Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

My mother had spoken

Of the way the world was

When romance was not myth

And so I knew to ask.

" T here now, my lady," Valetise cooed, twitching the shoulder of my dress into perfect place.

I stood in the entrance to the new wardrobe that branched off my sleeping chamber. The wardrobe was twice the size of my sleeping chamber and bursting with hundreds of outfits. I had no idea how the garments were arranged, and I didn't have to, for my valet suitcase had become a person during my stint in Raise's kingdom.

Valetise yanked on one of the many tape measures that seemed to be part of her body. She released the end after measuring the length of my arm, and the soft tape measure lazily recoiled until only a silver hook protruded from the bodice of Valetise's matronly dress.

Aside from the ability to hold tape measures in her monstrous body, my valet had thickened bands of calloused skin around her collarbones and forearms where she held innumerous needles.

She tsked, then pulled a needle free of her left forearm. Valetise plucked a hair from her head, and it turned midnight blue to match my backless gown. Threading it, she looped a few stitches down the side of the dress, then snipped the end of the thread off with her fingers, which were also scissors.

"You are a wondrous monster, perfectly formed to carry out your purpose," I told her.

"The lady speaks again," she replied. "And my function is my joy, so I revel in my body. I'm glad you find it wondrous. You shall see much of me, as I am determined that you will always be dressed to match your unmatched brilliance."

She'd outdone herself tonight. The gown was beautiful and sensual and perfect for a dinner with King See. A dinner I was just on time for. I'd spent six hours in King Raise's kingdom, and each hour had equated to a day here.

"I have not much felt like speaking since you all saved me," I answered.

Recovering from the wounds didn't take long, though I did feel tired in the wake of them. I said, "I haven't often felt frightened since monsterdom, Valetise."

"Is that all that bothers you?"

She'd mostly been a suitcase in my life, but she'd seen a lot. "I must get back the final snuffing share from King Raise, but now I know he wishes to enslave me, and I will not return to his kingdom either. I cannot think how to get my snuffing share back." And then there was the matter of how I'd spoken to Prince Sign. He hadn't deserved so much of my ire, and if I ever saw him again, I'd apologize straightaway.

"A solution will present itself," the matronly brunette answered. She whirled away in a dress that seemed made of every single possible fabric, then returned with a thick headband of midnight gems.

She fixed it upon my head, then clipped a short veil over my eyes.

I already had towering heels on my feet—sleek and sensual to match the dress.

"How do you know what to dress me in?"

"I sense what must be, as you do with the return of your snuffing shares, lady."

I nodded. "You're right. I must not worry overly. I have come this far, and the fifth will be returned in time."

Yet I felt the most pressing need to have it returned without delay. "Have the princes been by?"

"Not since last night, lady. They give you time to rest, I imagine. Recall that they are princes to kings first and foremost."

I pulled a face at the reminder. They'd come to my aid, however, and I would thank them from the bottom of my heart.

My skin itched, and my stitches and patches appeared in short measure. None were revealed below my neck, but I imagined a fair few were left for viewing on my back. I'd felt the great stitch down my spine rub against my clothing many times, and I'd gathered that the stitch extended up to the nape of my neck.

"I must go," I told her. "Good evening, Valetise."

"Good evening, lady." She curtsied as I left the room.

I swept from my bed chamber, and my heels clicked against gems as I walked down the landing and stairs, then across the courtyard.

"Good evening, Mother."

The ground yawned in response, and out popped a wooden horse. I gathered that the horse was once a rocking horse, but Mother had added gold here and silver there to extend its shape to lifelike proportions—and none too elegantly. I had to jump to pull myself on top of the timber steed.

The horse reared stiffly.

"To King See's palace, thank you," I asked it.

The steed's legs didn't move as I'd imagined a horse's would. There was no independent movement to any part of its body. The horse scraped along the ground as a rigid sculpture. The slowness of the mount nearly saw me walk because I could blink to See's palace far quicker, yet Mother had given this to me, and I didn't wish to upset her.

