Page 74 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
I released my power at once and in defeat. I swallowed hard against my irrational instincts.My emotion.I had not expected that emotion could interfere with my queenly actions again. I had been caught off guard, already in grief from parting with Richalle.
I drew forth the numbness of the haze in my mind, andthen released the anguish of my body into it. After that, I worked to release grief from my mind too. Soon enough, the clamor faded and the whirring of connection settled upon me again.
My power swept outward and my heart filled at the sight of the artery fixed. Strong. Pliable. Pumping with the world’s vitality. We had achieved something that had felt impossible.
Unreachable.
And Princess Change was right. The enormity of this… could not have come without a greater price.
Yet I could not believe that the duchess had been taken so suddenly from us. Without sight of her death. Without closure. Without even the true confirmation that she was really dead and not merely buried.
Even a queen could not face that cruelty.
I tuned back into my body and nodded at the princess. My gaze lifted to peer past her at the duke. “We must get him back to the queendom. Princess Change is right. Ancients will not take well to us disrespecting this miracle. I have dug enough and can dig no more.”
Princess Take surged to her feet. “She could be out there. Just like we found him.”
“And I have faith in her ability to return to us if she is designed to.” The words were hollow, and the princess, who tended to test the boundaries most often anyway, could hear that well enough.
She crossed her arms. “And what about when it is my turn? Will you leave me buried?”
Princess Bring squelched in alarm. Of all the princesses, only the one of change showed no alarm at the idea of a burial. That was likely her idea of bliss, to be so surrounded by soil.
“All seams must be mended, Princess Take. But I do not see the sense in a world without monsters. I cannot see why we would have been perfectly crafted to heal the world, but thennever exist in it. If that was our fate, then that would be a heartless fate indeed.”
Her pouty lips twisted into a smirk. “So you would have me believe in the mercy of ancients? Ancients who placed my king in cold purpose to break him, and who have demanded so much of monsters.”
I approached her, drawing in my power enough that I could place a hand on her shoulder. I looked at her. “You do not really know much of demand, Princess Take. The mother who battled back darkness with a shield, though,sheknew of demand. Her entire life was lived in sacrifice, and her death in pain. Her living death in servitude, and then her final death in battle. I am sure, beyond reason, that you will meet the demands upon you as a monster of purpose. As I will. As we all will. For that is who we are.”
The princess’s defiance leached away.
She did not reply, and I did not demand one from her.
I stooped down and picked up the duke, uncaring of the mud and dirt that clung to my clothing and skin. His eyes were moving behind his eyelids. Soon he would awaken.
I sighed. “My champions, you have done monsters and the world a great service tonight. Thank you. And now we must do what we can. We return to my queendom.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Return of one
And not the other
What mysteries control us.
Ipatted the steed’s neck and took a single step, then glanced back. Tonight had been a sore reminder that I could lose my monsters at any time. Words could not be left unsaid. “Thank you for bringing me here with all speed, dear Life. What a reliable monster you are, always there when I need you most. You have truly been an exquisite gift.”
Life tossed his head, and a ripple ran through the mount’s splinters.
I walked on through the gothic halls of a palace that once felt like the safest place in Vitale. The openings to the dawn sky were ornate with carved cobwebs and thorns. Twisted gargoyles hung high in protection and threat. Rich artwork. Candelabras. This princedom reflected the complex beauty and intricate power of See. His mystery and agelessness too.
“I did not expect an honored guest,” rang his voice.
Even thoughts of his tone, always so mild, had occupied so much of my monsterdom. I looked down the hall into ever milky eyes. “I did not expect to honor you, sir.”
“Princess Raise is lost to us,” he said.
A prince consort ofseeingwould of course know. Or rather, he would haveknown.
