Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

One uncomfortable price

Did topple into another

And another

Until all comfort fell down.

V aletise trailed into my chamber. “My queen, the guests have gathered and await you.”

My breasts were pushed high in the copper bodice, but by contrast to the armored top, the skirt reminded me of a flowing toga. Two slits parted the white, floating material to display my legs whenever I walked. I was a warrior goddess this night indeed.

A barefoot warrior goddess, queen of her home, and ancient in thought and intention. “Thank you.”

I walked in my gliding way from my chamber, then leaped off the balustrade to descend to the first level. I landed lightly and on the balls of my feet.

Growls from the courtyard caught my focus, and I peered over the balustrade to the ground level. Three werebeasts lurked by their kennels. The sight gladdened my heart, especially for spotting the copper glint of their hellebore badges.

But there was nothing to do but attend a royal dinner affair, and so I did, gliding into the dining hall and pondering happily of how my crown did not feel in danger of slipping.

The rest of my pawns lined the walls, and the sight of them standing alert and dressed in my queenly colors boosted me greatly. I had not fathomed that the sight of them would tip the scales of power against my kingly guests, but kings must feel very annoyed and uncomfortable with the visual imbalance of present monsters.

Would that help or hinder me tonight?

Conversation died at my entrance. My footsteps made no sound, and so there was no sound at all aside from quiet breaths and flickering fireplace flame. I took care that my inhales and exhales did not alter even when I had reached my throne setting at the long table.

The thought had occurred to me while dressing that I might see the faces of all kings now. I would not betray this to them, of course. I might gain much from playing blind a while longer, especially from King See.

I peered to the opposite end of the table first. To the face I had already seen contorted in rage. I braced myself to see him in calm fullness, and bade myself not to betray my new sight of him. “Welcome to King See. Thank you for attending my royal dinner. I am most glad to see you of all kings.”

I got the words out, but barely.

My heart pounded at the thin cruelty of his lips, and the perfection lent to his jaw by his short beard—such a midnight contrast to chalky white skin. King See was the most towering of kings, an immortal being crafted to carry the burden of past, present, and future.

No wonder his joints were oversized and thickened. His hands, his entire physique was designed to carry a weight that no other monster could.

I had seen him in rage. I saw him in calmness tonight. Ancients grant me mercy to view him in every way.

See blinked his milky eyes, and they were surely the looking glasses of ancients for the way they pierced into my soul and mind.

He did not know that I could view him, but other kings had seen him always, including now. King See could not hide his shock from them, and I did feel an urge to purr over undoing him so.

Perhaps there was something to be said about claiming behaviors—in addition to their ability to keep madness at bay for a time.

King See inclined his head, and the candlelight caught at the simple, thick circlet of dull silver nestled in his black hair. “Good evening to a ravishing warrior queen. You are more exquisite than ever, Perantiqua.”

He spoke the truth, no more and no less. King See had not fathomed that I could see him, and I could thank his madness for making me flee his palace and hiding such things, for surely he would have connected the truth in a blink otherwise.

How I longed to view his face in privacy that was not filled with his rage. What expressions and inward thinkings might he betray then?

Yes. I will play blind a while longer.

I looked at King Bring next, and the first sight of him nearly betrayed me. The skin of his face was as crimson as his body. His hair was a stark white, shaved close to his scalp, and his eyelashes and eyebrows were white to match. His mouth was soft and plump as his second mouth was sharp and savage. One of his eyes was the blue of a clear sky, while the other was flooded black. Charm and curse. Black cracked through one half of his face, too, another sign of his purpose. He was a marvelous monster of ancient design, a canvas of his purpose. My, but he stole my breath away. “King Bring, welcome to my royal dinner affair. I am happy to see you.”

His princess sat beside him, and I was glad for a familiar sight.

“King Take,” I said next. “You are very annoyed with me, and I thank you for coming to this dinner. No doubt your thirst for information of any kind can be thanked for that, but I am glad to see you and your princess anyway.”

King Take’s face was not much of a surprise, which was a relief. His skin was raisined and gray like that of his princess. Black smudged around his eyes too. Unlike her luscious and full lips, King Take possessed a mouth of jagged fangs with not much lip to speak of. Red eyes. Long and curved black nails. Black inked through every one of his veins that I could see.

I could not say that this king was anything other than his purpose. Wonderful and marvelous. None of the kings had disappointed thus far.

Princess Take stared at the table. Her cheeks had warmed pink at my greeting. She stole a peek up at me, then hastily returned her stare to the tabletop at a savage hiss from her king.

