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

  Further into the tunnel she saw a man straighten. Tall and broad shouldered with a familiar red beard, it was a face she never thought she would see again.

  “Simon.” She whispered, licking her lips against the sudden dryness in her throat.

  She didn’t know when she moved. But within moments Jane was in his arms. She pressed her face against his neck, uncaring that he smelled or that he was slick with sweat.

  He was alive. She had not even dared to hope that he had been survived.

  “You were dead. I saw you die.” She whispered against him.

  “No Lass,” his deep timber made her shiver, holding him harder against her. “It would take more than a goblin to kill me. What are you doing down here?”

  “My name is Jane.” She leaned back to sniff loudly and wipe at her nose. His arms remained around her. “How did you recognize me? I don’t look anything like I did…”

  He cut her off with a well missed chuckle. “Lass we all knew you were a woman. We just didn’t want to hurt that pride of yours. You worked along with the best of us.”

  When his palm pressed against her cheek, Jane couldn’t help but turn into it. This was the man she had once thought her future could lie with. This was the man she had thought died beside her, who had protected her when he could.

  It was odd to have hesitation now. His touch held no enjoyment, instead it merely left an uneasy feeling in her gut. She had been so set on the idea of him, so certain that Simon would have been her happy ending if she had ever been given one.

  Now she was wondering more about what his touch would feel like if there was the danger of claws on her skin.

  Pulling away from him at the thought, she smoothed a hand down the odd goblin clothing and looked around them. “You’re escaping?”

  Simon nodded with a grin. “Aye. The goblins are busy with their show, and we’ll be ready for them.”

  “How?”

  “They usually leave one or two guards with us, but this time it was just the one.” He hooked a finger over his shoulder. “He’s in the back there. Wasn’t too hard to grab the keys off of him then.”

  Jane didn’t look. She couldn’t. Simon’s track record with goblins did not escape her. She hoped whoever had been guarding these men was now resting peacefully. Her heart clenched hard.

  He reached for her once more with a heavy against her shoulder. “It’s far past time that we remind these creatures we are not slaves. Come with us, lass. We’ll return to our homes victorious.”

  “I ain’t going nowhere with her.” One of the men said, spitting onto the ground as he swung his axe over his shoulder.

  Jane didn’t want to go anywhere with that man either. Still his words made her turn towards him. “Excuse me?”

  “You waltz in here lookin’ like one of them and you expect us to just… what? Trust ya?”

  “I am one of your own kind.” She said. “I want to leave as much as you.”

  “Naw.” He shook his head. “This is one of them tricks they keep playing. I ain’t risking my neck just cause a pretty skirt says pretty words.”

  This time it was Simon that spoke. His strong voice seeming to echo. “This woman worked with us in the mines. She has reason to hate them just as much as we do. If she says she’ll help, she will.”

  She was horrified at the words that came out of his mouth. In her haste to see others of her kind, she had forgotten the hatred of man. Of course they would want justice. It was unfortunate that most of them considered justice to be dripping in blood. This was not her place anymore. She could not help humans harm goblins.

  “Simon, you can’t do this.”

  He paused for a moment, then raised an eyebrow at her. “And why not? What good have they done for us?”

  “They healed you, they feed you, they give you water to drink.” Those were her only justifications.

  “And that makes it alright then? It makes it alright that they brought us here into the dark and force us to work for them because they give us food and drink?”

  He had a point. Jane could only shake her head. “No it doesn’t.”

  “You listen to me,” he pointed severely at her. “These creatures deserve every bit of what they get from us. We leave a mark on them and they’ll never forget it.”

  “That mark does not need to be death!” Her voice had raised in anger. “Simon, you could all slip away. You could run and they would never know where to find you.”

  “We think we have a good chance of beating them. Some of us might even make it to the surface and come back with help. We just have to get one man out, Jane. It’s possible.”

  She was stunned. The man before her was not the one she remembered. Or perhaps he was. This was the same Simon attempting to save the people he cared about. This was the same Simon that had killed one of the goblins without flinching. Jane had thought of him as a hero. Jane had thought of Ruric as a hero. Now she wondered if there was truly such a thing.

  “They do not deserve to die like that.”

  He scoffed. “They are animals. We tell them how they die.”

  As he turned from her, Jane felt her cheeks flush with anger. How dare he? How dare any of them? Differences meant nothing when they were all trying to survive. There were better ways to usher change into their world. Instead, everything would remain the same as blood ran