Dusk had set in most beautifully by the time the horse ground to a halt. I could feel each one of my teeth after the journey, and I had the steed to thank for that. I couldn't recall ever feeling my teeth in such a way, and the thought struck me that I tended to forget they existed until I needed to chew or grin. "Thank you, monstrous steed."

I patted the wooden mount and ducked under the portcullis to enter See's courtyard. The yawning beast statues sat either side of the entrance, and I patted the paw of one, eliciting an eerie howl.

Violin music trailed down the spiral stairs as usual, but today the hazy pluckings of a harp joined it. Prince Has Been waited inside the entrance and extended his crooked elbow to me.

"You are magnificence," he told me in a hushed voice. "My king is delirious with the need to see you. We told him of your time in Raise's kingdom, and he prepares to wage war against him."

"He must not continue to wage wars on my behalf."

Has Been blinked, and I gathered that the matter I spoke of was one for kings, not princes.

"Are you well after your ordeal, lady?" he asked next.

I dipped my head. "I am well, if not disheartened."

"I hate to see you feel anything other than the lightest happiness."

I patted his arm. "I know, Prince Has Been, and this is why I surround myself with you."

"I'm honored, lady."

"And I am honored by your exquisite company."

He seemed choked up by feeling after that, so we walked side by side up the spiral stairs for two floors. We carried on down a grand hall that someone had decorated in all manner of nude paintings. The models in the paintings twisted and bent in all kinds of lewd positions, expressions of pleasured pain and forbidden rapture lighting their faces.

"Is this the only dining room in the palace?" I asked Has Been.

"No, lady. One of many, and not the grandest."

So See had chosen this in particular, and no doubt the artwork had something to do with that.

This dining room, though apparently not the grandest, was certainly the grandest I'd seen. The table would allow King See to sit at one end, and for me to sit at the opposite with his power between us. Candles illuminated the metal table and the velvet tablecloths and napkins. Otherwise, the only other light in the room came from a crackling fireplace.

Has Been bowed. "My king will be here presently."

"Thank you, Prince Has Been."

I approached the fire and extended my hands to the warmth while knowing I'd never truly feel warm again. I didn't miss this type of heat, really. And I could still make myself warm through arousal. That would suffice. I rather liked where arousal could take me.

King See's power brushed against my back, trailing a path down the great stitch my dress left exposed.

"Will there ever come a time when the sight of you doesn't strike me in mind and body?"

His menace washed over my skin and down both of my arms. I shivered. Was I ready to face him? I'd bargained a week to figure out all I felt for this king. As it was, I'd had little rest and a lot of fright since seeing him last.

"I cannot speak for that," I murmured in reply. "Good evening, King See."

"Good evening, mistress. Your demeanor is quiet tonight. Is King Raise to thank for this? Or do you bear heavy news to me?"

"My mind is busy indeed. Prince Will Be tells me that you plan war against King Raise."

"My prince should remember to whom he is sworn to. Where I wage war does not concern you, Lady Patch."

"If a war is because of me, then it concerns me whether you like it or not. I cannot say what my fate is, sir, but I would like to choose whether I am a force of ruin or saving. Please do not choose for me. Cease your war with King Take, and do not start a war with a second king. Though I thank you for the compliment you pay me, I would not see King Change certain of his success."

"I will not answer one way or another this evening, mistress, but I will think on this matter to see how your request sits with me. Will you sit for dinner now?"

I turned to focus on the blur of his face.

He sucked in a breath, and I listened to his shallow breaths while crossing the room. The high back of the rusted, metal chair cooled my fevered skin.

King See took his seat after, and my chest squeezed the tiniest amount against the press of his power. Candles flickered between us, and the light caught at the burgundy velvet of his jacket and the silver of his cufflinks.

