by Emma Hamm
That seemed to silence him for a bit, his head dropping down as he looked back at the water. He obviously wanted to argue with her, to tell her she was wrong, but once again he did not. Jane could not manage to tell him how grateful she was that for once, he did not push it.
“I have never seen so much water.” She said quietly, fingers drawing patterns on the top in bright streaks of color. “Where I come from, we hoard water as the most precious thing. It only falls from the sky once or twice a year. But when it does the entire town comes out to dance in it.”
A smile crossed her face at the memories. “Sometimes the sun will come out just at the tail end of the rain. When that happens we can see a rainbow stretching far into the sky. It’s the closest I can say I have seen to the colors here.”
And so it began. She started to talk to him. She told him stories about how she grew up and what life was like Above. She held him enraptured with her voice, even as she sat up and began to gesture with those broad hands. Every detail was painted in his mind, of the yellow sands the color of her hair and the bright scorching sun. He felt as though he knew the people she spoke of, the laughter in her voice when she described her siblings.
He did not know how long she talked, but he laughed with her as she told stories of the most wondrous things. She had lived a life far different from his, yet he could see the similarities. The need of a child to be loved and to seek out adventures. They had been very similar as they aged.
When she seemed to slow in her storytelling, he picked up where she had ended. In his slow, halting manner, he told her what life was like for children in the caves. He spoke of fishing and hunting, of smearing algae onto another child and sending them off into the caves to find them. He spoke of laughter and of heartbreak, of a boy sent away from a mother to live with other males in a different tribe.
By the end of his tales, Ruric noticed a significant improvement as he spoke. It was the first time he had said so many words in her language in one sitting.
It felt right to sit and tell stories with her like this. To make her laugh and to see her eyes sparkle as he explained how the goblins lived. He hoped he had made her understand that they were not animals, that they were simply creatures who were very similar to her. That they were children that grew into honorable men.
By the end of his stories, he could see exhaustion starting to take it’s toll on her. Her eyelids were growing heavy, and she was becoming slower at correcting his words. Eventually he stopped speaking, watching her with his bottomless eyes before standing up.
She blinked up at him, her eyes trying to focus as he held out a hand for her.
Unlike usual, when she reached out for him he pulled her up and into his arms.
“Sleep.” He said gruffly, pressing a gentle hand against her head to urge her to lay completely against him. He just barely managed to squeeze them through the crevice. His back would hold the marks of the stones. It was worth it to keep her asleep though.
Her soft weight in his arms felt right. It felt safe. If he were a more poetic man he would have said it made him feel whole. These were not the thoughts of a goblin though, not one who did not know whether he would be keeping her past a year.
Up the walls he scaled again, waking her just enough to make sure that she would be able to hold onto him without falling. He did not stop even once he reached the rope ladders, choosing instead to hold her to him for as long as he could.
It was lucky that the celebration had died down and they were able to sneak by without the entire tribe gawking at them. He was on edge again, wanting to shield her from their stares. The anger was back, a dull throb that made him want to break something.
But in that moment she shifted. Her head nuzzling slightly against his neck as she tried to find herself a more comfortable position. All the anger within him drained out, leaving instead a faint glow at the very hollow of his core.
Whatever she was doing to him, he hoped that it continued. He had been alone much of his life. Held above the other goblins by his size and high regard, Ruric had been good for nothing other than protection.
Jane was different. Though she was a strange woman in all rights, she also managed to be familiar to him. Looking at her was like looking at a reflection, and though he had never expected to find his equal in a female, Ruric was starting to wonder if she had found him.
When he finally placed her in the hammock, untangling her arms from his neck, he could not help but trace a finger down the long lines of her face. It had been good for him to understand what her life had been like when she was growing up. She had been so candid, so open to him about everything. He had not seen that in many people before.
“Sleep well, bright one.” He said quietly in the goblin tongue.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THEY EASED INTO a kind of rhythm together. Every morning he took her to the hidden cave deep within the tunnels instead of the bathing house. This place had brought him comfort many times before, and he wished to offer her the same. He was honored to see that she was more comfortable there.
Perhaps it was selfish of him to take her there. The other goblins wanted to spend time with her as well. But he felt as though they could bond in his secret place. He enjoyed seeing the cold water send shivers down her spine and the way she glittered with blue light when she finally emerged. She was a creature both stunningly beautiful and soft in a way he had never imagined. She was so different from the goblins.
It was during one of the days that he brought her down Below that he had news. It had been a week, maybe more since they had told her they would bring information back about her family. Finding out what was going on Above had always been difficult. Every day she asked him if there had been any news. Every day when he told her no, Ruric was forced to see the disappointment and regret in her eyes.
He felt that this knowledge was holding everything back from the two of them. It was easier for him to believe that was the reason than than difference in species. He refused to even consider that it might be him.
