Page 12 of Of Brides Of Queens
Silence fell after.
A silence as strong as him.
He had watched me this entire time, perusing me for queenly changes, and I had only grown more nervous of returning that perusal.
There remained one king to greet.
My breath, my heart, my very skin begged me to do so without delay. They screamed at me not to in the same instant.
When last I saw See, we had conversed over dinner and discussed what we might be to one another. A proposal. A refusal. A rejection of love. The night had ended in delicious pleasure and bitter disappointment.
Yet the deal struck was clear: We would only be for each other until which time as we understoodwhatwe would be for each other.
The soft menace of his voice filled the ballroom. “Lover.”
The tightness between us shattered, and I shivered at the bursting release of tension. My body quickened and coiled at his brazen claim.
He’d called me lover, and at first there was a rushing relief that King See still desired me. A flush entered my cheeks that drew awed gasps from the other rulers.
“The blush of midnight,” Raise murmured, and his wonder was at utter odds with his underhand intention for the tribunal.
My second response was to feel irritated by my blush. I did not care to blush as a new queen trying to escape eternal servitude to a king. I also did not see why a certain king should greet me with “lover” when he had degraded love to a useless farce of fools and mortals.
Was he toying with me?
Was he angered by my flippant response on the topic of purpose?
I turned my head to look at him, nothing more.
I would look at him briefly.
I would keep my distance.
But my dismissive intention was thwarted.
Velvet coat. Silver stitches.Of course, of course.I had obsessed over what details I had of King See, and I didn’t need to check his boots to know they were black and embroidered silver to match his coat. I had precious little to visualize him considering how enamored and intimate we had been. Then again, See had once taught me that infatuation had little to do with appearance. I could not agree with that tonight because through the opening in his velvet coat, I could see that his black trousers were belted at the hip, snug against the conventionalVof his torso, which was made more evident by the clinging silk of his black tunic.
Hair, as long and dark as the midnight hour, brushed the shoulders of his jacket.
I could see far more of him. I could see the glint of his black crown.
My hopes climbed as I focused on his face.
And those hopes were slashed like wheat.
His skin was white, as his princes’ were. The chalky white conveyed the eerie timelessness that See was and suited him greatly and magnificently. Except the chalky white blazed so that I could not make out his other features. A snow-blindness of sorts such as that of staring at the bright moon overlong. Nothing else could be perceived through the brightness.
No lifted corner of the mouth.
No black-rimmed eyes.
No diamond earring.
No scars.
I lowered my gaze so kings did not spot my disappointment.
In doing so, I found myself looking at his hands. The joints on them were oversized like his princes’. His other joints were the same, I assumed, though why I did that was any monsters’ guess when none of me matched at all.
