Page 75 of Of Skulls Of Shackles

He stilled, and a full minute went by before he finally said, “I cannot tell.”

I closed my eyes. A queen would suffer some more, and only a fool queen would be content to await it. I had nothing more to give outside of queendom and stitching mothers and conquering kings, but I must somehow manage the situation with King See too. I was a queen. Many depended on me.Golden fatemight decide the fate of the world.

I could not be undone by any monster. “I was thinking, when I smiled, of how the mystery of you will never be understood though we are immortal. There is beauty in that which is greater than love. I smile at the idea of unlocking more of our puzzle.”

King See’s voice was heavy indeed. “You speak of the desire to always know more of a person. This must be part of how we shall share warmth.”

Warmth.

“What of the cold, See? What of that?”

He pulled me close. The embrace was light, because he was towering, and not a crushing embracer in character. The embrace was light, then, but no less like a cage. A cage I wished to be in. How befitting of romance in monsterdom.

See said, “You have heard me speak of heartbreak, my darkness. There is no warmth in that.”

“There is more.”

“There must be more. There are choices that cannot consider the wellbeing of the other. There are betrayals we must survive. There is a hardening that will make our warmth harder to feel, unless we are careful. What else might exist, I am yet blind to. Here are my thoughts only, and nothing proven or truly connected.”

My insides chilled. “Must we keep building warmth to survive the rest, See? Or must we desist? I would hear it all.”

“Can any warmth be enough to combat what we must do? Are we better to chill to ice? Is choice the only factor in our destiny? Must there be a constant and irrational choice to exist together through any matter of cold acts we commit together or against each other? Then why choose such a future?Howdo those things we speak of—respect and understanding and trust—how do those survive in the blizzard of immortality and monsterdom?”

My voice was husky around the huge lump rising in my throat. “You inspire great dread in me this dusk, sir, for I hear the sense in what you say.”

“I feel dread from dusk to dawn, then back again, maiden. I am weak enough to want company in that sometimes.”

I rested my hand on his arm. “I will stay in dread with you for a time so you need not be alone.”

See lowered his lips to mine. This kiss was simple and brief and… casual.Beautiful.The most exquisite we had shared, this kiss of comfort and certainty. The kiss where he was sure that I was his, and sure that he was mine, and that we were in a hopeless situation but together. “That must be how we win. You will stay with me, and I will stay with you. We must be irrational in regard to the beating of our hearts.”

I rested my head on his protruding ribs to listen to our heartbeats, and we were quiet for a time.

“Raise is shackled in the middle of your conservatory.”

Over the glass entrance to his ex-kingdom. I had forgotten.I released a stitch and cast it to Raise’s shackles to ensure they could not be opened by anyone but me. The king had shackled himself, and remained there as I recovered through hellebores, but still. A queen could not be too careful.

“Who is next?” See asked.

“The order is a matter of confusion. I cannot make sense of it. There is no mention in the original poem of kings that Change went first, then Raise. Perhaps it has to do with union because Change did this first and Raise second; however, the conquering of kings has naught to do with unions, as you are a king and have not been joined to anyone in union.”

I had not meant the words as a proposal, but there was a sudden weight in the air at my remark. A charging of our bodies.

My body had frozen against him, and he had frozen in the stroking of my long hair.

“You would have me in union,” he said at last. “Would you call me husband, Perantiqua, or king? Or… consort?”

“I did not mean anything by my words other than the intended meaning,” I replied.

His menacing laughter rumbled in his chest.

I maintained a stony silence until his laughter faded.

“I do enjoy your anger,” he said after. Then when I snapped up my head to rage, he smirked and said, “And I can uncover the mystery of the order you must conquer kings.”

I snapped my mouth shut. My rage simmered, but I did not let it out. Just yet.

See whispered, “I enjoy that, too—controlling your rage.”

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