Page 60 of Of Brides Of Queens

I pursed my lips. “Which is why he seeks to fix the warping of your union with amendments. So why do you refuse? You must guess that the union is set and unchangeable.”

The princess pressed her lips together. She would not tell me of warpings and alterations to her union yet.

I felt curiosity—a force, yes—but I felt no obsession to know the truth.

I left the matter alone.

Glass exploded from the conservatory floor and showered both of us in vicious shards.

I blew out a breath and plucked a shard from my forearm. “Princess Raise, your king has realized you are not where he left you. That was his sneeze of fury.”

Wonder lit her serious gaze at my casual dismissal of her king’s rage. She, of course, did not see beneath my armor as I saw beneath hers.

Pawns rushed into the conservatory, Gangrel in the lead, spear in hand.

“My queen, are you harmed?” He hissed, fangs lowered and quite terrifying. A sweeping look led him to the center of the conservatory. “Raise.”

The pawns split themselves between surrounding me and the entrance to Raise’s kingdom.

Sign, Seal, and Deliver hovered between me and their princess, very sheepish indeed as they wondered who to protect first.

“Stairway pawns,” I said to them. “You will remain in my queendom until this small tension is resolved.” Who knew what King Raise would do to them. Some or other protocol, if I had to guess.

Sign sagged. “Thank you,my queen.”

“How can you call her ‘my queen’ when you have sworn an oath to my king?” demanded Raise, entering her own rage and bursting to her feet. “You have sworn fealty to him. Does that mean nothing to you? She is magnificent beyond words, is that why you have done it?”

She was loyal, and she loved her king.Lovedhim. Refused him. Distanced herself from him. Combined, those things made little sense.

“They call me queen because my will fills them and exceeds the will of King Raise.”

Princess Raise shook her head. “I do not follow.”

“No, I see that. Your king is in a fury, it seems.”

She sat again, glaring daggers at her king’s princes. “Yes, and that does not happen lightly. I do not like him to feel so becausehe behaves hastily in a way that fills him to regret and self-admonishment later.”

“Yet you wish to stay here so he cannot lock you up and have thus caused his rage. You must have known this would put him into a fury. There is a conflict in your actions and words, princess.”

“Well—” The princess cut off, then said, “If you manage to withstand his first three attacks, you should be fine.”

Hasty indeed. “When can I expect these attacks?”

“Very soon and in rapid succession.”

Unexpected.“Only because of his fury.”

She burst upward and started to pace. “You would receive a message from his princes tomorrow otherwise, would you not?”

Now that Princess Raise pointed that out, I recollected King Raise had done so in the past. The evening after I escaped his kingdom, his princes arrived to tell of the contract between my ancestor and their king.

Princess Raise exploded and whirled on me. “Why do you not ready yourself? Why do you not hose the stairwells and oil the landings?”

I could not say whether the princess would give me all her king’s reason and rhyme, but this was a start. “I am quite a new monster, Princess Raise, and a very new queen.”

Pawns paused in their scanning and posturing to look at me, and the princess was hardly less befuddled.

“What?” she demanded.

---