Page 47 of Of Sockets Of Stitches (Unworldly City #4)
Chapter Thirty-One
A change to Change.
T here was no reason to wait when an unchanging king could not change. I had listened to the conversation between him and See for the last several hours. While Change respected See most, he did not respect See more than himself.
As was right.
Even if I wished change was possible.
A change to Change.
“Huckery,” I called from beside Mother. We had been talking of times gone by, and that only added to the feeling that the noose was tightening and the end drawing near.
Huckery padded over, his yellowed eyes curious. “My queen.”
“Dear pawn, do you recall the situation of the Raises? In one night, a king was a duke, and a princess was a duchess.”
His answer was wary. “I recall the situation.”
How to phrase this? “Huckery, you are rather more than a pawn, and you always have been. Reflect how you are able to reason. Reflect how a simple monster shares exclusive romance with you. This is not usual for a pawn.”
The werebeast did not answer, and that was because his instincts were admirable. “What might a pawn be if not a pawn?”
“A pawn may be the queen’s baron.”
His beast eyes widened, and then suspicion returned. Though happier within than ever before, the pawn tended toward wariness, and that was not always a bad thing when coupled with wisdom.
I did not fill the baffled silence with further words.
Huckery swallowed. “What is the purpose of a baron?”
“I cannot quite fathom, sir, beyond that you will have no claim to a territory, as previous kings still do, or as a duchess now does. I expect that you might further my rule in some capacity. My connections on this are tenuous, and only the act of transferring you to baron might reveal the whole.”
“So I would make this choice without knowing what fate will ask of me.” His fangs gleamed, but that was hardly his fault.
I nodded. “You would. And you would make that choice for monsters.”
He extended a foreleg and bowed his head low. “I would make that choice for the goodness of monsters, and I would make that choice in blind trust of a queen who saved me from immortal turmoil.”
My chest tightened, and moisture gathered in my eyes. I felt, in that moment, closer to the new and innocent monster I had been than I had in a long time. “Huckery, you honor me, and how do you feel in your heart?”
“I feel free of eternal burden, Your Majesty. I live with so much new space for great things. ”
I did not brush away the tear that fell. “Dear Huckery, I am overjoyed for you.”
“If making me baron is the way to save monsters, and if that is your wish, then I do so gladly.”
There were some monsters who had been hard won—most of the kings, for instance.
Half of the princesses. And certainly one pawn.
Huckery’s trust was a trust earned, and a trust that had forced me to reflect time and again on his inner turmoil with each rise in my queendom and power.
“Thank you, my pawn. I am ever grateful for you.”
I called, “Candor.”
My truth skeleton flew forward in her armchair to join us. There was a beauty in the open sight of her these nights, for there were no truths hidden in the walls of a queendom any longer, and certainly no skeletons in the closet.
“My queen,” she said, settling next to Huckery. “I listened to the whole conversation.”
My lips twitched. “Thank you for your honesty.”
Her teeth bones spread in a smile. “Always, Your Majesty.”
I walked forward and took her hand bones in mine. Then I glanced at Huckery. “The matter is this. A king will not change, but the ingredients to heal a frayed seam are not limited to a battling mother and the power of champions.”
Huckery stared.
“The broken union of a princess and king can be balanced by a romance that is sound.”
“You are asking us to battle the evil,” whispered Candor. “To be lost in it as a duchess, marquis, and earl have been.”
I dipped my head. “I believe that would happen. To give the healing the best chance, I will start the transfer of power from King No Change to Huckery shortly.”
Huckery growled, “You said nothing about Candor’s involvement.”
“Because Candor can pick Candor’s fate for herself,” stated Candor. Then added in a softer voice, “And she could not remain behind when her love walked into evil alone. I will go there with you.”
Huckery’s growl heightened. He whirled from her and stalked away.
“He agrees,” Candor confided in me. “But his werebeast feelings resist the truth of matters.”
Huckery’s growl heightened.
I squeezed her hands. “Thank you, dear monster.”
“Thank you , queen of us. When will you start the transfer of power?”
