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

could feel the weight of it upon her as though it were a living thing. There was much to be said between them, and yet neither of them wished to start speaking.

“Ruric?” She asked quietly, unsure of herself and their situation.

The rumbling sound was his own acknowledgement, though she knew he was listening. The weight of silence pressed down upon her until she had to break it with something, anything.

“If there are no female goblins, what do the males do? I mean, for companionship.”

A chuckle made her shift up and down as he thought on how to answer her question. “Many seek comfort with other males. It is not unheard of. No creature likes to be alone.”

She blushed, knowing what he meant and finding herself foolish for asking it. “Of course, I should have guessed that.”

Once again silence bubbled between them, though this time there was a question lingering in the air that they both were not sure they wanted to explore.

“Did you-?”

She let it linger, not saying the entire sentence but knowing he would understand her meaning.

Her head bobbed as he shrugged. “I have spent my life training to protect. There has been little time for anything else. There have been a few but nothing that lasted.”

“Right.” She said, biting her lip to keep from smiling. “Though you don’t seem exactly inexperienced.”

For a moment, Jane wondered if he would understand the word. Micah had likely never taught him that one, there wouldn’t be a reason for Ruric to use it.

“I am compared to many.” His words were weighted with exhaustion, but he didn’t seem to want to sleep. “For many years now my purpose was to serve and protect our Queen. It has been a long time since there was anyone in my cave.”

The words were quiet in the air, yet they seemed to crackle around her. He hadn’t been with anyone in a long time, that was intriguing. Why would someone like him not have anyone here? Other goblins had seemed to live with each other. She had seen many of them entering the mouths of caves with others.

Why then had Ruric chosen to remain alone? This cave was certainly big enough for more. She couldn’t fathom why he wouldn’t have at least had another body to make it feel more like a home.

She had grown up in a tent full of people. Even when their parents had passed away, there had always been friends of Luther or Willow that lit up their tent with bright bubbling laughter. The thought of living by herself had always terrified her. Silence was something she had never learned to be comfortable with. Silence brought with it the insecurities of not being good enough or filling the shoes of her parents.

“You have been alone?” She hadn’t meant for her voice to sound like that. The pitying tone would likely be an insult to him more than a kindness.

Once more he surprised her though. He chuckled, laying a hand firmly against his ribs as he did so. “It is not so bad to be alone. I preferred it as a child.”

“I didn’t.” She said, carefully laying a hand flat against his chest. “I hated being alone. There was always people around and when there weren’t that usually meant something was wrong.”

“I cannot imagine having that many people.” He said quietly. “It must be very different, Above.”

“Yes it is.” She said quietly, not wanting to make him uncomfortable but knowing that it needed to be said. “I loved it there. The sun on my face and the sand beneath my toes is all I have known for my entire life. It is difficult to think I will never feel that again.”

“I have known nothing other than caves and stone.”

“I don’t think anyone could find two people that came from more different places.” It had to be said. As much as the thought hurt her, she knew that there was a good chance that someone else was going to point it out. Perhaps the goblins were more polite than the humans, because Above they certainly would have been teased.

“Tell me what your world is like, Jane.”

She didn’t know where to start. There were many things that he would not understand. She had never had a way with words. Jane had always been a person to take action, to do things with her body and hands rather than tell stories. Luther had always been the one to hold that role.

But as she shifted, her eyes caught upon the bruises on his cheekbones and the small streak of dirt that the healer had missed. She found herself starting to speak.

She started by telling him what her home was like. She told him of the sands that were always underfoot and the way that the tent flap had blown in the dust storms that rumbled through the mining town. Her sister had always been frightened, but her brother would always dare them to go out into it. To look the storm in the eye was considered the utmost bravery to the small children that thought nothing of danger.

Jane had done it a few times. She described to him the way the sand had pricked at her skin and given her a rash that had lasted for a week. But standing in the midst of all that power had been nothing short of remarkable.

She then told him of her family. Tiny Willow who had always been too small for her age and because of that had to have the largest mouth any child had ever been given. She insulted everyone that she came across and because of that had become well known as a trouble maker. She explained how her sister had become a rather accomplished thief that liked to bring back buttons and keep them in a stash at the back of the tent.

He laughed at those stories.

She told him of Luther and how proud she was of him. The brightest of them all with a mind that