Page 25 of Of Sockets Of Stitches (Unworldly City #4)

Chapter Eighteen

“ F ive, six, seven,” I counted aloud. I counted all the way to forty-nine while staring at the broken circulatory system from atop my conservatory.

King Take snickered.

Which was distracting. The king had surely been sent by ancients to test my tolerance. There was a reason he had required the most ancient princess.

“What do you count?” asked King See.

I did not answer. I was checking.

I had touched each of my stitches in turn, or connected with those stitches that shackled kings. Forty-nine.

Each stitch correlated to a broken vein or artery of the world, a sickness to be healed. Not a stitch—a mother.

My mothers would heal the world.

I had hoped there would not be forty-nine. I had hoped there would at least be one less. I rested a hand on the olden rock, drawing fearful gasps from Take and Bring. I supposed they had once done the same with dire results.

I rested upon the olden rock. “Some nights, there is great weight in what I do. ”

Steeling myself, I walked out to my rooftop garden to better peer down at my queendom. My grayscale mothers were superimposed below, and I scanned their circle until I found Danya. My exhale shuddered out of me, and I closed my eyes against the sight of her.

Her eyes were set wide. Her mouth pressed shut. Danya was unmoving—a statue.

The mothers either side of her remained stitched in place. They continued to chant, only occasionally glancing at their daughter and mother.

Without warning, I had stolen one from their midst. I would steal more of them.

All of them. Healing the sickness of the world would take my own mother.

Or should I dare to hope that I could find a way to spare her?

She had given up her vibrancy in death to provide for me in death.

I had thought that meant she would be with me forever.

I turned from the statue of Danya, staggering back to the conservatory.

For there was another problem.

If every stitch was needed, then they could not be used to shackle kings.

I strode into the conservatory and stood before kings. I looked at each of them in turn. “I saw a saved world last night. I saw how it could be.”

King Bring said on a breath, “What was it like?”

I smiled. “Much like your kingdom, sir. Your vision should be commended.”

He dipped his head. “And yours, Great Queen. We have always agreed on that vision.”

That was true. “Lush growth. Soil bursting with life. A miracle awaits us, such vibrancy.”

“What must we do?” asked King Take.

They must do naught, except conquer themselves to heal their unions. But time. We had so little time .

I had so little time.

I did not face King See as I released his shackles and called back the stitch welding the shackles closed. “You are free. This is the next step.”

King See kneeled, but I did not turn to look because great misgiving and vulnerability sought to clamor in me.

“Perantiqua, you will never regret this,” he said. “I am yours for eternity.”

That was what I feared. Would he be my eternal happiness or my eternal pain?

He did not stand. “What would you have me do?”

King Bring said, “You could keep him close to easier forgive him.”

I wrinkled my nose, though I could see the sense in that too.

King Take snorted. “You could banish him to his kingdom, or chain him to your bed.”

I rolled my eyes.

King Change chuckled darkly. “He killed any destiny you might have shared with him. You know it is pointless to try.”

That thought did not lead to a saved world.

Duke Raise popped his head up through the copper panel leading to his duchy. He was panting, clearly having raced to get here. “Queen… Perantiqua. You could. Stop seeing him as an enemy.”

I faced King See. “And you, sir? What would you have me do? Do you offer me advice to make matters better or worse? Or do you bid me to alter my tolerance and perception?”

King See rose and stood to attention. “I await your order, my queen.”

When he said “my queen,” the words were not impersonal as they were with other monsters.

I smirked. “So you offer nothing, as you have always done.”

King See absorbed the blow well considering how that topic prickled at him. “I do nothing but support your decision. ”

He bowed, then stood again.

What to do with a king. Hmm, he was not a king, though, but I did not wish to acknowledge what he was.

Such vulnerability in me. But I had seen a glimpse of a saved world.

My emotional readiness was neither here nor there.

“You are now Prince Consort, and will be this forevermore. I bid you return to your princedom. All humans and monsters are mine. You will pursue your purpose to grow your power. For me . You will support my queendom always in all possible ways.”

See released an exhale. “I will do all of these things. I am honored to be your prince consort.” He hesitated. “Thank you, my queen. I understand this is…”

Too much.

Premature.

Impossible.

“Go now,” I told him, then faced the other kings. “Duke, you are dismissed also.”

