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

eyes. She was off balance, nervous, worried, and above all feeling guilt. Once again she was making a choice to cause pain for the goblins, if only to save them from this man.

The Doctor leaned back in his chair and continued to stare at her. For nearly a full minute he kept his eyes locked upon hers before he finally nodded.

“Fine. I’ll have you return in a few days and we’ll see how you’re feeling then. I’ll get you to break.”

She stood slowly. Her legs were shaking and it felt impossibly difficult to breathe. But somehow she had managed to withstand this encounter without revealing too much. Jane had, once again, survived.

She didn’t say anything as the guard brought her back to her cell. The faceless man hardly looked at her. But when she returned to her cell, she collapsed onto the floor and stared at Luther’s shocked expression.

“I don’t know what to do.” She whispered. Jane could only hope that someday she was going to stop saying that and finally have the answers she needed.

A few days past without Luther or Jane’s knowledge. The lights never turned off in their cells and no one walked past them. For a while they kept each other entertained. Luther told her of his time in the City and Jane made them both laugh as they remembered growing up in the sands.

He tried to get her to tell him what had happened in the long months she had been gone. But they were both aware that they were under constant surveillance. Any story she told Luther would also be returned to the Doctor.

She couldn’t allow that to happen.

When she did manage to sleep through the bright lights, Jane was plagued by nightmares. She had no idea what was happening to Ruric and Juo. The guilt weighed heavily upon her heart and made her stomach stick in her throat constantly.

There was little she could do to help them. They had come here to save the other goblins from the humans as well as save Juo. At the very least, she wanted to ensure that the other goblins never came here.

Each time she opened her eyes, she was nearly blinded. The goblins would have to endure incredible amounts of pain if they were brought here.

If the humans could even find them.

The Doctor could easily decide he wanted more experiments. If she allowed him to know where they were, many more would die. The goblins would defend their homes, the humans would fight to steal them. The mines would run red with blood and once again it would be her fault.

So Jane kept her mouth shut. She did not tell her brother of the beauty and kindness the goblins had shown her. She did not tell him that they had enslaved humans or that they had kept the slaves in good health.

Instead, she talked about what it had been like to be young and wild in the sands. She told him stories of their mother, who he only remembered vaguely.

“Her hair was like molten gold.” She said, lying on the uncomfortable cot. Jane tilted her hands in the air as though she was letting the long locks slid through her fingers. “I used to practice braiding on her hair and I remember that it used to glisten in the sunlight.”

“That’s not possible.” Luther said with a laugh. He was seated on the floor within her line of sight.

“It was! She was so incredibly beautiful.”

“None of us inherited those traits then, huh?”

“Hush you.” Jane said as she rolled onto her side. “You and Willow look remarkably like her.”

“Maybe Willow.”

“You too. You have her nose.” Her finger traced the air as though she was following the bridge of his nose. “Though yours is a little more like a beak.”

He wrinkled the nose in question. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” She flashed a feral grin at him. “Willow has her hair. She’d have the most beautiful mane if only she kept it brushed.”

“Instead she prefers keeping it like a bird’s nest on her head.”

“She’s part animal.”

“Always was.”

The two siblings chuckled, though neither laugh was truly happy. No matter how much they reminded themselves of good and happy days, they were still stuck in a cell together with no knowledge of when they would be released.

Jane eased her weight up until her bare feet touched the cold ground.

“You have her mind though.” Her toes curled in an attempt to keep warm. “She was always so brilliant for a woman that grew up in a mining community. If she hadn’t been so sick, she might have been able to help a lot of people. I always knew you’d follow in her footsteps.”

“Don’t do this right now.” Luther said quietly. “We’re going to get out of this, Jane. You don’t have to act as though we’re saying goodbye.”

Jane shrugged. “We don’t know if it is goodbye. Or what kind of life we’re going to lead after this.”

“Just don’t.”

She sighed and stood to stretch her arms above her head. They had been fed enough to keep them alive. Jane didn’t miss that they were feeding her more, but with a child inside of her she wasn’t surprised. They wanted the small life enough to keep her alive.

Her hand drifted to cover the smallest bump of her belly. An impossible life, it seemed, could be born out of a time of turmoil.

“Do you want it?” Luther’s voice was so quiet she almost didn’t hear it.

She turned towards him and her hand slowly drifted away. “Of course I do.”

“I wasn’t certain since… Well it’s not entirely human.”

“It doesn’t matter to me. I didn’t think I even wanted children. I’m still not sure I do but… it’s a part of something special to me.”

“You love him.”

Every word they said was being recorded, yet Jane could not stop herself from saying, “I do.”

“Then why are you letting them have him?”

“There are things more important than us, Luther. I cannot choose him over everyone else.” Though it felt as if