Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

As it turned out, my body was not the prize.

The prize was where my body could be moved on the gameboard.

To most, at least.

T here was a note outside my studio door. My finger could glide over the smooth and glossy surface of the paper. I'd never seen anything like it, and whoever had delivered the letter simply left it on the dusty concrete as if paper like this was commonplace.

I pried apart the royal-blue seal, a waxy embossment of a cauldron with a large B in the middle.

Dearest Lady,

I thank you for informing me of

the severance of King See's claim over you.

Please find my one-fifth snuffing share returned in full.

With this matter of business concluded between us,

I would now like to formally request your

permanent place by my side and in my kingdom

as my treasured concubine.

Words and Actions Mighty,

King Bring

I reread the letter, then grinned.

Wait, I should check before celebrating. I ran to the doorless laundry. Two cleaning carts filled the space. Two-fifths of the sheets were back. I ran to the kitchen next. Two-fifths of my food supplies.

I covered my face and smiled against closed fists, forgetting my intention to keep the glossy paper pristine as it scrunched in my hand. Three-fifths was yet missing, but I'd doubled what I had since yesterday. This was a great thing.

"Do you shed tears, Lady Perantiqua?"

I turned to find See's princes outside the kitchen door. "Not at all. I feel joy."

The three princes dropped to their knees, gaping up at me.

"What is it?" I demanded, glancing behind.

"To look upon a star is to be blind and glad for it," whispered Is. "Lady, your joy is too much for us to stand through."

Oh. "I'm not sure how to be rid of it."

"Please never let anyone rid you of joy. To be a monster is to be most joyous indeed," whispered Has Been. "How I wish you'd accepted the claiming of our liege. What if someone hurts such joy?"

I clenched my hands again and the rustle of paper drew Will Be's sharp gaze.

"King Bring's seal," he said, expression thunderous. "What does he say to you?"

"King Bring has returned his one-fifth snuffing share."

That appeared to stump them.

Has Been narrowed his gaze. "In exchange for what?"

I drew myself taller. "That's my business."

The three princes stood and pressed closer. "We must protect our king, lady. I hope that's understandable."

I backed up and bumped into a cleaning cart. "Why would my exchange with King Bring hurt King See?"

"Because you blind King See, lady, and you will blind him to the possibilities of anyone in your company."

Oh. "That does give sense to the last part." I smoothed the letter. "That's why he's mentioned keeping me permanently by his side and in his kingdom."

Will Be snatched the letter.

" Will Be ," I snapped.

He choked on a breath, and he extended the letter to me. "I must protect my liege."

"I don't seek to hurt him, nor anyone, but do not snatch from me."

Will Be was struggling hard to pull the letter back as though he wanted to simultaneously snatch it away and also hand it over.

Has Been ducked, squinting at the looping handwriting. He choked on a breath after reading, then promptly lost his golden, daylight glow.

"Has Been," I scolded, then gasped at his pallor. "What has happened?"

Has Been jerked from his stupor, though none of his goldness returned. "Lady Patch, this letter speaks of an offer to become concubine."

"Concubine," Is and Will Be echoed with at least the same amount of horror I'd felt when holding the mirror shards.

I froze. "What? What does that mean? Companion? Cleaner?"

The three princes stared.

"Concubine," Is repeated.

"I don't know what that is," I admitted. "I had thought from the context, it meant a personal servant."

His eyebrows shot up. "You've never come across the term?"

I shook my head and witnessed the exchanged looks between See's princes.

Will Be's features, already unblemished and conventional in daylight, grew almost grotesquely smooth. "Concubine means that King Bring would like to place you in a cage. He views you as an enemy."

The feeling under the words was… monstrous. I felt the wrongness of them under my ribs, and I'd never felt anything like that in a monster's presence. "You dare to utter half-truths."

The ground shook underfoot, sending concrete dust and debris leaping.