The black around his eyes flooded out into a mask. He was a jealous king tonight.

Before King Take could hiss through jagged fangs at me, I shifted my focus to a husband and wife.

He was as faceless as his princess. The Raises reflected each other, one womanly and one masculine. Their suits even matched this evening, and that was a beautiful and quaint sight. How curious that some of the princesses and kings matched in appearance, where others did not.

I said, “King Raise, naught but a misunderstanding exists between us. I am grateful for this opportunity tonight to erase confusions between us.”

“You keep my princess from me,” he snarled. Deep shadows darkened the blankness of his face.

I replied, “You sought to chain me in eternal servitude.”

He scoffed. “Business.”

“That makes two of us.” I glanced at his wife, then back at him. Tonight would reveal the strength of her persuasive skills.

I looked last at the ruining and beastly king.

My insides flinched at the sight of him, and I could only hope that none of my shock reached my face. He was the most powerfully built of all kings. I had seen the scars that marred his chest, but scars also covered his head. Mange and scar had balded this king, and his features appeared melted by them. His eyelids drooped and pulled as if stretched too tight. His lips were uneven with flesh torn or eaten away. Gum shined white and yellow through the gaps even with his lips pressed together. His nose had the appearance of melt too—and as a result, appeared sliced back so that his nasal cavities were vertical and large. Dented cheekbones. Ears manged and missing in flesh. King Change was a sculpture of torture, and my very being shrank away from the wrongness of his monster, for there was no purpose in how he had transformed himself over centuries.

Whatever I had intended to say was no more. “Change, you come to ruin and nothing more. But I will be glad to know you better.”

The king curled his top lip, revealing more yellow and white gum. “I would expect such a greeting from a pathetic queen.”

Lastly, heart thudding, I studied his princess.

Princess Change. I had greatly feared her bouquet would be in view, but I could not see any hint of dried flower. A good thing, for I did not wish to become violent before dinner was begun.

She reflected her king’s image, too, a sad and abhorrent picture of scar, mange, and torn flesh. Princess Change was dressed in a black wedding gown, and over the top was a linen gardening apron.

The Changes were united in purpose and appearance, and perhaps some love or lust; I could not yet say. The Takes were united in lust , purpose, and appearance. The Raises were united in love , purpose, and appearance. The Brings were different in appearance and were not united in purpose, love, or lust—for though Princess Bring had been unerring in her duty, I could not recall her voicing agreement with her king’s purpose ever.

I could fathom that difference in appearance between king and princess meant something certainly.

I dipped my head. “Princess Change, a pleasure to meet you.”

The princess did not respond. In any way. No physical nor verbal acknowledgement rose from her. She merely gazed at the fireplace, unblinking, and made no answer.

Despondent. Numb. Or set on ignoring me for her king’s sake.

I sat on my throne and declared, “Welcome to you all.”

“Thank you, Queen Perantiqua,” said Princess Raise. “An age has passed since we were last gathered.”

“Not since the very beginning,” Princess Bring said nervously.

Her king watched me with smoldering bedroom eyes, and when I relented and met his regard, he adopted a sensual sprawling pose on the chair. Did he wish me to look at his crotch a time?

His monstrous looks did appeal, as did his saving nature, but not much else. Such pressure over what could be a simple, pleasurable exchange.

Take drawled, “Is your agenda for the eve to remind kings of how we once agreed, weak queen? You are centuries too late, if so.”

His princess laughed with him but cast me a sultry and raking look afterward. When I raised a brow, she blanched and stared at the table again. Unfortunately, her king missed none of the interaction, and what little lip Take had thinned and disappeared to accentuate the complete length of his fangs.

“That is not my agenda this eve, taking king. I applaud you on the sheer length of your fangs.”

King See chuckled under his breath and into his goblet.

I had the urge to grin. I did not.

“Then what is your agenda?” King Take focused on me, and I made sure not to fix on his features.

I tilted my head. “Shall we each go around and declare our purpose, King Take? Why do you ask me for mine, when you do not ask other rulers? I have said that you shall hear my purpose first of all. Is this why you whisper for humans to create corn husk dolls of me? In punishment for the delay in declaring purpose?”

King Take’s smile was awful to behold. “I whisper no such thing in punishment for a delay. You might speak your purpose to whomever you wish. I care not for it any longer. I wish to render you to nothing for tempting my princess with your flesh where only mine truly has. I might have dealt with you in the matter if you had bothered to negotiate my approval before seducing her. But you did not. Now, by destroying you, so I will also destroy See. For he dared to bargain my princess’s bridal gift away.”

