by Chloe Jacobs
A flicker of humor broke the severity that had marked his expression since making his announcement. “Do you honestly believe that anyone could force the indomitable Greta the bounty hunter to do anything before she was ready? Even me?”
She bit her lip to keep from smiling. She wouldn’t want anyone watching to think she wasn’t taking this completely seriously. “Not that you wouldn’t give it a good old Mylean try, right?”
“When you’re ready,” he assured her. “Together.”
“Okay.” She nodded.
She hadn’t even realized how still he’d gotten until she watched him let out a carefully controlled breath. “We’ll stand together for the goblin kingdom and the good of all Mylena?”
She would stand by his side with a sword in hand any day of the week, but this? Could she really do this? Become a queen? His queen?
“For the good of Mylena and any other world we happen to come across along the way,” she agreed with a shaky grin.
He held out his hand, and the look in his eyes said don’t panic as he turned and thrust their clasped fists into the air.
Chapter Five
The distracting parade of flowers was a good try, but Greta wasn’t surprised when the castle rattled on its foundations with thunderous disapproval.
She was still reeling from the announcement herself and doing her best not to let anyone see it. She didn’t want to add to the turmoil in the room.
At least she wasn’t being slaughtered by an angry mob…yet, and she soon realized that the loud cries of “Foul” weren’t coming from everyone. Leander seemed to have riled up his group of gnomes to the point where they drowned out any and all reaction from anyone else. In fact, as she watched, a couple of burly, dirty gnomes started a fight with a trio of goblins down on the floor just a few feet away from the head table.
She started forward to jump in and put a stop to it, but she was slowed by the yards of heavy dress fabric hanging off her, and then she remembered that she also had no weapon besides the small dagger under her skirts.
One of the gnomes pulled a knife. She lunged halfway over the table anyway without any thought for the dress as the bastard stuck it in one of the goblin guests near him, a rail-thin young guy who looked like he’d only come for the free meal.
Isaac shot out for her arm with an iron grip that made it clear he wasn’t letting her go anywhere. He shouted at his guards, but suddenly two faeries who must have come with the young prince and princess stepped from the throng of people into the fight and did exactly what Greta wanted to be doing—started kicking ass.
Before anyone could breathe, the snarling gnomes were grabbed by the scruff of their necks and tossed to the floor, faces pounded into the grit-coated floors.
There must have been many more faerie soldiers present than had come forward to be introduced to the goblin king, because they were in the thick of at least four other fights, putting a stop to them before any more weapons could be used.
Two of Isaac’s men stepped in. They called for some room, lifted the injured goblin carefully, and started to carry him away. One guard shot Isaac a discouraging look and gave a short shake of his head. There was no mistaking that message.
Isaac’s jaw tightened, his gaze stormy and dark. He called for order.
Leander had moved to stand behind a wall of his gnomes—those who weren’t in the process of being locked in irons. He backed up nervously as a couple of the faeries closed in, but he still paused to sneer up at Isaac and Greta.
“You have engineered your own end, young goblin king,” he called in a high voice. “Mark my words, the people won’t stand for this abomination. The human will never be a queen of Mylena!”
With that, the gnomes pushed their way to the doors and threw them open. Greta’s heart sank as the blowing snow and whistling wind blasted through the hall. It seemed a fitting end to such a violent outburst, and only more proof that the bitter winter might be here to stay.
Leander and his goons were finally gone, but the moment of optimism she’d let into her heart had already faded, marked by the mass exodus of everyone else from the hall.
She and Isaac were ushered out and into a private room down a short corridor.
“Everything will be fine now. The hard part is done,” he murmured when they were alone. He touched her chin and smiled, but there was strain in his face.
“Were we even in the same room? Have you sniffed too many of those fresh flowers?” She shook her head. “The gnome king almost—”
He crossed his arms. “I can handle the gnome king.”
Jeez, he was stubborn. “We’ll handle him together. But he’s not our only problem. There wasn’t a single person in that hall that was happy about your announcement.”
“You mistake a few rowdy antagonists for the whole of Mylena when that is not the case.”
She rubbed a hand over her face, feeling suddenly weary.
“Have you changed your mind, then?” he asked. “Do you wish to be released from our bond?”
She looked up, surprised by the offer even though the look in his eyes said there was no way he was letting her go. “Of course not. I was caught off guard, and I’m still trying to figure out what just happened.”
“Let me sum it up for you, then,” he said, taking her hand and bringing it to his mouth.
Her hands were her livelihood. They were dry and cracked from the cold climate. Far from feminine. But she was proud of the calluses. They proved she’d survived. Against all the odds, she’d survived. Still, the spot in the center of her palm was soft, and when he opened her fingers and pressed his lips right there, it felt just as intimate as a kiss on the mouth.
He said, “Tonight I made it clear to every territory of Mylena that Greta the bounty hunter, Greta the brave, Greta the human…will one day become Greta the goblin queen.”
“Did you ever stop to think that despite what we might feel for each other, maybe this is not what your kingdom needs? Your people need someone they can relate to, someone who knows what they’ve been through and what they struggle with every day.”
