Page 45 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
King See’s jaw tightened. “I had to be sure, and though I hoped you had won the victory against yourself through the grave—and you were so very and obviously different upon your return—I could not bear undertaking betrayal again, and so I waited for proof.”
“What proof?” I asked coldly. This conversation would not lead to immediate healing of our romance.
The world demanded a healing of our romance, if we were to save it.
King See looked into my eyes as if he were not shackled, and as if I did not sit upon a throne.
He said, “Proof that you had transcended love.”
Laughter startled from me, and I was genuinely amused. “Sir, there is no reason to transcend a love that does not exist.”
He remained mute, but I perceived a new darkness in his milky gaze. Worry? Disagreement? Annoyance that I was not believing his story?
“You have transcended what you feel for me,” he urged. “I witnessed this when you asked me for information and advice two nights ago—you askedmefor these things, the king that betrayed you. I felt the exact moment that you placed queenly matters so certainly before our romance. In exchange for that information, you even granted me power, though I have delivered you with so much pain.Thatis proof of the shift in you, Perantiqua.”
Though I wished to disagree with King See until the end of time, we did not have much time at all, and in self, I was certain indeed. “I feel no hesitation in the order of queendom and romance. In the haze that robbed me of all but mind and power, I uncovered the reason of me. That reason was not you.”
His milky gaze swirled. His jaw tightened again. “Who is your reason?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Jealousy, See?”
“Yes, always. Forevermore. That is one of the prices I pay, and I pay it gladly.”
I withheld a shudder. “I would keep you jealous if I held any feelings for you, but I do not, and so I shall tell you that the reason of me is my love of monsters. That is how I put queendom before my heart.”
There was a great silence where I watched See wrestle with his emotions. There was a pang in me that I did not wish to spark to a flame. See was the strongest monster after myself, yet he would never reach my queenly heights. He would always struggle with separating the layers of himself to achieve the clarity that had been so ruthlessly ingrained in me. Perhaps he had been correct in mentioning the prices of romance with a queen.
See said, “You have the tools to transcend love. That is the proof I needed to know that a second betrayal would not be needed. Now I might speak the truth to you without fear of eliminating our fate and the fate of all monsters.”
Candor did not interrupt him.
“You might speak the truth, sir, but there is no need to transcend love any longer. You can rest happy in the knowledge that queendom will always come first because there is nothing to challenge it. You saved monsters single-handedly and forced a weak queen to become strong. How wise and all-seeing you are. None of us is anything without your interference.”
King See gazed upon me, and I felt—as I so often had in hiscompany—the inner workings of his purpose and power to see past, present, and future. He could not see these things in my company, but he had seen them in the absence of me. King See recalled possible paths well enough between times.
Candor crossed her legs the other way.
My voice dripped ice. “I suggest you speak all that you wish to speak. It is unlikely that I will grant another audience.”
“There will be more audiences. The world is ending and we must hurry in romance,” he said low.
Drat.I studied him. I had hoped to keep all of that hidden. Far better that See had believed in the futility of our love. I would have believed his actions more readily. “The Real End is far more likely than the healing of romance. The thought of sharing romance with you makes me shudder within.”
The air changed, and I welcomed the sign of his rage.
His chains rattled. “You will shudder for a different reason soon. You have given me proof, and so shall I. I will not rest until that time.”
“Shackled as you are, resting is exactly what you will do,” I drawled.
See shook his shackles harder, and his voice gained a mild tone.See’s rage.“Love of monsters is the reason of you. You will entertain the thought of romance—no, you willchaseour romance—because you can do no other. Just as Princess Change could not engage in life without the magic of growing filling her soul.”
The stone walls of my throne room squeezed together, and the stones forming the floor rattled in place. “Be careful, King See. Beverycareful. If you contain a shred of certainty about what a queen may chase and entertain, then you contain too much certainty.” I waved a hand in the air. “Is this all you have? I confess myself disappointed. I had expected a well-crafted lie at the very least. Perhaps I am too aware of the vast difference between us now. You were only enough for aweaker queen.”
The words struck him. The last sentence specifically. This was what he feared—that he was not strong enough for me.
King See’s throat worked. “I had not ever seen futures involving you, Perantiqua. Until one night, for no obvious reason, there came a brief period of time when the fullness of sight was returned to me. For five minutes only.”
I frowned. “The full future? All paths, including mine?”