A man had to have his pride after all.
So this time when she emerged from the water, shivering as the cold air hit her skin, he held up the towel for her. Since their binding, she had insisted that she take care of herself when she got out of the baths.
He found he missed the little moments when he had helped her. He liked to take care of her. Perhaps she found it too uncomfortable now that she was starting to see him as something other than an animal. It was a step in the right direction. He would appreciate that even if that meant he no longer was able to do something he enjoyed.
Today he felt as though he deserved a little bit of leeway on her part. Not everything he had to tell her was pleasing, and he was worried she would withdraw after they spoke.
He was surprised when she stepped into his arms without a fuss. Ruric was coming to expect resistance from Jane in all things. She didn’t like to be told what to do and so he had found himself trying to find ways to convince her to do things without ordering her. It was a game he was starting to enjoy, though he would admit he became frustrated quite easily.
Ruric hadn’t realized how right it would feel to wrap his arms around her. This was only a small action to wrap the towel around her, but it had a profound impact on him. Perhaps the only reason she allowed him to touch her without complaint was because she was cold and wet. But it was a start.
Every time something new happened he marked it in his mind, wrote it down somewhere so that he could remember in detail that she had allowed him to touch her without complaining. That she had touched him for the first time on her own. That she had smiled at him without a hint of sadness in her eyes.
If he held her a little longer than necessary, Ruric did not think she minded. She seemed to drink in his heat, her blunted hands curling underneath her chin for a moment as she breathed in his scent. He could believe she was completely relaxed in his arms.
Again, it was a star
t.
All good things ended too quickly. She pulled away from him with the towel tucked firmly underneath her arms and stepped to the side. She had not yet insisted upon learning to dress herself. The intricate knots and loops that his people used were baffling to her. Once she learned how to do this, Ruric feared she would withdraw from him completely.
“I have news.” He said quietly as he wrapped the first translucent piece of fabric around her waist firmly.
She froze at his words. Her wide eyes found his as he knelt before her and he found himself rising at the panic he recognized there.
“What?” She asked quietly, almost as though she was too frightened to hear the words come from his mouth.
He didn’t want to tell her. Ruric realized that he didn’t want to remind her of the world she had come from. It was too dangerous to do that. If she could forget where she had come from, to no longer have ties to the sand and the sun, he could show her how wonderful his world was.
“One of our humans returned.” The time with her had improved his skills in speaking her language. The more he spoke with her the less he stuttered. Now he could string together full sentences without having to stop and think. Their conversations were much easier now.
She stepped away from him for a moment, her brows pulled together in that way that screamed of her nerves and worry.
He could not resist the desire to soothe her. He stepped forward, back into the space she had put between them so he could place his thumb on those lines. Smoothing his finger upwards, he frowned in concentration until the lines once again disappeared.
“The human we sent Above, he came back.”
It was the only connection the goblins had Above. It was too dangerous for them to move out of their caves and go out onto the sands. They could not afford for the humans to know what was underneath them. But there were enough humans here that were loyal to them, that had spent their lives here and eventually fell in love with Below just as much as the goblins. These were the people that were rewarded for going Above.
They trusted a few of the humans even though they were considered slaves. The ones in the mines were nothing more than animals, but there were a few that proven themselves worthy. Most of the humans did not want to return Above. Life there was hard for them there. Below was much easier. In return for their loyalty and silence, the goblins gave them a better life than they could have dreamed of.
His hands found her waist in an attempt to offer her comfort. “He found information about your family.”
He had never seen her look so pale. Jane had always seemed red to him. Vibrant and full of life, she blushed and burned like the fires they used in only a few places in the caves. She was like the sun from where she came. A mass of fire, light, and brilliance that he could barely touch.
“Tell me.”
Except now. Now she was like his world. Pale and shivering, she looked far more goblin now than she ever had before.
“Sit.” He said quietly, guiding her to a stone and placing her feet firmly into the glowing moss so that they would be warm. The lights glowed between her toes, so different from his own. He wrapped the cloth they used as a towel around her once more.
“Your family is safe.” Her shoulders slumped in relief at his words. “I do not understand some of the words.”
He shrugged apologetically, not knowing how to explain to her that some of what the messenger had said had baffled all of them. Micah had reacted strangely to them, but the rest of the council did not understand the meaning or importance of what the human had brought back.
“He said your family had gone to the City. Officials had come to escort them. It was said that your brother was straight with pride and your sister had her face washed.” He shook his head. “I do not understand why that was an important detail, but I was told to tell you that detail in particular.”
He watched as her shoulders started to shake. He did not know what that meant. He ducked his head lower, trying to peer through the curtain of wet hair that hung in front of her.
“It is a good thing, yes?”
