Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Curiosity

Discomfort

Transaction

T he world rumbled.

Cobblestones shook.

The full volume of my new ancientness blasted through my patches as the black hellebores cradling me gently laid me on the ground.

Vitale could barely accommodate my return, but the rumbling and shaking did begin to settle.

I peered at the sky. The hazy sky. The haze was reminiscent of the barren place I had left, and terror thudded my heart twice before I noted the rich color.

Hellebores had laid me outside my wall of bars, not back in the courtyard. I could not guess at their logic in doing so, but as I pondered this, a rope giant stepped over the high walls of my queendom. The last I had seen him, he had equaled the height of my chalky seeing pawns. Now he greatly exceeded any monster I had met.

He shrank rapidly after stepping over the wall, and by the time he reached me, the rope monster was the size I last recalled.

“You are remarkably crafted for your purpose, sir,” I said, unmoving.

My gateman bowed low. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

I regarded him, noticing the monster’s rope jacket and pants, which were new. And his words came from everywhere and nowhere. “You have a wonderful way of talking as if the wind carries your words.”

“’Tis the tangled fiber and steel of me, my queen. Each word must squeeze out the best tangle. Humbly and gratefully, I beg the honor of introducing myself.” The new monster did not straighten from his bow.

“Please do. I am most curious.”

“My name is Picket. Your need for a gateman dragged me through the beast’s yawn, and my gratitude knows no bounds.”

“What is your ancient purpose, sir?”

“To guard the queen’s picket, Your Majesty.”

“That makes great sense considering your name.”

He had still not straightened. “Indeed, and I can also sense what defenses you might need. I can pick it , so to speak.”

I chuckled. “A purpose and a clever word play. You are wonderfully wonderful, Picket. I am glad to meet you.”

“I stagger under your gladness. And are you well, Your Majesty?”

I stared at the sky again. The haze was dissipating. “Should I not be?”

“There is the matter of how you arrived back at the queendom in the arms of a werebeast pawn, and then the matter of you disappearing through a grave, and then the matter of the entire night you were gone for where King Change attacked with his entire sixth, then King Take attacked having learned that his princess was untrue without his prior approval, and then King Raise attacked also in a bid to steal back his bride before she might be untrue.”

Terror thumped my heart twice again. “All of this in one night. King Raise was meant to negotiate calmly with me too. Though I suppose he entered a fresh rage at the idea of his bride succumbing to my seductions.”

“One day and one night,” Picket amended. “As to the rest, I could not say.”

“How did my queendom fare, sir?” Did hellebores rest me here because I no longer had a queendom?

“Marvelously, my queen, with the help of the shield you left behind. Three-sixths could not penetrate it. Or should I say one-half?”

He could if he liked.

The haze was nearly gone from the sky. I could connect that this was the shield he referred to, and that the shield had started to dissipate upon my return from the grave. I had not erected the shield consciously, so could I assume that two mothers stitched together in a gray-scale place were behind this? “Did kings test my shield, sir?”

His words arose from every fiber. “Your Majesty, no. There was talk from Princess Bring and Princess Raise that kings might fear failing to penetrate the shield, and so none of them tested this because other kings remained to witness their failure.”

My lips torsioned. “But of course. Now, I shall stand.”

The gateman extended a fibrous hand, and the feeling was understandably coarse as he helped me up.

My, but I was very naked. As naked as a person could be. Reborn, perhaps.

“Will there be anything else, my queen?” The rope returned to his bowed state. He must like to bend that way for lengthy periods.

“You might tell the pawns to congregate in the dining hall to await me.”

“Or perhaps your throne room that appeared yesternight?” he asked the ground.

I had a throne room. “That will do.”

The rope grew into a giant again and stepped over the wall, and I stood naked before my wall of bars to address the other monsters present.

The haze was gone, and three kings had departed before my return, their efforts of a day and night all for naught. Three kings had united in ruin against me, however, and that should not be laughed at because three kings rarely united over anything.

King Change would be gleeful at this twist.

Two kings were yet to depart.

One king groaned in the far distance, most likely using his hand at the naked sight of me. This king had surely not guessed that his princess would not return to his kingdom. Perhaps he had believed her locked in my queendom while I slumbered. Perhaps he wished to deny my rejection of him a while longer.

I would allow him that because such denial suited me. Once he knew, then four kings would unite in ruin, and I could not depend on another shield.

The fifth king witnessed me from atop a crumbling building just outside my sixth. I could feel the border of my queendom so exactly now, and that border had expanded since I had fled his kingdom with garter in hand.

