Page 69 of Of Brides Of Queens

How strange to listen to him in monsterdom—this small human who I had viewed as so powerful, but who was really another doll.

“Citizens of Vitale. I come to you filled with sorrow for the lives lost in the city center blaze this evening.”

I frowned. “Does he speak of my queendom?”

Raise held a finger to her lips.

“Many of you are homeless this evening. Your possessions are gone. Your food is gone. You are afraid and uncertain. But Vitale will always help the able. Help and aid and medics have been dispatched to your area. Stay where you are. Help is coming. Vitale will not turn its back on you.”

Not on the able, at least. Invalids were another matter. “It is strange to me how humans can have no idea of monsters.”

“Their minds must make many excuses for us,” the princess said. “Tensions have risen in human society lately due to the recent construction of a village in the city center. There is some question over who owns the land they have built on, you see.”

I did see. Kings did not accept my presence, and so their humans did not. The recent construction had been my thatched human housing. “The tensions in human society spilled over this evening?”

“A small group of humans took matters into their own hands and set the new village on fire in protest. There is some confusion about what happened then, as the occupants of the new buildings were not seen to fight back. Instead, the humans who had attacked appeared to turn on each other and then fall down or wander off in a stumbling trance.”

She spoke of their exhaustion.I could only imagine how odd that appeared on mass. “They could not see any immortals, so they were left to interpret things however they could.”

“Indeed.”

“Tonight at 7:00 p.m., we invite you to burn a husk doll in memory of those lost.”

I leaned forward and turned off the radio. “I am irritated with your king for starting that. War does not need to be so personal.”

The husk dolls and the larger dummies were getting under my skins. Not the thoughtful ones created by my sixth, but the carelessly crafted ones certainly.

“Starting what?” she murmured back.

I waved a hand in the air. “The husk dolls stitched in my likeness.”

The princess lifted her head. “My king? He did not begin that.”

“His fifth burn dummies of me.”

“Perhaps they do now, as your humans carry husk dolls too. But my king did not start that. He does not work in such ways. Matters between him and other rulers are always impersonal.”

I contemplated that, for that had been my experience with him, in truth. “If not him, then Change or Take started it. One as likely as the other to do so.”

I would not ask her for her opinion on which king had committed the act; she only knew such things of her king.

“And now?” I asked. “Your king entered a rage and attacked three times in rapid succession. You must prepare me for what he will do next if you wish to stay.”

She lay down on the chaise, and I thought that her jaw clenched.

Her tone was carefully neutral. “He attacked three times and will wallow in self-annoyance of his uncalculated response for this number of nights.”

“I have three nights until your king attacks again.” Not very long.

“Attack? No. He will deal with you now. Even more so than usual because he feels driven to erase his rashness in your mind. There will be a paper exchange.”

I frowned. “Whatever does that mean?”

“A negotiation with the goal of forming a deal,” the princess said as if explaining to a young child. “For my return. In that time, he will visit other kings to see what alliance he might find.”

Ah.So this was a paperdistractionbefore a more thought-out attack that would only occur if we did not reach a deal. I saw Raise’s rhythm, and I could expect only a fresh rage would interrupt the process. Three rapid attacks would then result, then followed by three nights of wallowing before a fresh paper distraction. Yes, I saw his rhythm indeed. I needed more of his reason, though. All I knew was that he did not value rashness. “You seem certain of his negotiation process, but he would not warn me of attack, surely.”

“He would,” she replied.

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