Carousel of Broken Unions

Queen Perantiqua, newly ascended and stitched together in both body and soul, sits on her copper throne, mediating the endless, circular arguments of King and Princess Raise. Their love is warped, their union a carousel of unions of threats and tears, and Perantiqua's patience is tested. The queen's queendom is filled with monsters—pawns, princesses, and kings—each with their own wounds and secrets. The queen's own stitched hand is comforted by hellebores, flowers that soothe ancient insanity. As the night unfolds, Perantiqua's role as mediator, ruler, and reluctant heart-healer is established, setting the stage for a story where love is both a curse and a weapon, and where every relationship is a negotiation with fate.

Pawns, Princesses, and Power

Perantiqua's queendom is a tapestry of monsters, each trio of pawns loyal to their own king, yet bound to the queen's will. The queen's power over pawns is absolute, but her influence over princesses is more delicate, requiring deals and respect. Reports of unrest, assassination attempts, and kingly threats swirl around her. The queen's relationships with her pawns—werebeasts, sliming blobs, and seeing monsters—are fraught with trauma, loyalty, and yearning for punishment or redemption. The queen's cunning is matched by her empathy, as she navigates the emotional wounds of her subjects and the political machinations of rival kings, all while her own heart is entangled with the enigmatic King See.

Letters, Threats, and Obsessions

Letters from rival kings arrive, each demanding, threatening, or pleading for the queen's attention and allegiance. King Take demands her queendom, King Bring offers a prisoness's fate, and King Change plots her ruin. The queen's power is growing, but so are the dangers. Princesses are summoned for a council, each with their own grievances and roles to play. The queen's obsession with understanding the rhyme and reason of each king becomes a driving force, as she seeks to unravel the secrets that bind and divide the immortal rulers. The queendom is a chessboard, and Perantiqua is both player and piece, her every move watched by allies and enemies alike.

The Queen's Haunted Garden

In her rooftop garden, Perantiqua pens letters and contemplates the eerie beauty of her queendom. Princess Change, scarred and numb, joins her, revealing the haunted nature of her king's purpose: to purge the world of monsters and vice. The queen's power to compel truth is tested, as she learns of the deep, ancient wounds that drive King Change's ruinous ambitions. The garden becomes a place of revelation and vulnerability, where the queen's empathy and curiosity unlock the hidden pain and motivations of her adversaries. The ancestral mothers, stitched in vigil, watch over her, their chants and warnings echoing through the night.

Lessons in War and Love

King See, the queen's enigmatic lover and adversary, arrives for a lesson in war. Their attraction is electric, but their relationship is fraught with unspoken truths and the looming threat of heartbreak. The queen demands lessons in strategy, but King See offers only riddles and seduction. Their physical connection is intense, but the emotional distance between them grows. The queen's obsession with understanding the kings deepens, as she realizes that love, respect, and power are all tangled together. The lesson ends in frustration and longing, as the queen is left to ponder the true nature of war—both on the battlefield and in the heart.

The Gathering of Princesses

The queen summons the princesses for a council, each bringing their own wounds and ambitions. Old grievances are aired, apologies and insults exchanged, and the roles of each princess in the queendom are revealed. Princess Bring becomes the queen's lady's maid, Princess Raise her steward, and Princess Take her marshal. The princesses can smell the queen's next obsession, sensing the direction of her power. The council is both a reconciliation and a declaration of future conflict, as the queen's growing influence over the princesses signals a shift in the balance of power among monsters.

Hellebores and Ancestral Warnings

Perantiqua descends into the grave, where her ancestral mothers sit stitched in vigil around a gray-scale tower. Each mother's sacrifice and resentment is palpable, their chants warning the queen of the dangers of lingering and the necessity of action. The queen's power is tied to the completion of the circle of mothers, and their warnings about the olden rock and the conquering of kings become increasingly urgent. The queen is humbled by their wisdom and burdened by their expectations, realizing that her fate is not just her own, but the culmination of generations of sacrifice.

Madness, Obsession, and Restraint

Poisoned by her mother to soften the blow of obsession, Perantiqua is seized by madness and nearly destroys her queendom in a fit of ancient rage. Only the combined efforts of her princesses and pawns restrain her, preventing disaster. The queen's obsession is revealed to be the conquering of kings, a destiny that will require her to outwit, outfight, and outlast her immortal rivals. The cost of power is high, and the queen's struggle to balance her monstrous instincts with her empathy and cunning becomes a central conflict. The queendom is both her weapon and her prison, and every victory comes with a price.

The Olden Rock's Secret

Guided by ancient poems and the advice of her princesses, Perantiqua ventures beyond the walls of Vitale to the olden rock, the source of the kings' immortality. There, she discovers a sealed door requiring five keys—one from each king. The quest to gather these keys becomes the queen's new obsession, as she realizes that only by uniting or conquering the kings can she access the power needed to save or remake the world. The journey is perilous, and the queen's growing power is matched by the increasing resistance of her rivals and the unrest among humans.

