Page 11 of Of Brides Of Queens
I hadn’t missed the slight edge to Bring’s voice. He did not enjoy the way I had inspected King Take for so long, and he wanted me to know it. King Bring was a jealous immortal this night.
What was a queen to do with that?
He relaxed under my attention, stating, “I am as I was, and as I was made twelve hundred years ago. You, most pure and unique of monsters, are the only immortal who can change.”
Bring’s black, long coat concealed a second mouth over his stomach. That was where the immortal sampled every curse and charm he unleashed upon the citizens of Vitale. By doing so, he desensitized to them and grew stronger and more resilient. “Do you not eat the curses and charms you make to grow your power, sir?”
King Take chuckled.
Astonishingly, I was able to see King Bring lift one corner of his mouth in a smile. The smile was blurred, but there.
I was more ancient indeed.
“You are right in that,” he answered. “But there is a sense in one and not the other.”
Bring might be right about that, but my heart and mind leaped with the fantasy that I might see the smile of another king. A king who had not yet greeted me, nor I him.
How I wished that I had done so at the very beginning. Now the moment felt looming and terrible.
A monster sneered. “And so immortality must be when a monster’s slumber is pitifully short and the monster herself is pitifully weak.”
King Change.
I could reply with any manner of things. A smirking comment or a snide one. My queenly pride bristled and there was a temptation to respond in kind.
Or should I offer a demure or flattering comment in a bid to sweeten him?
The answer was none of them. The state of things between us suited me, and I would not push Change further into his ideas of eradicating me, nor give him false assurances of a future alliance.
I looked at him, being very careful not to catch a glimpse of the seeing king.
King Change’s greasy, dirty clothing was in tatters, hanging in strips off what I could see was a vastly powerful body. He must be very fast like his werebeast princes, and I wagered that he might be the fastest king of all. I wondered then at the clawed scars marring his chest and arms. Who was quick enough to catch him to deliver such wounds?
The only answer was that he stood still to receive them or did that to himself.
I repressed a shudder.
“Shall we begin or are you all content to waste time away from your purpose?” snapped King Raise.
I only felt relief for the excuse to avoid King See a while longer. I dragged my focus to the other side of Take’s throne again. “King Raise,” I greeted. “How ironic to mention time when you waste everyone’s time with this tribunal.”
The seating arrangement caught my notice for the first time. How curious that Bring and See, my most likely allies, had each chosen to sit beside a king that may prove my enemy. Was that from a desire to protect me? Or had See and Bring positioned themselves so far from one another out of jealousy?
He replied, “This tribunal is no waste of my time.”
I imagined not, seeing as he might gain a queen for an eternal servant.
Raise’s crisp suit fitted him just like in my memory, though I could make out a pinstripe detail tonight. The suit was three-piece, and a gold chain I hadn’t seen last time hung across the vest. Jewels dotted his fingers, and a diamond glinted in his left ear. Greasy brown hair was cut above the nape, and Raise had pushed it off his face and behind his ears. Unlike the others, I could not see any hints of his facial features.
What did that mean?
Power had lured Raise from the direction of his purpose centuries ago, and he was unbothered about the saving or ruining of this world. This king consumed all that his power had to offer with a single-mindedness that made Take seem the lesser of two evils, though Take was unbothered about saving or ruining also.
“I gather this tribunal is very worth your while, King Raise,” I murmured.
He dipped his head, and his diamond earring glinted. “I continue to be impressed with the intricacies you grasp. I anticipate your value over our long companionship.”
King Bring shifted on his chair to my left. Did he equate companionship to concubineship? I supposed if my servitude was eternal, then I might look to King Raise for pleasure in time, but as things stood, I felt more fear and disgust for him.