"Lady," he said. "I have waited one week, and I promised to wait no longer. There is not much that makes sense in immortality. Patterns repeat, but there is no reason to how and when they do so. Impossible things come and go, and the part that kings play is unfathomable. But I do fathom one riddle never understood. I understand why I have experienced some pain in my past. Though blinder than ever before, I now connect why I remained alone among my married peers through the ages. You give sense to my lonely immortality, maiden. I feel certain you belong by my side. Perantiqua, you astonish and uproot me. In your company, I am inclined to forget my purpose. I would have you become Princess See. I sought to claim you once before, and you rejected my suit. I ask you again and with the greater feeling born of our deeper acquaintance. Be mine in mind and name. Agree to my hand."

His words filled me to the brim with feeling.

How easy to simply agree on a whim of emotion. I wanted this to be as simple as that.

"King See, I've never asked you the question that I've asked other kings. I have been afraid of your answer, and so I shied from it, but I can do so no more. I have heard what other kings say of your purposeful removal from affecting fate, but I wish to hear what you have to say. What role do you play in the fate of the world?"

"This has naught to do with matters of the heart, maiden."

I disagreed. We were speaking of fate after all.

When I didn't answer, he leaned back on his seat—the back was higher than mine, and that did annoy me somewhat. I saw no reason why he should sit on a throne at dinner.

"My role," he mused. "For a long time, I thought the answer resided in working to save it. I was driven to preserve my survival and that of my king peers and all monsters."

I licked my lips. "What happened?"

He waved a hand in the air. "Nothing, mistress. No matter how we sought to save the world, our efforts resulted in nil. There was no strengthening of possibilities. No clear path formed to success. Every choice to cure famine or gather resources or to create technology or improve environment resulted in an equal and opposite tangle to keep the living creatures of this world in a dwindling place of looming extinction. Centuries of no progress despite the best efforts of immortal and magical kings. To this day, everyone still slides to their end. I saw that I'd become insane to expect a different result from the same action, and so I changed my action."

A pitcher poured red wine into my goblet, and I nodded my thanks to it, then took a sip. The spiced wine burned down my throat. "There are those who would say you are the king of in action. Is that the action you took?"

"Is that it then?" he demanded. "Are you ashamed to become princess to a king that is perceived to lack purpose?"

"I am not. I wish to understand. You have the ability to see that which most monsters could only dream of. What have you seen that made you change your mind?"

He answered, "I followed every artery and every vein, Lady Patch, and I saw that kings could choose to save the world for infinity and never win. They could seek to ruin the world for infinity and never win. They would not be allowed to win in either direction because there was something missing, an entire circulatory system. The answer was never for kings to ruin or save, so I decided to maintain the state of the world most carefully for the day when the missing piece came to be. And she, I believe, has arrived."

She.

Me.

My ancient mind accepted this while my younger self collapsed in a terrified heap. "King Change believes my fate will affect the world."

"I gather that King Bring believes this also. We are kings after all."

Raise had put together my usefulness, and if King Take cared about anything, then perhaps he had too. "Is this why you want me for princess, sir?"

"I wanted you for princess before my mind had wondered of the part you played."

Yes, he'd wanted me for princess very soon after meeting my monster. "And if I am the missing piece, what part will you play in the fate of the world?"

"That remains to be seen."

I shifted on the seat because my stomach had just swooped in a horrible way. I didn't like his answer, so I changed the subject. "What is the life of a princess, King See?"

"The life is one where I will look at you as often as you allow me. Where I can listen to your breaths and the rustle of your dress as you move through my palace. It is where you are my companion and my passion forever."

I couldn't imagine leaving my hotel. Would Valetise come here? And what of Mother? I'd be loath to leave my conservatory, and the hotel was always changing. What a shame to miss its evolution.

"What of my purpose?" I asked.

"Your purpose would be mine, mistress. You would be my creature in name, but I would be yours in all else."

I sipped again at the spiced wine. "Sir, you have told me that you do not know which direction your purpose shall take."

"That wouldn't be your concern."

"No, apparently not if I agree to become princess, and so I must take care to consider it while free. I've seen that princesses are largely at the mercy of their kings. I have seen one spurned and withered in self-esteem. I have seen some lavished upon in limited ways. I'm told that they are happy to be traded too. All in all, though, I have met many princes and all kings, I've seen very little of princesses. Is their role in the world's fate so small?"

