Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Rich in romance

Poor in friends.

Rich in friends

Poor in romance.

A knock echoed through the two lounges and to where Valetise dressed me in my wardrobe suite. She had a room through the other side of the wardrobe, so I had discovered upon waking.

Valetise left to answer the door.

I listened as she murmured, “Yes, Sir Sign?”

“Madam, kindly inform Queen Perantiqua that Princess Bring has arrived to visit her.”

My hand shot to my chest where the black pearls were hidden. She was here for them.

I could not let her take them!

Valetise appeared before I’d unfrozen.

“My queen, shall I bring her in?”

I swallowed. “T-tell Sign to send her in.”

As soon as Valetise left again to deliver my order, I ripped the lace gloves and black pearls from the corset of my peasant dress and shoved them against the nearest wall. “Mother, quickly.”

She sucked them in and smoothed the wall again.

Oof— I released my breath, then winked at Mother. The artworks in my chamber rattled back.

Still our little secret.

I walked to the largest lounge as Princess Bring entered.

“Princess Bring, a pleasure to see you. Please take a seat.”

Valetise curtsied and exited.

Sign and Will Be drew the double doors closed.

She exhaled in a rush. “You truly feel no anger. Your letter did not convey anger, but then, written words can be edited.”

Her meaning clicked. Our last meeting rushed back to my mind. I strode to her. “Princess, of course not. I was only irritated with myself for thoughtlessness.”

“I am deeply upset that you would turn your irritation on yourself because of my shortcomings,” said the monster as she slimed to a seat.

I sat on an armchair to her left. “I would like to understand how my touch affected you so, if you would like to share.”

“You have an articulate, well-formed way of phrasing thoughts. Yes, I would like the opportunity to do so. Mortification fills me when I recall the ending of our last delightful visit. You see, I have not been touched in centuries. I am used to slime and squelch and the whisper of one layer of my covering over another, but not dry touch from another.”

“You know, I had wondered how your outfit managed to float about your form and not stick to that marvelous slime of yours.”

“’Tis just a matter of two layers of material, Your Majesty. The bottom layer is thick and warm and absorbs my slime without congealing to my blob. The light and gauzy top layer can be free to move. A garment of my own design.”

I was properly impressed. “A fashion engineer, no less. Let me return to the more vulnerable part of your statement. You are used to a great many sensations that I am not, Princess, but of dry touch from another you are no longer familiar.”

“That is a great summary.”

“I would like to be clear on whether touch from another is something you detest.”

“I might care for it, Queen Perantiqua. I have forgotten. When you touched my shoulder, a cannon exploded in my heart and mind. I had not known the cannon was loaded or even that one existed in me, but when the cannon ball fired, so exploded all my feelings of being a dismissed and forgotten princess.”

Ah. “My touch had a drawing effect.”

“A healing effect?” Three squelches. “As if cleaning a wound?”

“Once you marveled at the sight of yourself, and you do so no longer. Is this a wound? Only you might know the answer.”

A great drip of slime pooled under her robe. “There is a great wound in my heart. I feel it after your touch. I-I do not know if any healthy tissue remains around the wound, for it festers so. This poisons me, and I have felt poison of a different nature lately too.”

My brows drew together unevenly. “Whatever do you mean, Princess?”

She wobbled side to side with great agitation and moisture. “I should not say. This has naught to do with his purpose. I have felt such stirrings of what I wish to do, though, and though poisoning me serves his purpose, I do not wish this fate for myself. If I can say something of my wishes, then surely I should. Or am I a terrible princess indeed?”

I had risen to my feet during her speech because a terrible feeling had risen in me at her frantic words. “Princess Bring, I will ask you now, and you must tell me true. Is King Bring poisoning you?”

“He sets curses alight in my room at night, Your Majesty, so that I might breathe in the smoke. He has done this to me since seeing you for the first time.”

Irritation scratched at my doors. Fury whined in my walls. Immortal monsters were not so numerous that we should poison one another.

She was his princess. This was a foul act. A cowardly device.

This went beyond his purpose. This spoke of a corruption akin to that of King Raise.

