Page 44 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
“King See wishes to be believed because you choose to believeinhim, not because you are in possession of a lie detector. Just as you would wish to be believed on your merits and character. Yes, in answer. But that does not mean that you should not use my magic either. There is a time for truth. There is a time for faith. Only you can decide which to employ.”
I had expected as much. “Do you know…?”
Though I did not specify what she might know, Candor shook her head. “King See often opts for silence in my presence. I do not perceive this silence to be from malicious subterfuge. My role is nuanced, Your Majesty. I must consider every monster’s purpose when I utter truth—in King See’s case, his ability to see the future. He may act in one moment to avoid a disastrous path, and I must tread with care lest I undo his tending efforts. I admit that he is the most difficult monster to seek truth from, for I am often unsure whether I am safe to uncover his truth.”
For Candor to suppose that King See might be working for good did not sit well in my bile duct. For that would be exactly what he wanted monsters to believe, so thwarted in overthrowing me as he had been.
As for his tendency toward silence, and how well he shrouded the truth… this was as he had ever been. I had always struggled to see into the heart and mind of him.
I tapped the armrest of my throne. “Though King See prefers to be believed on his merits, we are rather past that. Perhaps in the future, we can reach this place where faith takes flight. However, sand fills the hourglass, and faith is more of a gradual concept. Candor, you arose in my queendom walls for a great reason. I bid you to wield the truth in the matter of rebuilding romance between a queen and a king. If you should be unsure of the safety of divulging King See’s truth, then let us settle on a gesture. If I cannot know the proper truth in his silences or comments, then I would still know that he withholds information.”
My skeleton monster clasped her hands together. “As you bid, my queen. I shall change the crossing of my legs to alert you to my uncertainty in his withholding silences. While I should not like to cause you pain, if there is pain to be felt, let it be felt once, and then let uncertainty and lies be done.”
I considered her wisdom. “I would like that. There is sense in a single pain.”
I tuned out my bodily senses and settled into the whirring of my minds. My new theories and connections of King See’s betrayal centered on the impossibility of a harem. There were many theories. Which would prove true? Which would he try to sway me into believing?
I tuned into my bodily senses again.
Goodness.King See was here. Right before me and shackled to his panel. Is, Has Been, and Will Be, stood either side of my throne. Candor sat in her armchair with her legs uncrossed.
How long had they waited?
“Faithful pawns, you may leave,” I said to my seeing pawns, who had once answered their seeing king and now stood with me against him.
They bowed and lumbered out, but not without casting furtive looks over their shoulders.
“Perantiqua,” stated King See. He could hardly bow whileshackled, and his shackled state suited me. As did my choice of meeting place. As did my seat on this throne.
King See would never again be in doubt as to who ruled the world.
I replied, “Do you use my name without proper title in an attempt to be what you have been?”
“We have always been what weare. We have always been what we can be.”
Candor did not correct him, nor did she cross her legs. He spoke truth. King See wished me to believe that we could return to our previous fate.
I looked into milky eyes, and there was so much to demand that I could demand nothing. But I was not the monster who had sought this meeting. “Why did you seek an audience?”
“Why did you deny it, then grant it?” he asked in a silken voice.
That silken voice had undressed me many times, and yet I wished to shudder in revulsion upon hearing it tonight. I detested the idea of romance with him.
And I loved him, for he was a monster.
I waited, and King See’s face settled into grave lines. But why did he not appear cowed? Why was his inky black hair and short, clipped beard lush and groomed? Why did he stand straight-backed and sure? His black velvet coat, embroidered with silver thread, was impeccable, as was his tunic beneath. Chalky skin and oversized joints and thin, cruel lips that had kissed me into oblivion.
Why did he not crawl to reenter my favor? I did not wish to view his dignity.
“I come to you,” he said, then stopped. “To explain. When I undertook to betray you, I did not expect the aftermath would become the hardest chapter. I expected that… I feared that…”
Candor crossed her legs.
“Are you so unused to speaking your true thoughts aloud,sir?” I inquired. At least he had not denied betraying me, though a small sinking in my stomach did surprise me. Had part of me still hoped?
His mouth pressed into a grim line. “I had to be sure that the betrayal had worked. I could not put you through that a second time. I could not play that role twice either. Perhaps that was my larger concern.”
I hummed. “So you betrayed me for my own good. That is the story you would like to tell. How tiresome.”
