Page 94 of Of Sockets Of Stitches
“You may all leave,” I told monsters.
They glanced at each other. Usually I departed first. See’s smirk against my inner thigh grew larger.
“Now,” I said firmly.
After curtsies and bows, monsters started to trail out, and only when King Bring was wheeled out, did I walk forward so that my train might reveal the hidden prince consort.
His face shone, and now that the room was empty, there was the thought to sink onto his length and reenter the oblivion of pleasure.
“I am ready if you are,” he taunted, rising to his feet.
My heart hammered with his.
I pursed my lips. “My readiness is not in question, thanks to your tongue. But my lust will save for another time.”
We had both needed this exchange that was not him embedding inside me. There were still words to speak to him. There was still something in the way of us.
See walked forward, his cock straining against his pants. But he bowed over my hand. “I will see you at dawn.”
“At dawn,” I replied quietly.
The Takes’ turn had arrived.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Only a mother could
Provide the world
With a perfect remedy.
My champions awaited me in the courtyard, and Marquis Take too. There were no suggestive expressions or laughter, so See and I had truly gotten away with our exchange. What wonder of hellebores.
Princess Change wiped at tears, leaving dirt streaks around her eyes.
“What is the matter, my champion?” I asked her.
She sniffed against fresh tears. “Naught but a king who will not change, my queen. Naught but a heart that hopes. I am sorry for leaving the ball early, but I could not cope with his silence all of a sudden.”
I blinked.Goodness.I had missed that entirely. “Do not apologize, Princess. I would not have you stuck in misery.”
“But what will I do?” she choked the words through agony. “What will change him? I feel the rising call in me to nurture saved soil, but if he will not change, then all hope is lost. For all monsters.”
I had no answer. For his name was well earned. “This midnight we must focus on what we can do. If you can admit to the call in you, and fear the loss of monsters, then I am most proud of you, for there was a long time where neither would have been.”
She sniffed again and nodded. “Too late, I fear. Too late.”
Not if I had a say in matters.
The Takes stood hand in hand slightly apart from the rest of us, and I had never seen the princess so pale and drawn. Her pout was puffy; her full moon skin was pallid. Her seductress was a beggar.
I took their free hands. “This is no small thing that monsterdom asks of your union. But there is a reason that you existed as a king and a princess for so long—so that you might understand the sacrifice of serving your subjects. You serve them now, and I wish you were not asked to serve them in such a way that will bring you pain, but there is some reassurance in the temporary nature of this sacrifice.”
How glad I was that Candor was not present to correct me on the temporary part, for that was a denial that we all clung to. This could well be the last time that I would see Marquis Take. In fact… wherewereCandor and Huckery?
Marquis Take lifted his chin. “I am willing to do what is needed.”
His princess did not seem so accepting. But this was not an easy situation to accept.
