Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Opulence and riches,

Dripping all of them.

I cared not to see too hard that night.

I stared at the guest's suitcase flung open on the worn carpet of my studio room. Over the last week, I'd started to see that the suitcase may not belong to a guest anymore, but me.

Every garment fit like a glove, happening to be just my size. I recalled that we'd only had male guests staying at Hotel Vitale before the princes closed it. There was also the matter of the impossible number of garments in the suitcase—I'd never worn anything twice. Added to that matter was the matter of the Outfit of the Day appearing on top each dusk, neatly folded.

Those matters were of no matter against the other impossibilities in my life, really. I had a sentient suitcase, a valet valise. Maybe such things came with monsterdom.

I gripped the shoulders of the burgundy, velvet ballgown and lifted so the bodice and skirt were revealed. We didn't learn much history in school—history didn't keep a person warm and fed—but I'd once seen pictures of medieval times in a weathered book that I found crammed in a forgotten corner of our tiny school library. This gown reminded me of the gowns worn by those mythical princesses and ladies. The neckline scooped from the tip of one shoulder to the next. The bodice would hug my torso tight from breast to lower hip. The bottom edge of the bodice was a V shape, and the point extended in front of my pelvis, between my thighs. The skirt took over from the bodice then, voluminous and heavy to the floor where the gown ended in a wonderful peplum edge that might be lost to the casual viewer enamored with louder aspects of the ballgown. The long sleeves ended in a peplum edge too. When I glanced back at the suitcase to see the shoes there, I noticed another small length of peplum. A choker necklace? I wrapped the rippling fabric over the bumpy stitches at the base of my throat, but the length was too long. Then I tried it as a headband—which didn't work either. On a whim, I draped the length across my eyes and tied the burgundy ribbon at the back of my head. Perfect.

I pulled it off again.

"That is very clever," I told the suitcase, who jiggled on the spot in response. "Now I won't be overwhelmed by the sight of new monsters or have to avoid anyone's eyes." With the veil over my eyes, I wouldn't need to worry about accidentally glimpsing myself in a reflective surface either.

Anyone being King Take. Assumedly, I'd be limited in my interactions with him as I was with King See.

King See.

My stomach worked itself into knots again. And I'd just managed to get rid of them after sending a reply to his earlier request. Though request wasn't a strong enough word for the contents of his message. Demand? Order? Threat?

"He knew that I had plans tonight," I told the suitcase. "His princes would have told him of the ball King Take is throwing for me, so why did he specifically demand that I attend him tonight to uphold my end of our deal?"

He could look at me for the duration of any night. To me, the sudden appearance of his black-sealed letter had everything to do with stopping me from attending this ball. Quite simply, that wouldn't do. I didn't enjoy the subterfuge, and if I allowed King See to make demands of me, then our acquaintance wouldn't be great nor long-lasting. He was immortal, and maybe I would turn out to be immortal as well. There weren't many of us monsters—King See had said as much—so I'd like to aim for a great and long-lasting relationship from the outset.

I dressed in the burgundy ballgown, then wrinkled my nose as my fingertips swept over the myriad stitches the scooping neckline left revealed. Until now, the suitcase had helped me to cover most of my body with long sleeves and skirts and high necklines.

My gaze shifted to the very still suitcase. "Is this for a reason then?"

The suitcase flapped its lid a few times in a nod. The urge to ponder how a suitcase could nod did strike me, but that seemed rather pointless when blobs could blink and I could crush metal. For the most part, my mind no longer squeezed and shimmered much with new monstrous detail. Where the need to accept everything without question or reflection had been necessary for my state of calm, I could now accept uniquities like a sentient suitcase with the ease of a more ancient mind. If truth were told, I'd started to greatly anticipate new exposures to the unusual. Monsters were just so very interesting.

I ran my fingertips over the neckline again. King Take might like the sight of my stitches, and I wanted him in good spirits. I'd try not to think much about them until I could change out of this dress.

I slipped my feet into strappy shoes with a long spike under where my heel would sit. "You know, if you are a bit alive, you should have a name."

The suitcase jiggled.

My lips twisted in a smile. "I was thinking how you're a valet valise. How about Valetise?"

More jiggling. Big jiggling. The suitcase galloped around the carpet, somehow managing not to lose a single bra, sock, or shoe in the process.

