Page 91 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
He chuckled under his breath. As we sipped at our wine, we sat in companionship while watching the others.
Pawns were dancing with each other. Princess Change howled with laughter with Princess Bring.Goodness.The Takes were in a dancing frenzy. King No Change appeared the most lucid, but then he could not drink while shackled.
I summoned Toil and Hex, and they wobbled to attend me.
“My queen,” slurred Hex.
My lips trembled against a smile. “Dear pawns, kindly wheel King Bring down from the conservatory. We must not forget him.”
I could only hope that they would really do so as the two pawns weaved out of the hall.
See took my hand, absently rubbing a large finger over my pulse. I fidgeted on my seat, then spotted the small smirk on his face.
“You are doing that on purpose,” I hissed under my breath.
“Seducing you?” he murmured.
I sipped at my wine. “Just that.”
“A prince, and a prince consort at that, has considered that monsters must come first, and that they will do so whenever they wish. Even if my head is between their queen’s thighs. So he has concluded that seduction will therefore occur whenever possible, or he may never be able to make a queen scream, ‘My prince.’ They may interrupt when they wish, and I will seduce in the same manner.”
“That will merely distract me,” I replied.
He placed a hand on his chest and bowed his head. “That is why you are a queen, and I am a lowly prince consort.”
I snorted at his show of false humility. “Seduction cannot always occur before monsters, sir.”
I regretted the words as soon as they were past my lips.Cannot always occur.Which implied that seduction couldsometimesoccur.
His smirk widened.
How timely the arrival of King Bring. How shocked his arrival upon seeing the drugged behavior of monsters.
I had intended to present Princess Bring, but this union did not need my help. In that the princess was unaware of his arrival. She laughed with pawns and a princess. She was beautiful. She was innocent and pure. She was exquisite.
And I watched the world stop in his eyes. He was frozen in time at the sight of her. There was no moon and stars for him, only her.
I watched as the axis of King Bring shifted to rotate elsewhere.
Princess Change had noticed his presence, and she jerked her head, eyes wide. Princess Bring whipped to look, and her chest blob rose.
She stumbled toward him, and gently weaved between pawns.
Princess Bring approached her monster and stopped before him. They looked at each other for an age, and then as the violin music took up another haunting ballad, the Brings were snapped from their stupor.
Princess Bring flushed and folded her blobs into a curtsey. “Sir, I have wished to meet you since I learned of you a night ago. I am Princess Bring, and they tell me that I am yours, and that you are mine. I can only feel grateful that such a handsome monster is mine. And how fares your inner journey that the queen has informed me of?”
King Bring stared at her. He stared and blinked. Then he swallowed. “I—I—I?—”
See snorted softly beside me.
King Bring tried again. “Y-y-you look the same.”
The princess peered down at her gown. “Thank you?”
“What I mean—You have always—I did not—Before when we?—”
I blew out a breath. “My, but how painful.”
