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

“I know that, I just-” he paused, and she heard the rustle of him running his fingers through his hair. She watched as his shadow tossed aside the blanket.

“It’s frustrating for you knowing that I’m working so hard, isn’t it?”

“I’m supposed to be the man of the family, Jane.”

So it was as she had thought. Her brother was a proud young man, and he was going to turn into a good one just like their father. To know that a woman was doing a man’s job was killing him.

“Jane, I’m telling you I can work in the mine for a little while. You can finish out this week, and I will take your place.”

“Absolutely not.” She responded instantly. “You are going to keep studying. That test is important Luther, far more important than a few aching muscles.”

“I can’t stand to stay here any more. I’m not doing anything for this family. Father would be disappointed in me.”

Jane knew what their father would have thought. He would have been endlessly proud that his son was doing so much for his family. He would have pushed and prodded until Luther was studying for hours upon hours, only because their father had seen something in him that not many others had.

Luther was smarter than anyone she had ever met before. She could still remember laying out on the sands with him when he was just six years old. He would point out the constellations to her that he had learned from his book. The pictures had always been her favorite part. She had given up on enjoying reading a long time ago. Jane had chosen to experience life first and read about it later. Luther though, he read the books solely for the knowledge.

Luther wanted to learn everything that he could from them though. He had soaked up the stories and mythology until he could recite them as well as the best teachers. She had been so fascinated by him as he grew. The boy had turned into a young man that had only begun to grow more and more intelligent.

Their father had seen something in him. He had never thought for a second that Luther was destined for the mines. He had always known there was a good chance for Luther to take them to a better place.

“Father would have wanted you to keep doing this. You know that.”

Her hand stretched across the space between them, searching for the long fingered hand that matched her own.

“Luther, he always believed in you. He wanted you to do exactly this. Study, learn, take us to a better place.”

“I should be taking care of you and Willow.” The sullen tone in his voice was one she had heard many times before.

“You are. You’re going to save us from this land of sand and sun, Luther. You’re going to bring us to the City where there are lights and floors. To have a roof over our head, not just a strip of leather, was what Father always thought you could do.”

She squeezed his hand hard.

“I am so proud of you, Luther. You are the most incredible young man that I have ever met. You’re going to do great things. Our family name will not always be associated with the mines. That is more important than proving yourself worthy to take care of us.”

She hoped that he understood that. They were all proud of him. If one of their own rose from the camp to the City, that was something that would be talked about for years. The Penderghast family that didn’t have to live in the dirt anymore.

“You really think so?”

“I do.” Her hand squeezed again, letting go because she knew he didn’t like to have her mothering him too much. “You’re going to do something great with your life Luther, I’ve never questioned that at all.”

She heard the shift of his nod and was pleased with herself for the moment. It was stressful to try and be the support system for this family. How their parents had done it, she would never understand.

Jane wanted her siblings to know that she loved them. But she didn’t want them to think that they could just get away with whatever behavior they thought was necessary. Willow would be running up the walls, Luther would be telling everyone what to do. It would become a much more stressful life than any of them wanted to live.

Maybe she just wasn’t cut out to be a parent. She had thought she always wanted a child of her own, perhaps with her hair and her husband’s eyes. The longer that she took care of her siblings, the more she thought maybe she was wrong. A child and a husband were big responsibilities that she wasn’t so certain she was cut out for.

Perhaps when they were in the city they would be able to find someone to marry her. She had never thought of love, but a rich man that said she didn’t have to work was certainly something she would entertain.

“Why are you two awake?”

The soft mutter came from over Luther, the high pitched voice of her beloved younger sister.

“Go back to sleep Willow, we’re done talking.”

“You get to talk but I don’t?” She could already tell her sister had put her hands on her hips even though she was lying down.

“We’re trying to sleep!”

But the words weren’t said quickly enough. The youngest of the Penderghast family was clambering over Luther and wedging herself between her two older siblings.

Luther groaned, holding his hand to his ribs when she shoved a bony knee into him. Jane flinched back with a gasp when an elbow caught her underneath a chin.

“Willow would you sit still!”

“This is why you don’t sleep in the middle!”

She continued to wiggle, however, until she was perfectly comfortable. “What are we talking about?”

“We were talking about Janey working in the mines,” Luther grumbled.

“You mean with her boyfriend?”

If it hadn’t been