The Plague of Kings

As the queen gathers the keys and conquers kings, a mysterious plague afflicts the kings and their pawns, threatening the very existence of monsterdom. The source of the plague is traced to a curse meant for Princess Bring, never consumed, and now poisoning the immortal hierarchy. The queen's efforts to heal the world are complicated by betrayal, sacrifice, and the unraveling of ancient unions. The fate of monsters hangs in the balance, and the queen must confront the limits of her power, the cost of leadership, and the inevitability of loss.

Shackles, Stitches, and Betrayal

One by one, the queen conquers the kings, shackling them in her conservatory and binding them with stitches of power. Each conquest is a test of understanding, empathy, and ruthlessness. The queen's relationships with her subjects deepen, but so do the dangers. Betrayal comes from unexpected quarters, as old wounds and ambitions resurface. The queen's own heart is tested, as her love for King See becomes both her greatest strength and her most dangerous weakness. The line between savior and destroyer blurs, and the queen must decide what kind of ruler she will be.

The Royal Gala's Deceit

King See hosts a royal gala, inviting all monsters for what may be a celebration or a funeral. The queen, feigning illness, becomes the target of King Bring's last desperate plot. Alliances shift, secrets are revealed, and the true cost of power is laid bare. The queen's love for King See reaches its breaking point, as betrayal and heartbreak threaten to undo everything she has built. The gala becomes a crucible, forging new destinies and shattering old illusions.

The Death of a Princess

In a final, tragic twist, Princess Bring sacrifices herself to break the curse and save the kings and pawns from the plague. Her death is both a victory and a loss, healing the immortal hierarchy but leaving the queen and her subjects shattered. The cost of leadership is made clear, as the queen mourns the loss of her friend and ally. The circle of mothers is nearly complete, but the queen's own heart is broken, and the future is uncertain.

The Queen's Heartbreak

King See, transformed by new power and ancient ambition, reveals his true intentions: to become king of monsters, with Perantiqua as his princess. The queen's trust is shattered, her love weaponized against her. The final confrontation between queen and king is both intimate and epic, as the fate of monsterdom hangs on the outcome. The queen's only hope lies in the wisdom of her mothers and the strength she finds in herself, beyond love and heartbreak.

The Haze and the End

With the circle of mothers complete but one stitch lost, Perantiqua enters the haze—a place of numbness, terror, and transformation. The queen's journey through the fog is both literal and metaphorical, as she confronts her failures, her losses, and the true nature of her power. The story ends on the threshold of a new beginning, as the queen prepares to face the final test: to save or ruin the world, to rule until the bloody finish, and to walk alone into the toothed beast's yawn.

Characters

Queen Perantiqua

Perantiqua is the newly crowned queen of monsters, stitched together from the sacrifices of fifty ancestral mothers. Her role is both ruler and mediator, tasked with healing broken unions, conquering rival kings, and navigating the emotional wounds of her subjects. Psychoanalytically, she is torn between empathy and ruthlessness, haunted by the burden of leadership and the inevitability of heartbreak. Her love for King See is both her greatest strength and her most dangerous weakness, as it blinds her to betrayal and tests her resolve. Over the course of the story, Perantiqua evolves from a reactive, uncertain ruler to a queen willing to face the void, sacrifice love, and embrace the loneliness of true power.

King See

King See is the enigmatic ruler whose power is to perceive past, present, and future. His relationship with Perantiqua is a dance of desire, respect, and manipulation. Psychoanalytically, he is driven by a need for control, a fear of vulnerability, and a deep-seated ambition to be more than a consort. His obsession with breaking the queen's heart is both a cover for his true ambitions and a reflection of his own brokenness. As the story unfolds, King See transforms from a lover and mentor to a rival and betrayer, embodying the dangers of unchecked power and the tragedy of love turned to ambition.

Princess Bring

Princess Bring is the queen's most loyal ally, serving as her lady's maid and confidante. Her ability to forgive, even those who have wronged her deeply, sets her apart from the other princesses. Psychoanalytically, she represents the possibility of healing and reconciliation, but also the dangers of self-sacrifice. Her death, in consuming the curse meant for her, is both a healing act and a loss of innocence for the queendom. Her relationship with King Bring is a study in the complexities of love, betrayal, and redemption.

King Bring

King Bring is driven by an obsession with saving the world, but his methods are often desperate and misguided. He is both a victim and perpetrator of betrayal, poisoning his own princess and justifying his actions in the name of purpose. Psychoanalytically, he embodies the dangers of denial, the cost of ambition, and the tragedy of realizing too late the value of what he has lost. His relationship with Princess Bring is a carousel of harm and forgiveness, culminating in her sacrifice and his own redemption.

Princess Raise

Princess Raise serves as the queen's steward, managing human affairs and finances. Her relationship with King Raise is a carousel of broken unions, love warped by ancient interference. Psychoanalytically, she is driven by duty, loyalty, and a yearning for healing, but also by fear and the scars of past betrayals. Her role as steward places her at the center of the queendom's political and emotional dynamics, and her journey is one of learning to balance love, duty, and self-preservation.

