The Goblin Bride (Beneath Sands Book 1) by Emma Hamm (good short books TXT) 📕

meant to be kind to her. Meant to be a shoulder for her to lean upon. That was his duty as a male. He was finding that it was difficult not to grab her, toss her over his shoulder, and make the choices for her.

“Would you like to leave?”

Even he could tell that he was mispronouncing words. He knew how to say those words. He had practiced those in the beginning and had never had issues with most of them.

The crease between her brows was back, the lines making his fingers itch to smooth them. “Is something wrong?”

It did not bode well for him that she could read him that easily. This woman was going to be the death of him. Here he was thinking that he would be given a bride that would be beautiful and quiet like the female goblins he had seen once in his life. She was anything but that.

Jane was wiggling her way into his soul. Like one of the parasitic creatures that lived in the waters deep in the caves, she had her teeth sunk into him already.

Yet he still held out his hand for her to take. She would always be given a choice with him. No matter how much he wanted to take control, it was her right as a female.

She put her hand in his without question. She might not trust him entirely, and she might not see him as her equal, but she trusted him enough to touch him without flinching. Since that was exactly what she had done only a few weeks ago, Ruric considered this a sizeable bridge between the two of them.

He wasted no time pulling her through the crowd. A few hands grabbed at them, trying to get them to stay. Others were not pleased that they were leaving. Most thought it was scandalous that they refused to appreciate all the trouble that had been put into creating this feast.

Ruric pushed through the straying hands, frequently pausing to pull them off of her. He could see her spine stiffening, that courage of hers showing through even though he could smell her fear.

Finally they broke through the mouth of the cave, murmuring and warbles of unhappiness following in their wake. He looked up the crevice. Jane followed his gaze. Her eyes traveled up the strong column of his throat to see the curious goblins staring down at them. Her heart was still beating hard from trying to escape the cave. Shallow welts had raised upon her back where a hand had gripped too hard and claws had scraped her.

“Are we going to have to get through them as well?” She asked quietly.

He looked down at her. Frustration made his teeth grit, but anger at his own species made a low growl rumble in his chest.

“No.”

This time he did not ask her. Ruric had never been a man to defer to anyone, and in his own way he was saving her. He was tired of the questing eyes and the lingering hands. He was tired of thinking that his own species thought they were nothing more than an oddity. What he needed and desperately wanted was an escape. A few moments where he wasn’t looking at her and thinking, “My bride is human. “

So he picked her arms up and stooped to loop them around his neck. His hands gripped her thighs, wrapping them firmly around his waist and ignoring her squeak of outrage. There was no need for her to be embarrassed about her legs which were now bare by the gaping of the fabric. As she had said before, he had already seen what she was trying to keep hidden.

“Do not let go.” He grumbled.

“What are you doing?”

She quickly realized what he meant as his claws dug into the side of the rock. Her stomach shot into her throat as he dropped over the side of the cliff. He was going to kill both of them. What kind of insanity had to plague a goblin to try and do this?

Except they weren’t going to die. He had anchored them against the stones, his claws and strong hands lowering them safely the further they went. She slowly realized that they weren’t going to fall. And though the pitch black that surrounded them made it difficult to see, every now and then there was a burst of light when his hand touched the algae that seemed to coat the stones.

He made quick work of the trip, his arms bulging and body flexing as he carried them both further and further into the darkness.

Eventually they landed, her stomach once more dipping as he pushed them off of the wall and for a moment she thought they were free falling. The ground was jarring enough while she was in his arms, she couldn’t imagine how he felt.

“You can let go.” If she hadn’t known he was a goblin, she would have said he sounded amused.

Her hands unclenched behind his neck, nearly frozen from how long they had gripped him tightly. Her legs were a little more difficult for her to unwind. She couldn’t see the ground and somehow it felt as though she was going to be dangling in thin air if she let them down.

There was solid earth beneath her feet though. She toed the ground tentatively, feeling it out as though she was on the edge of a cliff. It spoke largely of the trust they had built when she did let go of him. Though she did not unsqueeze her eyes.

It was easier if they were tightly shut.

“Jane.” There it was again, that amused tone that had her wanting to smack him.

“Ruric.” She replied, equally saucy in her tone.

“Open your eyes.”

“I think they’re fine closed thank you. I wouldn’t be able to see anyway.”

It was fear that was keeping them closed, but she was shocked to feel the warmth of his fingers pushing at her eyelids.

Stepping back, she waved at his hands as her eyes snapped open.

“It’s