Page 43 of Of Brides Of Queens

I looked at the princes of See, who demonstrated intense interest in the cobblestones. Perhaps Mother might yawn them away for me. “Will you think of my feelings, seeing pawns?”

That drew a shocked noise from Will Be. “Wewillcare,” he spluttered, then grimaced. “Lady Queen, I do not wish to hurt you. The strongest of diamonds though you are, a single scratch or chip cannot be endured.”

Has Been scoffed. “She felt hurt as soon as Gangrel opened his trap.”

“She is already hurt,” Is confirmed.

Will Be sighed. “Princess Take stayed from dawn until dusk. I am very sorry to utter such words, and I am deeply displeased with my liege for the lack of consideration over your heart and wellbeing. I can only say that he is in a floundering place somewhat, and?—”

I stopped listening. Princess Take had stayed in See’s palace for the entire day. Everyone knew what monsters did in daylight hours.

I held up a hand. “I appreciate your drive to heal my hurt, Will Be. You do not need to make excuses for King See. That is his job, even if a maddened and claiming king.”

How could he? Goodness, but pain snaked from my heart so.

How could he move from an offer of union to an offer of tutorage to a transactional agreement and then to the destruction of us? We had agreed to exclusivity, had we not? That must have expired when I became queen.

If only he had bothered to inform me.

See had been courteous and caring and invoking and nurturing since I entered monsterdom, and now he sought to harm my feelings and heart. How could a monster, and a kingly one at that, drift so far and suddenly from himself, even if his wished-for princess had become a queen?

Oh.

Oh.My brow cleared.

There was the immortal answer. For King See might be a maddened claiming king, but he was as astute as ever.

King See was hurting me on purpose.

He wished to harden my heart.

He wished to harden my heart so that I might not link the organ to the pleasures of my body so much. In this way, in time, then love would not get in the way of us. This was his claiming plan. This was how he meant to have me in utter completeness.

And pain did snake from my heart so. Did rage or sadness or hurt affect me more as I destroyed the balustrade before fifteen pawns? Perhaps there was a name for the combination of all three—betrayal.

King See had betrayed me to harden my heart. If he had not writhed in the sheets with Princess Take, then he had still invited her to spend a day in his palace, knowing that I would hear tell of it, and knowing that we had agreed to be for one another.

He had betrayed me. Disrespected me. Acted against my feelings.

I deserved better.

“Thank you,” I whispered to my pawns. “Good morning to you all.”

Such pain in my heart.

I glanced down at my chest, and the pain made a lot of sense, really, in that a dagger protruded there. “I am stabbed.”

In both senses of heart.

My lips trembled into a smile. “How poetic.”

The shouting and roars of pawns overwhelmed me then. Until they didn’t. Until only the pulsing thud of blood rushing through my body remained.

Thud.

Thud.

I expected to die soon. There was a dagger in my heart, after all, and this must be a certain thing. But then I recalled immortality between one thud and another.

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