King See had watched as three kings hammered their sixths against my queendom, and he had remained until my return, even with the groaning efforts of another king filling his ears.

What should I make of that?

I could not help thinking that five kings might eventually unite against me in ruin. Four of them would unite to ensure I only shimmered like a star without its power. And King See might unite with them to tear my tower apart in search of three items that could control me.

Or had he come to intervene if necessary? Had he come out of fear of my safety? King See could see all of me, it always felt, though not my past, present, and future.

I could see so little of his intentions and feelings, and nothing of his rhyme or reason.

But I could see him.

I could see his face, and everything he did not hide while in belief of my blindness. King See was relieved to see me and greatly enamored by my reborn state. His irritated glare over his shoulder marked his vast unhappiness with the groans of King Bring, and when he looked at me, there was an underlying certainty in his gaze that spoke of a belief in me , or at least in my return.

I would not reveal my new sight of him. I dipped my head, and though he could not be sure I would see the gesture, he nodded back.

Respect?

Trust?

Belief?

I could not say, and there may never be a night when I could. But he had come, and so I would cling to romantic possibilities between us a while longer, especially as I had hidden my bridal gifts, and he could not destroy us that way.

I strode into my queendom, hearing Bring’s great shout of pleasure at the sight of my behind.

Enjoy the thought of me while it lasts, sir.

There were other matters to attend.

Valetise waited within, and she wrapped a robe of purple velvet around me, tying the front together. She held out my crown, and I settled it atop my head. The crown was as light as a feather and fit impossibly well.

“Thank you,” I said, then noticed that her attention was fixed behind me.

On Picket.

A smile etched over my stitched face, and I left her to moon over the newest monster in Vitale. Could a dusk romance float in the night air? I hoped so. If love was impossible for me, then maybe another would experience it for me. They could share a delightful love that was not just about the flesh like the Takes’, nor warped in any way like the Raises’. A lively love that burned through the ages instead of fading to indifference like the Brings’. A love untouched by mad obsession too. That was what I wished for them.

I had walked with no idea of where to go. “But where is my throne room?”

A drawling voice answered me from the second floor. “Middle of the ground level.”

I glanced up at Princess Raise. “Thank you.”

Her face was more shadowed than ever. “Three kings joined to ruin you, and you disappeared through a grave. Your queendom morphed and expanded while you were gone, and you…”

“And I?” I asked when she trailed off.

She shook her head, and Princess Bring called down from out of view. “You are very composed, my queen. We cannot understand your calm, nor much about anything that has happened.”

Was that all? “It is not for princesses to understand the rhyme nor reason of a queen, so there is nothing for concern in that.”

Bring gargled an ‘ ahh ’, though Raise’s posture indicated uncertainty over what I had said. Then again, she loved her king and must fear how I might threaten his kingdom and immortality.

I said, “I must confer with pawns first, princesses, but please await me in my chambers. There are important matters to discuss.” I softened my voice. “Particularly with you, Princess Bring. You were right.”

She swallowed damply. “I will await you there, of course.”

I left them in search of my throne room.

The hotel had pushed outward to accommodate the new chamber, and a grand copper archway was present in the exact middle of the ground level. Six chambers for pawns sat either side of the archway. I puzzled over the mere twelve chambers before spotting three kennels by the throne room entrance. They formed a row and served as a warning to any monster who might enter. And on each kennel was a copper badge of valor, a hellebore that I had intended to present the werebeasts with as a reminder of our deal.

“Your renovations are perfection, Mother,” I whispered.

I entered the throne room, and though the gems and copper and tarnish met my mind, there was urgent business to attend.

I climbed three cobbled steps and settled on the tarnished copper throne. Hellebores tangled over the back and armrests. They stroked at my hair and cheeks, and I was grateful for the clarity they offered.

For I felt horrendously desperate about the fact I was missing a bridal gift.

If King Take had learned of his princess’s actions, then news of her garter may be open knowledge. Princess Raise would connect the series of events, I knew. Then her king might learn of my obsession. Raise had wanted me for eternal servitude for a while, and he would not hesitate to use me where King See had resisted.

And could King See resist again? He had not hunted down the last bridal gift during my absence, but he could do so at any instant.

“Pawns, thank you for gathering,” I said. All fifteen were present. I wondered if my werebeasts had opted to remain here, or if they were locked inside the shield.

Pawns had dropped to their knees at my greeting.