We all paused to observe it. I'd made my surroundings feel my rage, and that wasn't the strangest thing to happen in a while.

I resumed my glaring at the prince.

"I did dare, but I can see that was disrespectful," Will Be said, then frowned. "Though it is right by my liege, so why would I not lie?"

I had no answer to that. "Kindly speak the full truth."

Has Been cleared his throat. "Concubine means a mistress of daylight, Lady Patch. A fate unfit for the likes of you."

Mistress of daylight. "I can't fathom what you mean. Why is daylight important?"

"Because monsters sleep in daylight, or do other things such as pursuing pleasures of the flesh."

Oh. "Goodness," I blurted. "King Bring wants me as his permanent daylight plaything?"

"Yes, mistress," Is answered. "I'm glad you're horrified. 'Tis no fate for you. He cannot have a second princess, and so he seeks to chain you to him via the only other, uh, friendly way possible."

Has Been smirked. "Bet he's not crowing over his princess now."

"He hasn't crowed over her in centuries," Is replied.

I held out my hand for the letter, and Will Be passed it back. I reread the contents, then lowered the crumpled paper. "He doesn't even know what I look like. Isn't that important in the exchange of pleasure?"

The three nodded.

Has Been said reverently, "Most assuredly he has heard that you're not confined to one skin nor stitch, and that width and depth do not limit your smile that torsions into unseen dimension and wonder. His princes would have spoken of your delightful and intriguing conversation and the moonlight of your voice. He will know of your monstrous rarity, Lady Patch."

I toyed with the piece of paper as an outlet for my awkwardness. "You speak of these things like they are magnificent."

The three princes were dumbfounded.

"Lady, we do not follow," Will Be said, though Is appeared to suspect what fears I had.

This was hard to say to them, though I'd spoken my worries to the princes of King Bring already. "I recently came to understand that normal is not interesting, and that my abnormalities might be very interesting to others, just as their uniquities are interesting to me. I do not see wonder in myself as a monster, however, and yet I've realized that I didn't ever see wonder in myself before monsterdom. Maybe I have nothing to mourn then in my new state, but at least if I didn't possess wonder about my old form, I can say that I didn't hate it either. Though now I do hate my daylight form because I'm reminded that it changes at dusk whether I like it or not.

Has Been staggered a few steps, and the others appeared close to dropping to their knees again.

" Hate, " Is breathed. "She hates herself. She doesn't feel herself wonderful, though everyone who sees her can barely connect to his senses through the sheer wonder of her. How can it be?"

My shame intensified, and I resolved that such shame should be studied when I had a clearer head. "Thank you," I told them. "Your shock has made me aware that I need to figure out how to feel better inside about the state of my outside."

Will Be had never looked so serious. "Lady Patch, if ever you need help with this, let us be your first port of call. That you do not see yourself as others see you cannot be long endured."

"I'll let you know if I ever see a way for you to help."

My skin started to itch.

"It's time for us to go," Has Been said, and I could see from the firm set of his conventional mouth that he was unhappy about this fact.

"You will soon find your true form." I peered at my daylight fingers, all so uniform in color and appearance.

"It would not do for you to see us, though I wish it were otherwise."

They felt more shame that I only knew them in these forms. There might be something in that. "Maybe I can one day. I looked again at King Bring's princes two days ago and felt fine."

Their expressions became thunderous again, but another voice split across the courtyard to where we still stood by the kitchen.

"You risked another glimpse of us?" Toil cried, storming across uneven cobbles.

He was closely followed by Sigil and Hex, who appeared as annoyed as him and the princes of King See too.

"I didn't mean to," I replied. "I'd just learned that King See wanted me for his princess. That took me by surprise."

"Does that mean she could look at us?" Is muttered to Will Be.

"Now is not the time to test," Has Been snarled. "There are six princes present."

The sight of Bring's monsters had overwhelmed me, but I found myself very curious to see the true forms of See's princes. "Good day to the princes of King Bring. Are you here to capture me again?"

