Page 82 of Of Brides Of Queens

I raked my gaze from his embroidered boots to belted waist to clinging black silk shirt. He was towering, larger than his princes. Chalky white. I desired him like no other. Now that pleasure was within reach, I could feel the quickening and tightening of my body. “You have connected the whole.”

He laughed under his breath. “You are worthy enough to demand this, of course. Here is what I propose. You have two princesses in your queendom, so I would assume that you might have need of two more princesses.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You would assume, would you?”

“Yes, my Perantiqua. Considering that you once collected fifteen pawns. How should I put this… your obsessions are uniquely defined.”

He had guessed and seen too much, and how could I be surprised when See had always seen too much of me. “What do you propose?”

“Allow me to pleasure you for the night, and I will arrange a meeting with Princess Take in my palace.”

I hardly knew what to feel. I did not like that he could summon her and that she would come. To be in the same room with her and him at the same time… I detested the idea, and I relished it too.

I relished the potential of triumph over her.

I also needed a meeting with Princess Take, and she was the most ancient of princesses and therefore most powerful and likely to harm me. If King See was there, I would have more protection. “I accept your proposal.”

“I am glad, for you have mostly rejected them in the past.”

A grin startled from me. I had not expected him to make light of my refusals to become his princess. “I would like you to answer one question also.”

“The question?”

“What did King Take give his princess at their union?”

How I wished to see his face. When he answered, I could tell that a wolfish, snapping smirk might be present.

My obsession was uniquely defined, as was his, and I was trying to resist madness just the same. We were surely doomed in destiny.

“That is an answer I am willing to give. I accept your terms. Do you accept mine?”

King See wished to pleasure me all night. The transactional nature of our pleasure granted my feelings the permission they needed to relent. No matter that he might lose control of his madness tonight, I had still won a meeting with Princess Take and an answer I desired. I felt victorious, and I had not felt victorious with this king in some time. “I accept.”

The air changed, and rage was not the cause. We caused it together with our tension and anticipation and relief.

Perhaps some rage too.

Some betrayal. Guilt. Shame. Hope. A ragged exhale left me at the sheer overwhelm of the emotional release.

King See hooked his power in the front of my corset and there was a small pause before hooks and laces went flying as the corset was ripped away.

I clutched the blouse beneath. “I would have your answer now, sir.”

“What?” he demanded, already half-crazed.

“What did King Take give his princess at their union?” My voice was muffled as his power entered my mouth and hooked in my cheek.

He snarled, “A garter.”

A garter.

Perfect.

My blouse was ripped away, too, but my belted skirt was left. His power, like hands, then lifted the skirt high around my hips to display me.

“Dressed like a peasant,” he mused.

“Taken like a peasant?” I asked breathlessly.

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