Page 26 of Of Brides Of Queens

Please expand your ideas of transaction.

Queen Perantiqua

I rolled and sealed the letter, then walked outside.

“Princes of See,” I called down to the courtyard.

Was anyone here tonight? They didn’t always stay, and I didn’t know what determined their accommodation choices.

Has Been, Is, and Will Be stepped out in varying states of sleepiness, though their true form had appeared. I wasn’t the only one to sleep in tonight.

“I have a reply for your liege. Kindly deliver it,” I ordered the chalky monsters.

Is brightened, and the eyes either side of his head glimmered too. “Your purpose, lady queen?”

I let him see myfulldispleasure.

He schooled his features and bowed. “We will see your reply delivered.”

I tossed the letter to Is, but it was Will Be who caught the scroll in his large hand, a definite excited glint in the eye that occupied the middle of his forehead. “If anything Will Be, then I shall see to it.”

The future was more his thing, I agreed.

The three towering princes lumbered out of the wall of bars, and I watched until their oversized joints and extra eyes were out of sight.

“Pawns. Who else slumbers here this evening?” I called.

Six pawns slimed and stumbled into the courtyard in varying states of sleepiness—none of Raise’s princes were present. What should I take from that?

I ran my eyes over blob and deadly wrinkle of Take’s princes. The thing was, See and I were out of alignment, but he’d informed me that Change gathered his fifth against me. My instruction of war could not wait, and I was unsure if I could depend on a king who felt different this week than last. “I require instruction in the art of warfare. Who amongst you is most skilled in this?”

Six blank stares met my question.

I asked again, slower. They could not be properly awake. “Who amongst you is most skilled in warfare?”

Faithful Toil rumbled his laughter before replying, “My queen? Warfare is a skill of kings. And queens! Pardon me. I never seek to exclude the fairer sex.”

For once, all six appeared in agreement. I’d pause to appreciate this, though I didn’t much appreciate Toil’s laughing reply.

“You have engaged in war, have you not?” I asked.

“Of course,” Gangrel said while buttoning his ruffled, lace cuff.

“Then how do princes not fathom the ins and outs of battle? The rhythms and reasonings of war.”

“Exactly that, my queen,” Sigil blurted. “We are the drums that kings beat upon in war’s rhythm, and through our mouths are their reasonings conveyed. We are but the sounds for their thoughts, not the thoughts themselves.”

Bother, that did make perfect sense.

The six fidgeted, hovering as I gazed upon them. If princely pawns could not explain war to me, and a king would not, then how was a queen to learn?

“None of you will repeat this conversation to another monster.” I pulsed my will into them.

They dropped to their knees, and though I hoped the drop didn’t scrape at them, there was nothing for it—a queen had to be a queen.

Even a queen could long for a time when princes were just her friends.

The wall of bars creaked open to admit Has Been. He crossed the courtyard and leaped up to join me.

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