get it.

1. Leander the Lion
2. Korbin the Crow
3. Bade the Boar
4. Hansika the Swan
5. Volos the Ox
6. Bjorn the Bear
7. Hartley the Deer
8. Sandulf the Wolf
9. Orel the Eagle
10. Crevan the Fox
11. Melusine the Fish
12. Wauna the Goose

Other countries I've had: Capan the Bird (Jorinda and Jorindel?) and Arachne the Spider.