He smirked. “Do you not know just as much about the harsh realities of living in Mylena as any goblin, gnome, sprite, or ogre?”
He had a point. “That’s not the point. You know what I mean.”
“I know that the goblin kingdom needs unity with all the other races of Mylena. I know that I want to be the one to bring it to them. And who better to help me unite the provinces under a common rule than one who has no fealty to any particular province, one whose motivation is for the good of all?”
Her heart sank. “So this is about politics?”
There was a sharp knock on the door. “Enter,” Isaac called in a terse voice.
Siona came in, accompanied by three goblin guards. She’d already changed out of her formal dress and back into her hunter’s garb. Greta desperately wanted to do the same thing.
One of the guards had a nasty scratch bisecting his left eye. Greta winced. If she hadn’t been in the hall tonight…
Siona stopped a foot in front of her and got down on one knee. “My queen,” she murmured.
The other guards were slower to follow suit, but with nervous glances sent Isaac’s way, soon all of them knelt in a semicircle before her.
Pretty much the most uncomfortable she’d ever been in her entire life, Greta sent Isaac a panicked look, but he didn’t seem the least inclined to do anything about it.
“By the Great Mother, get off the floor, all of you. I’m not anybody’s queen, at least not yet.” She reached out, grabbed Siona’s hand, and yanked her to her feet. “If you do that again I might have to punch you,” she growled into her ear.
The guards stood and stepped back, only to cross their arms behind their backs and turn to Isaac, as if waiting for instructions.
Siona gave her an evil grin. “You’re going to have to get used to it eventually, you know.”
Greta ignored that. “So, what’s going on?�
� she asked. “Has anyone checked on the injured goblin?”
“I will go,” Isaac said. He turned to Siona. “Stay with her.”
They were far from finished with their discussion. “Isaac,” she said.
Both of the guards glanced back at her sharply, obvious fear clouding their eyes. Their king hadn’t been around much, so not many people besides the few maids who attended her had seen the two of them together. She’d almost forgotten that no one but her dared use his given name, and their reasons were good ones that had little to do with having a healthy respect for their monarch. There were consequences for saying the goblin king’s name out loud where he could hear you.
It reminded her that maybe she should address him differently when they weren’t alone, not because she cared about those kinds of consequences—it was way too late for her to avoid them—but maybe in an effort to maintain appearances, since winning over the people was already going to be tough enough for the both of them.
“Later,” he said. The gentleness in his voice sounded almost like a private apology. She crossed her arms and nodded.
When everyone was gone, she turned to Siona and grumbled, “What am I getting myself into?”
“It must be difficult.”
“What?”
“Relationships. They can be problematic at the best of times, but when you’ve been alone for as long as we—you—have…I suppose it might seem virtually impossible to navigate all that emotion. Someone always ends up suffering for it.”
“Is that personal experience talking?” She regretted the words immediately when Siona’s expression blanched. Yesterday, Greta never would have believed that Siona considered herself just as alone as Greta did—or just as damaged—but the more you learn about people, the more you relate to them.
“It’s not always this hard, though, right?” It felt strange to be talking to someone about this stuff. Luke would never have tolerated it. To show uncertainty or admit she was scared was a sign of weakness. Luke wouldn’t have denied her right to have feelings, just to show them. Like, ever.
“I’m not always going to ruin every friendship I try to have, am I?”
Siona dropped her gaze. “I don’t know,” she admitted, fiddling with the hilt of the dagger at her waist. “I’ve never really…” She trailed off and shrugged.
Jeez, what a pair they made.
Ah, what the hell. Greta stepped forward and reached out hesitantly, fingers trembling as they closed around the other girl’s cold hand and squeezed lightly. It was weird how quickly their positions had flipped. Now Siona was the one exposing a bruised and vulnerable side and Greta was clumsily trying to soothe. Apparently neither of them was any good at it, but maybe that was okay, too.
With a cough and an uncomfortable dropping of gazes, they both turned away.
At a knock on the door, Siona looked up, her face quickly turning white.
Greta rolled her eyes and stalked to the door. “Oh, come on. You act as if there’s an assassin out there.”
Siona leaped forward. “At least let me answer the—”
Impatient, she put up her hand. “Just stop right there. Do you really think someone looking to kill me is going to knock politely and stand out in the corridor waiting?”
When she pulled open the door and saw the faerie prince and princess with a pair of faerie guards standing stiffly on either side of them, she groaned. “Damn it. I really hate it that she’s always right.”
Greta automatically reached for her sword before remembering that it wasn’t strapped to her hip. They’d planned this perfectly. She probably would have done the same. Pretend to come in peace, then hang out until the time was right…
Siona was at her side in an instant, pulling Greta back into the room.
At least it didn’t look as if the prince and princess were carrying weapons. Only the pair of guards at their sides. One of them had a bow slung across his back and a pair of daggers, just like Siona’s, at his waist. The other had a sword.
“Your Majesties,” she said in what she thought was a perfectly deferential and calm tone of voice. “The goblin king isn’t here right now.”