He turned fang on King See, who sipped from his goblet. His silver cufflink glinted in the firelight, and I could not help but think the view far more pleasing than Bring’s sensual sprawl upon a chair.

“You have dared far more, King Take,” See replied in bored tones. “You are all give and no take , for lack of a better word.”

Platters of food squeezed from the walls just as violence seemed in danger of erupting. Pawns took the trays with only a small show of surprise before delivering them to the table. Mother had supplied a feast worthy of kings and princesses tonight. “Thank you,” I said to the walls. King Bring was glancing around in some confusion. The others masked theirs better.

The Changes tore into the food before them with ruthless abandon, and I could not help but marvel over their gluttonous eruption and forget Take’s hisses for a time. Goodness, they did not believe in chewing. Their throats must be very accommodating. In this, I felt no wrongness, so they must be meant to eat in such a way.

Good for them.

Raise paused in kissing a path up his wife’s arm. “My agenda is to whisk my princess back to my kingdom. I will stop at nothing until she darkens my halls and shadows my heart once again. She is my thundercloud and winter freeze, my dusk abyss.”

Take wrinkled his already death-shriveled nose “You steal my appetite away with your sickening romance. Be silent if you must kiss and woo. Better to skip such things and shove into her a few times and be done.”

“You never kiss your princess?” Raise retorted. “Is that a recent change because she now prefers to kiss a queen? For I had believed you did kiss her in the private of your castle. Before.”

Black flooded the space around Take’s eyes and bordered his mouth also. “ Careful , stairway king,” he hissed.

Princess Take blurted, “I live for my king’s kiss.”

Her king snapped his gaze to her, and something passed between them. A doubt from him. A challenge too. A crack in his trust.

My! But how ironic. How unexpected . All this time, King Take had set on a path to break my heart. Yet here, as confirmed by a doubtful and challenging stare-off, I had cracked his heart instead. My grin was wide indeed, so I must have grown cold enough to enjoy such matters.

His princess leaned forward to kiss King Take, but he turned his cheek, and so she froze with her hands in the air and her mouth puckered.

A crack most certainly.

See laughed loudly and with no care of the Takes’ excellent hearing. He must greatly enjoy this show. As I did. Goodness, how cold I had become. Though I would not relish the Raises’ heartbreak half so much.

King See raised his goblet to me, and I could not battle away my grin as I rose mine in return.

Would Princess Take storm out in anger? Would she redouble her efforts to kiss him? Would she stare at the table in submission? Such rejection must be awful to withstand with so many royal witnesses.

Princess Take slipped from her chair and disappeared under the table. Everyone but the feasting Changes listened as buttons were popped, and when the wet sounds of Princess Take’s mouth on his cock filled the dining hall, I had my answer. She was redoubling her efforts to kiss him. Just not the expected anatomy, and one King Take must feel more comfortable with accepting.

Princess Take should not be underestimated because she understood him truly.

Her king closed his eyes and rested his head back against the chair as the Changes’ continued to tear through the food. What a delightful contrast.

See sipped at his goblet, but his focus was on me, and I wagered the wet sounds of the princess’s mouth had warmed his thoughts of me. I expected he would love nothing more than for me to do the same. But if See was determined we would be more than love, then I was determined we would be more than lust.

I lifted my empty goblet to my mouth, and Mother filled it with a rich red wine on the way. As I sipped, I noted the Raises’ faces moved. They spoke silently in a lovers’ language. An entire conversation passed between them, and they held the utmost confidence that no one could understand.

King Bring said over the choking sounds of Princess Take, “Queen Perantiqua, you know that my agenda is saving, and that Change’s agenda is to ruin. And so you know all of our agendas. Will you not speak yours now that Take has released you from your promise to speak it to him first?”

“Sir,” I replied. “As of yet, I have no purpose. But recent advice has given me cheer on that front, and perhaps I shall know my agenda soon.”

“You will speak it to me first,” Take said between groans. “I did not mean what I said.” His hands disappeared under the table, and I rather assumed from his jerks and her splutters that he was thrusting to the back of her throat. I hoped they could work things out.

I traced the rim of my goblet. “I have promised you this, King Take, and your previous words were spoken in anger, so I will uphold my word. For now, let us raise our goblets and appreciate this midnight for an unusual one. One where kings and princesses and a queen can sit at the same table.”

