Page 121 of Of Monsters Of Kings

“I’m free. There is no question.”

“We would appreciate your help in tidying this matter so it can be filed away,” Seal said again. “King Raise believes that you are in breach of this contract. If this matter cannot be resolved between you, then it would be decided by the other kings.”

I might rely on Bring and See in this, but not the others. And not Raise. That was three against two. “I might entertain a meeting with King Raise in an above-ground location of my choosing. This doesn’t mean I believe there any basis to his far-reaching attempt to control my freedom. If I am to entertain a meeting, then I would need something to show me that your liege realizes this is a boon and a boredom to me.”

Seal cocked a brow. “An unusual request. What would you require?”

“When King See snuffed this space, each king took a snuffing share of the hotel. I would like your king’s one-fifth snuffing share returned permanently and in full. No more and no less.”

The princes exchanged a look.

“That doesn’t seem a lot at all,” Sign said.

“You could ask more,” Deliver added.

Seal swept a bow. “I shall take this to our liege, and you shall know our answer in short duration.”

With that, Princes Sign, Seal, and Deliver walked out of the wall of bars and disappeared below the surface.

I released a breath. “An unexpected twist.”

The last snuffing share was so close, I could almost taste it. I jogged up the stairs, excitement a tight coil in me. I continued past the first and second floors, then followed the curved staircase to my conservatory.

I took care not to step on the glass panel at the center but strode directly to the burgundy drape that I’d almost pulled free a week ago. I might have gotten on well enough if I’d looked upon myself then, but I’d had several hours in Raise’s kingdom where I’d forged an impossible escape born of my capability and help from the right friends, and then an evening with See where I’d respected my needs and possible future alongside his, and him a king. These small practices convinced me even more of the ideas I’d painted for myself one week ago.

I strode forward and gripped the drape.

“If you detest what you see, then you know how to teach yourself otherwise, Perantiqua. You are very ancient in many matters, and you’ll be ancient in this matter soon enough.” I banished my misgivings and yanked hard.

The copper-framed mirror beneath was revealed, and not a speck of dust obscured the surface.

Wrapped as I was in See’s velvet jacket, I could only see my face, lower legs, and hands. My face had worried me most, and I ignored the rest to study it.

A thick, horizontal stitch marred the skin at the base of my neck, and another stitched row—neat and tidy by comparison to the one at the base of my neck—attached my neck and jaw. My lips were stitched on as I’d known, and then I had a masklike panel that attached through stitches under my cheekbones and across the bridge of my nose, then across my eyebrows and across my temples.

Another stitched row was visible just inside my blonde hairline and more still around my ears. I was a quilt, and all manner of colors. Every stitch was different and every patch. Fifty parts of me belonged to fifty different people. Twelve hundred years ago, my human ancestor entered the kingdom of stairs to carve a deal with King Raise. What bravery. And how had she been so sure of her purpose to wither for me to exist?

Fifty women had gone through pain and suffering for me.

I’d unintentionally made light of their sacrifices—and them with only the smallest knowledge of this world of immortals and ancients and monsters. Each of them was visible in the patches of me now, and so they should be for all they’d given me and achieved.

The stitches holding each patch connected two of my ancestors. Did they connect the sacrifice of mother and daughter? I’d never know, but the thought warmed me.

Of all the stories I’d seen on monsters since Mother died, mine felt the most incredible because I’d lived it.

I studied my hands and legs, then dropped See’s jacket to view the rest of my body. There was a mismatch to each half of my body that my mind enjoyed. I might have a stitch beneath my elbow on one side, and then a stitch midway through my upper arm on the other side.

How utterly fascinating.

I spun to view the back and recalled how See had groaned at the sight.

“How am I possible?” I traced the great chain of X stitches between my hips. The same stitch circled the joint of each hip and continued across my back and around my sides. “Mother, thank you.” She’d done a beautiful job.

This body was my own, and I was the monster that filled it, but I must always, always remain grateful for the sacrifices that had made me magnificent.

My practice started today.

“Perantiqua, you are a magnificent, capable monster who gives frights as well as receives them. You will only surround yourself with people who believe in the best of you, but never forget that how you perceive yourself is most important of all.”

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