"Valetise," I repeated. "That's settled then. Thank you for my wonderful clothes."

The lid flapped a few times, then fell closed.

How nice to make new friends.

I stood up and waved my arms a few times to balance. Goodness, would I be able to walk in these? I shifted from foot to foot, and my muscles tensed against the foreign wobble from the towering shoes. My new monster strength could manage the shoes.

I ran a brush through my hair, and braided it quickly, hanging the blonde end over my shoulder.

Dusk had set in, and though there hadn't been a time on the official invitation I'd received this morning, I had to consider that Bring's princes would try to capture me again tonight.

Grabbing the peplum veil from the bed, I hurried outside and ran smack-bang into Is.

"Lady Patch," he cried out, steadying me. "My apologies."

I rubbed my nose, and made sure to look no higher than his chest. "It's okay, Prince Is. I didn't think anyone would be lurking outside my door, is all."

"Really? That's exactly what a monster does."

"Of course, I should have realized. Can I help you with something? I might be late for a ball."

He grimaced. "Yes, lady. That is exactly what I wished to speak with you about. You see, my liege… is… put out."

"Put out where?"

"His emotions are put out. He's upset."

"Oh." I nibbled on my bottom stitch. "What's saddened him?"

"He's less sad, Lady Patch, and more very, very extremely furious. Very extremely furious."

My brow cleared. "He read my reply."

Is quoted, "‘Dear King See, I have plans tonight, but would tomorrow night do? Wishing you great vision of all possibilities, Lady Patch.'"

He trailed off, and I waited for more. I already knew what I'd written.

Is sighed. "My liege feels you have purposefully omitted the truth of your plans tonight, and so he is doubly enraged because if you're hiding your plans with King Take, then you must be open to him."

"He can't claim me. He has a princess."

"He can share with you all that he shares with a princess without giving you a title."

I might receive another concubine offer in other words. I wrinkled my nose. "I'm not hiding anything from King See. He must have known of the ball from you. I was simply saving ink with my short reply. Please inform him of this when you return to the palace."

"You'll need to come with me, Lady Patch." Is stiffened and stood taller. His chalky abdominals tensed as though anticipating a fight. "King See would look upon you tonight for the duration of the night. He has decreed this will be so."

I glanced back through the open doorway at Valetise and froze at the sight of the outfit folded on top. She'd offered it up at the potential change of plans, and my insides trembled at the thought of dressing in whatever that was. "No," I dragged out, returning my focus to Is's chest. "That won't happen. Kindly return to your liege and inform him that I will uphold our deal another night. If tomorrow night doesn't work, then I am otherwise free any other day this week. For now." I shouldn't teach him to expect I'd drop everything.

I walked around Is, who surprisingly didn't reach to grab me. He usually gave me a choice in matters, but he wouldn't defy a direct order from his king. I walked quickly down the stairs and across the courtyard, then unlocked the door in my wall of bars to slip out of Hotel Vitale.

Is didn't give chase. How curious.

I slowed my steps after a couple of blocks, but Is didn't pop from the shadows. He wasn't coming after me then. How surprising, and how nice that he'd paused to understand my side of things. I didn't relish the idea of King See's response to my second refusal, and I shivered at the thought of his menace.

But there were things to achieve tonight. I should fix my focus on the present because Toil, Hex, and Sigil could be anywhere close by waiting to blink in and ambush me. I had to make the ball or matters between me and King Take might sour.

51 st street. That was where I had to go.

Vitale only had fifty streets, but I wouldn't let a little thing like a nonexistent street stop me. Seeing as all the blocks in Vitale were numbered, I guessed that walking to block fifty and fiftieth street was the best bet.

The heavy velvet ballgown made the walk feel much longer than it should, and upward of ten times I had to dash into the shadows when a human ventured close enough to see my monsterdom.

At the fiftieth block, I peered left and right. "Don't tell me 51 st Street is behind 1 st Street."

Oh. Straight ahead was a castle. "You weren't here a second ago."

I'd wager that King Take lived there. The white castle appeared stark and impersonal from where I stood, and not at all a place to enter. The sprawling castle was as wide as King See's palace was tall. A closer inspection showed that pink tinged the white stone around the window openings and along the high walkways. The dripping pattern of the pink gave away its bloody origins.

I hugged my body. "My instincts tell me not to enter." And my instincts should sometimes be listened to, but not always.