"What do you mean by that?" Has Been snarled.

Toil snarled right back. "Our liege sends us to capture the lady, so get out of our way."

"Why are so many princes present, and this a snuffed space?" a voice called.

The effect on the six princes was immediate.

Will Be ordered, "Toil, Hex, Sigil, block her. She's seen your true forms. Lady, kindly look down so as not to overwhelm your senses."

I appreciate that he'd asked nicely, but I would do no such thing.

Who'd arrived?

As King Bring's princes formed a barricade before me and morphed and shrank into their true forms with dusk's arrival, my stitches—blocked from the new man's view—oozed upward through my patched skin.

Is, Will Be, and Has Been stood in a row between Bring's princes and the wall of bars. I wondered if they realized I could see over the top of Toil, Sigil, and Hex now they'd shrunk.

See's princes hadn't shortened or widened, they'd lengthened and leaned. My mind did shimmer somewhat at their towering frames, but that was all.

Their hair was long and thinning with large patches of white scalp visible. Is had combed his into a ponytail at the base of his skull. What made my mind shimmer most was the large unblinking eye on the back of Has Been's head. The iris was the palest gray. I could also see eyes either side of Is's head that stared without blinking to the left and right. I'd bet my weaved loafers that Will Be had an eye on his forehead.

Otherwise, their skin was chalky and white, and their joints oversized. Their hands were particularly disproportionate, the knuckles almost gorilla-like. All in all, I had to admit that their monster forms were true indeed, and I could understand why they'd been apologetic about their daylight forms. Monsterdom suited them very well.

The shimmering in my mind eased.

My instinct had been correct. Not only had my strength and word arrangement grown monstrous indeed, but I could look upon princes without too much trouble. At least those I knew.

"What business do King See and King Bring have in a snuffed space?" a male someone sneered. "And who is the lady you protect?"

"'Tis no business of King Take," Will Be replied.

"Anything for the taking is the business of my liege," the person shot back.

The reply did appear to resonate with Has Been, but he said, "Leave now or face six princes."

"See and Bring have united again?" the person said, and I heard his shock. "I would not have predicted it so quickly after their parting—sooner an alliance with Change."

Will Be snapped, and his jaw unhinged for a time before clunking back to rights. "You insult my liege. Change is a soulless cur."

"Your king professes to understand his position."

Is growled. "Understanding is not agreement. Now, begone."

This was a prince of King Take. Thus far, no other princes had come by Hotel Vitale. If this prince was a threat, and his king tended toward drink and whoring, then what better opportunity to pass over my letter than now, protected by six friends.

"Sir," I called. "Might I trouble you to carry a letter to your liege on my behalf?"

Silence rang out in the chill of unfurling night.

The new arrival's voice trembled. "What is this voice of tinkling seashells and whispering silk? Such beauty, and at dusk to prove its mightiness. Magnificence. You called her lady, and I can hear it is so, though how is it so? Most precious of rare, speak again so my monstrous ears might hear your wonder and mourn that I shall never hear a sound equal."

Why could others hear and see and feel such a way about me when I couldn't feel much other than shame and fear and loathing? Had the shortness of my slumber handicapped me from seeing the truth of myself that was blatant to others? If only I could capture their feeling of me more.

"Don't interact with Take scum, lady," Toil muttered over the blob that might be called his shoulder.

Take scum. King Take was a king who didn't care about the world—if the princes before me were to be believed. Take was a king who had chosen to make merry until the ruin or saving or the world, and who would take no accountability for the outcome.

He also possessed one-fifth of what I needed to live out my days as an unskilled monster.

"I have written a letter to King Take," I called again against Toil's recommendation. "Will you present it to him, prince?"

"Prince Gangrel, lady, and I would present it to him, yet I'm unsure if he would believe it very important without hearing you himself. I find myself strangely eager that he understand the importance and do as you would like… Why is that?"

