Page 38 of Of Sockets Of Stitches (Unworldly City #4)
How much rage was inspired by the thought of King Bring ever harming those deepest parts of her again.
“There is another monster,” I told her. “He will be your monster, and he has been your monster for an age in your first life.”
Her breath hitched so soggily, like the squelch of walking through deep mud. “But mine?”
“But yours, dear Princess. You mature in power, thought, and body, and that is the great sign of your readiness, but I must be sure of his.”
Princess Bring blinked. “His? Is he not fully grown and mature too?”
Duke Raise laughed under his breath, and Marchioness Take snorted while Princess Change grimaced.
How to phrase this? “While you have been locked in physical growth, your monster has been locked in inner growth. You should know, Princess, that ruin was set upon you by King Change, such that your union was greatly upset and confounded. You should know that your union started in the sweetest of origins. You should know that your monster had vowed to drill through all that he has denied until the truth is revealed without vanity.” I lowered my voice.
“Your monster has despaired of your absence, and he has set himself to the task of deserving you with devotion.”
Princess Bring’s blobs heaved, creating small suction noises against the stones. “He is mine, and he has always been. My queen, when might I meet him?”
“When I am certain of his growth, as I am certain of yours. And I must warn that meeting him may not mean the unshackling of him. Only utter certainty in the wellbeing of you in your union will make that happen.”
She squelched forward. “But to meet him would bring me so much happiness, my queen.”
I set my hand on her slimy shoulder. “Then I go to him now to assess his state. Remain out of the conservatory, Princess. That is a firm order.”
Her expression fell, for I had dangled a great prize before her, but she nodded.
I said to my champions, “We must still depart to stitch as many veins as possible tonight. With our full numbers, I am hopeful of healing many.”
I left them to sweep back upstairs, past the third level, and to my conservatory.
Hellebores stroked King No Change as they stroked King Bring, but at my appearance, they ceased their work on the bringing monster to retreat along the wall.
The panel holding King Bring turned, and my eyebrows climbed.
“Queen Perantiqua,” he said damply, blinking as the drug-like effect of the hellebores leached from his mind.
King Bring was rather shorter than when I last saw him. Rather slimier too. Still crimson, but all in all?
King Bring was a blob .
My lips torsioned into a beaming smile. “Sir, I am happy indeed to see you this evening.”
Wariness entered his gaze. “You are?”
“I am indeed. Tell me, how fares your inner journey?”
The king drew himself taller in a wet wobble that seemed to escape his notice. “I am no longer a creature of denial, my queen. In recent nights, I have worked to understand my priorities and the reason for them in a bid to align future decisions with the truth of me.”
“And what of your union? What of Princess Bring?”
His blob heaved as hers had just done. “I am breathless for the meeting of her. I am determined to serve and love and deserve her always. I… am afraid too.”
King No Change chuckled sluggishly from his panel.
I said, “You fear failure?”
“I did not see indifference arise before, my queen. I fear missing the signs. This is where my reflection turns this night. I conceptualize the warning signs of indifference. I plot the antidote. I have failed in monsterdom and kingdom, but I will not fail my princess again.”
My heart warmed. “Sir, are you proud of yourself?”
He replied, “I imagine myself in the future, and I am proud in that version. I am proud to have imagined that version, and I feel certain of achieving him.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I am proud of you, dear monster. While you have made mistakes in monsterdom, a mistake is all they are after such admirable reflection and change. Do not let those mistakes form a lasting sense of failure in yourself. Downstairs, there slimes a princess who is very eager to meet you.”
His eyes widened. “Eager, you say? What else?”
There was an instinct to withhold her musings of physical pleasure, but I did not plan to release King Bring just yet. “She confesses to excited thoughts of magnificent pleasure to be had with another. She speaks of tending to a territory.”
“She is ready for me,” he hushed. “I must be ready for her. But I am not. I am not. I must conceptualize. I must discover the antidote, the charm.”
“I will not release you yet, sir,” I told him. “But a queen is very proud of a monster this night. So tomorrow at dusk, you shall meet your princess again.”
“I am humbled. I am honored. Dear Queen?—”
“You should be very aware,” I interrupted him, “that monsterkind has had the untold bliss of caring for our baby princess. We have watched her ascend to fullness, rapidly but nevertheless exquisitely. Every monster feels protective of Princess Bring. Sir, do you understand what I am saying?” I did not give him time to answer.
“I am saying that you should ponder your preventative antidote, but you should be in no doubt that other monsters will surely prevent you from harming her too.”
King Bring’s top blob rose and fell. “I am strongly relieved and grateful for monsters.”
We would see about that. I rather imagined that overprotective monsters may be a pain in his blobs.
I said to the night air, “Mother, do you suppose that you can make arrangements for a grand ball tomorrow at dusk?”
We would celebrate those who remained and the meeting of the Brings before departing to heal the Takes’ seam.
Mother rustled her hellebores in answer.
I walked to the doorway, then glanced back. “Sir, did you know that you are a blob now?”
To the music of his sloppy and splashing shock, I left.