The faerie guard who’d been eyeing Siona in the hall earlier slid his cool gaze over her. Siona shifted, but he’d already moved on, as if she was just a perfunctory part of his examination of the room in general. And yet, there was an awareness in his posture. His body stayed slightly angled toward the goblin hunter, and Siona was blushing again.
The faerie prince’s lip curled as he looked Greta up and down. On the other hand, the smile the princess gave her was warm, maybe even friendly. “We wish you no harm,” she said. “In fact, it is you that we wished to see. We had hoped this might be an appropriate opportunity to talk.”
Siona was tense but not screaming at her to run for her life, so Greta shrugged. “All right, come on in.” She lifted her head toward the two bookends flanking the prince and princess. “Although I would prefer if your pals remained out there.”
She stepped aside to let the faeries through. Neither the prince nor the princess gave their bodyguards a second look as they closed the door. Siona silently moved to stand sentry, putting herself in front of the barrier.
The princess spoke first. “We want to let you know that the faeries understand the goblin king’s desire for a unified Mylena.”
They did? And how did they know about it when she’d only figured it out half an hour ago? She shifted her gaze to Siona, lifting her eyebrows in question. The goblin hunter leaned back against the door and made a face that matched Greta’s feelings perfectly.
“It won’t be an easy task, but we’ve come to offer our support,” Leila continued.
Greta wasn’t sure what to say to that, either. What would Isaac want her to say?
“Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that’s very…appreciated. It’s true, the announcement was a bit of a surprise to everyone”—understatement of the year—“but I don’t think we’ll need any help. Isaa—er, the goblin king has everything well in hand.”
Did that sound queenly? Like she knew what she was talking about?
“You obviously have no concept of what has been happening beyond these walls,” the prince said.
“What do you mean? Nothing’s happening.”
He lifted a thin, sculpted eyebrow. It reminded her of the arrogant look Isaac always gave her. She needed to perfect that look. “After tonight, you doubt it? Hostility among the races has increased all across Mylena.”
“I’m aware that things are…unsettled. But it’s a big leap to go from a few disturbances within goblin territory to the kind of unrest that has a chance of affecting any of your people.”
“The gnomes came into the goblin king’s territory tonight, into his very home, and caused violence against his subjects.” The prince looked as if he actually took pleasure in having been there to see it all.
Leila interrupted gently. “Danem Greta—if I may call you Greta.” She paused until Greta nodded. “Tensions are high well beyond the border of goblin lands. Do you really not know how deep it goes?”
Greta shot a glance over their heads at Siona. Her friend’s tight nod made her stomach clench with fear.
Leila gave her a pitying look. “We’re sorry to be the ones to relay this difficult information.” Somehow, looking at Byron, Greta doubted very much that he was sorry for anything.
She started for the door. “Listen, I’ll pass along your offer of friendship and all, but I don’t think there’s really anything that you can do to—”
“We have felt your suffering, Greta. We can take away that pain for you.”
She stopped in her tracks with a sharp hiss. “How do you know about that?”
“My apologies, but the demon’s magick coats your spirit like thick black tar.”
She shuddered. “It does? You can actually see it?” Just the mention was enough to stir it up like a cloud of dry dust, and she clamped her teeth together.
“I c
an. It must be painful for you.” Leila gave her a sympathetic look. “And it could be very dangerous to others as well.”
“How would you help me?”
“Our queen Minetta has the ability to free you of the magick. If you’ll come with us back to the Glass Kingdom—”
She frowned. “Sorry, I guess I meant why would you help me?”
Leila’s brows drew together in confusion, as if she hadn’t expected to be questioned.
“Why the sudden effort to make friends?” Greta clarified. “I mean, your kind has never paid much attention to what goes on in Mylena anyway, right? So I don’t get why you suddenly want to play nice with one little human. What would I owe you in return for this grand gesture?”
The girl frowned.
At her side, Siona piped up in a dry voice, “I’ve found that the human manner of speech takes some getting used to. Once you realize that sarcasm features prominently, it becomes easier to understand.”
Leila nodded. “The faeries are known for feuding among themselves, but when Queen Minetta assumed the throne, she brought the majority of our people together under the roof of the Glass Kingdom for the first time in hundreds of years. However, she also became so fearful of outside threats shattering the fragile truce that she shut the gates.”
The princess looked at Siona. “None have been able to leave since then, and those who remained on the other side when the gates came down were not able to return.” She made it sound as if Siona would have been welcomed home eventually, if not for those locked doors. Was that what the goblin hunter had been hoping for all these years?
“Now that Agramon has been banished, my brother and I petitioned Queen Minetta to reopen the gates so that faerie kind can rejoin the rest of Mylena and mend relationships with the other races.”
What kind of queen locked all of her subjects away from the whole world for so long? What kind of queen even had the power to do something like that?
It didn’t sound like an unreasonable thing to wish for—freedom. Being trapped inside for just a few days gave Greta the shakes. She had never considered the predicament from the faerie point of view. To her, they’d been reclusive and antisocial because that’s what they wanted.