King Raise

King Raise is a king who was never meant to lead, his soul that of a foot soldier thrust into immortality. His union with Princess Raise is warped by love and ancient punishment, leaving him directionless and broken. Psychoanalytically, he represents the burdens of leadership, the dangers of misplaced love, and the possibility of healing through surrender. His journey is one of accepting his limitations, finding peace in servitude, and allowing the queen to mend what was broken.

Princess Take

Princess Take becomes the queen's marshal, overseeing pawns and enforcing discipline. Her relationship with King Take is fraught with denial, desire, and the fear of losing her anchor. Psychoanalytically, she is driven by pride, control, and a deep-seated need for order, but also by vulnerability and the pain of rejection. Her journey is one of learning to accept her own limitations, to serve the queendom, and to navigate the shifting loyalties of love and duty.

King Take

King Take is the most moral of the kings, tormented by the necessity of taking life and the burden of his purpose. His relationship with Princess Take is one of mutual dependence and denial, each serving as the other's anchor and tormentor. Psychoanalytically, he embodies the struggle between duty and conscience, the dangers of self-loathing, and the possibility of redemption through surrender. His journey is one of accepting his role, relinquishing control, and finding peace in service to the queen.

King Change

King Change is the architect of much of the queendom's suffering, sacrificing his own flesh to ruin other monsters and orchestrating the divide among immortals. Psychoanalytically, he represents the dangers of unchecked ambition, the cost of self-destruction, and the brilliance of a mind turned to ruin. His relationship with Princess Change is one of numbness, betrayal, and mutual destruction. His journey is one of being conquered, understanding, and ultimately serving as a warning of the perils of purpose without empathy.

Princess Change

Princess Change is scarred, numb, and haunted by her king's purpose. Her loyalty is both a strength and a weakness, driving her to betray the queen and serve as an agent of ruin. Psychoanalytically, she embodies the dangers of self-denial, the cost of loyalty, and the possibility of redemption through vulnerability. Her journey is one of confronting her own pain, betraying and being betrayed, and ultimately serving as a catalyst for the queen's final transformation.

Plot Devices

The Carousel of Unions

The story is structured around the recurring motif of broken unions—between kings and princesses, between queen and subjects, and within the queen herself. The carousel represents the futility of seeking resolution through the same failed methods, and the necessity of breaking the cycle to achieve true healing. This device is mirrored in the queen's own journey, as she moves from mediation to conquest, from love to heartbreak, and from reaction to agency.

The Stitched Body and Ancestral Mothers

The queen's stitched body, created from the sacrifices of fifty mothers, serves as both a source of power and a constant reminder of the cost of leadership. The ancestral mothers, stitched in vigil, provide guidance, warnings, and the weight of expectation. Their chants and poems foreshadow the queen's destiny, the dangers of lingering, and the necessity of action. The completion of the circle of mothers is both a goal and a source of anxiety, representing the tension between tradition and transformation.

Obsession and Madness

The queen's obsessions—whether with understanding kings, conquering rivals, or healing the world—are both her greatest strengths and her most dangerous weaknesses. Madness is both a threat and a tool, driving her to acts of violence, insight, and self-destruction. The interplay between obsession and restraint is a central tension, as the queen learns to harness her power without being consumed by it.

The Plague and the Curse

The plague that afflicts the kings and pawns is both a literal threat and a metaphor for the consequences of betrayal, denial, and unhealed trauma. The curse meant for Princess Bring, never consumed, becomes the catalyst for the unraveling of the immortal hierarchy. The resolution of the plague requires sacrifice, understanding, and the breaking of old patterns—a recurring theme throughout the story.

The Hellebores and the Haze

The hellebores—flowers that soothe madness—serve as both comfort and warning, marking the boundaries between sanity and obsession. The grave, where the queen communes with her mothers, is a place of wisdom and burden. The haze, a place of numbness and terror, represents the final test, where the queen must confront her failures, her losses, and the true nature of her power. These spaces are both literal and metaphorical, serving as crucibles for the queen's transformation.

Narrative Structure and Foreshadowing

The narrative is structured in layers, with poems, chants, and ancestral warnings providing foreshadowing and thematic resonance. The story moves between the queen's internal struggles, the political machinations of the queendom, and the broader fate of monsterdom. The use of letters, councils, and rituals creates a sense of ritual and inevitability, while the queen's personal journey provides emotional depth and immediacy.

Analysis

Of Skulls of Shackles is a gothic romantasy that explores the burdens of leadership, the dangers of love, and the necessity of breaking old cycles to achieve true transformation. At its heart, the novel is a meditation on the cost of power—how every victory is paid for in sacrifice, and how every act of healing requires the courage to confront pain, betrayal, and loss. The queen's journey from mediator to conqueror, from lover to heartbroken ruler, mirrors the broader struggle of monsterdom to move beyond the carousel of broken unions and embrace a new, uncertain future. The story's use of stitched bodies, ancestral mothers, and the haze as metaphors for trauma, tradition, and transformation gives it a psychological depth that resonates with modern readers. Ultimately, the novel suggests that true leadership requires not just strength and cunning, but the willingness to face the void, to walk alone into the toothed beast's yawn, and to rule until the bloody finish—not for oneself, but for all those who depend on you.

Last updated: September 26, 2025