Page 88 of Of Brides Of Queens

Bring said, “You come to me covered in him.”

I had hoped Bring would not uncover things so. “You speak of me as if you owned me, sir. Might I remind you that I am my own monster and a queen.”

“You know how I feel, and still you came this way.”

“We are but two rulers, King Bring. You forget that King See also feels as he does. He became blinded to your future when we formed our picnic plans.”

Bring’s crimson torso contracted as his second mouth chomped over that tidbit. “His agenda is that I witness his mark on you. But you let him do this. You knew that I might notice his mark.” He straightened. “You wanted my jealousy. You wish me to act upon it.”

Ah.He had almost had the right of the matter, then shot out the other end. “What I think, King Bring, is that you were not honest in your letter to me. Your lust over me blinds you to alliance between us. You would bargain for me in body instead of dealing with me in mind.” I rose and was annoyed to have sat in the first place. “I go now, for I did not come to picnic with a king who does not consider all parts of me.”

Bring burst to his feet. “But I must apologize. I must, and I do so. I had formed ideas of this picnic that were rained upon when I smelled See on you and sensed the lack of lust in your chalice. Allow me to adjust my ideas now, Queen Perantiqua. I wouldgo on with this picnic and discussion of alliance. Allow me this adjustment.”

I considered that. He would only adjust his ideas and go about his seduction a different way, but leaving this picnic in this annoyed manner did not serve me either. I had come here to wiggle princess intentions from one of his mouths.

I lowered to perch on the cushion again.

I perched in silence as King Bring returned to his. His posture flittered as his ideas flittered too. His second mouth chomped and growled and gnashed. How curious. After a time, I watched the animals bound, and then listened to the changes in his thatched house.

Calm arrived in the kingdom of bringing once more.

“I find myself thinking of what charms and curses you could inspire,” he mused. “I would have a swing made in my kitchen. You would sit there, and your dress would hang prettily to the floor. You would swing as I toiled in saving, and when the presence of you grew too much, I would kneel under that pretty dress and find you dripping with readiness, and I would drink it all.”

A queen could be very relieved that she had emptied a chalice.

I said, “You were allowed time to adjust your ideas, or do you waste my time this night?”

The king jerked, and I wondered if he had forgotten my presence beyond his swinging and drinking desires. “I have adjusted my ideas, Queen Perantiqua.”

Clearly, and not at all in the direction he had stated.

“I am here to discuss alliance,” I answered.

A nod. He gestured to the platters close to me.

I selected a small pastry and inspected it with my power before consuming the treat. Here was a poisoning king, after all.

“You are a saving queen,” the king said. “Though the battling actions of your pawns confused me at first, I believed it best to focus on the nature ofyouractions. You only saved during the battle with Raise’s fifth. Youare a saving queen. This is your purpose.” He breathed the last sentence.

If only he understood that I knew little of purpose. I knew more of obsession. Whatever purpose I might find would have little to do with kings. “What does this mean to you?”

“We are destined, young queen. Ancient as you are, I mourn that you are not ancient enough to see as I do. You try my patience with your youthful way of connecting. I am driven to madness, and yet such is the strength of my certainty that the oldest of kings will join with the youngest of queens that I cling to stability of mind.”

I had not known that he was the eldest king. Perhaps he referred to the time brother kings spent as human, because in immortality, they were one and the same age. “You are right in thinking that I do not connect matters as you have, though I appreciate your determination in clinging to stability of mind. That is not always easy.”

Before his house could rattle too much, I added, “Perhaps you are right in thinking I am not ancient enough; however, I ask you now… Why must we only be destined in body to save the world? Why can we not go about this as friends?”

“I will not be your friend.”

My eyes widened at his rattling, chomping rage, and my head was whipped aside by the strength. My breaths came fast, though I did not feel shimmer and squeeze.

“Forgive me, forgive me,” he said, fury tight in his tone still. “Talk of friendship inspires such ire.”

I kept my head turned, battling my own fury at his lack of control. I was a new queen, and any king that cared about me would careforme. King See had remembered to do so in theface of his world-shaking fulfillment, yet Bring had forgotten in simple fury.

Taking a page from See’s book, I said mildly, “You wish to go about saving together as destined in body. I do not make this connection, sir. I wish to go about saving as friends, but you do not make thatconnection. Might we meet in the middle? Not in body and not as friends, but as rulers?” I looked at him. “Saving is important to you above all else.”

He did not like what I had to say.

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