Page 5 of Of Brides Of Queens
If I declared my purpose tonight, then what if King Raise’s claim of eternal servitude stood up to scrutiny tomorrow? I would have no need of purpose then, but a hasty declaration of purpose might have gained me enemies in the meantime.
If kings remained uncertain of my purpose, they might support meagainstRaise’s claim. Why would they not, when I might support their purpose in return?
No.I should not make kingly enemies too soon.
I blinked, realizing some time had passed as I’d gazed at my reflection. My blue eyes were as clear and unforgiving as this mirror, and they told me that I was out of my depth, but I had at least figured out a small way forward.
Of everything, only my eyes and hair remained when daily dusk arrived. Blonde hair curled over my shoulders and partway down my back. As conventional as those parts of me were, I enjoyed the contrast of them against my more magnificent stitches and mismatched patches.
I forced my lips to soften, noticing how they torsioned, the upper and lower lips not quite matching—no surprise when they’d belonged to different women. “You are ancient and filled with the dying purposes of fifty mothers. You will follow theinstincts that have brought you here. They will take you to the beginning or end of the world.”
My thoughts had not been those of a nineteen-year-old in months, yet I could sense that immortality was a difficult concept for a newly ancient mind.
A week was a blink to me now.
But in that blink, I had unveiled a tiny answer.
I could not make kingly enemies tonight. All that remained, then, was that I should make kinglyfriends.
I smiled at my exquisite reflection, then blurred to the top of the stairs, jumping over the glass panel to Raise’s kingdom. I leaped off the gold balustrade and relished the slight terror of a hurtling descent before landing on the balls of my strappy shoes.
I strode across the courtyard to my wall of bars, filled with a sense of direction sorely missing in the last week.
Kingly friends was the agenda, and I would start with King Take, the unknown factor.
But as I reached the door, a dirty length of rope whipped upright to sway before me as a mythical snake might once have done.
I pushed up my crown. “Hello there.”
The muddy rope wiggled.
A memory niggled and gnawed. “My, but you are the rope that King See’s princes used to cordon off the hotel when they snuffed this space.”
The rope bobbed in a nod.
What an unexpected delight. This might be a new monster in the making. Valetise was once a suitcase, after all. “A pleasure to meet you, sir.”
Someone tapped on my shoulder. I glanced back to find the other end of the rope there with a letter.
“For me?” I asked, taking the letter.
The rope collapsed into a weary heap and could not answer. Goodness, how many princes had slimed and trodden over the rope in the last six months? I felt terrible at the possibility that I had done so too. I’d just never expected a rope to become alive, and that had been a foolish assumption.
“Princely pawns,” I called.
Only the princes of King Bring blobbed out in answer. The others must be attending to their kings.
“Yes, Lady Queen?” Hex asked, appearing very hopeful of hearing my purpose.
I withheld a sigh. “Please move this delightful rope to a more comfortable resting place where no one will accidentally tread upon it.”
The three princes peered at the dirty rope, perhaps looking for the delight I had witnessed.
Whether he found it or not, Hex soon folded one blob over another in a bow. “At once.”
I took care to step over the coiled rope as I exited the wall of bars.
Only then did I recall the letter in my hand. I leaned against the gate and turned over the letter. “Which king are you from?”