He had my one-fifth share. Take hadn't said how long I had to remain at the ball. I could make an appearance, and then leave.

I took a breath, part of me wishing I'd donned the teensy outfit in the suitcase and gone to See's palace instead. "Veil on, Patch."

I tied the thick, wavy length of burgundy velvet over my eyes, tying the ribbon tight across the back of my thick, blonde braid. I could see my feet and a couple of paces ahead.

Leaving the street, I then crossed over a rotting bridge stained with blood and patches of hair. When stone clicked underfoot again, the shadow of the entranceway fell over me, and an extra layer of chill set into my stitches.

"Who goes there?" a voice slithered from the shadows.

I paused, not turning my head. He must be a monster to be here. "I am Lady Patch, come to attend King Take's ball."

"Where is your invitation?"

Drat. "Sir, my apologies. I didn't think to bring it. Is that the only way to get inside then? I'd hate to be late as I dashed home to retrieve it."

"It is the only way in, lady, unless you wish to make it worth my while." The man didn't leave his shadows, though his slithering voice had gained a curious edge.

I considered that. "How would I make it worth your while?"

"All I'd need was a little taste."

My eyes widened. "Of what, sir?"

"Are you daft as well as forgetful? Of your life."

My life ? I had a very strong notion that my life was something not to give out tastes of. "I would rather return to get my invitation. Kindly inform King Take that I'm very sorry for the delay, especially as the ball is in my honor, but I?—"

"You are the lady for which the ball is thrown?" The slithering was gone as was the curiosity. In their places was a subservience and a slight begging tone.

I pursed my lips. "Does that change things?"

"But of course. My sire is delirious to meet you, and I must bend the rules so that he is not deprived a second more."

Their relationship sounded one-sided. "Thank you, sir. I greatly appreciate you amending your rules for my sake."

"Hurry on, lady. Talk no more. Speak not of the length of our conversation here, if you will. Go, go."

Goodness me.

Jogging forward to placate the fretful gateman, my ears soon picked up the ringing chords of a piano played with pounding gusto. I jogged in that direction, and my clicking footsteps echoed through the expansive hallway, adding to the dramatic music ahead.

I slowed to a walk and continued until a thick red curtain blocked my way.

"Ma'am," wheezed someone out of sight.

I pressed a hand to my chest. "My, I didn't sense you there with this veil over my eyes. And the music is so loud."

"My master enjoys music with flair and body."

I hadn't considered the pounding, dramatic ring of the piano that way, but I could see the servant's point. "Might I enter the room too?"

"Yes, Ma'am, but please, your name, so that I might announce your arrival."

"Lady…" I nearly said Perantiqua, but no, that didn't feel right in this cold, dank place. "Lady Patch."

I listened as the servant shuffled from his shadows toward the red curtain. Near the curtain, the tasseled end of a golden rope dangled below my veiled vision. I caught a quick glimpse of the servant's shrunken feet before he leaped high with an agility that defied his wheeziness. The golden rope pooled on the ground as he slid to the group, and the red curtain breezed open.

A dripping was audible under the music, and as I neared where the curtain had been, I sucked in a breath at the drip-drops of blood falling from above—as though the curtain were soaked in the stuff.

Escaping the blood was impossible, and perhaps that was the purpose of the statement. I passed through the drips as fast as I could and felt the slide of them down one side of my neck.

My mind was so busy on the matter of the dripping blood that I didn't immediately note the painful silence and stillness. The pounding of the piano was no longer. I could see booted and heeled feet close to me, but no one uttered a word.

I lingered, unsure what next to do.

"I present Lady Patch," boomed the hunched man. No trace of wheeze was heard.

Still, no one moved or spoke.

What else to do but keep going?

I clicked across white stone, thankfully clear of the tell-tale pink tinge or bloody drips. I'd attended a few dances during my school years, but a ball in a castle was a first. Where should I sit or stand? My ears picked up the sound of running water, and I moved that way, taking in all the feet. So many monsters. I'd been led to believe barely any of us existed.

I arrived at the fountain and turned to face those I'd passed. My veil obscured everyone from the knee down, and I was triply glad for it because the moment was awkward enough without seeing their expressions. I did feel proud of how little my mind squeezed at the presence of so many, though.

I sighed in relief when the piano music resumed, but my attention was caught by the bright red liquid in the fountain. Blood.