“Very shortly,” I admitted. “If we had time to spare, I would grant it to you.”
Candor flew after Huckery in her armchair, and I allowed myself a sigh.
Cassandra chuckled under her breath. “So my time arrives.”
I faced her. “Your time, First Mother? The stitch in my thigh belongs to Niyna, and that has always been the stitch that belongs to the Changes’ union.” I glanced across the circle of vigil for the mother who would battle next, then gasped to find her already stone.
“Niyna gifted her life and power to me not long ago, fiftieth daughter. Fate has demanded the power of two mothers for this battle, and so you will give the stitch of your thigh and the stitch of your spine in the fight.”
My heart sank. I had known that Cassandra must go, but I had expected another day in her ancient company. “Mother…”
She smiled. “Do not mourn me, but rejoice me. The rage I have felt across centuries at the withering of fifty mothers and daughters sweeps through me as a storm. I relish the release of it at long last. Ancients may have used our line, but Ruin shall feel my wrath. I will not fail you, Daughter.”
Like all mothers but mine, Cassandra was locked in the most vibrant part of her life, but her youthful face was etched in knowledge and in haunting determination.
Cassandra had lived filled with ancient purpose that removed all her choice in withering, and then she had watched forty-nine descendants go through the same.
I had never considered what guilt Cassandra might feel that she had been the first mother.
I had only felt the anger and resentment of some mothers with thought to my actions against them.
“You have never failed us, Cassandra,” I answered.
She shifted her focus to me, and her eyes shone. “I have never wished to, and that has proved enough for me, fiftieth daughter and queen of us.”
“We will go hand in hand, Mother,” I whispered to her.
Cassandra nodded and looked to the sky, settling into whatever undead vigil remained to her.
I called, “Valetise and Picket.”
My simple monsters walked to me hand in hand, and from their grim faces, I could guess that they had deciphered the truth. “You overheard?”
“I would never eavesdrop,” declared Picket, then said sheepishly, “But Unguis and Loup heard of matters from Huckery, and then Sign and Deliver were wondering about how romance is healing the world, and then Toil, Hex, and Sigil said how Valetise and I were lucky, seeing as how we were in romance but you had not asked us to walk into evil. Marchioness Take was feeling spiteful and told us that we would be next and not to celebrate too soon.”
I blew out a breath and cast a look at the marchioness who was smirking this way from the tower where she sat in the company of other champions. “I am sorry that the truth arrived to you in such a way, for yes, I wish to ask this of your romance.”
Valetise leaned into Picket’s side. “My queen, I served you from first monsterdom, and I serve you forever. There is no monsterdom without healing this seam, and so the choice is easy for me. I go now by choice, or later without any. ”
My heart was full for her words. “Valetise, you are wise beyond your threads.”
She flushed and curtsied.
Picket wrapped a ropey arm around her and glanced my way. “My queen… I would walk into evil with my heart too. I could never be lost while I am with her, and yet I fear what lays beyond.”
I frowned. “Speak your mind, Picket, and without fear.”
The worried crease of his brows eased. “I am a simple monster, my queen, one who enjoys the honest labor of a job well done. My purpose is to picket, and Picket is my name. I fear becoming more or other, you see, for Huckery told Unguis and Loup, who spoke with Sign and Deliver, who spoke to Toil, Hex, and Sigil, and then the marchioness told me that I would likely need to become a viscount or the like, which I certainly do not wish to be!”
His eyes were wide indeed, and I would no sooner make Picket a viscount than I would have made a foot soldier into a king.
“Picket, ease your mind, for you are exactly as you are meant to be. I would never seek to alter you, and your feelings of rightness in purpose and self are true and pure. You will walk into evil as you are, and return from it to picket again.”
The tension in his fibers eased. “My queen, my mind is reassured.”
Valetise rested her head on his shoulder. “We will do what is needed, my queen.”
They walked away as they had come to me, hand in hand. Whatever grief had plagued me earlier, now only warm and strong feelings for the rightness of monsterdom filled me.
Such confidence in me.