She looked up at him, and he was relieved to see a smile on her face. There were tears tracking down the smooth globes of her cheeks, but at least she was still smiling. It was uncomfortable for goblins to look at that expression. Her blunt teeth unnerved him likely the same as his sharp ones unnerved her.
“Yes it is a very good thing.” She said with a watery voice. “They’re okay. I was so worried that they…”
He knew what she meant. He would have worried the same for any of his siblings if they had not been sent to other tribes. What she had was rare for a goblin. They considered themselves family to all goblins, but were not related by blood to many of them. Family was a word that was interchangeable with goblin.
“It is good that your sister washed her face?” It was the oddity he had to ask.
“Yes, yes it is.” She sniffed hard. “I’m glad Luther made her presentable. The City is a very different place from our home. He needs to prove that they are worthy of the position.”
Ruric still did not understand. “You are lucky to have a sister.” He said quietly, moving forward until he knelt between her knees.
“I am, I really am.” She didn’t seem to see him as he spoke though, those glistening tears still dripping from her eyes.
Goblins did not cry. He did not have experience in comforting any creature that was older than a child. But he knew enough to follow his instincts, which was why his large arms reached upwards to smooth away the tears with his thumbs. His black claws arched up over her eyes, never touching though threatening all the same.
“I do not like seeing water in your eyes.” He said quietly, wiping away a few more that tumbled down her cheeks.
She seemed to blink a few times before answering. “Well I don’t think you get a say in whether or not I cry.”
“I would have your eyes dry for every day of your life if I could.” His fingers curled along the soft line of her jaw, marveling that he hadn’t cut her yet.
Ruric tried to be very careful with her. She was so fragile compared to him. He was well aware that Jane didn’t want him to think of her like that. If it was up to her, she likely would have wanted everyone to believe she was made of stone. But he knew how delicate she could be. He liked to think she had shown him a side of herself not many were able to see.
This moment proved that. The safety of her family brought her to tears and that moved him in ways he hadn’t known possible. His own chest clenched in happiness for her family and in sorrow that she was not there for them.
A few weeks ago, he might have been able to let her go. He would have done the right thing and allowed her to return to the place she wanted to be. But now? He couldn’t have let her go if it was death itself asked him to.
He held her a little tighter at the thought, shifting closer as he did so. He could smell the water upon her skin. He could see in detail every small line of tension on her face and body. It was intoxicating.
“Jane?” He murmured, lips tingling as they slid over sharp teeth.
She seemed to notice the change between them as though there was suddenly electricity arcing between them. “Yes?”
“I want to kiss you.”
He felt more than saw her swallow at his words. Her eyes widened, nostrils flared, and for a moment he was certain she would turn him away. As always, he held himself in check. He had to be careful with her. She was delicate, breakable. And he was a creature designed to break things.
“So why don’t you?” She whispered, her voice seeming to echo in the cave.
His jaw clamped down, grinding his teeth hard as he tried to find the words in her language. “A goblin does not kiss.” He leaned forward then until his breath fanned against her lips with every exhale. “A goblin devours.”
This might be a foolish choice on her part to give in to him, or to even entertain the idea that this could happen. She co
uld not remain here, he would not let her go. There was a certain amount of distance that had to be kept between captor and captive. She had to remember that she was a prisoner here.
And yet, he had been nothing but gentle with her. He was always so careful and aware that he could hurt her very easily. Never before had anyone treated her like this. Never before had she thought of herself as something more than caregiver and protector.
To feel fragile for once in her life was a strong drug that it seemed only he was capable of feeding her.
Thoughts were holding both of them back from making a decision. It seemed as though the future hung in the balance between the warm gathering of their breath between them.
“Perhaps that is what I desire.” She whispered, her eyes drifting closed as he watched them.
“You should not.” His reply was pained, trying desperately to grasp hold of whatever control he had left. He was falling into an abyss that smelled of sunshine and burned just as hot.
“But I do.”
They would never know who moved first. One moment there was utter stillness around them and the next they were a tangle of teeth and tongues.
It was true when he said goblins did not kiss, for they were not equipped to be soft or kind. But the danger of his teeth mixed with the warm taste of him had her reeling. She would have fallen if he had not been holding her.
Even as heat exploded between them, even as his fangs nipped at her lips, his hands held her gently. Wide palms cupped the back of her head, clawed fingers stroked softly against her scalp. She had never in all her years of kissing felt like this. It took her a while to think of the word, to understand what it was she feeling until his words ricocheted through her mind.
Devoured. That was precisely what he was doing to her.
They were both breathing heavy when they parted, though he did not let her go far. His forehead pressed against hers, more to hide the sight of his teeth than anything else. Soon he would gain his breath back, would be able to hide them so they did not cause her fear. But now he could not control himself, not with her.