Page 119 of Of Brides Of Queens

See lifted his high, his exquisite milky eyes fixed on me over the rim.

The Brings raised theirs, too, but the Raises did not—they were transfixed in silent conversation.

So only four of us raised our goblets to drink in our own ways.

Princess Bring drank and drank, and King Bring watched the bobbing flutter of her material as she did. He was unnaturally preoccupied with the bride that disinterested him in body and conversation.

So I watched him.

And King See watched me watch Bring.

The Changes snarled over the meal, and Princess Take choked on hers. Her king hissed and jerked through his fulfillment. Such a royal symphony.

At the height of his hissing, choking and snarl, another started to choke.

All immortal eyes shifted to Princess Bring as she heaved against the table. She heaved again and rolled from her chair to the floor.

The princess writhed and started to scream, and I was not alone in gasping when her slime trail on the table and floor turned to powder.

I shot from my throne chair. “Princess! Are you well? King Bring, what does it mean that her slime is drying? She is in pain. What can be done?”

“Bring!” cried Princess Raise, running to her friend’s side. “What is happening? Why is she choking so?”

“My princess,” King Bring whispered. He gripped her around the back of her shoulders, shaking her as she grew limp.

I could not help but think how awful his touch must feel to her.

“My princess,” he shouted as her screams faded to moan and then to nothing. “Something is very wrong.”

See joined us, but he did not lay hands on the princess. “Why is she fading so?”

The Changes had paused in their meal at last, and the beastly king laughed, grease streaked over his scarred chin. And he must find this ruin amusing. If King Bring’s princess died, then some of his power and ability to save would die too.

Princess Take emerged from under the table, wiping her mouth. She hurried over.

A chaise was pushed from the wall, and King Bring rested his princess upon it. Princess Raise and Take surrounded her, and even Princess Change flicked a look toward the dying monster, showing the first sign of feeling.

But I? I noticed that King Bring did not consult the other blobs in the room, his three princes. And I had ordered them to silence.

“Will she be well?” I asked in the confused and shocked lull.

Immortal monsters had no idea what to do with a sick immortal. Why would they? They had never dealt in a death that did not belong to a human.

King Bring staggered back from his princess. “I cannot say what ails her. She drank from the goblet, and then started to...”

The saving king trailed off and as the others erupted in suggestions and shocks, he regarded me coolly. King Bring had shown me the deadly curse in a vial already. He had tipped the curse into the goblet of his princess tonight.

Bring understood that I knew what he had done. He wished that I would go along with his plan out of a deep desire to be a swinging princess, but he would force me to go along with it, just the same. The cool look warned me so.

I understood what King Bring would do next as he watched me coolly, and I watched him back, and as See watched us watch each other.

Princess Raise wailed low. “I cannot feel anything left of her.She is gone.She cannot be gone. Death cannot be possible for us. An immortal is dead!”

Anyone looking at Princess Bring could not doubt her death. Her slime trail had dried, and though swathes of material covered her, as always, she was a quarter of the size. Nothing but a pulp of monster. There was no apparent life to the princess.

“She speaks truth,” whispered Princess Take, then covered her mouth. “Bring is gone. A monster has left dusk.” She glanced fearfully at her king.

Princess Raise left the chaise to fling herself into her husband’s arms. Her sobs disrupted the cloying silence of kings who had been struck with the chilling realization that an immortal could be killed.

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