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

before she saw it. The shifting of stones around him that clearly warned something was going to give. He was only halfway through. He had managed his shoulders but his broad chest was still in the opening.

Jane didn’t notice that she had stood. She did not realize that she had started to rush forward with a panicked shout.

“Ruric!”

She would never forget the shocked expression on his face as he looked up. Those dark eyes stared deeply into hers as his hands flexed against the stone. He would be angry she was here. He would yell at her for endangering herself like this.

If he survived.

The stone crumbled above him, a great shifting of weight that pushed her small hole closed as a sheet of stone slid down towards him. She flinched away, unable to watch him die. She knew how selfish the action was, how she should have given him her strength in whatever way possible. But Jane’s heart could not stand her last memories of him being of death and pain.

A roar echoed through the cave. Loud and ringing with pain and anger the sound could have struck fear into the hearts of men. But for her, it sent a jolt of awareness that clawed through her.

She whirled on her heel, staring back towards the stones as the giant goblin held the slab of stone away from him. His face was twisted in a snarl, teeth bared and brows furrowed as his muscles bulged.

That slab of rock was pointed directly at his heart and as she watched his arms started to shake. It seemed that the others noticed as well. They jumped into motion, four goblins climbing up as far as they could to brace themselves against the slab. They held it away from him, two others frantically digging at the stones that had collapsed around his stomach and legs.

They were not careful anymore. That had been tossed to the wind when the collapse had started once again. She could feel the rumbles beneath her feet still. If they didn’t get him out in time, it was likely that all five of the goblins would lose their lives.

An arm wrapped firmly around her waist, the dirt smudged hand seeming foreign and unwanted.

“No!” She said, struggling against the pull as a goblin tried to tug her away from the cave in with the others. The goblins knew that they needed to be a safe distance away. There was no way for them to guess how far the cave in would reach.

They moved the injured as the others struggled to help Ruric. She was one of the last to remain waiting. She was one of the few that had been caught staring at the others. It might be the last time she saw him.

The day had been long, her body had been taxed. Perhaps if she had not been working so hard she might have been able to get away from the goblin who pulled her away. She might have thought to elbow him in the ribs or fall into a dead weight. Instead, Jane merely slumped in his arms.

They all gathered together a safe distance away. A horde of goblins and one human woman all staring back towards the dark mouth of the tunnel. They could hear the lingering rumbles from where they stood. The deep booms seemed as though the cave itself was groaning. Every now and then she would flinch at the sound.

One of the goblins placed his hand against her spine, his comforting touch much needed. Those that could still stand remained. They would wait until the final crumble and hope that their brothers survived. They all knew that wall was going to collapse. There was no stopping the earth from swallowing whole what they had carved.

If either human or goblin knew a God, it was prayers that were whispered in the dark.

Finally it came. The great crashing clang of stone grinding against stone. The sudden whoosh of air that blew dirt and shards of rock across the small gathering that waited. When Jane opened her eyes, coughing through her palm to look once more, she could not see. The air was filled with particles of dust that burned her lungs.

They all held their breath as the dust around them glittered in the light of the globes. Their coughing was the only sound that came from the tunnel and she wished that she had their ears. If only she could listen a little harder then maybe, just maybe, she could hear the movement of feet.

She needed to hear them moving. She wanted him to be alive.

Jane was stunned as she realized the truth. Ruric had become more than just her captor. He was a good friend, a confidante that did not judge or think less of her for her opinions. He was kind and giving. She realized that he cared for her. That she cared for him. Somehow he had become important to her as the darkness had slowly brightened around her.

The moment in the cave made everything very clear to her. She had thought him boring. He was so soft that she had thought him to be passive. She knew now her folly. He was not a passive man, nor was he a soft one. He had changed himself for her, altered the way he fundamentally was because he thought that was what she wanted.

He did not know her as well as he thought.

She wanted to tell him this, the creature who had become a man in her eyes. She wanted to make it clear that he was no longer an animal to her. That she was thankful for all that he had done even though she had been kidnapped from her home. It was not his fault she missed her siblings. It was not his fault that the goblins had captured her.

It was not his fault she had been blind to see what bloomed between them.

Regrets seemed to pile up in her life. Not saying goodbye