"That is how ancients made it, mistress. We did not know this at first. We did not realize that once a female monster was claimed that she could not be unclaimed, and that marriage exchanged her purpose for that of her king's. Most of us would not have demanded this if given the choice. A princess is still a companion for our immortality, though, and such a monster can add warmth to our cold existence. I have seen this occur between other kings and their princesses, though fleetingly, and what we would share would not be fleeting, I assure you. I would treasure you always, Perantiqua, and your servitude to my plight would be but a small detail."

Servitude.

"Eternal servitude," I murmured to myself.

"What did you say?"

I blinked. "I'm reminded of a concept of King Raise's."

"You think I seek to lure you into a one-sided contract. It is not so."

Sounded so.

He leaned forward on his throne. "You retain choice in all else, mistress. You are revered."

I'd only have his word for it. Princess Bring wasn't revered. Princess Take's flesh was, but not the rest of her. I couldn't speak for the others, but I'd seen enough to feel caution.

"I fail to see where this conversation leads," See said.

"This matter is more complicated than I'd hoped, sir. I feel something in your company that I don't feel with any other."

"Tell me what you feel."

"I feel safe," I answered. "My body feels tight. I feel the urge to drive you mad with longing. I feel the urge to lessen your hurts. I wish to lay claim to you too."

"You speak of the fact we are meant for each other."

"I feel this as you do, and yet I've discovered that fate must be a consideration as you discovered also."

"What have you considered about fate then, mistress? This train of discussion carries the stench of second rejection."

I glanced at my lap. "To be sure of you isn't enough. I must be sure of who you will be and of your purpose. Those are my chief concerns. If I am married to your purpose, then how can I agree to become your princess when you have not decided which direction to walk in?"

"You would have me make a choice in haste?"

I shook my head. "Never, sir. For I must trust you are dedicated to that direction."

"What you ask could take centuries, maiden. I could not bear it. I must have you without further delay. I must surround myself in you. How can you bear the thought of being apart?"

A weight crushed on my chest. "I'm not sure, King See."

"Call me See if you will."

Midnight stole across my cheeks. "See."

My dress felt too tight. I shifted on the seat.

"You are mine. I affect you greatly," he said. "I wish to place my name on you so others can see how it is between us. You ask for the direction of my purpose, yet how can I think of that when you exist?"

"I wait for the day you figure it out, sir, and I long for it. But there's one other thing I would know, if I may?"

"My heart is heavy, Perantiqua, but I would still have your company through it. Speak then."

I set down my goblet. "You speak of companionship and passion by which I assume you mean we'll share delightful conversations and great arousals. These things excite me, but I wonder that you've said nothing of your heart nor mine."

"Hearts," the king repeated.

"What of love? In mythical stories of kings and princesses, there always seemed to be some mention of love."

"I am from mythical times, yes, and it was so. The notion was a romantic one and likely not felt as often as it was professed."

"Why don't you speak of love when you ask for my hand, See?"

"Because love is not a matter for ancients or immortals, Perantiqua. Love is a fleeting notion that might be overridden by many trivial things—a greater lust, greater riches, a breaking of mind, a changed purpose, or even a change of mind. Love is mortal and easily dies, and so it is not what I would feel for you, nor you for me if you were wise. What we feel for each other must be immortal."

The spiced wine soured in my throat and stomach. His words devastated me, and I felt young again for speaking of love. I'd grown up in a place where companionship was the maximum of what most adults could be to one another. Even if companions didn't often create children together, I'd witnessed love between them many times. I'd felt love of a different nature for my mother, and the love I held for her persevered to this day though she was gone.

Wasn't that immortal? If two people decided to love one another every day, and treat each other accordingly, then why couldn't love exist on an immortal scale? Monsterdom had exceeded my human life in every way so far, and that must hold true for love also, even if See wasn't convinced of it.

"Your answer disappoints me, sir," I replied. "It disappoints me more than anything you've admitted tonight."

I rose from the table, spilling the goblet when I jostled the table with my hip.

