Page 18 of Of Brides Of Queens
Fury would allow me to respond to See’sclaim.And I couldn’t help that my voice was tight with ire. “You will all await my declaration of purpose.”
“We would hear it now,” Raise scoffed.
Take tutted. “Now, now. Her purpose is mine to know first.”
“Then she can whisper it in your ear,” Raise snapped. “Wewillhear it tonight.”
I had not intended to talk disrespectfully to kings—nor in a way that might anger them to action. But a stroke of power down my cheek had undone a fair amount of my civility.
This queen would notbe claimed, and the rage I felt at See’s stroke of power only confirmed that.
Confirmed my fearful realization. But I could not think of that surrounded by such monsters.
“You will not hear my purpose this night,” I told Raise. “And Take shall hear it first of all.”
“Perhaps a queen has no purpose.” Change’s voice was a chilled murmur designed to spear into my esteem, and if not for my reined rage, maybe he would have succeeded in hurting me.
I turned from Raise and Take, from See, and Bring, and Change, as I glided for the hallway.
Over the occasionalclickof my shoes, I called back, “Never fear, King Change. I have ample purpose as a queen. It just has very little to do with kings.”
Chapter Four
Princesses did not play
In wars of kings
Queens, however…
Surety in destiny was lost.
Akingly tribunal had left me with many troubling thoughts indeed.
But they were not allowed in the conservatory at this dusk hour, especially not after King Change’s words about a fragile, weak, and pitiful queen.
He would ruin me if I let him.
So I would take extra care not to allow troubling thoughts in here at this hour.
I dropped my quilted robe to the thyme-covered ground and approached the mirror, still clad in my white nightgown. My blonde hair had curled with the dampness of coming rain in the air, and I lifted the tresses off my nape.
A half-turn allowed me sight of the great stitch down my spine. Such was the light material of my nightgown that I could spot the darkness of thick thread through the material.
“And who sewed you, largest of stitches?” Most of the stitches on me were small—attaching fingers or toes or ears—but thisstitch held together many large and important parts of me at once. This stitch was dedicated and unfaltering.
The deep scoop of my nightgown left most of my upper back bare, and so I stretched back to touch the bumpiness between my shoulder blades. The stitch was wide and penetrated deep into the muscles either side of my spine.
I felt my brows draw together. “You are oldest of all, aren’t you?”
My fingertips absorbed desert and heat and… undeniable purpose from the stitch. And how could I feel such things through a thread? I could feel somewhat of the mother who sewed these stitches, and along with that discovery was a curiosity to know more. Curiosity had led me far in monsterdom, and I would heed it to walk this path a while longer.
Though, I had rarely expected that monsterdom would be a path that I would walk alone, not from my first dusks. Yet after the tribunal, I felt poor in friendship, poor in romance, and poor in monsterdom.
I had been mostly poor in life, but rarely in heart. And yet a claiming stroke of power down my cheek had inspired queenly rage, and I could only fathom from it that a queen was not meant to be claimed.
But I would not allow such troubling thoughts in here at this hour.
“All that remains is that I visit her every dusk to witness such a sight,” menace himself whispered.
