Page 72 of Of Monsters Of Kings

“You don’t wish to be a princess?” Huckery demanded. “Whyever not?”

This came painfully close to thoughts I didn’t want to think about. The thing was, I hadn’t wanted to be a princess, and I still might not want to be a princess, but things with See were murky, and I felt confused about what I wanted altogether. Did I regret rejecting his claim? I didn’t believe so, and yet if I’d accepted the mantle of princess, he might not have stopped whispering to me that night a week ago, and I might not have cried, nor felt so embarrassed about the exchange. If none of that had happened, then I might not have felt so angry at him. There might not have been this gulf between us that now existed.

“I had to get a snuffing share of the hotel back from King Bring,” I told them. “Rejecting King See’s claim was the deal.”

“You did that just for a snuffing share of a hotel?” Loup was very confused. “Such a small price. You might have demanded much. Why so little?”

“Asking that exact thing seemed important to my future. In fact, that is what I’d like to discuss with your king. If he’d be kind enough to return his one-fifth snuffing share of my hotel, I’d be much obliged.”

Huckery narrowed his gaze. “How obliged?”

“Much obliged, like I said.”

The three princes considered that.

“We must report to our liege,” said Unguis. “You will stay here and not escape?”

I had things to do, but the possible return of another one-fifth share overrode my other plans. I did wish that they’d agreed to send a quick message to See, though, for he must be worried about not finding me at the hotel.

“I’ll stay here under dusk,” I said.

I’d stay here and speak to King Change.

Chapter Sixteen

I learned perspective,

Under a great tree.

One saw a wondrous cave.

One saw a perfect grave.

My jaw cracked on a yawn, and I stretched my arms overhead.

“Bother.” My white dress was ruined by dirt, though the dirt streaked and dotted the canvas in a nonsense pattern that I could appreciate with a slight alteration to my perspective.

“I slept under a tree then,” I said. That was a first. Did everyone in Change’s kingdom get to do the same? What a great thing.

Dirt showered down the bank to my left, and I glanced that way only to encounter a blurred form and a balloon of power.

King Change.

I stood quickly, brushing at my dress. “Good morning, sir. Thank you for coming.”

He stalked down the bank in a staggering semblance of an injured soldier’s march. I knew well enough to keep space between myself and kings. Even if my mind was good enough to smudge them out somewhat, they were nothing like a prince.

“Wench,” he rasped. “I come when I desire and through no desire of yours.”

I’d overstepped. “Of course, sir. You are a king, and this is your kingdom.”

“You are right, it is mine—ruined and sorry kingdom though it is. A reflection of me, assuredly.”

Whatever did he mean by that? “I found the sight of the forest wonderful.”

“Then you are as much a fool as I have wished you to be. Why then are you uncaged and free enough to glimpse my kingdom? I had ordered you caged and ruined.”

I glanced at the crushed remains of the metal trap behind me. “The cage became cramped, so I got myself out. Then, when I realized I was in a cave under a great tree, I could not resist seeing the rest.”

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