Page 33 of Of Skulls Of Shackles

King Change had set his ruin upon monsters nearly from his first immortal days, and so no wonder a pact to save had been no pact at all. No wonder they had not stood unified since touching left hand to olden rock.

The princess was speaking of how King Change worked on Princess Bring for a long time. He had been trying to sever her union to steal away King Bring’s princess-given power, but when Change had succeeded in creating indifference between them, he had then set out to do the same to other kings with various success.

All at once, I saw that Change was far more of a villain than I had believed. He was far more of a villain than me.

But I now possessed the rhyme and reason of the fourth king. And I saw. Yes, I did see. How the beginning must be.

There was no rhyme to how King Change’s ruin arose, as such—he merely seized opportunities as he saw them. But once he exacted ruin, there was a clear rhythm. One that rendered him weakened for two days.

I leaned back on the armchair.

I saw how to begin indeed.

The keys to Change’s kingdom would be mine.

ChapterNine

Sliming needs

Igrunted as Valetise fastened buckles up my thighs. I was a display of hundreds of buckles, all the way up my legs and down my arms. They fastened around my middle too. “Valetise, dare I ask for what reason I am dressed in buckles?”

“You are a queen and might dare to ask what you wish,” she replied, flashing a grin before resuming her woeful expression. Her needles did droop so. Unrequited love had that effect. I wagered she had not managed to convince Picket away from his duty.

Needless to say, I didnotdare to ask the reason for the one hundred buckles. I already knew that buckles existed to be unbuckled.

Princess Bring slimed into my personal chamber. “A delightful dusk to you, my queen. Did daylight slumber treat you well?”

“My slumber was unmoving and all-consuming,” I answered, taking in her wonder. She had torn away more of her cloak again, and now a strip of material covered her top blob, and then a short skirt covered her third blob. Perhaps these areas equated to breasts and her hips, but I could not be exactly sure as while an elephant might cover its trunk, a porcupine might cover its spikes. I should not assume that a blob princess held the same form as me.

Those ponderings aside, I could appreciate more of her today. Much more.

“A slumber of that nature is what I would have wished for you.” Her blob pushed high as she beamed. Blobs did not have teeth that I could see, so her smile was wonderfully gummy, like that of an elderly human.

I smiled back. “Thank you for your good wishes, Princess. Do you come to enlighten me to matters of queendom, lady’s maid?”

“Just so, my queen. After breakfast, you will meet with your pawns, of course. For your interest, I wished to convey that Gangrel, Sanguine, and Vassal have been sneaking into your queendom just before dawn and pretending to wake here.”

I arched my brows. “Indeed. They do not wish me to know how often they are away. What does King Take attempt to hide?”

I had not been asking the question of the women around me, and they understood that.

“Any other matters of pawns?” I said.

The princess murmured, “Your blobbing pawns seem particularly listless in recent days, my queen. Stress can lessen our shine, and I wonder if they suffer from the state of affairs between you and my ex-king.”

I nodded. “I will check in with them. Anything else?”

“Yes, I wondered if you would not mind me engaging in daylight activities with some or other of the pawns? I am a princess with needs, and these were not met by a king for a long time. I am rediscovering myself with such warm support as I receive from yourself and my friends that I feel fiery rekindling of lust in my nether blob. Might I be carried away by them?”

Valetise had frozen in fastening the last buckle on my slightly longer left leg.

I considered her feelings as I answered Princess Bring, “I am to understand you wish to become intimate with my pawns?”

“Yes, my queen.” She squelched.

“Any pawn in particular?”

“Many of them intrigue me in different ways.”

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