Page 49 of Of Brides Of Queens

What curiosity should I acknowledge second?

I deliberated, then asked my pawns, “Why are there humans pressed against my gate? Do they come from a king to battle me?”

Loup snickered in his staccato way, but sounded confused when he spoke, “My queen. Lady. Uh. We cannot gather that a king has sent them. They do not attack. They do not bleed from arteries or appear under the influence of curse or charm. They are not gripped by the past, present, or future in an obsessive way.”

That is how King See controlled his fifth? I did not wish to feel interested. I had written twenty scathing and furious letters since learning of Princess Take’s presence in his palace for a day.

The humans pressed their faces through my wall of bars, gazing up to the second level. They could not see me, of course, but their eyes were wide, and their tongues hung out, making their awe and earnestness plain. Did they adore me? The young humans held their little arms through the bars and waved corn husk dolls.

My, but they had takenfarmore care in crafting theirs. Neat stitches, beautiful and vibrant dyes. They had arranged the inner silks to flow like hair, and even dabbed blue for my eyes. The sight cheered me unlike the sight of lumpy dummies and such.

“Good evening,” I greeted the humans.

A few screams. A sudden hush. Roaming eyes that would never truly look upon me. Every word I said to them would be powerful, I knew.

My chamber had moved to the second level, and I had gained an excess of humans.Myhumans. Who were not my pawns, because I had pawns already. They were my subjects. All fifty of them.

I had stolen a necklace, learned the rhyme and reason of King Bring, and earned the startings of mysixth.

This could be how a queen would protect herself against kings if she could keep her obsession and excess of humans a secret.

I said to my pawns, “Where do they reside?”

“In thatched houses that have sprung up outside of your walls, my queen,” said Deliver.

I peered over the high walls of my queendom and beyond. Deliver spoke true, for there was a row of thatched houses beyond the walls. They were quaint and just what a human might need.

And very visible.

“I wish you long lives and simple happiness,” I told the humans.

Some cried.

Had humans always been so odd? Or just mine?

I could not dally to consider this because the time to acknowledge the third curiosity had expired.

The guard rope had started to whip a cloaked being. The savagery of the whipping rendered me mute with fascination for longer than I cared to admit.

“Halt, loyal rope,” I ordered. “Who has come to see me? Kindly remove your hood.”

A waspish voice stalked from the depths of the hood. “Do you always whip visitors?”

Drat. If I had known who lurked beneath this hood, I might have given his curious presence priority. “I apologize, sir. We are on edge after a capture attempt from King Raise.”

The gateman of King Take removed his hood, and I spotted the welts that peppered the minion’s wrinkled skin.

“Are you okay, sir poet?” I asked.

The minion exhaled. “I should know well enough not to challenge a gateman. I didn’t realize that was what he was, in that he’s mostly a rope.”

Neither had I entirely, though I should have, considering that he liked to open my gate, and kept worming back to my gate whenever Hex moved him. Would I have a gateman? This befitted a queen. “To what do I owe this visit, esteemed gateman of King Take?”

“You didn’t come back to hear my verse.” The minion glared upward, and fifty humans and fifteen pawns glared athimfor daring to do so.

I soon fathomed what he meant and covered my mouth. “My, but I especially meant to come back, and then I raced past you in a bid to be gone from the tribunal. Please accept my sincere hopes that you did not take this as a slight against your art.”

He held his glare a while longer, then dropped it to tug a piece of lumpy paper from his cloak pocket. “No matter, Lady Queen. I will read the verse you inspired. Yours are the first ears to hear it.”

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