"She will not see him," Sigil snapped. "She won't even see our king."

"This is because he wishes to capture and concubine me," I informed them.

"Concubine you," Hex repeated. "Surely not such one as you."

I walked around their body barricade and passed the letter to Hex. I avoided looking into their eyes for now because that was where monsterdom congregated most, and I'd rather not sleep for another month. "Read for yourself."

"King Take would not concubine you," Gangrel stated. "He prefers variety aside from the more constant pleasures of his princess."

Indeed. "Your king treats his princess as a wife?"

"A wife? Nothing so common. But he prefers her flesh above all others."

I was happy for her sake, if that made her happy. I could only think that I'd be vastly un happy with such an arrangement—to be merely preferred and only for my flesh.

Prince Gangrel's voice strained. "The lady ventures nearer to me. Lady, my liege does not capture, did you know? There is just a pretend sometimes before he bites."

My eyes widened. "Bite, you say? Pretending capture. What exactly is the nature of King Take?"

"He takes life, lady. That is his kingdom. He drains life away."

He killed people by sucking the life out of them? I'd never heard of such a thing. I swayed, and Toil squelched closer so I could lean against him.

"You overwhelm the lady," Toil shouted at the other prince.

"Be away with your savage notions," Will Be added, his back tense. He didn't look over his shoulder to me, and I imagined this was by design and by the order of his king.

"How are the horrors of my king different from yours?" Gangrel snapped. "Yours sees all possibilities, and none can hide from him. King Bring delivers delight or despair to a person with a rolling boil of his cauldron or a cold grind of his mortar. My king is simple. My king does not hide behind what may be nor the various shades of fate's hammer. He takes life, no less and no more."

When phrased like that, I could see the prince's point. King See was made the way he was, and I didn't blame him for it. I didn't blame King Bring for what he could do either. Why should I blame King Take, though his calling was to kill? I should seek to better understand before passing judgment. "Why does your liege take life?"

Prince Gangrel didn't reply.

The chuckles of King See's princes chimed, a lighter noise to the steady undertone of Bring's princes' unified laughter. I rather liked the sound.

"He has no answer, Lady Patch," said Is.

"By glorious blood, I have a name for the glorious voice," Prince Gangrel said. "Lady Patch, I will answer. My liege takes because he must sustain this pulse and others. He takes exactly what he should to maintain careful balance, and no more and no less. This is how we have survived for 1200 years."

"You speak as if he did it singlehandedly," Sigil sneered.

The princes fell into a heated argument about which of their kings had kept Vitale in the best shape since The End. I listened for a time before turning my mind to other things. For instance, Gangrel had said nothing of the carefree manner with which his liege treated the ruin or saving of the world. I could appreciate that King Take took only what was needed, and that he did have a need to take. Vitale could only survive with such takings, if I understood correctly. I did wish to know more about the workings of who he took and when.

The princes fell into a churlish lull.

I cleared my throat. "What would happen if I sent the letter with you now, Prince Gangrel?"

"My liege might cast it into his fire that burns forever."

I'd spent a lot of time on my letters. I'd even rewritten the last three after speaking to Toil, Sigil, and Hex. "What might make him read the contents?"

"Either your sound or smell would suffice, lady."

My smell. Gangrel was sniffing me. How uncomfortable and interesting.

I couldn't think how to gift my sound, but I leaned down and tore off a corner of my quilted red dress. My clothing might smell like me. "I will give you this to take."

"What is it?" Gangrel asked.

"Lady," Is hissed under his breath. "I'll take it to him."

"Then it would smell of you," I chided the prince, touching his shoulder to soften the blow of my words. He shuddered at my touch.

Walking around the row of See's princes, I approached Prince Gangrel at the wall of bars, making sure to study only his bare and filthy feet. Eyes downcast, I held the strip of quilted red out to the monster.

The hand that extended to take the fabric was shriveled in death and shook as though plunged into snow and held there.

