Page 34 of Of Brides Of Queens

She cleared her throat, and I was gifted the image of a river of thick phlegm. “I would.I would.Yet there is that within me that knows I should not. There are two purposes in me, and a monster’s mind feels very full to bursting. What is a princess to do?”

Beyond her, my mirror glimmered, and I knew how to answer. “A princess should be kind to herself.”

I felt her gaze.

I would like to be friends with this princess, and as her friend, I wished to tell her that worrying over her stirring of purpose was a futile endeavor. Princes disobeyed kings’ orders in my presence. A princess would do the same, and it was best not to worry about certainties.

Such worry I had felt since King See mentioned the learning of war, but this queen did not need a king to learn war at all because new obsession was taking shape in the form of princesses.

If certainties should not be worried over, then I should not worry about obsession because I was as powerless against it as a pawn against my will.

I sat opposite Princess Bring again. “Your king and King See recently warred with King Change, Princess. What can you tell me of how Change went about such a battle?”

Chapter Seven

A drawn-out fright

A torment.

A monstrous delight.

What wonder.

We had all night.

Nine pawns were present at dusk.

Not twelve, and not fifteen—but I was growing used to the idea that Huckery, Loup, and Unguis would never sleep here.

A second dusk had come and gone without the presence of Raise’s princes, however, and they usually always stayed. Their distance was a statement of their displeasure.

I took a steadying breath, then pulsed my will into them. If they would not attend, then I would know why.

Mother gobbled back cobblestones an instant before three staircases shot up out of the ground. Dirt still showered the twelve other pawns and their copper livery, and Raise’s princes were greeted with curses and glares.

Deliver stared east. Seal stared west. Sign stared south. The point being that none of them looked up at me.

“Speak your feelings,” I declared. “I would not have anything uneasy between us, and if I do not know the source of your problem, then I cannot do anything to solve it.”

Sign’s third hand rubbed the back of his bald head. He peeked up. Once. “Your Majesty, we feel very…”

“Annoyed,” Deliver butted in.

“Hurt,” Seal added.

Sign explained, “We feel very annoyed because we’re hurt. And we’re hurt because?—”

“You caught us between your will and our king’s purpose in a public fashion,” Deliver hissed.

Seal blew out a breath. “The manner of this felt disrespectful.”

“We were unprepared for the suddenness of the confrontation and public nature of it too.” Sign summarized.

I understood. “You did not like that I willed you to betray your king’s subterfuge and dishonesty. Particularly not in front of other kings.”

The three pawns grumbled their agreement.

“That’s just it,” said Sign. “We expect that you will need to do this many times in the future, and we do not anticipate these sudden and public confrontations with delight. We wish not to be caught between king and queen, you see.”

---