Page 92 of Of Brides Of Queens

I needed a princess and her garter.

I would not achieve that through genuine friendship as with Princess Bring, nor through mutual intellectual respect as with Princess Raise. Princess Take would require another approach. What might that approach be?

She had existed as the most ancient female monster for twelve hundred years, and she was still more ancient than me—if I used the measure of her ability to touch King See.

She was not queenly in her thoughts, I expected.

Princess Take was a creature of the flesh. She had emptied herself so her king’s wants and needs could fill her. This intrigued me because I could not fathom how a person could achieve such an emptying, and then why they would want to. Unlike me, her heart and body were separate entities.

Princess Take had been with two kings.

The most ancient.

The most desired.

The emptiest.

Goodness, there was a telling lurch in my stomach because Princess Take must not value love.

She did not value love as her king did not value love and as See did not value love. Princess Take had either hardened past the notion or been warped enough by ancients in the first place. Perhaps her king had broken her heart as See sought to do to me.

I could not be sure, and yet I knew that King See must find her very appealing in this regard. He must wish that I could adopt her point of view on love.

Which I could not.

“To my queendom,” I ordered the steed.

Valetise had dressed me in somewhat of a sack for a midnight picnic with King Bring. She would dress me in something else for a dawn visit with King See and his ex-lover. The idea of meeting a princess who had fucked my king for the better part of twelve-hundred years confronted my confidence and dignity, especially because she did not value love.

Fierce determination had eased some of the wincing hobble from my step as I bustled into my chambers minutes later.

Valetise was waiting. “I am glad you returned.” She briskly unbuckled my belt, then whisked the sack dress away. “Kindly strip off your underthings.”

My underthings for the picnic had been more like a fortress. Not perfect for meeting an ex-lover. I should not like King See to encounter such a fortress, though no lust stirred me yet. This must be confirmation of my feelings for See because I had no regard at all for Bring without lust. I thought more warmly of his kingdom than him.

I strode into the wardrobe after stripping off and wrenched to a halt at the garment in Valetise’s hands. “This?” I blurted.

“This,” she replied.

“This,” I hissed thes, in moderate inner discomfort. “Why does your power lead you to…” I gestured at the outfit.

She smiled. “I do not know the reasons of my power. I sense that which would help you.”

My suitcase-turned-exquisite-monster had never led me astray. Though I was recalling the time she had offered up a lacy leotard that led to me wearing oversized clothing for a week after.

I was more ancient now, but this outfit was arrogant and claiming and bold. Possible rejection stabbed into my skin like fresh stitches. “I trust you.”

Valetise blinked back tears. “I trust you wholly, my queen.”

She dressed me, and I settled the copper crown back atop my head after. My, I barely noticed the weight of the crown these nights, and though my mount had galloped most of the way here, I had not pushed the crown up once.

Once dressed, there was nothing to do but shove aside thoughts of my outfit and settle atop the mount. I took a breath. “To King See’s gothic palace, please.”

To the palace of the king who agonizes me. The king who would watch for approaching blindness. He would already see King Bring again. He would know that I had stopped by my queendom.

He would know I rode toward him.

The last time I entered his palace, I was but a simple monster. We had disagreed about love and loss of purpose in princessdom, and then agreed we would be only for one another. Whatever that had meant.

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