I strode for the entrance.

"You storm off in passion because I would feel something greater than love for you?" King See said in amazement.

I whirled back. "You've only spoken of what you will receive. What do I get but the title of princess?"

He stood, fists pressed against the table. "I do not make the rules on what princesses can and cannot do. But you would get me, Perantiqua. You would have me as I would have you. Is that not enough? Why am I not enough?"

My king needed reassurance. I released my held breath. "I see so much I want in you. I see hours of lovely conversation. I see the warmth of great company through the ages. I see someone to depend upon. But all of that would be monotone and tuneless without love. Without love, those things are the actions of puppets—talking for the sake of it, touching because we should, remaining with each other because we cannot reverse our union."

"I don't know what to say, mistress. I have not loved in my immortal life, and the love I felt for a mortal does not compare to the certainty I feel that you are mine."

"You don't need to say more, sir. Without love, without purpose, I will not be your princess."

He focused on the table between his closed fists. "Disappointment weighs heavy in me. I had hoped, Perantiqua."

"So had I."

"We are immortal. Might it be that your mind changes?"

"You have my criteria. They could change. I have never been immortal before and can't say with surety that they will not. But you could also be the one to change your mind."

"Perhaps on the direction of my purpose, but I have little respect for love. I have it in my mind to pretend purpose just to have you."

I sighed. "You've told me now, so I'll know to suspect falsehood."

King See straightened, and how I longed to see his face. As ancient as I thought and acted these days, I wasn't ancient enough to look at him. Was this a factor in my decision tonight? Did I seek a reason to remain apart from him?

Did I feel enough of a monster for him?

"Magnificent creature," he said. "You are decided against my offer of princess, but what of us now then? How can we be friends when we are meant to be? How can we engage in acts of pleasure with one another without feeling a claim too?"

I rested a hand on the frame of the entrance and rested my forehead against the cool stone. "I'm very uncertain about the future always, See. I will not try to guess it, but just act as I feel best in each moment."

"How do you feel now, Perantiqua? Do you feel leaden with futility as I?"

"Yes," I whispered. "I feel futility. I feel frustration. At every meeting with you, I wish for resolution and anticipate your touch."

"A touch we can never share," he said, and I felt and heard him draw nearer.

His power pressed against me, and he stopped.

His voice rumbled all around me. Through the wall under my hand and forehead and up through my feet to vibrate my body.

"Might I touch you, Perantiqua?" he asked.

I took a breath. "You cannot."

"I have an idea that I might touch you with my power." He stroked up the middle of my back in display.

I shivered and gasped.

Did I want to give him this gift tonight? Did I want this gift for myself too? I felt fragile after our discussion. I'd felt fragile upon coming here. I'd learned once, when younger, how arousal could confuse a person and leave them desperate and wild. "You must not leave me wanting, See."

He hissed. "I will never leave you wanting again."

I remained facing the wall. "Then touch me. I have longed for it."

"As have I, maiden."

I sank through the stone wall. The stone solidified again when I was halfway through, my upper body in the outside hallway, and the rest of my body in the dining chamber with See. I couldn't move my hips. Of course, I could break free of this stone if I chose.

Couldn't I? I didn't wish to test it and dispel the illusion of being trapped.

My breath quickened as See's power lifted my dress. Cool air brushed my calves, then the backs of my thighs. A ripping noise reached my ears as the bottom of my dress was torn away, and I was left in my underwear.

Was he sitting in his throne or standing as close as he dared?

I pushed up against the lower wall, staring at the nude scenes covering every wall.

His power massaged its way up my legs, and when he passed my knees, I started to feel every bit of the attention between my thighs.

The king pulled my underwear taut and then jerked it off with a savage burst.

I was bare to him, and I wished to witness if he was mad with longing at the sight. I never wanted him to think of her again. I wanted him consumed with thoughts of me.

I wanted him to love me.

I banished the whimsical thought, determined to enjoy this exchange for what it was.

His power parted my legs and then spread my cheeks wide to bare me further still.

He'd touch me soon. Surely he'd touch me soon.

