Page 34 of Of Skulls Of Shackles

Goodness.“Princesses should always tend to their needs, as should any monster. Please contain your efforts to pawns, and take care not to inspire jealous feeling between them.”

Valetise released her exhale. No doubt she had worried about a princess setting her sights on Picket.

“Thank you, my queen. I shall take care, and only look to pawns. I shall let each know that they might have me whenever they wish.”

Her king might not love to hear such from his princess—even despite wishing to murder her—but Princess Bring was a grown monster, spurned by her king. Their indifference in company and heart and body was well established.

Princess Bring gargled slime in the act of clearing her throat. “My queen, our two last items. You have tutorage in war with King See at midnight?—”

I glanced down at the buckles, then at Valetise, who was doing nothing to hide her grin.

“—and then you have a walk amongst growing grains with King Bring before dawn.”

I grimaced. “I forgot about that.”

“That is why I am here, my queen.”

“Before you go, I thought to pass knowledge onto you, dear princess. Before slumber last night, I learned King Change’s rhyme and reason. Princess Bring, you were a victim of ruin. King Change attacked you in secret over decades and centuries to alter your confident views of yourself. He did this in a bid to tear apart the union between yourself and King Bring.”

She froze.

I said, “I am furious that he treated you so, but I wondered if telling you what transpired might offer some… explanation. Perhaps there was confusion in losing love for yourself that you never understood. I have heard you and other princesses voice how unexpected the altered state of your union was, as you and King Bring had been very much attracted to each other once. I wanted to know that none of that arose fromyou, so you need not fear this in the future.”

The princess started to tremble.

I pulled a face. “But I have upset you, and that was not my intention at all. My sincerest apologies, Princess Bring.”

She unlocked enough to shake her blobs. “I am upset, yes, but there could be no way to avoid upset when delivering such information. I was a victim of ruining power, you say? There was not something wrong in me, you say? I was not to blame for the altered state of my union and self.” A sob escaped her, and she covered her mouth with slime to muffle her cries.

I did not touch her, for this had upset her in the past, and I could fathom that she wished to explore colder daylight touches with pawns for a reason. “All that you say is true. None of that arose from your heart and mind, but from an external source. I never thought that I would wish any monster to quit walking in the toothed beast’s yawn, but King Change might deserve such a chilling fate. He is conventional beyond reason.”

And brilliant,I silently added.

The shaken Princess Bring departed soon after, and dusk settled into evening as buckles were buckled and a meeting with pawns was undertaken. Such was the rhythm of my queendom, I was discovering.

From my throne, I viewed my taking pawns. They stood with their spears in hand, betraying no sign of their sneaking in before dawn. The only possibility, surely, was that they were occupied with secret work for their liege. “Any letter from King Take pending our negotiations?”

“No, my queen.”

That was two nights now. “I had thought this a matter of urgency for him.”

“So it was, my queen,” Vassal said.

Sanguine elbowed him in the gut.

Was.

Princess Bring had been right to bring news of their sneaking activities to my attention. Something was afoot. “Taking pawns, tell me true. If doom was upon me from the direction of King Take, would you care for me?”

They fell over each other in a bid to reassure me. Gangrel, who possessed more dramatic flair than the others, kissed the stones while loudly mourning my doubts in their loyalty.

I believed them. However, pawns were easy creatures to trick. A king would simply need to assure his princes that they did nothing that would hurt a queen, and the princes would believe the king. If their reason for sneaking had naught to do with an effort to war against me, then I could only surmise that their reason had to do withcaringfor their king. In which case, I wished them well.

They could keep their secrets for a time either way.

“That is all,” I declared. “Sliming pawns, please remain behind.”

My dear blobs were listless indeed, as Princess Bring had remarked. I was reminded of how rips appeared in Sign’s cheeks from duress with the state of affairs between myself and his king. Toil, Hex, and Sigil were not in good health. The shine had disappeared from their blob. There was an extra tackiness to their slime, which appeared to drag at them with every glide here and there.

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