Raise disappeared below. See lingered before leaving also.

He was gone. I felt great relief to be free of him for a time.

King Change laughed to himself.

There was a king that I could not release. But I would have to eventually. And the others… I withheld a sigh because more than ever an urgency filled me.

The healing of unions must be accelerated.

Huckery padded in. “My queen, your champions have awakened.”

“Thank you, Huckery.”

King Change mused, “So you are her dog now.”

My queendom rumbled at the insult, but Huckery answered in the same tone. “I always was, though unaware of such ancient designs. I am capable of change, you see, though I did not believe this for a long while.”

Change yanked at his shackles. “How brave a pawn can be when a king is shackled. ”

“How brave a pawn is to place himself in the company of a king who abused him for centuries.”

A lump filled my throat. Goodness, but I had not fathomed how extremely hard that would be. Huckery was brave. Huckery was not healed, but he was not stuck in denial any longer.

I said hoarsely, “A pawn is very brave, and a queen is very proud. King Change, if only you possessed the connection of the monster who used to be your prince.”

I swept from the conservatory, and Huckery followed in my wake to the second level. The level of princesses.

I visited the most ancient of them first.

Princess Take was propped in bed and wearing her cloak.

“How do you fare?” I perched on the side of her bed.

She hummed. “Like a building was crashed over my head. Such power burned in me and through me. I am unhurt, but… wrung out.”

Huckery said, “That is how princes felt after ancients filled them with power. I am told.”

Princess Change and Princess Raise wobbled in, each supported by a pawn. They fell onto the bed in a sprawl.

Princess Raise said, “Was that the largest sickness we will face?”

“No,” I replied. “That was one of the smallest.”

Three sounds of dismay arose from my champions.

Princess Change gasped. “I cannot fathom holding more power. Or holding it for longer.”

The most brilliant of them in connection said, “We need Princess Bring.”

I had come to this connection also. “Huckery, what is Princess Bring’s approximate age?”

“She is yet to go through the blobbiness of puberty, my queen.”

Preteen. I assumed that she would be ready to resume her mantle and purpose in adulthood. “Her growth is great. She will be ready soon enough.”

But other princesses required rest, though I was impatient to visit another sickness.

And also fearful of sacrificing another stitch and mother.

Princess Raise growled. “You resist your reckoning.”

I inhaled. “Yes, I do. But I will not continue doing so. I must trip through the grave again, but first we must discuss your unions. Princess Change?”

“He does not respond to me, Your Majesty. I talk for as long as I can, and as often as I can. This is tiresome indeed.” There was a hint of anger in her voice.

“If your talking has not yielded a response, I suggest shouting.”

She stared.

“Princess Take?” I said next.

“He is very desperate, but if anything, this robs him of all thought and leaves no room for diversity of feeling. I am inclined to remove this cloak and work in a different way.”

I considered that. “You do not believe he will break?”

“Not before me, and I glean that he must break himself.”

Her word choice rang in my minds. A wisp arose, and I took it and felt my lips curve. “Ah, yes. You are quite correct— he must break himself .”

Three princesses shuddered as my voice brushed against them.

“W-what do y-you mean?” stammered Princess Take.

But I looked at Princess Raise. “And what of your duke?”

“I have set the foundations, my queen. We have spoken long of how you conquered him and of how I knew of the keys to his kingdom. I have pointed out my ability to keep to task.”

Not fast enough. “How long have you spoken on such matters? ”

“Most of the time he has spent in our duchy since you freed him. But do not fear. I have upheld his purpose in that time.”

“Except when you were unconscious during the day,” I murmured. “Princess, I bid you to ignore purpose tonight and tomorrow night. Distract your duke in entirety. When I return from the grave, you will become Grand Duchess Regnant.”

“But. B-but so soon?”

I stood and extended a hand to Princess Take. “Come, Princess. There is that which we must do.”

She placed her shaking hand in mine. “My queen?”

“We must go and retrieve your husband. You can remove your cloak.”

The princess did so, revealing crimson lingerie beneath.

Of course.

“How am I best to navigate his refusal to see all parts of me?” she quietly asked me.

Only she could discover that. “As you said, Princess, what he sees has entirely to do with him, and very little to do with you. You will have your own realizations to uncover.”

The princess stumbled. “What do you mean?”