Page 117 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
Ten years was a blink, and yet for those in the trappings of love, I was certain that duration felt unbearable.
I squeezed her shoulder as I passed.
My champions lurked behind the Changes, and glee of the world’s reckoning lit their cackling faces. I smirked as madness flickered into being within me.
King No Change was rather less in power than last night, having transferred much of his power to Huckery. I could not say how King No Change would serve me, but his fate would reveal itself soon enough. For now, I could certainly say that he would never harm monsters again.
He was looking at his princess. She did not look back. For in the transfer, I fathomed she had gained great clarity of her future. The princess, who was not really a princess any longer, would remain awake for this battle. Perhaps the one after that, and then she would need to pay the price of her surge in power.One year.Not so bad, really. Not compared to Duchess Raise, nor Huckery.
Her fate? My lips torsioned at the thought. For what she would become gave me suchhopeof a saved world.
All in good time.
I joined See at the fore. “Why are you here?”
“Because I must be this time.”
When I did not reply, he added, “I am your escape, my darkness.”
Ah.And truthfully, if this went astray, I felt emboldened by the idea that I might glimpse his milky eyes one last time.
I turned to address my monsters, but Mother’s frail wheeze cut me off.
“Patch.” She coughed after.
Cassandra did not greet me. The mother was deep in vigil and preparing for her great battle with the combined force of her and Niyna’s powers.
“Yes, Mother?” I asked.
She wheezed, “You must unstitch me now, my Patch. My fate is not to remain in this place.”
My focus shot to her eyes. “Where does fate lead you?”
“To somewhere you will find me. This is not our goodbye. Do not fear.”
Not an easy thing. There was something reassuring about having my mother stitched where I could never lose her. “Why must I unstitch you?”
She smiled. “Because this is a strong moment, Perantiqua. Future moments may not be. You must unstitch me while knowing that we will still share our goodbye.”
My heart squeezed in my chest. I whispered, “So if I do not unstitch you, then you will never go.”
“I will go, as we all will, and there will be no saving.”
I bowed my head, pain filling me. “Ancients are merciless tonight. To place saving between queendom and my mother.”
“You have known,” she said, coughing.
I have denied.“We will have our goodbye?”
“We will, my Patch. I tell you true.”
I had not expected that a force could still my hand in matters of queenly duty, but my mother was my last love. She was my only love, and the child in me… Oh, but the child in my soul. I had told her that our mother would never leave us.
I closed my eyes. “I lied to my self that you would always be here.”
“We both hoped, Daughter. That is not the same thing as a lie.”
Tears squeezed from my eyes. “Mother, I believed you would always provide for me.”