I sank into my seat again, though my queendom continued to whine and scratch. “This is shocking. Greatly shocking. I would not think him capable of that. Princess Bring, you do not deserve to be poisoned. I am very sorry and angry that someone would treat you this way.”

She did not answer. While she had uttered her wishes not to be poisoned, she had not voiced anger over the actions of her king.

“ You do not deserve to be poisoned, ” I repeated.

A damp splat. Her sorrow was so wet and clear. “I am in his way, Your Majesty. I have managed to stay out of his way and be helpful for so long, but now I am an inconvenience. I had feared becoming that.”

“You are no inconvenience,” I said, barely managing to hold in a snarl. “You are a wealth of knowledge. You are any number of marvelous phenomenon. You are my friend.”

“Friend?” she whispered. “But friend?”

Sheepishness filled me, for friendship was not something to be declared by one person. “Forgive me, that is high-handed. Will you be my friend?”

She folded her blobs and shook. She shook and shook, and her answer was gargled in slime. “Yeth!”

Yes.

I beamed. I beaconed. I had a friend. A female monster friend.

My grin was wide indeed. “I will be deserving of it, Princess. Think how we might go on together over immortality.”

“If you accept my king’s proposal, then he would stop poisoning me, you mean?”

I stared. “Oh…”

“You didn’t mean that. Forget I said anything!” She squelched off the seat.

I rose too. “Wait, stay. Please. Be done with embarrassment. Of course you wish for him to stop poisoning you. We will figure this out together, I promise, but I cannot bring myself to become his concubine.”

“You do not find his frame attractive? I had thought most did.”

“Other than See, I find him most attractive of kings. He filled my head with thoughts of kissing his second mouth, but he pins a lot on what could just be a pleasurable exchange. Sex must be an act of saving the world to him, and that pressure is very off-putting.”

She lowered again. “I am at a loss. How should I go about not getting poisoned?”

Could she stop sleeping in that room?

A knock.

“Enter,” I called.

Princess Raise walked in. “Bring. I thought I heard your squelch.”

“Raise! You are above the surface. Too many decades have passed, dear friend.”

I wanted to be a dear friend.

Sadness filled Raise’s voice. “I often think of the frights we used to share when I am locked up.”

“I am free mostly, but those joyous memories fill my head, too, without other companionship to warm me. But here you are in Queen Perantiqua’s personal lounge. How came you to meet her?”

The two princesses fell into conversation, and there was a familiarity and ease to their conversation that stabbed at me somewhat. They had known each other for more than a millennia, and I would never win the sprint to catch up on all I had missed. Perhaps then, my efforts were best centered on not regretting what I had missed.

I had until the end or beginning of the world to know them better and to grow as familiar as they already were.

“Queen Perantiqua,” Will Be said, opening the door. “A letter for you.”

His eyes—the one on his forehead included—shifted over my shoulder to Princess Bring.

I took the letter and studied the curled B. “Thank you, Has Been.”

I worked the letter open.

Queen of my thoughts and desires,

Our last conversation lingers in my mind.

You spoke of allies of queens and allies of kings, and I see my error.

I would be more than your friend, but in alliance, we might deal.

You are invited to my meadow for a midnight picnic at your earliest convenience.

Bring no pawns. I assure your safety.

Words and Actions Mighty,

King Bring

I expected that King Bring envisioned a writhing, naked picnic where we would eat foods off one another with only the moon to blush for every craven act we committed.

The fantasy took me by surprise.

Goodness, but my desire did not have the usual outlet, and I was a queen with needs. I would not submit to them, but the force of my fantasy did suggest I should take care of physical matters as a priority.

“You two were so in love,” Princess Raise said sadly to Bring. She had perched on the sofa next to Bring and they were very close. “I will never understand what happened.”

“Nor me,” Bring replied. “And I lived it. You know, he stole my black pearls the other night. I am certain of it. He does not wish me to have them anymore. And he has always been so adamant that I wear them even with indifference between us because all princesses wear their bridal gifts.”

I remained turned away to compose myself through a fresh surge of shame and guilt.

“Your bridal gift is missing?” asked Princess Raise.

