Page 121 of Of Skulls Of Shackles

“Get King See.” I could not risk releasing the other kings while Change was on the loose. “Where is King Change?”

Gangrel appeared near my feet. “We tried to contain him, my queen, but we cannot overwhelm a king, only protect you. He has escaped.”

Perantiqua, you fool.I had dismissed the connections of princesses too easily. “I must hunt him. Where is his princess?”

Gangrel glanced over his shoulder. “He left her here.”

Good.I pushed my power to the floor to rise, and then I floated my injured body to the princess. She cowered against the wall, and I blasted her with my power, booming, “What does he plan?”

She had little chance, even weakened as I was.

Princess Change screamed, “He will hide and recover his strength. He will feel you out. He will sacrifice his flesh to weaken you. He will focus all ruin onyou.”

“Where will he run?” I demanded.

Her eyes rolled back in her head.

I sighed. “I overwhelmed her. Pawns, take her to the dungeons.Lock her in.I want three pawns guarding her at all times. If her king comes for her, send word to me immediately.”

The boiling feeling was lessening in my blood. I was injured, but would recover soon enough. I must be strong enough to hunt a king. I could still make matters right.

“Where is King See?” I demanded, stomping my foot.

Three pawns and two princesses apparently could not get him here. “I can wait no longer.”

I crouched by the glass vial, then focused my power to obliterate the remains in a blinding flash incase other princesses got ideas about the shackles of other kings. “Pawns,” I said after. “Come with me.”

I walked from the lounge and then jogged down the hall. My ability to run returned by the portcullis, and after another block, I could settle into a blur manageable for pawns to maintain.

“Where first?” Sign shouted from the back.

“His old kingdom,” I replied.

I did not bound ahead of pawns as we reached the outskirts of his beastly territory. Humans afflicted with all manner of beastly qualities emerged from apartment and rubble.

I hissed an order at them to retreat, and surprisingly they did, which would suggest that King Change remained conquered. Something he would seek to alter. “Or will you set out to ruin as much as possible as your princess expects?”

The thing was that the king and princess of change had not been on speaking terms. I could not rely on the princess as witness for his actions now. But I knew that the king was a leader among kings, and a forger of path and unfathomable connection.

I entered the haunted forest with my pawns and wasted no time forcing my power into the soil. The map of tree roots was revealed to me, and I scanned here and there, this way and that, for any sign of the king. I had barely seen him the first time, and he no longer had a crown to betray his hiding place.

I blurred through the forest in a methodical grid, scanning each part of the forest. The trees and roots creaked and swayed and rolled with the force of my murderous intent. The kingdom would have revealed Change if he was here.

“Can you feel him, or summon him as you can with pawns?” Toil panted wetly.

I could summon pawns. I could sense the ties of princessandkings, now I stopped to assess the various ties between me and monsters. I had never summoned princesses—they anticipated my queendom needs. I would assume that kings could not be summoned, and also would not anticipate my needs.

They would do something else that was yet to reveal itself, and may never unless I satisfied ancients by shackling five kings.

“Where next, my queen?”

I peered around. “Werebeasts, where else did your king frequent?”

“He ruined from his haunted forest, my queen,” said Loup.

Unguis whined. “He rarely exited it unless to be entertained by war or per the polite invitation to some royal event or tribunal. Other kings came to him for favors.”

I nodded. “Huckery?”

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