"How have we not known of one such as she?" he breathed. "The sight is as the scent as is the sound. I have not known this part of myself until now. I will not go on as I did before."

"That's that then," Will Be muttered angrily. "Now everyone will know about her. Take will blab to the others."

Gangrel took the fabric, and I slipped a hand in the pouch pocket of my quilted, red dress to pull out the three letters. I found the right one and passed the scroll through the wall of bars. "I suppose the letter might smell of me already."

I noted the unsteadiness of the monster's exhales as he took the letter from me too.

"The letter has not rubbed against your skins, lady," he stammered. "Your scent on the fabric is very strong."

He had a point, though I wasn't sure how to feel about varying strengths of my scent. "Thank you, Prince Gangrel. I am mostly here at the hotel if King Take has a reply."

"You live in this sorry place," he stammered. "You should be on a pedestal, Lady Patch. If only my king did not have a princess. But then, why should I say such a thing when my liege prefers her flesh most? That is not princely of me."

Take had a princess too. What of the other kings? "Would you kindly hurry the letter to your king? I would see matters resolved soon."

"I hate to leave you, but I will do this, of course. Just wait until Sanguine and Vassal hear of you!"

The prince was gone, and the quiet accusation of six princes lingered at my back.

I faced See's princes and, with a rein on the shimmering in my mind, I pushed my gaze from their disproportionate feet and up their legs half-revealed by torn jeans. They were shirtless, and so lean that I could see each of their abdominals. I considered this conventional for a tiny second before seeing that convention was a horror of its own. The normalcy of their torsos abhorred and contrasted the rest of their monsterdom. Their jaws hung dislocated, and drool shone on their chins and on some of their chests. They had holes for nasal cavities, and no noses to speak of. Their foreheads were as their hands and feet, disproportionate and protruding beyond their bodies.

They were… absolutely themselves. I had so many questions for them, and I could see now how their daylight forms were false and very bland.

"You look upon us," Has Been whispered, dashing away a tear. "Lady, could it be that a month of slumber has strengthened you this much?"

"Your true forms are a welcome sight," I told them sincerely. Friendship was more of a possibility if I didn't need to always gawk at their feet, or only see the princes in the sliver of time before dusk. I ran my focus along all six princes in turn—See's princes and Bring's. "You are all amazing. I feel very curious and eager to know more. I'd like to thank each of you, too, for staying here to protect me. Prince Gangrel might misconstrue what he saw here into a new alliance between your kings, and I can see how that might've caused issues between kingdoms."

A few gulps and gasps revealed that the princes hadn't pondered that in the slightest.

"But why did we act so?" Sigil asked. "Our liege will be most enraged."

See's princes were very quiet and a little pale.

Will Be said, "Can none of you see that our lady is such a rarity that we're driven to contemplate her safety in the fate of this pulse?"

"But our oaths are to our kings," Hex mumbled. "The ancients made us such. How can we defy this?"

"Only ancients could alter the binding of such oaths," Is replied after a beat. "She is a creature of changing, and we are destined to change in her presence. If we are united in protecting her from the other kings, then perhaps we, for the first time in a long time, have a common ground."

"The other kings will learn of me?" I asked him. This would be well, if so. I had two more letters to deliver.

"King Take has no reason to hide your existence, Lady Patch. He has no reason to tie you to him, like Bring, and no reason to protect you like my liege. He will anticipate how best to toy with you, and he might find informing Change and Raise of your existence very amusing as surely a mess will result."

All I needed were the remaining three-fifths of my treasure, not a mess. I sorely hoped that I did not live to regret my greed. I already had more than I'd ever had, yet the urge to ensure all fifths returned here was a drive almost beyond reason. I felt sure that I couldn't survive otherwise. All fifths must be here and not a bedframe or sink plug less.

You have survived on less, my mind whispered.

