Page 48 of Of Monsters Of Kings

“Indeed? And do you feel this now?”

“Terribly, sir.”

He cursed. “The other princesses slept for far longer. Most can look upon me, if not all into me.”

“How long?”

“Varying amounts. Fifty years for… one of them.”

I couldn’t hope to compete with that. “It’s a wonder you would want me for princess when I can’t come any closer than this.”

“You are ancient, but freshly so. Do not assume what may bring wonder to an immortal king. This is the thing I would ask of you. When next we meet, if your mind is sound, I would look upon you.”

He asked for a lot. That was one thing I didn’t wish to give right now. But he’d handled my rejection with more grace than he royally had to. He’d seen my monster form before, too, and I recalled how he’d soothed my worries.

“For how long would you look upon me?”

“For a night entire.”

An entire night? “Why would anyone wish to look at another for an entire night?”

“You are not a mere another.”

I needed an escape hole from Toil, Sigil, and Hex until their liege accepted my offer. “I can do that.”

“And will you wear these same clothes that torture me with their creaks at your every breath?”

I glanced down, then covered my swelling chest with both hands. The thought of him looking at me for an entire night in these clothes was unsettling to a powerful degree. Thankfully, that wasn’t an issue. “Sir, I have an inkling that the guest’s suitcase I dress from doesn’t let me choose what I wear.”

“Then no matter,” he answered, as if I’d told him a cloudy day was forecasted. “There is no tiara fit for your head, and there is no dress that could compete. Only moonlight might dress you as you deserve if it were to touch your naked skin.”

“Why do you speak such words to me?” I whispered.

He did not answer, and as he tended to do this, I’d assumed an answer wasn’t coming and had turned to leave when King See deigned to reply.

“I find myself powerless not to,” he told me.

As I walked down the stairs, I pondered that only a foolish person would hear the words “powerless” and “king” in the same sentence and not feel wary.

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.

There 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.

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