Such selflessness without mindless servitude.
My voice carried through the air: “ How proud I am of monsters. ”
And if those were my last words to monsters, then those were words I would carry happily in my heart upon my death.
I walked to my tower. The conversation between See and No Change must end, though the edge of panic in See’s tone had become steadily more evident. He was painfully witnessing that nothing would alter his brother.
“Huckery,” I said, pausing before him. “’Tis time.”
Huckery nuzzled Candor’s cheek, then padded behind me.
We walked to the top of the tower, and See and King No Change broke off their conversation at my appearance.
“You will see, brother,” sneered the king. “She will fail.”
“See,” I announced. “You have had your chance. There is much to do. Kindly await below.”
See hesitated, glancing between me and the king. “My queen, I would stay if you would allow it.”
The air was charged, which meant See was deep in feeling. Frustration at his brother? Fear of what may occur to his brother now? “You may not. I transfer some of a king’s power to Huckery, See. King No Change.” My lips torsioned. “Will change after all, and exist lesser in power.”
See swept a bow. “I am sorry for the change, and you are right, I should not remain to see it.”
“You did not worry so over the change between Raise and his princess,” I felt curious to say.
See gazed at his brother. “There is something in me that mourns the change of a king who has always been himself, my darkness. I cannot pretend otherwise. Whereas King Raise was ever something he was not really.”
That was true enough. “Leave us now.”
See bowed again and left.
I stood before King No Change. “And so it will be that you have no choice in matters, sir, and how I wished that you had.”
He answered, “I had choice in matters, but my choice was not one that you liked. ”
His answer struck me. “You are right, of course, and I feel the coldness of my actions because I will act in accordance with my soul, and you have acted in accordance with yours. You will remain in monsterdom, sir, though less, and I cannot rightly say how you may serve my queendom, for there is little use to a monster set on ruin aside from the reminder never to relax in regard to it. I require the stitch shackling you to this panel. You cannot remain locked here, yet I cannot trust you with such power. But another is most deserving, and so you will remain in a saved world, sir, but too weak to ever do a thing to reverse such saving. And perhaps you will change after all.”
“I thought you understood me, Queen ,” he said.
I did. This monster would never change.
“Stand beside him, Huckery,” I ordered.
The pawn obeyed, and I cast my power forth, with more idea as to how the transfer would go after doing something similar to the Raises. But the answer provided by ancients was unexpected. Most unexpected.
“Princess Change.” I summoned.
She appeared, panting. Of all monsters, I tended to jerk her around the most. “My… Queen?”
I murmured without looking at her. “You are part of this equation. Kindly stand on your husband’s right side.”
Princess Change walked to do so, pausing to say to her king, “How much of what we shared has been rewritten, sir? For every experience and memory where I believed you a tower of strength must be revised to describe you as the weakest and most breakable monster to exist. I am ashamed to have agreed to union with you. Though mostly, I still wish—in the depths of my heart—that you had just been capable of change. For with that, I might have been able to rewrite our history again to something worthy of immortality.”
The unchanging king felt her words. He did love her, I knew, but not as much as ruin. Never as much as ruin .
Princess Change faced me. “What do you require of me, my queen?”
Mostly in my power, I still could not be sure of what I saw.
All would be revealed in the throes of transfer, and by then, gaining her informed permission would be impossible.
“My champion, I believe that you will be rather different after what I must do. The matter is not so simple as making a baron of a pawn. You will be more than a princess, but more of what I cannot say nor tell. I cannot say what your purpose might be.”
“Will my reason for being alter?” she asked after a beat.
I probed forward with my power. “No, only ancients hold that power. Or I would simply alter King No Change and be done.”
She answered, “If my fate involves my hands in soil, then I am willing.”
I hoped that fate did not betray her, because I imagined her heartbreak wished for punishment, and that was behind the rashness of her choice. “As you say.”
Unleashing my power, I flooded three monsters to freeze their very souls. A surgery of purpose was about to begin, a cutting of ancient design, and a suture of fate.
Monsters must live.