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

  Now tears sprang to her eyes, though she bit the inside of her lip hard against them. She would not cry now, not when everyone was looking at her.

  And they were, she realized. The goblins were staring at her in a way she had not experienced since the first time they stole her away. Some bared their teeth at her, others hissed when she walked by.

  They had assumed the same as Ruric. What trust had been built up was no longer there.

  She now understood what Ruric meant when he said that she was considered goblin. No goblin had every done this to her before. She had never experienced the raking claws and gnashing teeth.

  Ruric did not help her nor did he seem to flinch when the other goblins scraped at her skin. There was always a clear path between her and him. She feared for her life now and the only person that she cared about in this abyss would not look back at her.

  They paused in front of their cave, though she supposed she should think of it as his now. Things had changed. She wasn’t certain that they could ever change back.

  “Stay here.” He said firmly, narrowing his eyes at her. “There will be retribution for this.”

  “Are they going to kill me?” Her voice was steady, chin held high, shoulders squared. She knew very well what could happen. Jane would face it with courage.

  He held his breath at her words. “I do not know.”

  At that, he left her alone in the cave that she had begun to consider her own.

  Time passed slowly for her. She could only think of what had happened, of what she had caused. There had been so much blood in just the small bit that she had seen.

  She did not want to take the punishment for her own kind. Those men did not think the way she did. They wanted death and destruction. She had only wanted to fix what was broken. Now she realized that there was no fixing the rift between their species.

  How could she have been so blind?

  The goblins were not free of blame. They had beheaded the humans that were no longer necessary to them. They used her people like cattle but treated her as something precious.

  But could she really say that humans wouldn’t do the same?

  She winced when she thought of the spectacle goblins would make Above. There was simply no chance that the humans wouldn’t have tried to turn them into some kind of showcase. Someone would have made a ridiculous amount of money by keeping them in a cage. She heard the City had animals like that. People would pay to see strange and outlandish things.

  In the end, goblins and humans really weren’t all that different. They would abuse each other because they didn’t understand the other. They would never admit that either species was just as intelligent. And they certainly wouldn’t be kind.

  The goblins were willing to give the benefit of the doubt to her because she was female. There were other males that had proven themselves useful but in the end they were all simply pets that were kept.

  It would have been the same if she was a goblin among humans.

  She dropped down onto a stone and put her head in her hands. This was all falling apart. Even though she had done what she would consider the right thing, it had backfired in her face. She had never wanted to hurt anyone.

  But that was exactly what she had done.

  Ruric found her slumped over like this when when he returned. It cut him to the very soul to see her like this. He did not understand why she had done this. He could not think about it too much because he could not afford to understand why she had chosen this path.

  “Come.” He held his hand out for her. He needed to offer some sort of support. What came next would not be easy on either of them.

  Her small hand slipped into his as defenseless as it always was. He forgot so easily that she was not goblin. She did not know how to protect herself as they did. Eventually that had returned to bite them. He would need to remember this day for the future.

  “Where are we going Ruric?” She asked quietly.

  “We have reached a decision.”

  “And what was the decision?”

  He shook his head. “I cannot tell you.”

  It was not their way. He had argued fiercely for her. Many of the council members wanted to make an example of her. Once a human always a human. This was a reminder to the others that humans were nothing more than animals. They needed to be kept in check.

  There were even a few arguments for war. That it was high time for the goblins to emerge from Below. Humanity was a disease that needed to be wiped from the earth.

  Ruric attempted to remain calm. His voice was the sound of reason and diplomacy. He knew very well that the Queen was watching him. She was the deciding vote no matter what the others yelled about. She would make the decision in the end.

  Until Dumar, the council man he so despised, proclaimed that Jane should be beheaded with the others. Her death needed to make a point to the humans that remained. Female or not, she should be punished with the rest. Her body would be mounted so that the other humans could continue to watch it.

  Red hazed his vision, and he had not realized he had shouted the word No until it was ringing in his ears. “She does not deserve that death. You gave her to me, as my bride. It is within my right to decide her punishment, is it not?”

  The others had looked to the Queen for her answer.