And I had. But not as a monster. No matter how I tried, I'd been unable to fully resist slumber during the day. If I couldn't move around in daylight, then I couldn't properly interact and exist with the humans in Vitale to earn a living.

"So be it," I announced to myself. "I must get the letters to the other kings."

"What if we delivered them for you." Toil blinked forward.

I tilted my head. "Aren't you meant to capture me?"

"Drat, I forgot about that. Yes, I suppose so."

"What's this?" Has Been had stepped closer to me at the mention of capturing.

I gestured at Bring's three sheepish princes. "They have orders to capture and drag me before their King."

The air charged.

"Then we will not leave your side, Lady Patch, to ensure that they cannot do so," Will Be declared. "Our liege would expect no less, especially in the light of Bring's concubine desire."

I winced. King See would certainly not like the concubine offer, nor the part in the letter about rejecting him as part of a deal with Bring. I had to admit that becoming a daylight plaything sounded a lot like entering the breeding pens, and I'd resolved to never do that. There was one point of difference, though, so I wouldn't say no to King Bring, exactly, because if he was happy to never have children, then desperation could well drive me to accept the position of concubine in the end. I should keep the option open in case not all the snuffing shares were returned.

"You cannot always be with her," Sigil scoffed at See's princes. "When you're called away, we will take her."

Hex grimaced. "What if she does that jerky run again, Sig?"

The three were nonplussed and hopefully deterred. I didn't relish more nights spent in that fashion.

Is shot me a look, and I was careful not to meet his gaze. "You escaped Bring's princes?" He grinned. "That's our lady."

"She's not yours," Toil seethed, slapping his lowest blob on the cobblestones. The sound was rage to the fullest degree.

"I am no one's lady," I declared.

All six turned their widened eyes to me, and that was saying something because half of them didn't possess eyelids. I shivered at the sight and was blasted by the sudden, stomach-swooping sense I'd hurt their feelings to an enormous degree. How horrific.

"I misspoke. My apologies. I am lady to you all, if you would have it so."

That soothed and irritated them in turn. They did not like to share?

My mind very much wanted to question why six princes fought over my favor, but my mind wanted to understand a great deal of things too big and mighty, so banishing this train of thought was nothing new.

Has Been strode to the wall of bars and leaned against it. He crossed his arms, and his large hands flopped over his elbows like a cat's paws. "That's settled then. We won't budge from here until dawn."

Prince Sigil leaned against the wall of bars beside him. "And neither shall we. The instant you blink, Princes of Nothing, you will find her gone."

Goodness, I better not blink either.

An abrasive caw sounded from above, and I almost flinched as a raven relaxed its claws to release what it held. I snatched the fluttering thing out of the air.

"It's Take's personal raven." Will Be sighed. "Our liege will be most unhappy with our dawn report."

Toil threw him a knowing look. The princes agreed on one matter.

I hesitated, the focus of six princes, then realized privacy to read a letter would not be granted this night.

I pried the blood-red seal, admiring the fangs set over the letter T.

To the Scented Lady,

I thank you for the cloth bearing your seductive scent.

Red fabric, no less. My favorite color, did you know?

By any means, I find myself curiously glad to have read your thoughtfully prosed letter, and now I have only to wonder if words could ever suffice when actions might do better.

If you wish to receive back my one-fifth snuffing share, then all I shall require is your attendance at my dreadful ball tomorrow at dusk, planned in your honor.

I wager your attendance will be most amusing indeed.

With this boon granted, you can consider my snuffing share of Hotel Vitale yours forever and ever.

Ever Thirst for Thirst Itself,

King Take

"What does it say?" Is grumbled. "I must know how enraged my liege will be."

I lowered the letter. "King Take has been kind enough to throw me a dreadful ball that he'd like me to attend in return for his snuffing share of Hotel Vitale. That doesn't seem too monstrous. I suppose I shall attend."

All six princes groaned.

Is blew out a breath. "Very enraged indeed then."