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

to her mother the day she died. Using extra of their money to buy extra food for Luther’s birthday so her father had to go into the mine to work that day. And now she could add her regret with Ruric to that list.

There was a tiny space in her breast that she had not noticed before. An empty place that had been waiting for something to fill it. As the moments dragged on further and further, that space grew. Tearing open in ragged strips so that it nearly consumed her. Until all that was left was a hollow place where her heart used to be.

Out of the dust, she heard a cough. A few of the goblins lurched forward to race towards the sound but she found that her feet wouldn’t move. She stood alone. The fog swirled around her as the goblins propped themselves up underneath the ones that had survived.

She counted them as they passed her. One, two, three. None of them with the broad shoulders and severe expression she was searching for. It was cruel that she could not be pleased to see them alive. They had tried to save him. They had risked their lives and that was more than she could have done.

And yet she still would have traded them all for a mere moment with him.

The mist turned her around until she did not know which way the goblins were coming from. She stilled when she heard her name.

“Jane.”

The soft sound was a thunderclap against her heart. She knew that voice. She knew it deep within her soul even though she had only been here for a month.

He walked through the mist, dragging the last goblin with him as the two of them held each other up. They were both bleeding and smudged with dirt. But they were both alive.

Jane had never felt like this before. Both elated and dumbstruck she watched them move forward. She watched as the goblin he was helping fell into the arms of others, clearly wounded. Ruric took a moment to make certain the other goblin was still alive before he turned to limp towards her.

His great bulk was hindered by his wounds. She could see the great tears in his flesh, the blood that oozed out of them. A few wounds were stopped by the heavy press of dirt and stone.

“You should not be here.” He raised a hand to point at her. If he had not been having a difficult time remaining upright, the gesture might have been intimidating.

She bit her lip to keep herself from smiling, shook her head at him slowly. “I think I’m where I’m supposed to be.”

There was but a moment for Ruric to look surprised before she was gently folding herself into his arms. He had planned to yell at her, to angrily explain that she was never to endanger herself. Not for him. The sight of her had sent cold chills throughout his entire body to know that she had been helping clear out the cave in. She could have been killed with one wrong move. He would never have been able to live with himself if that had happened while he still had air in his lungs.

But her hands slid along his chest, curving around his spine as though he was made of the finest crystal. In that moment, he felt as though he was capable of shattering.

The air wheezed out of his lungs. His head dropped slowly to rest against her shoulder. For now he would let her take his weight knowing that she was safe and he was alive. That for a little longer they were together, even if that meant very little to the world they lived in.

“I thought you were dead,” she whispered. Her lips pressed against the skin of his shoulder, uncaring that it was dirtied by blood.

His throat vibrated, head nodding in reply. “I was certain of it.”

The words made her heart clench. “I am glad you are not.”

A few goblins had remained behind, waiting to see whether or not Ruric needed help on the long climb back to his home. They would remember this sight before them very clearly.

A human and a goblin embraced by the swirling dust and rubble of a cave in, illuminated by the blue glow of the globes. They held each other as though they were both delicate things that could barely be touched. One as though made of thin crystal and the other made of moth wings.

It was the first time anyone had ever seen the two of them touching. Never before had this odd couple shown affection in front of others, save perhaps a few passing glances. But in this moment, it was clear that when one breathed out the other breathed in.

Ruric lifted his head and nodded to the other goblins. They disappeared into the fog quickly, their footsteps soon incapable of being heard.

It was then that he pulled back from her, enough to hold a shaking hand up to her face. He loved to cup her jaw, to hold her against his palm. The fragile bone fit against him perfectly.

“You are a brave, foolish human.” He said quietly.

“Yes, I am.”

“You should not work in the mines with them. It is not any place for a woman.”

“Funny, that’s what the human men told me too.” She smiled at him, her own hand raising to rest against his. “I managed just fine along side them.”

He shook his head at her. “I want you safe, not working in the mines.”

“Well you’re lucky that I was here. I got all of you out didn’t I?”

Slowly, his head inclined to the side. It was a slight admission that she had been a help, and that was all that she could ask for.

Her head dropped down to touch against his collarbone, her breathing finally even and heart calm. She should step back from him. She should start dragging him to whatever it was that they considered a healer and demand