Page 81 of Of Monsters Of Kings

“Lady Patch, no,” said Has Been. “Skeleton crews are a cover for the movement of princes. Humans can be suspicious of anything out of the ordinary—a conventional weakness, you understand. They took notice of us moving about in threes when this pulse was smaller. Our lieges found it prudent to lean into this natural fear rather than cover it and risk deepening suspicions. At the time, we had recently woken and the way was less clear. We sought to lessen our vulnerability while establishing the kingdoms here. So our kings forced a number of human men to move about in threes. They ordered them to engage in pitiful acts of vengeance and cruelty. Our kings whispered the term “skeleton crew” on the air for a time, and soon the idea took. Humans started to form skeleton crews themselves, and the idea has persevered through some twelve hundred years.”

I’d learned much today. “There was a time when kings and princes agreed?”

Sigil grumbled. “Think not of that, lady, for there has been a far greater time spent in disagreement.”

In fairness, I couldn’t imagine the kings seeing eye to eye. Some wished to save, and others to ruin, and some wished nor cared for naught.

The door in my wall of bars creaked open to admit three more princes.

“Is this a soiree then?” Gangrel asked, coming through first. “My liege will be annoyed not to have received an invite.”

I’d never fully looked at Take’s prince, but his body and face were as his feet, shriveled like all liquid had been pulled from his body. He dressed more finely than the other princes, and lace rippled at his cuffs and throat. I couldn’t identify the shining material of his jacket, but the weapon across his back was a gleaming spear. Though the other princes wore weapons, too, none wore theirs as boldly as Gangrel.

“That is no way to greet me, Prince Gangrel,” I scolded, then immediately wondered at my audacity in speaking such a way to a prince.

He was appropriately chastened and executed a hasty bow.

Goodness, his apology sat very well with me. My expectations for princes must have altered after recent slumber and increasing ancientness.

Behind him, Vassal and Sanguine trailed in, grandly dressed and carrying spears across their backs too.

Vassal blushed, stealing peeks of me.

“Lady Patch,” he squeaked, bowing low. “I’ve anticipated this meeting since the honor of viewing you in my liege’s ballroom.”

I dipped my head. “Prince Vassal, a pleasure to meet you. And you, Prince Sanguine.”

Sanguine dipped his head in return, and appeared a serious, reserved kind of monster. Very different to the forthright Gangrel and the bashful Vassal.

Twelve princes. Hotel Vitale was growing crowded. Especially with all of these trinkets.

Piles of golden jewels and gems towered high across the cobblestones. Ornate furniture scattered the space, draped with flowing materials that glittered and gleamed. “Are all of these for me?” I asked. “And just to make me amenable to the idea of concubine or princess?”

Unguis snapped, “Who seeks to make you concubine?”

His question was lost as the hellebores on my mother’s grave parted way in a great rustle. Her grave caved into a widening yawn that dragged the stone surface down, stretching wider until half of the courtyard or more was a gigantic chasm. Trinkets toppled into the black hole. Gems and coins and furniture and more were sucked into the ground, and the rattle and groan made the princes leap back with shouts of alarm.

I watched until the last glinting diamond disappeared and the cobblestones returned as if they’d never shifted. The hellebores smoothed over Mother’s grave with a satisfied rustle.

That was that. Part of me had worried about finding a place for all those trinkets. Mother must’ve liked the sight of them.

“What happened, lady?” whispered Vassal. “I have never seen such a thing.”

I glanced at the prince. “You’ve never seen the ground eat anything?”

The prince shook his head.

“Neither have I,” I told him. “But I’ve never seen much of anything that’s happened to me lately, so I wasn’t going to mention how strange this seemed by conventional standards.”

Gangrel snorted. “Such cheap trinkets belong in the ground, lady. We have a trinket most rare and exquisite indeed.”

I wasn’t alone in peering around the courtyard, but no new pile of gems and coins appeared for Mother to yawn away.

Take’s prince drew a thin letter from within his leather tunic and extended it to me.

I ran my stitched-on thumb over the fanged seal. “And what’s this?”

Sanguine answered, “Nothing so common as swatches of satin or a chaise grandly upholstered. My liege gives you information, lady. Something no one else knows, or maybe something no one else wants you to know. He gives you knowledge.”

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