Kings of Underland: A Bride for Beasts by C.M. Stunich

Author:C.M. Stunich [Stunich, C.M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sarian Royal
Published: 2022-10-18T23:00:00+00:00

The university is larger than I expected, with hidden doors and meandering hallways. There are multiple doors marked with warnings or locked tight with chains. We pass through rooms full of specimen jars, stacked four deep on shelves that go from floor to ceiling. Tiny animals and insects, fish and birds, float in various colored liquids, some of it glowing, some of it fizzing, some if it ice-cold to the touch.

Other rooms have displays of shells or bones or taxidermic animals. The one we’ve just entered is covered in mounted animal heads, some that I recognize (from Rab’s house, no less) and others … not so much. When I step into the room and turn in a circle, I see something that stops me dead in my tracks.

There’s a white horse head with a spiral horn in the center of its forehead, its long mane a brilliant silver that catches the light.

“What the fuck is that?” I ask, looking to Lar for an answer. For the first hour or so of the tour, he seemed a bit shaky on his feet, but he looks okay now. He reaches up to grab hold of his jacket lapels and gazes at the horse’s eerily lifelike face.

It’s not that I haven’t seen a unicorn before. Believe it or not, one of the Knave’s husbands can actually shapeshift into one. No, it’s more that I’m surprised to see a unicorn’s head mounted on the wall like a trophy.

“Ah,” Lar begins, studying the horse before turning his attention to my face. He seems to be able to read my thoughts. I’m not sure if that’s simply figurative or if it’s a literal conundrum. He is a seer, isn’t he? “Not like the Knave’s husband. He was cursed in a storm. Just like our lovely Duke isn’t a real jabberwock, and just like your sword isn’t a real sword.” He flashes a tightlipped smile and steps even closer, putting us front to front. “But perhaps you weren’t thinking about that. Perhaps you were just wondering who would be cruel enough to slay a unicorn and put it on display.” Lar leans down to whisper in my ear. “In Underland, Sunshine, the answer is this: everybody.”

He draws back, but I grab onto the front of his jacket to keep him from moving too far away.

“If the visions and the prophecies and all that shit, if it’s causing you pain: stop doing it.” My words are nearly cut short when Lar wraps his wings around us suddenly, pulling me into a dark cocoon of blue and black and gold.

“Beware the true White Queen, my love. The jaws that bite, the blood that sings. Beware the twisted king, and shun their frumious wedding rings.” Lar whispers this in a rapid-fire voice, and then he collapses onto his knees, his wings slumping to the ground on either side of him.

I drop down with him, powerless to help with whatever he’s going through and hating that weakness in us both. All Lar does, however, is laugh.

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