Princess Take was not really sitting, but I could ignore that if everyone else planned to.

The Changes did not pause in their feast to raise a goblet. Take did not either, otherwise occupied, and his princess had her mouth full already.

See lifted his high, his exquisite milky eyes fixed on me over the rim.

The Brings raised theirs, too, but the Raises did not—they were transfixed in silent conversation.

So only four of us raised our goblets to drink in our own ways.

Princess Bring drank and drank, and King Bring watched the bobbing flutter of her material as she did. He was unnaturally preoccupied with the bride that disinterested him in body and conversation.

So I watched him.

And King See watched me watch Bring.

The Changes snarled over the meal, and Princess Take choked on hers. Her king hissed and jerked through his fulfillment. Such a royal symphony.

At the height of his hissing, choking and snarl, another started to choke.

All immortal eyes shifted to Princess Bring as she heaved against the table. She heaved again and rolled from her chair to the floor.

The princess writhed and started to scream, and I was not alone in gasping when her slime trail on the table and floor turned to powder.

I shot from my throne chair. “Princess! Are you well? King Bring, what does it mean that her slime is drying? She is in pain. What can be done?”

“Bring!” cried Princess Raise, running to her friend’s side. “What is happening? Why is she choking so?”

“My princess,” King Bring whispered. He gripped her around the back of her shoulders, shaking her as she grew limp.

I could not help but think how awful his touch must feel to her.

“My princess,” he shouted as her screams faded to moan and then to nothing. “Something is very wrong.”

See joined us, but he did not lay hands on the princess. “Why is she fading so?”

The Changes had paused in their meal at last, and the beastly king laughed, grease streaked over his scarred chin. And he must find this ruin amusing. If King Bring’s princess died, then some of his power and ability to save would die too.

Princess Take emerged from under the table, wiping her mouth. She hurried over.

A chaise was pushed from the wall, and King Bring rested his princess upon it. Princess Raise and Take surrounded her, and even Princess Change flicked a look toward the dying monster, showing the first sign of feeling.

But I? I noticed that King Bring did not consult the other blobs in the room, his three princes. And I had ordered them to silence.

“Will she be well?” I asked in the confused and shocked lull.

Immortal monsters had no idea what to do with a sick immortal. Why would they? They had never dealt in a death that did not belong to a human.

King Bring staggered back from his princess. “I cannot say what ails her. She drank from the goblet, and then started to...”

The saving king trailed off and as the others erupted in suggestions and shocks, he regarded me coolly. King Bring had shown me the deadly curse in a vial already. He had tipped the curse into the goblet of his princess tonight.

Bring understood that I knew what he had done. He wished that I would go along with his plan out of a deep desire to be a swinging princess, but he would force me to go along with it, just the same. The cool look warned me so.

I understood what King Bring would do next as he watched me coolly, and I watched him back, and as See watched us watch each other.

Princess Raise wailed low. “I cannot feel anything left of her. She is gone. She cannot be gone. Death cannot be possible for us. An immortal is dead!”

Anyone looking at Princess Bring could not doubt her death. Her slime trail had dried, and though swathes of material covered her, as always, she was a quarter of the size. Nothing but a pulp of monster. There was no apparent life to the princess.

“She speaks truth,” whispered Princess Take, then covered her mouth. “Bring is gone. A monster has left dusk.” She glanced fearfully at her king.

Princess Raise left the chaise to fling herself into her husband’s arms. Her sobs disrupted the cloying silence of kings who had been struck with the chilling realization that an immortal could be killed.

This changed things greatly.

This made the saving or ruining of the world less like a boring game they had to play.

King Change laughed in celebration of the ruining. King Take joined his princess to peer upon the swathed pulp remains of Princess Bring.

Then he turned to me.

Black was as a mask around his eyes. “She drank wine from your goblet, traitorous queen. You invite us to a royal dinner only to poison us! Did you intend for all of us to die here tonight?”

“I did not poison any goblet,” I answered.

King Bring’s cool gaze informed me that I could not win this argument.

He was right.

I should try anyway. “King See and King Bring also drank wine from goblets.”

King Bring shouted and doubled over suddenly. He gripped his second mouth and staggered to one knee. The immortal ruler panted hard, yelling his agony until whatever ailed him loosened its hold.

I could not tell if this was an act, or if he had really drunk some of the curse.

Sweating, the king rose to his feet after, visibly shaken. “The effect of the poison was delayed in me, and not strong enough to kill a king, but whatever took my princess just tried to take me.”

