Page 120 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
Candor stepped out and into her armchair, and waited for Marchioness Take to free Huckery from the carriage top. Candor held out her arms for Huckery, and buried in the masses of his fur, she joined the champions.
Cassandra beckoned first to the Changes. The black gained in the absence of her lightning. Princess Change gripped her king’s arm to wrench him forward until they stood upon Cassandra’s palm.
Princess Change rose up and kissed her king. In what could be their final moment. And her king kissed her back, perhaps pretending for what could behisfinal moments, that he was a different creature who could change.
I waited for Cassandra to throw them, or encase them in lightning. Instead, to my horror, black veins extended through her palm and fingers from theChanges’ feet.
Cassandra screamed, and the princess held the king upright as the mother’s fingers twitched and leaped in pain. Cassandra clamped tight on the Changes, and I choked on my inhale as it was the Changes’ turn to scream and shout.
Something was wrong.
Fate was not in line.
An ingredient was wrong.
There is one who must not remain.
But who?
I blurred to the Changes, and as I blurred, I turned off my bodily sensations. In my mind, I crouched before the rustiest of cogs. The cog that had informed me of See’s ulterior motive.Please do not be See.
I would lose another monster today. The balance of fate demanded it.Please not See.
“Please spin,” I whispered to the cogs. “Monsters need us.Please.”
A wisp. Not a mere mist, but a hearty wisp that was formed and unafraid. And as I inhaled the wisp, I already knew its truth and connection. I had just feared acknowledging it so.
Because he was a monster.
He was still a monster.
But he could not stay.
Coming back to my body, I was only first aware of my hand reaching into my trouser pocket to retrieve the needle there. Though my mind had slowed everything so painfully, my actual movements were a savage, queenly blur.
I was standing upon Cassandra’s fingers before King No Change.
The king who could not change.
The king who could not stay.
My needle was descending, and so removed from my body as I had been, and now so locked in the ruthless blow that I must deliver, I had not noticed See move.
He stood between me and his brother.
Brotherhood.
That was why my prince had come. To prevent me stitching his brother to the fate of the world. Where other monsters, except Life, would all return, this unchanging king never would. Because his very existence would always grant an entry point for ruin.
My face twisted in horror because it was too late to change the course of my needle. The point of it gleamed in the moonlight as it pierced into See’s right eye.
My heart screamed, and some force rose in me to hurtle See away. The needle’s descent continued to its mark, and King Change’s gaze lifted to mine. A smirking gaze, for I had perhaps just killed the creature sharing my immortal romance, and this king was a ruining king indeed.
Princess Change was screaming from the pain of Cassandra’s tight grip as she held the king in place for my death blow.
I was about to kill a monster.
Life is not meant to be easy, Fiftieth Daughter. Life is meant to be possible.
