The Goblin Warrior (Beneath Sands Book 2) by Emma Hamm (100 books to read txt) 📕

In response to the teasing, Hope let out a happy laugh and tugged hard on the tangled strands of Willow’s hair.

She winced. “Jane, you gotta teach this baby manners.”

“I will once she knows how to learn manners.” Jane laughed. Hope was going to follow in the footsteps of both her mother and aunt. Already she was causing trouble.

Her fingernails were black as her father’s but the claws that had hindered the goblins were no longer there. Some worried that she had no natural defense, but Jane thought it would only be helpful in this new world for Hope to not have the claws that set the goblins so far apart.

She was a very large baby and Willow struggled to hold her for long periods of time. The birth had been… Troublesome.

Catherine had been certain she was going to lose Jane at one point when the blood had been overwhelming. But the lab tech turned midwife managed to save both mother and child. Afterwards, she laughed saying that it was much more clear what she would have to do the next time. She would have the goblins do it.

There were certainly nerves about the next woman that would carry a goblin child, but the human women seemed to take the knowledge in stride. Catherine planned to get technology from the City that would allow them to perform surgery on the women without anyone touching them.

Jane wasn’t certain if she’d ever seen such a device, but she would leave it up to Catherine to obtain one of them.

The humans had managed to set up a “trade” route to and from the City. There were a few who still had family members there that would send what they could. Jane didn’t think a machine as large as what Catherine was talking about would be able to be sent, but Catherine thought it was entirely possible.

“Jane.” Ruric’s warm voice made her sit up even as his hand curved around her shoulder.

“Hello.” The smile on her face echoed in her voice.

Ruric’s black eyes locked upon the sight of his daughter in Willow’s arms. She was his entire world and he had never been happier.

Willow knew without asking that Ruric would want his daughter. She rolled her eyes and held out the squirming baby that was already grasping the air for Ruric. Hope was already daddy’s little girl and Jane worried for her future.

With Ruric for a father, no young man was ever going to look in her direction. Let alone ask to talk to her.

He scooped the baby into his arms and breathed in the scent of her hair. “Hello, little one.” He said quietly as the baby held onto a strand of his hair.

“I was just telling Willow that it was time to leave.” Jane said.

“Sunset, Jane. You know, that thing we used to see all the time before we moved into the deepest depths of the earth?”

Ruric chuckled. “There are deeper caverns.”

“It’s a metaphor, goblin.” Willow gave him a look that was clearly learned from the Queen. “Sun. I want to see the sun.”

“Fine, Willow.” Jane said with an exasperated look. “Go stare at your sun for the last minutes. We’ll be coming back up tomorrow.”

“Gotta catch it when I can!” The shout was tossed over Willow’s shoulder as she bolted back to the end of the village.

“I thought I would get gray hairs from my daughter, not my sister.” Jane sighed as she leaned back in the rocking chair.

“I’m sure they’ll both manage to give you them.”

He sank onto his haunches and held the baby balanced on one of his knees.

“How is everything?”

“Fine. They’re managing really well up here. By next year Luther thinks they’ll have a working water system. Fresh water whenever they want and the goblins won’t have to bring buckets of it to the surface anymore.”

“We don’t mind.”

She gave him a look of her own. “You certainly do, but you’re kind enough to provide it.”

Her fingers skated over the scar that had faded over his blind eye. Their relationship had changed drastically from the first time they had found they loved each other.

The childish fascination with each other had faded as the pregnancy grew. Jane had feared that so many changes meant that they would eventually lose interest in one another.

But, like all things, love has many forms. They would never be able to be the two creatures that found each other’s differences fascinating. They would never go back to that time when they were so blissfully in love that nothing could have broken them apart.

Instead, their love had cooled and tempered into something much stronger. She had learned to trust him with every part of her soul, and he had learned to hold her opinions in high regard. Together they had forged a relationship that continued to grow stronger with each passing day.

Jane was pleased with this. She had always wanted a fairytale love that would make the heavens realign. The older she got and the more responsibilities placed upon her shoulders, Jane realized that wasn’t the kind of love that lasted.

The kind of love that she desired above all else was trustworthy, dedicated, and honest. She had all of those things and more in the goblin man that had laid down his life for her many times.

She sighed and leaned her head upon his muscled shoulder as she looked out over the town they had built together. Her people and her family had managed to become happy and healthy away from the City that they had all placed in such high regard.

“They really don’t need me at all.”

“No, my love. They don’t.”

She turned to smack him on the arm. “That’s not helping!”

Ruric grinned at her and cuddled Hope against his chest. “You should be happy they’re doing so well. You didn’t have to be a hero.”

“No, I didn’t.” She said with a growl. “Willow appears to be that hero.”

“Maybe. We’ll see just how well she does.”

Jane had no doubt that her sister would manage quite well.