I might've guessed.

My instincts wailed louder than ever, and I was inclined to agree with them about my departure. People who decorated with blood might not be trustworthy. Where was King Take? I'd greet him, then leave.

The piano pounding cut off again.

"Lady." Though my name wasn't specifically announced, I understood the person meant me.

"Lady," the man called again joyfully. "Will you not approach me to pay your respects?"

Was I meant to do that? No wonder everyone had stared so. Embarrassment flooded my face, and gasps rang out.

Mutterings of "Ink blush" only served to deepen my blush further.

"An ink blush, you say?" King Take said. "I want to see it. Why am I the last to see?"

The king took no care to leash his annoyance, and my body shook from the force. I realized that King See had taken a great deal of care in my presence not to feel things strongly.

By contrast, King Take's unbridled emotions stole my breath away. His power demanded that I make his annoyance disappear, and it was all I could do to resist the urge. His guests scrambled around me, and I found myself pushed and jostled toward the king.

My knees knocked as I neared him. My mind began to squeeze.

"Stop," I cried out.

Thankfully, surprisingly, they did.

"You stopped my drained minions," King Take mused, annoyance gone.

I panted to catch my breath. "Sir, kindly do not let them drag me closer. I am newly a monster and being before kings and, indeed, too many monsters at once can force me into a long sleep."

"Sleep," he said in disgust. "That's entirely boring. Sleep will not do, though most of my guests are empty shells and not monsters. All of you, begone. I bore of you too. This ball has but five guests now."

I felt the slight vacuum as the shells vacated the ballroom. That was why my mind wasn't squeezing—because they weren't monsters. How disappointing. I'd felt heartened at our numbers for a time.

I shivered at how echoing and large the hall was without their presence. "You didn't need to order them gone. I just wished to explain that I can't come overly close to you, sir."

"Her voice is as you described," another man hushed.

Then a voice I recognized—Prince Gangrel's. "Yes, Vassal. Dusk in a bottle."

"I smelled the fabric square sent to our liege, but it doesn't compare to her scent in the flesh."

"No, Sanguine. Did I not tell you so?"

"Enough," King Take snapped, and I gasped anew at the walloping force of his annoyance.

"What is it now?" the king asked me. "Why did you gasp?"

I straightened. "You do not keep much inside you, is all, King Take. This is hard for my new monster mind. King See takes care to mask away the force of his feelings."

King Take laughed at that, and his cruel joy was as painful for me as his boyish irritation. I backed away until the squeeze on my mind eased.

"What is amusing?" I asked.

"Much, mistress, but King See most of all. What you call masking away, I call fear. Too much caution in life is an ill thing."

And what did he say of no caution at all? "Sir, you bid me attend the ball as part of our bargain."

"And you have come. I found myself curious to see who enamored my prince so, and he is not wrong. Mistress, you are magnificence. You are an alluring change in this unchanging landscape, and for that, I thank you. How came about one such as you? Amuse me, if you would."

"The ordeal was not amusing for me, sir." I proceeded to tell him some harmless details of my time since waking a monster, only halting to answer his probing questions as best I could without revealing too much of myself in the doing.

"Ha!" He clapped at the end, and I jolted with each shrill slap of his palms. "My, mistress, but what a time you've had. An entertaining story indeed, and one that is far from over, I anticipate."

I tilted my chin. "I do not wish to be toyed with. I have been warned you enjoy doing such things."

He hummed. "The best toys are those who try to resist. You may come to wish for my attentions in the end, Lady Patch."

I couldn't say one way or another. I had little idea how time might alter my perspective. "On the subject of toying, we must disagree for now. I have a few questions for you. Will you answer them?"

"You seek to question… me?"

That didn't happen often. "The unusual can be so amusing."

"Why, vastly so. Proceed with these questions. I find myself eager to know what might go on under your stitches."

He didn't appear averse to questions as King See could be. This king was allergic to boredom, and an immortal must spend a great deal of time bored, so that was a shame for him. I would make a point not to be so. "You take to keep balance in Vitale."

"And the other pulses around the world, yes, go on, go on."

I did so. "Who do you take? What are the factors behind your choices?"

