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

Unlike usual, when she reached out for him he pulled her up and into his arms.

“Sleep.” He said gruffly, pressing a gentle hand against her head to urge her to lay completely against him. He just barely managed to squeeze them through the crevice. His back would hold the marks of the stones. It was worth it to keep her asleep though.

Her soft weight in his arms felt right. It felt safe. If he were a more poetic man he would have said it made him feel whole. These were not the thoughts of a goblin though, not one who did not know whether he would be keeping her past a year.

Up the walls he scaled again, waking her just enough to make sure that she would be able to hold onto him without falling. He did not stop even once he reached the rope ladders, choosing instead to hold her to him for as long as he could.

It was lucky that the celebration had died down and they were able to sneak by without the entire tribe gawking at them. He was on edge again, wanting to shield her from their stares. The anger was back, a dull throb that made him want to break something.

But in that moment she shifted. Her head nuzzling slightly against his neck as she tried to find herself a more comfortable position. All the anger within him drained out, leaving instead a faint glow at the very hollow of his core.

Whatever she was doing to him, he hoped that it continued. He had been alone much of his life. Held above the other goblins by his size and high regard, Ruric had been good for nothing other than protection.

Jane was different. Though she was a strange woman in all rights, she also managed to be familiar to him. Looking at her was like looking at a reflection, and though he had never expected to find his equal in a female, Ruric was starting to wonder if she had found him.

When he finally placed her in the hammock, untangling her arms from his neck, he could not help but trace a finger down the long lines of her face. It had been good for him to understand what her life had been like when she was growing up. She had been so candid, so open to him about everything. He had not seen that in many people before.

“Sleep well, bright one.” He said quietly in the goblin tongue.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THEY EASED INTO a kind of rhythm together. Every morning he took her to the hidden cave deep within the tunnels instead of the bathing house. This place had brought him comfort many times before, and he wished to offer her the same. He was honored to see that she was more comfortable there.

Perhaps it was selfish of him to take her there. The other goblins wanted to spend time with her as well. But he felt as though they could bond in his secret place. He enjoyed seeing the cold water send shivers down her spine and the way she glittered with blue light when she finally emerged. She was a creature both stunningly beautiful and soft in a way he had never imagined. She was so different from the goblins.

It was during one of the days that he brought her down Below that he had news. It had been a week, maybe more since they had told her they would bring information back about her family. Finding out what was going on Above had always been difficult. Every day she asked him if there had been any news. Every day when he told her no, Ruric was forced to see the disappointment and regret in her eyes.

He felt that this knowledge was holding everything back from the two of them. It was easier for him to believe that was the reason than than difference in species. He refused to even consider that it might be him.

A man had to have his pride after all.

So this time when she emerged from the water, shivering as the cold air hit her skin, he held up the towel for her. Since their binding, she had insisted that she take care of herself when she got out of the baths.

He found he missed the little moments when he had helped her. He liked to take care of her. Perhaps she found it too uncomfortable now that she was starting to see him as something other than an animal. It was a step in the right direction. He would appreciate that even if that meant he no longer was able to do something he enjoyed.

Today he felt as though he deserved a little bit of leeway on her part. Not everything he had to tell her was pleasing, and he was worried she would withdraw after they spoke.

He was surprised when she stepped into his arms without a fuss. Ruric was coming to expect resistance from Jane in all things. She didn’t like to be told what to do and so he had found himself trying to find ways to convince her to do things without ordering her. It was a game he was starting to enjoy, though he would admit he became frustrated quite easily.

Ruric hadn’t realized how right it would feel to wrap his arms around her. This was only a small action to wrap the towel around her, but it had a profound impact on him. Perhaps the only reason she allowed him to touch her without complaint was because she was cold and wet. But it was a start.

Every time something new happened he marked it in his mind, wrote it down somewhere so that he could remember in detail that she had allowed him to touch her without complaining. That she had touched him for the first time on her own. That she