Page 28 of Of Sockets Of Stitches (Unworldly City #4)

The ball did not glow, and it was not a ball at all, but a bottle neck.

A funnel through which mind, body and soul all flowed through before they could do anything.

A thought might flow through this funnel before reaching the Raises’ lips.

The notion to walk or sing or dance would all flow through this too.

Their single reason for being could not escape this bottle neck either.

Everything they were, whether princess, king, duke, or duchess had to flow through this narrowed and magic space of their role and purpose and monsterly design.

“Magnificent,” I gasped.

Even more magnificent that the Raises’ love could deny this force. This funnel was akin to wearing glasses without any knowledge. Those glasses colored the world in a way unique to each monster. Yet the Raises’ love countered or eliminated that lens in part.

Magnificent.

I switched their funnels. In the new duchess, I placed the kingly bottle neck, so that all of her thoughts, movements, and soulful musings must run through a more regal and ancient lens.

But parts of her switched off and went dark. “ Ah , then here is the price to be paid.”

I fathomed that if I left the duchess in this way, she would be quite insane.

“What if I…” I pushed the idea of hellebores into Duchess Raise’s mind. She was designed by ancients, so it was to them I spoke now.

The darkness in her being changed from black to a dark gray. Better.

I snatched at a wisp offered up by my minds. Slumber. The duchess would need to slumber.

I surely would still require her in the battle against ruin. “I cannot do without you for even a few weeks, let alone a millennia.”

Even if…

My focus shifted to her husband. “You will be my new champion.”

How to switch monsters about and still save the world?

I floated an idea to ancients, and watched the dark gray in the duchess’s mind fade to a lighter hue. I pushed another idea forward. Lighter. Another idea. Nearly right.

With a reluctant sigh, I floated through another offer.

The duchess’s being returned to normal.

“Here is the way that a princess will become a duchess,” I said. “Thank you.”

Ancients did not respond, but they never had so directly.

There was a price for me too. That of power. I trickled power into the duchess so as not to fry her up. I trickled power until dawn came, and then until dawn returned.

Duke Raise was a simpler matter. His soul had cried out for less regality since his first days of monsterdom. There was a relief in him when I placed the funnel of Princess Raise within him. His mind eased. His body relaxed. The deepest parts of King Raise had yearned for this.

Indeed, there would be some shoving and pushing in his magic until it adjusted to flowing through the narrower space, but all in all, he had the easier role to play.

The sweat trickling over my brow had dried long ago.

I released the Raises, and the duke promptly caught his duchess, who was deep in slumber.

“’Tis done,” I said wearily.

A large hand grasped my elbow to support me.

I stiffened at See’s touch, but truly was not equipped to stand well in that moment. I would allow the touch for now.

“What have you done to her?” The duke’s face morphed to outrage. “What have you done to me? My skin feels too tight!”

He also had a face. Which had escaped his notice for now. Another price of messing with monsterdom.

Fear was alive in his gaze.

“She slumbers, sir,” I told the duke. “That is all. She shall wake tomorrow at dusk.”

He blinked. “That’s all?”

“No, that is not all. She will waken each dusk, but fall into slumber by midnight. Every night.”

“Every night for how long?” the duke demanded.

I answered, “A century.”

Duke Raise paled. His mouth bobbed. His features were angular—at once seeming sharp and slippery, like the peak of an icy slope. “I will only have her for a handful of hours each night.”

“Rather less than that, sir. She will be engaged in purpose when awake. In matters of her duchy, and in matters of my queendom.”

He turned a shade of green. “You punish us?—”

“ I do no such thing ,” I said on the wind. “Ancients were very clear. The duchess is needed now, but the influx of power would have rendered her insane without slumber. This was the only alternative, if you wished to be left with an intact wife. Or would you prefer the alternative? ”

Not that I was capable of that tonight.

The duke frantically shook his head. “No. No, I wish her intact and well.”

“Then be grateful for what time you may get. Anticipate the first full night she graces monsterdom again. A century might pass in a blink, as you are aware.”

Though it was uncertain whether we would live more than another few weeks.

“You must rest,” See said low from beside me.

I ignored him and said to the duke, “Take her to the duchy, and care for her as you will. You are under her order now, sir, and you will respect the price she has paid for your love.”

The duke bowed his head over his duchess, his wife. Tears dripped onto her cheeks from above. “I will always do that.”

“Take me to my chambers,” I told See.

He took most of my weight, but employed great wisdom in the decision not to swoop me up into his arms. We moved slowly down the stairs, and slowly down the third level.

Toil and Hex hastened to open the doors, and then, quite simply, I was led back to the exact place that I had left in such an agitated flurry.

To my bedroom.

And as Valetise readied me for sleep, the irony in me swelled to the point that when I climbed into bed and nestled into the pillows, I could not help laughing quietly.

To think that I could have escaped my fate and destiny by daring to leave.

From the lounge next door, my quiet laughter was echoed with a deeper rumble.

We shared the small amusement, See and I, for we were right back where we had started.

I closed my eyes.

And slept.