His shells had jostled me most of the way across the ballroom. King Take's voice was above me a way, and now that I'd grown accustomed to his voice, I started to lift my gaze from the floor and up the stone steps before me. There were so many. My neck was nearly craned back by the time I came across Take's bare, slightly blurred feet. His feet appeared as a dead and drained human's would, except the nails were black and curled under. Goodness, that must hurt awfully when he walked.

King Take sat on a stone throne, barefooted at a monster ball.

"I almost wonder if I should answer you," the king said, then laughed. "Yes, I shall. I take, lady, whoever is useless. Oftentimes, that means the old. Sometimes, the maimed or grievously injured. And there are other times when the useless are not old or maimed or injured at all. Do you wish to hear of them?"

I squeezed my eyes tight. "No, sir. Not of them."

"A tender heart filled with life, you have," he purred. "How I will love to toy with it."

I shouldn't have come. I should have gone to King See's palace. "Do you like to take life?"

"Ancients warped the task to take into my being, but I was left to control the limits of my duty and power, as we all were. I submitted to the addiction of my purpose long ago. My cravings grew too strong, too fast, and are now more immense than any duty I once felt. Do you judge me for this vice? This addiction ? I hope so. You will be repulsed even as you crave my dotage."

"I do not judge you, King Take. Do you judge yourself?"

"You are impertinent, and yet I shall answer because impertinence is rare and not boring."

His bare feet swung in a playful way I'd expect of a child, yet I could see he was a grown monster by the size of them.

"My answer is this, Lady Patch. Once, I entered a cave with four soldier comrades. We rode together to our respective homes in the wake of a victory over villains. We rode home, bursting with the righteous honor we'd been willing to die for, heroes of the common people. Does that answer your question?"

Once, he'd been willing to die for a cause. He'd been willing to die to save everyday people from a terrible fate, and now—at a glance, a person might assume King Take to be the villain. He thought that of himself. "It does. Thank you."

"All kings are addicts, you shall learn soon enough. Do not thank me for reciting a boring story from my mortal existence."

"I don't believe you a villain," I told him.

"Ah, mistress, you mistake me for one of a tender heart, as yourself."

"You're not the villain. I am."

He laughed again, harder. His princes joined in.

"You?" He snorted.

I smiled. "Yes, sir. You mean to toy with my life, don't you?"

"I fail to see how that makes you the villain."

"Well, I am the unwelcome disturbance to the norm. I am the upset. That's all a villain is, and that's what I am."

Boom!

The ground shook, and I wobbled around on my high shoes in a bid to remain standing. "Is it an attack?"

King Take hissed. "It cannot be." More gleefully, he exclaimed, "But it is . It cannot be that King See has left his tower, but he has! My dear , you have gifted me amusement beyond all amusement. He comes despite vanity and pride. He comes humbled… for you." I heard wonder in the last of his comment.

See was here?

At the thought, his power ballooned against my back, and I found myself quite crushed between the presence of two kings. Oof.

I said with difficulty, "King See, I am glad you're here."

"Did he hurt you then, mistress?" came the tight reply.

A relief I'd never known washed over me, and identifying the particular brand of the relief took a moment. Safety. Goodness, how on earth could I feel that with King See? And yet, I did. My bravery flocked to me with his nearness, making me feel how unbrave I'd been. "No, sir. I am well. I have thought several times that I should have come to you as bid, though."

"You should have." See sounded somewhat mollified by my admission. "I have not left my tower for some years, but such was my fury that I could not rest."

My voice was small. "Are you very extremely furious at me like Is said?"

"At you, only slightly now that I see you are unharmed. My fury belongs mostly to the king behind you."

"Come, King See, let bygones be bygones. I won my princess bride fairly. She wanted me more than you, though I did not offer her more than my flesh and you offered her everything. Will you cling to such petty jealousies through the ages?"

This was the matter between them then? King See and King Take had both wanted the same princess.

I peered at the floor again. Was this the force behind King See's hasty claiming? He didn't want me per se. He just didn't want the other kings to have me?

I heard the soft fall of King See's footsteps as he rounded the perimeter of the cold, damp ballroom, sure to leave enough space between us.

"Your princess is but a shadow of a memory in my mind," King See said. "The possibilities were laid before me at the time, Take, and I could see that the possibility of her accepting my claim was slim. I could see she was meant to be yours, but I thought my feeling for her was strong enough to overwhelm the impossible. This was in error. Two months ago, or perhaps a sliver longer, I felt a far more powerful sentiment than I ever felt for your princess, and so I can see that the impossible was for a reason, as it always is. Your princess was not meant for me. I was meant to remain alone through the centuries in wait for the rarest of treasures, the most exquisite Lady Perantiqua."

