Page 54 of Of Brides Of Queens

The moment I discovered that Princess Take spent a day in his palace.

King See did not move from the entrance—a power play and the first obvious sign of his rage.

I tilted my chin and waited.

Amusement curled in his tone as he remarked, “You do not act like a jealous king.”

“I imagine I act like a jealous queen.” My walls shook.

The king regarded their warping. “Then you are jealous. Good.”

Had he expected me to rage? Had he expected me to attack a princess? Had he expected me to claim him? All of these things, I fathomed. If only he looked through all the scrunched letters behind me. Then he would know the truth of my rage. “What I am is busy with queenly affairs. Kindly quit my queendom.” I did not want him to be here when Princess Raise arrived.

I clung to calm. I would not stomp my foot. I was not a stomping, immortal queen. If King Take caught wind of me stomping, he’d never let me forget it.

See stepped back until he could lean against the balustrade outside. “Quit your queendom. Do you refer to your queenly quarters, Perantiqua, or to the thatched homes outside your gates where dazzled humans dwell?”

The air changed again, and while my first thought had been irritation that See was too observant for his own good, the change in air set me on a different path. He had arrived in a rage. He had mentioned coming to make good on our lessons, and then distracted me with jealousy. But I thought back through the questions and words he had offered unbidden.

Thatched homes.

What claims the urgency of your night and thoughts.

Ah. I saw the whole.

“Does the material of the humans’ roofing distress you, King See?” Now my voice was silken. “Will you return to your palace to watch for sudden blindness to King Bring, he of the thatched kingdom? Do you fear the roofing of my humans is a sign of my desires? You wonder ifheclaims the urgency of my night and thoughts.” I laughed.

“You do not like the claiming behavior of jealous kings, Perantiqua, and I would not hurt you with the strength of my feelings. Do not push me so.”

I wanted to storm up to the balloon of his power and jab my finger into it. I refrained. Just. “You already have hurt me. Begone from here.”

See studied the distance between us, and I saw that I had unintentionally drifted closer to him. No matter that I might not want kings to know too much,thisking always seemed to know more of me than he should. He saw too much of a queen’s growth. He had too much hold on my feelings.

And he would not quit my queendom!

I stomped my foot.

Goodness, what a great relief.

I stomped my foot and a jagged crack appeared that forced King See to step left. The crack split my hotel, and that felt very right.

“You are the essence of a storm, and I stand in the eye to see you,” he announced.

“Leave.” My voice was terrible.

See nodded. The tension in the air had dissipated. He had seen something in my reaction to disperse his rage. “It has started. This is well.”

I saw at once what he meant, and if See had guessed that I fathomed his agenda to harden my heart, then he would not have uttered such a comment.

I turned away.

“You have not asked me what happened with the princess,” he said, and the way he said “the princess” was dismissive and stroked my ego.

“That is not my affair,” I replied. “Youare no longer my affair.”

“We are destined for one another. You are my affair, and I am yours.”

I whirled, planning to send him into fresh rage by doubting our destiny, but the truth came out instead. “You reduced us from romantic alignment to transactional agreement in one night. We are hardly in the affairs of each other, sir.”

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