The Goblin Warrior (Beneath Sands Book 2) by Emma Hamm (100 books to read txt) 📕

covered with sand. “Large boots, face masks, extra cloaks. We’ll say that you are all ill and seeking help from the City. We will not be the only ones.”

Ruric wanted to ask questions about the City then. He wanted to growl and ask why her people did not take care of their sick. From the amount of miners that they had brought into the caves, he knew that most of their people were ill. The goblins spent long hours healing the new slaves to bring them back to health.

Now was not the time to be asking such questions though. This was a time for healing. A time for the both of them to remember what it meant to be together.

He leaned towards her and scooped her into his arms. Arranging them both into the roots, he curled around her to share his warmth.

“We will wait for the storm to pass.”

“Together.” She said quietly as her fingers traced patterns on his arm.

“Together.”

They were not fixed entirely. Something so small could not have healed weeks of heartbreak and anger. But what had been broken was now mending in tiny stitches as it brought them back together.

Jane settled into his arms and closed her eyes. The day had been longer than she wanted to admit, yet his day was just starting.

“Ruric?” She whispered as her mind started to drift.

He stirred around her, his muscles jumping underneath her head.

“How are there crystals growing at the base of this tree? I thought they only grew underground?”

He shook his head and his chin grazed her hair. “I do not know. I have never seen them this close to the surface.”

“Oh.” She said quietly as she drifted into sleep.

“Perhaps it is an omen.” He said as his claws dragged through the tangled mess of her hair. He spent the next few hours untangling every strand of gold that was spread across his chest.

9

“I did not ask for another delivery!”

The man before her shrugged. “I don’t order ‘em. I just bring ‘em here.”

Catherine hated dealing with people like this man. He thought he could take advantage of her simply by existing. The smile on his face was greasy like the rest of him. His oiled hair was slicked back on his skull and gathered at the base of his neck with a small leather strap. There was dirt underneath his nails and a few teeth missing from his smile.

But the worst of it was that he was looking down at her. She could feel his eyes upon her every time he thought she wasn’t looking. She saw the way his hands flexed when she stood too close.

He lived outside the City. He was a smuggler who made his money on delivering illegal objects and yet he wasn’t used to letting go of opportunities when he saw them. His eyes glinted in the light and the way he ran his tongue over his teeth proved that to her.

If she gave him the chance, this man would snatch her up and sell her to the highest bidder.

“You bring those creatures here for me.” She said angrily. “I tell you when I need more. And I don’t need more.”

“And what do ye want me to do with them then? Eh?”

“Let them go.” The tablet in her hand cracked hard against the table when she set it down. “I don’t care what you do with them. Put them back where you got them.”

“Can’t do that.”

“And why the hell not?” She asked him. The forceful tone should have scared him if the venom in her tone hadn’t been betrayed by the nervous shake of her hand as it trailed through her hair.

“Cause the Doctor told me to bring ‘em. I do what the Doctor says.”

“Don’t we all.” She muttered.

Of course she should have known that this order was coming from a higher power. It would be the Doctor that made the puppets start to dance.

She didn’t need anymore of these animals. Her studies were going quite well so far and most of her test subjects were still alive. Certainly there were a few of them that were missing limbs or losing fur, but at least they were alive.

That was why he kept her. She was supposed to be coming up with miracle cures so that the people of the City never had to experience illness again. Once her tests started working on animals, she would pass off the work to someone else.

Apparently the Doctor had more plans.

She pinched the bridge of her nose and tried to slow down the violent beat of heart. If the Doctor wanted her to be producing more work, than he needed to be much more candid with her.

The man was still watching her with interest. She could feel his eyes sliding up from her heels and following the line of her lab coat. She felt as though that lingering gaze left slime in its wake.

“Fine.” Catherine managed to say. “I will go and see what animals you have brought me. I’ll sign off, but this is the last time. Mark my words, I will be having a good long talk with the Doctor.”

The man spat on her floor.

“Aye, ye do that little lady.”

He was mocking her that time. She could tell that he didn’t believe she would make much of a difference with her “talk”. If Catherine were being honest with herself, she didn’t exactly believe that she would make much of a difference either.

But now she had something else in her back pocket that might just sway the Doctor. The humanoid creature lying upon a table in her lab had potential. So far she had learned much about its species, however, none of that was helpful to her own species. The Doctor was certain there was a cure in it somewhere. Catherine hated to agree with him, but she was of a like mind.

And though it pained her to be testing the limits of that creature, she would rather save