Kings glanced at their goblets on the table, and then they glanced at me. Not all of them in accusation. Not Bring, of course, and See was more contemplative than anything else.

Change’s laughter had stopped as he regarded the plates of food before him. He checked his princess, too, though perhaps more out of fear of losing her power than true care.

“She would not have poisoned See’s goblet,” said King Raise. “She wishes to join with him and rule the world. Unchallenged. She only sought to poison the rest of us.”

They were putting everything together beautifully, but then there was the matter of the seeing king who watched me very closely. I returned his look. He had always seen too much, and I would prefer he did not sabotage Bring’s murderous efforts.

But his look told me I was too calm.

I pushed my throne back and faced kings, drawing up a rage. “I have not invited monsters to a royal dinner affair simply to kill them.”

My queendom did not shake with my rage, and See would notice the disparity.

“To kill a monster is beyond the vilest act,” seethed Princess Raise, still in her husband’s arms. “We have been deceived by your youth and uniquities. You are nothing more than a conventional creature.”

I growled. “King Bring was sitting next to his princess. Everyone knows of his disinterest in his princess. It was him!”

They considered that, but King Change scoffed away my accusation because my demise ensured more ruin for him, in that it might also ruin King See. And Bring would already be weakened by the death of his princess too.

“You will answer for this murder,” King Bring told me in an ancient voice. “You will pay for what you have done. You have robbed me of power and princess.”

In that order?

No doubt he would demand me in union as payment for robbing him. How handsome and predictable he was. “I have murdered no one this night, but I see that you must be convinced, King Bring. Kindly join me in a private room so we might clear up matters. If the rest of you could make yourselves comfortable, then I hope we shall not be long.”

“I have seen enough of a foolish queen tonight,” declared King Change. Grease and chunks of food covered him and stuck in his teeth. He pushed his chair back, and his princess rose with him.

As she rose, a rustle of dried flowers snapped closed the shutters of my mind. I was not quite aware of anything as I crouched, and then found myself staring at the front of a black coat embroidered with silver.

King See’s voice echoed strangely as if I swam underwater.

He said, “I will remain, as you bid, Queen Perantiqua.”

A hellebore was released from the ceiling, and King See caught it, tucking the bloom behind my ear.

I blinked through obsessed madness. Madness that wanted me to attack Princess Change in front of five kings and rip dried flowers from her numb grip.

King See obstructed me from the others’ view.

Perhaps only Princess Raise had glimpsed my face, and she would not say anything of my violent intent.

I blinked again, a few times. King See had helped me.

He murmured in my ear, “You can thank claiming behavior for that.”

I frowned until my mind cleared more with the help of the hellebore. I fathomed that this was my reward for singling him out as I had during dinner.

I released a silent exhale and nodded my thanks.

I could not attack the princess now, though I could sense the bouquet in her garden apron after hearing its rustle. Yet I had not planned on the Changes departing before I secured the bouquet either. The whole point of this dinner had been to lure her from the haunted forest kingdom.

I could not be sure how my power would fare there, and so I would need to lure her out another way. See might feel clearheaded on the matter of bridal gifts tonight, but tomorrow night, he might choose to steal the bouquet away for his own ends.

I swallowed, remembering my audience. “Suit yourself, King See. I will return to you after. We will not be long.”

“We might be,” Bring replied in a silken voice, though his princess had recently become pulp.

“We will not stay in this pitiful queendom a moment longer,” hissed Take. “Come, my flesh. I have taking to attend.”

She swayed in his wake, not in his good graces yet.

The Raises had returned to furious, silent and faceless conversation. An argument? One where the husband urged his wife to come away from a murdering queen. One where a wife refused and reminded him of their recent conversation—the one where he should step back from an alliance with other kings to let them grow weaker in a battle against a queen.

King Raise sighed, then stood. “I leave also, and my princess chooses to remain. While she is in your queendom, I will not risk her by sending more of my fifth against you. I no longer ally with Change and Take. Though I do not trust you, vile queen. I will send food and drink for my princess to consume each dusk.”

“As you like, King Raise, though I have poisoned no monster this night,” I answered.

King Bring did not like Raise’s withdrawal from the alliance against me, but he must feel that threatening an alliance with Take and Change could still sway me into union.

The Changes had just left, and perhaps there was still time to secure a dried bouquet if I hurried. “King Bring, follow me. We have a monstrous matter to discuss.”

My gaze flicked to See, who had walked to the fire and had his back to me.

A monstrous matter indeed.