I felt her focus on me, and I returned to the armchair. “I have a letter from your king, Princess Bring. He invites me to discuss an alliance.”

“To seduce you,” she said.

No matter that she did not feel attracted to her king, I felt more awkward about voicing such things as our friendship strengthened. King Bring had been right to fear the relationship between us. “I imagine so. An alliance with him would not come without a price, but this will give me a chance to question him about his intentions for poisoning you.”

Raise scoffed. “His intention? How much clearer must he make it? Bring wants you to be his princess, and ancients will not allow him a harem. He seeks to bachelor himself by figuring out how to kill an immortal. I do not like this choice of his. Princess Bring, I am vastly angered on your account.”

“Do not be, dear friend,” she replied. “I would not be if the poison did not make me feel ill.”

“You should be,” seethed Raise.

I had to agree with the underground princess and not the pedestal princess on this. “I will not stand by as a monster is harmed, especially not an exquisite one. I must know how King Bring intends to harm her and if he plans more.”

How exactly could an immortal be harmed? And could we be killed? This felt very important to know.

“You risk angering him,” whispered Bring, not managing to cover her embarrassment over my compliment.

I nodded. “Remember that he is more liable to convince himself of what he already believes given a week.”

“This is true.” And there was hope in her voice. “I would feel better for knowing his plans. There is a feeling in his kingdom that was not there before, like teeth are about to chew me from blob to blob.”

She was afraid. So this princess must not feel completely undeserving of good treatment.

I left them to sit at the writing desk on the far wall.

King Bring, I wrote.

I accept your invitation to discuss alliance,

and anticipate experiencing your meadow again.

Until midnight on the morrow,

Queen Perantiqua.

I passed the sealed letter to Sign, who bowed and left to deliver the message.

“I cannot fathom why you would help me,” Princess Bring said to me after.

Guilt over stealing her necklace, but mostly— “Because I would not see you harmed. On my account, your account, or the account of any other.”

We sat for a time, and though I spoke on occasion, I found delight in listening to two women who had known each other an age. What fun we might share together.

I could speak and listen to them all night long.

“My queen,” murmured Will Be, opening the door. “King See awaits you in the dining room.”

Or perhaps not.

Why must mention of See inspire such flutterings and warmths? “Why has he come?”

“He has declared that he means to engage you in, uh, daylight activities all night long,” he said, coloring after a darted look at my company. “Loveless, daylight activities all night long, were his exact words.”

I glared. “Your king leaves much to be desired in his declarations.”

The pawn grimaced, then hovered.

I exhaled. “Will Be, you can inform King See I will be there soon.”

He closed the door, and I pulled a face at the princesses.

“Loveless?” asked Princess Bring. “How could he suggest such to this queen? Can he be blind in power and sight?”

Raise grunted, “Just like See to overthink it. Too much past, present, and future to look at, that one.”

This outfit was plainer than I would like, but with the two princesses here, I felt embarrassed to change. “My queendom has muddied out relationship, but King See has always been derisive of love.”

The two princesses regarded me, and we were a sorry trio, really. One in tragedy, another in indifference, and me unrequited in love.

Princess Bring whispered, “Your dress highlights your extreme exquisiteness and lovability. You are a painting of everything to be gained with love.”

I smiled. “You are a great warmth around my heart.”

“I say take the pleasure for what it is,” said Raise with a grunt. “You’re the first queen. Who knows what the price might be for union between king and queen. Keep it uncomplicated and loveless for a while.”

I did not always love that Raise’s thinking seemed to support King See’s negative ideals on romance and love.

“She crackles with lightning at the mention of him.” Bring gasped. “He is an imbecile not to crawl on hand and knee to accept all she offers.”

Raise hummed. “True. Better not to love an imbecile, Queen Perantiqua.”

“Ladies,” I said, suppressing a sigh. “Forgive me, but I must attend a king. You have much to catch up on. Do stay and get reacquainted. I will join you again when I can.”

“You won’t come back,” Raise sang.

Bring laughed soggily.

I certainly would be back as soon as I dismissed him. “Just because a king offers loveless, daylight pleasures does not mean a queen will crawl on hand and knee to accept.”