Page 122 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
One side of his face was as I had known it. The other side was an empty socket, and blood streaked his face beneath. A stitch for an unchanging king to bind him to deathly fate, an empty socket for his brother, who had tried to stop me. I felt no humor, but still remarked, “Of sockets, of stitches.”
The air charged, and his mild tone grewmilder yet.Deep fury.
I said, “Why are you here when I killed your brother, sir?”
“Because I cannot do other. Because you are you, and I am me. So though disgust and fury fill me, I will help you to go on, but you must stand for monsters if you wish to save the world. I cannot bring myself to lift you or assist you that much after what you have done.”
I should help him to understand, I supposed. There was just no energy in me to do so. To do anything. “Monsters are gone.”
“And they will not come back if you kneel here,” he snapped. “What of pawns?”
My head lifted.Pawns!Simple and beloved pawns.
I surged to my feet, then staggered to the ground again. “Ending an immortality has robbed me of strength.”
My gaze trailed up to See.
His face was cold—colder than I had seen it. Even when he had betrayed me, that coldness was contrived. This was not, for I had killed See’s brother.
Despite his prior declaration, my prince consort stooped to pick me up. His neck and arms strained with the desire to be as far from me as possible. “You are lucky that three of my brothers might still return if I help you now.”
I did not answer. Luck did not factor much into fate. Rather, I got the sense that all futures had been decided at the beginning of time, and we were merely wandering through a maze choosing as best as we could.
See returned me to the carriage and set me within, slamming the door after.
The carriage was unnecessary and harder for him to tow to my queendom. Yet perhaps the carriagewasnecessary for a prince who could not bear to touch his queen.
I rested my head against the cushion. And though a hissing and a roar rumbled in the distance, my mind took me in and out of consciousness.
Ending an immortal existence had drained me of strength indeed.
The carriage thumped against the ground, and the door was ripped open. See dragged me out. “Ruin is almost upon us.”
I could fathom that utter pandemonium filled the world now that King Change was gone forever. All manner of beastliness would have been unlocked in humans, and I expected they would currently be chasing extinction harder than ever.
See blurred us to the grave, and a hissing filled my ears before the frantic rustle of hellebores replaced it.
Still holding me in his arms, See backed away from the grave, tense with the anticipation of evil collapsing this last defense.
My mother’s grave held true.
See set me on my feet, and I dropped to a knee. Not two, of course, that had only happened on the brink of despair.
I glanced in Mother’s direction. I sucked in a sharp inhale and surged to my feet. “Mother?”
No answer.
Gone?
Mother had left this place. I glanced to her grave and thought of the sickness that lay beyond. But my mother had promised we would have our goodbye. I must hold to that.
“Look what you have achieved,” See sneered.
I turned and my stomach dropped at the sight of fourteen pawn statues. They had been turned to stone in the middle of engaging conversation. All of their faces were etched with worry, but they had been doing their best to keep matters cheerful until our return.
Were they terrified in their last breaths? My heartache was a vise. I had not even felt them leave me in the raging hiss and lightning of Cassandra and Niyna’s battle.
My mother was gone.
