Page 127 of Of Skulls Of Shackles

Despite his speech designed to persuade me that all was lost, and that I should happily surrender to princesship, I could not believe that my destiny was anything other than to be the queen and caretaker of all monsters. From my time in See’s company, I had learned that any number of futures operated at once. See had also admitted that he could only see asliceof the future where he was king.

He had said that I was gone for a time.

Yes, there was great risk in giving way to my fury of his betrayal and audacity. I could not attack him now.

A queen had to survive in freedom to fight another night, and King See had inadvertently given me the clue of where I must escape to. I stared at the hellebore grave. There was only one place where a queen could be gone. “You argue your case too passionately, sir.”

He had been talking and cut off.

Pawns gathered behind me, and their snarls and hisses and growls wrapped the broken and tender parts of me that I knew could never heal after See’s betrayal.

But monsters weremine. I belonged to them, just as I had belonged to See two nights ago.

A tear slipped over my cheek. “Iamthe queen of monsters, sir, and I am that tonight and will be for all nights until The Real End. You will not take that from monsters nor from this world. You will not take that fromme. You have revealed what you are now, and I thank you for saving me from greater pain in centuries to come. Better to know from near the start that our destiny is a cold and empty one. I dream of the night when my heart will beat alone in truth and freedom from you.”

“You are undone, mistress,” he stated. “I have ever been clear that I wanted a princess. Your wants and dreams in monsterdom were never greater than mine, though you believed them to be greater indeed. You should have accepted one of my proposals and saved yourself such hardship, as I would have accepted your queendom if not other path had existed. I have been prepared to give you far more than you can fathom to give me. But give it you shall. There is but one future, and you do not rule it. You will be shackled in my chambers, and it will not take long to convince you to me again. You are already shackled to my touch, and have been since the start of your monsterdom.”

He had said those exact words to me during our lovemaking.

My fingers trembled with the urge to cover my mouth. How was he this creature now? How had our fate twisted and warped so?Whydid I forget the mercilessness of ancients?

See had been so careful, but he had slipped here and there—enough to convince me of the lie of him. Yet love wished me to deny everything. Love wished me to make excuses and look for irrational explanations.

They did not exist. I could not look for them.

Monsterscould not afford me to do that.

I was reeling. Mothers needed me. Whether because of weakness from the curse or weakness from broken love, I could not bear to attack King See.

I could not risk losing.

I took one last look at the king who I had believed in. I looked over every towering chalky-white inch of him. I took in his thin lips and milky gaze, his oversized joints and black clothing with the neat silver embroidery. My breaths were ragged, and my heart was in shreds. Skin so tight.

In my soul, I was not who I had been.

And through all of that came the tandem beat of my heart with him.Thud. Thud. Fool. Fool.

That gift from ancients was a cold cruelty, for I could sense how my heart would never escape him unless I carved the organ from my body.

My soul, however… My soul was mine and true, and untainted by See. My soul belonged to monsters.

There was only one place for this queen to survive in freedom. To fight another night. To fight the king she had loved—whom she loved still. But not for much longer, for the affliction would be conquered without delay.

“Dear pawns,” I whispered. “Protect the queendom. Protect my subjects and princesses. Those are your orders.”

The flare in See’s milky eyes that told me he had guessed my next move.

Too late.

This queen of chaos could be in control of herself sometimes.

I stepped through hellebores, and his was the last face I saw. His were the last words I heard.

“What fun we will have upon your return, my darkness.”

I tumbled and tumbled, head over heels, inside and out until I crawled out of the grave on the other side.

So wrung out.

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