His groan drifted from the dining chamber into the hall, and I would've smiled if the anticipation wasn't driving me insane.

The king pushed his power between my legs and dragged down to the button I'd circled when pleasuring myself. He flicked it gently, and I jerked against the stone.

My.

He flicked again, and I moaned. He flicked in rhythm with slightly too long between each touch. Enough that I nearly couldn't bear the wait. Enough that I savored each press. My moan was more of a constant whimper when See pressed a rod of his power against my entrance. I gasped and wiggled at the size, but he quickly shrunk the width to better proportions. When he pushed inside, I didn't know what to make of the pressure. He was exploring parts of me that I hadn't yet explored, and I wanted him to explore them, and him alone.

Flick.

He slid in and out, and my eyes popped as a warmth built steadily deep within me in response. I couldn't move my hips back against him, but if I'd been free, I'd have sunk to all fours to achieve it.

Flick.

My toes curled in my heels. My moans and pleas echoed down the hall, and my face showed equal pained rapture to the models in the paintings. I knew how they felt. I wanted what they'd wanted.

Flick.

"See," I pleaded.

In. Out. Flick.

The warmth built with each movement, then started to subside between times, but I could feel it mounting. I wanted to will it to completion. I want it to never get there and to exist in this space of mindless pleasure. I could feel slickness on my thighs.

Closer.

"See," I urged.

The pace didn't change. I sobbed a little as pleasure drifted in and out like dusk and dawn.

My thoughts weren't my own, and my body felt far away. I was a creature of rhythmic moan and shaking. I could feel myself swept up in it and not in control of anything.

Flick.

And that was enough.

I jolted violently with all See had unleashed in me, feeling how the surrounding palace shook with the force of our pleasure making. He was present through it all, and I felt cradled by him in the deepest thicket of my climax. I didn't mind him witnessing my undoing.

I shook and trembled. Tears fell from my eyes. I could feel how my body clenched in the aftermath and wondered what a king thought of seeing such things.

But then, when my body was still sensitive, his power slithered between my folds once again. The push and pull was rapid, and I screamed at first. When the intensity shifted to a promise of more pleasure, I screamed for more.

I slapped my hands against stone and found I could slightly move my hips to rock against his power.

Rapid.

So fast.

A blur.

This was no slow descent this time. I erupted, and when King See didn't stop sliding his power between my legs, I screamed my way into fresh mindlessness.

I was departed from reason, an animal of instinct. I'd become ancient enough to revel in that abandon and not feel ashamed or confused about receiving such a gift.

There was a soft press against my core like a kiss as the last of my shakes left me. King See's power retreated, and I absorbed the swollen and satiated and slick feeling of me.

Here, this monster had made me feel so much, and we'd never touched. I almost laughed at the idea that we'd do anything other than end up chained to each other.

I lifted a hand to wipe my eyes and stilled as embroidered leather boots caught my focus. I jerked upward and looked directly at King See down the hall.

How long had he been lurking there?

He'd watched my rapture—every bit if I had to guess. And here I'd felt so secure on this side of the wall.

"We have our answer to one question at least," he said darkly. Hoarsely. "There can be no passion without claim. You can feel uncertain of our future, Perantiqua, but I will not allow you a future with another. None shall see this part of you but I."

I was trapped in his wall, naked from the waist down aside from my towering heels. My body still pulsed from his ministrations. None of that was the reason I agreed with him. "There will be no other for you. There will be no other princesses, See. There will be no Princess Take."

"There has been none of her since you blinded me, maiden. There will be none of her ever."

We weren't king and princess, but we were something. I had no wish to define our us beyond the fact we wouldn't share passion with others. Not yet.

King See eased free of his velvet jacket, then hooked the garment over a ghoul statue. "To cover yourself in," he said. "I'm afraid your magnificent gown didn't make it."

He tucked my torn underwear into the breast pocket of his billowing, black shirt. "You will feel me until dawn."

I would feel him always.

It was just that he hadn't decided on his purpose.

It was just that he didn't believe in love.