Oof, I was more ancient. I pulled in my power so they could stand. I must remember that.

Is sighed. “My relief is great to see you back and more ancient than ever. We feared, my queen. We feared.”

Even for a monster, a trip through the grave was an unusual happening. “Thank you, Is. I must also thank you, Has Been and Will Be for your assistance in a trivial confusion with your liege.”

Has Been’s eyes rounded, no doubt the eye on the back of his head had too. “Your power filled us, my queen, and I could have protected you if necessary. Perhaps not saved you, but protected you, yes.”

I considered that. “You could not have stopped a king?”

Is shook his head. “No, my queen. We only could have delayed our king had he chosen to pursue you.”

From that, I could gather that King See had leashed his madness. Awe found me, then, for I was not capable of such a feat. His resistance in the matter meant a great deal and spoke of his caliber.

“What did you mean by locking us in to prevent us aiding our king?” growled Huckery.

I had my answer about whether my shield had locked them in. “That was not intentional on my part, Huckery. The mothers who made me decided the shield would be so.”

Fifteen pawns did not know what to do with that. I had hardly expected they would.

“What happened to you?” Toil burst out. Such a jiggle of wet worry.

“Calm, Toil. I am well and good, and my disappearance was unpreventable. You are not to blame.”

He jiggled more. “I could not bear the thought of harm coming to you.”

I smiled, and the pawns gasped, even my werebeasts. Goodness. I pulled in my power again. “Dear Toil, that is why I have gathered my pawns this dusk. Three kings attacked my queendom, and soon there will be four.”

“But four?” Gangrel blurted.

“Four. It will be so, and there is nothing that can stop this certainty, but there is much to do before it. And so I seek an entry point and a delay. I recently learned the unexpected worth of a transaction, and I have learned of uncomfortable prices. Then, I need only reflect that curiosity has led me to learn nearly everything in monsterdom.”

Sign cleared his throat.

I mused before pawns, and my musings were lost on them.

Sign cleared his throat again. “My queen, could you give us a direct order that does not require any thinking?”

His question struck up a beautiful pawnly orchestra—a heartwarming symphony that I had deeply missed without knowing that I did so.

Deliver and Seal barked in nervous laughter at Sign’s question, and that triggered rumbling amusement in bringing pawns and low staccato snickers in werebeasts. My breath caught as the chuckling chime of seeing pawns layered over the other glorious auditory delights in the throne room, and when Gangrel, Vassal, and Sanguine erupted into raucous snorts, emotion did threaten to choke me at the echoing bounce of all their amusements at once.

They were laughter together despite how I had upheaved their immortalities and thrown them together in pawnship.

Their symphony inspired hope and relief, and I felt more connected to them in queendom than ever.

When they fell quiet, I considered thanking them for such a gift. But… I expected that pawns who were also princes to various kings might not like sharing amusement together. Not yet.

I answered Sign, “I can do that. Let me muse a time, my pawns.”

Obsession wished me to collect the bridal gift of Princess Change, the rhyme and reason of her king, and also the rhyme and reason of King Take. However, my power and queendom grew with possession of bridal gifts, and only a bridal gift could control me in the hands of a king. Obtaining the fourth and last of these must be the focus. Rhyme and reason could wait.

I did not know enough of war to feel bold in attacking King Change.

I could perhaps sneak into his kingdom, but that would place me in great danger, and too many relied upon me to risk such a thing.

Only one path remained.

A transactional arrangement to spark their curiosity. They would not deny their curiosity. Then I only had to prepare those in my queendom for the uncomfortable price.

“I will write five letters,” I told my pawns. “You will deliver them.”

Hex sagged. “Is that all?”

“There will be a royal dinner in my queendom tomorrow evening. I invite all kings and all princesses.” No one but King See and the two princesses had seen inside my queendom. Other monsters must feel very curious indeed about my territory.

Bring would leap at the chance to be near me. Take would seize the opportunity to learn how to break me. Raise would come to moon over his princess. Change would come in the hopes ruin might transpire, and that he would cause ruin if it did not.

More importantly, Change would bring his princess straight to me.

At my declaration, those of my pawns who could pale had done so.

I waited for them to erupt into shouted arguments with each other, but their usual bickering did not arise.

My pawns, in their coppered livery, bowed and folded blobs one by one.

And twelve of them, if not three werebeasts, murmured in unison, “Yes, my queen.”

“Prepare yourselves for morrow’s midnight,” I said under my breath.

For a monstrous and royal affair.