Page 14 of Of Skulls Of Shackles

Princess Bring sniffed, and how did she smell anything with how blocked her nasal cavities were by smile? “Musing. Ancient.”

Raise joined her in sniffing. “Powerful. Explosive.”

I grimaced, but Princess Take added, “Threatening. Looming. An aroma of dire need.”

Ah.

Butah.

Her use of “aroma” had helped me to connect the parts.

Princesses would not only cater to the current needs of my queendom, I fathomed. Unless I was mistaken, they could smell my next obsession. I had smelled these aromas myself, more than once.

And why?

Why would they smell anything unless their purpose was to aid me in obsession and help to grow my queendom to fullness? Raise and Bring had already displayed deep intrigue in my plots and plans when planning Bring’s death for the royal dinner affair.

Yes, princesses were certainly meant to aid me in obsession.

“If any of you should catch a whiff of the direction of this aroma, please let me know,” I said.

“I will do no such thing,” said Princess Take, crossing her arms.

But she would. I could feel how she would. She would hate it for a time because I was a ruining threat for her king. But she would.

I rose. “That is all. You might stay here to reacquaint yourselves if you like. Princess Change, kindly do not leave my walls. Princess Take, you may come and go as you please. Princess Raise and Princess Bring, please let me know if you require anything to fulfill your roles in my queendom.”

“That is all?” Take scowled. Her gaze dipped to my nipples.

“’Tis all for princesses,” I replied.

Chaos swirled in my mind after their sniffings of looming obsession. If obsession threatened to strike, and one as dire to be described asmusing, ancient,andexplosive,then there was much to do before that time.

Much of everything to do.

ChapterFour

Does beauty exist in emptiness?

Then, what of eeriness?

Ireread the letter.

I have received no reply from a queen who believes herself above me.

And so.

A tribunal summons shall follow.

I lament the ending of anything amicable between us, but an “us” there shall still be.

Such is saving. Such are the matters of kings. You gave your word to be mine, and a word uttered to a king is binding.

Words and Action Mighty,

King Bring

“Yet he once told me that saving was in the summation,” I mused to the hellebores stroking my feet.

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