I shuddered at the way he spoke my name.

"You told me your name was Lady Patch," Take said in accusation.

"If I had felt more comfortable in your castle, you might have learned my formal name upon my arrival, or after. Yet you chose to speak of toying with my tender heart, so you did not learn it."

"I did do those things and cannot regret them seeing as I learned your formal name anyway."

I clenched my hands to fists. I did not like his frivolous manner all the time. Was there no room for seriousness in him?

King See continued his wide berth around me. "Can you not see her rarity, Take? Why do you treat her so?"

"I see it, and I shall relish taking her from you, for old times' sake. Nothing personal, you understand. Immortality can be so dreadfully boring."

"You feel bored because you do not much like yourself."

"Tread easy, King See. You are in my kingdom now."

King See stated, "I will not allow you to take her from me, not to toy with or for any other design."

"The king of nothing will fight at last? And not for the world, but for a wench, even a rare one?" King Take roared with laughter.

I stumbled back, nearly toppling to the ground again.

The roaring tapered off, and his princes stopped sniggering a while after.

"My sources say that the king of seeing cannot see in this lady's presence." The words held a cold contemplativeness, and this must be the version of King Take to be wary of. Here was where he hatched his plans. Here was where he decided who best to take. Here was his potential and his sharpness.

"It is true," said King See. "She blinds me, and yet I know she is my possibility."

I pressed a hand against my chest as something thudded and reverberated under my sternum. Where I'd managed to stand through Take's raucous laughter, I found myself slithering to the floor now. My legs folded, and I stared at my cupped hands atop the burgundy velvet covering my lap.

King See's voice sharpened. "You are well, mistress?"

"Yes," I said, somewhat breathless. "Only, I wish neither of you would speak on this subject any longer. I am uncomfortable about why kings would talk about having me at all, and I find the confusion is overwhelming along with everything else." I sniffed against the sudden urge to cry.

"She cannot see herself?" King Take asked in glee.

King See wasn't gleeful. "Mistress, it must be impossible that you cry. The fates could not be so cruel to have us witness magnificence weep. I cannot have it so."

I sniffed again. "I will try not to then."

"Thank you," he said in a softer tone, then called, "Princes of mine."

There were three sets of footsteps, but I didn't get a chance to look at his princes before the balloon of King See's power gently batted me backward much like a mother cat might knock over her kitten with her great, fluffy paw. I was rolled away from King Take, and each time I tried to sit, King See would gently bat at me again. He did so until he'd rolled me halfway across the ballroom and managed to wedge between me and Take.

"You realize I've told the others," King Take drawled. "I simply couldn't resist."

"You have heard me say many times that it's entirely possible for you to resist, brother king," See replied. "The way is still open to you."

"I don't care for your possibilities, See," Take snapped. "Take them with you, and I shall even let you take the newest jewel among us, just to let you feel a small win before a larger loss."

Oversized hands picked me up, and I held onto Has Been's neck as he hoisted me into his arms.

"We will go now," King See answered. "When it comes to this lady, brother king, you will not find me content to remain impartial. You are warned."

Laughter. "There is no sense warning me, See. A fight between kings would ensure the ruin of the world, and it is you who cares for stasis, not I. Let that be your warning, brother king. There is no limit for one who cares not for anyone or anything."

The exchange was awful—beyond awful.

"Take me from here, Has Been," I begged. "Please hurry."

He obeyed without a word, Will Be and Is either side of us. The balloon of See's power stayed firm, and I drew up the image of him following us at a distance.

"How can you stand for them to touch her when you cannot?" King Take called out in question.

Has Been paused when King See did the same behind us. Peeking up from the prince's neck, I caught sight of a ripple of a lace curtain across a shadowed nook. My nose tickled with a sour scent. Who was there? Another monster or a shell?

King See's reply stole back my focus. "I hate them for it, of course."

"She can't even look at me, nor you. You will never know the pleasures of her flesh, where your princes might. How is that for an impossibility, brother king? Will you watch them together then?"

King See answered, "Many impossible things have happened since she arrived, Take, so I will explore my possibility to have her. I suspect there are vast pleasures to be had of one such as her."