“But you were a fun ruler!” one of the female fighters said.
“We are goblins, my lord. Don’t hold yourself to the standard of some stuck-up faery witch,” Garor said.
Nyar half-smiled. “Well, I should’ve kept my fun more honest, let’s say that much. I’m sorry I was not able to give you a son.”
“It’s not too late!” one of the men shouted out. “Get busy with Sabela and give her a babe. If worse comes to worse, toss her to us, we’ll keep her safe.” There was a chorus of agreement that sounded quite serious.
“Oh my goodness,” I said.
Nyar took my hand. “You’re a goblin now,” he said. “You’ll get used to our deeply practical views. They’re not wrong, are they? I don’t think I can get out of this. The water fairy will surely destroy any ropes of bridges we might try to build. But if I threw you across—“
“That is the most ridiculous plan I’ve ever heard,” I said. “If someone could tie a rope to one of the stalactites…”
The water faery started laughing again. You are funny with your plans, little one, but I can make water leak from the ceilings. I can freeze you to death. I could drown all of you right now if I liked, and I suppose the time has come…
Water started pouring in to the grotto. The water faery was mustering all of the water, drawing it in from where the river flowed. It was an impressive sight, the way it barreled in, almost taking form. The waters were rising quickly.
Nyar picked me up.
“No!” I wrapped my arms around my neck. “I won’t leave you.” I screamed at the top of my lungs. “Keely! What about your daughter Keely?”
My daughter…what do you know of her? Who told you her name?
“I had a dream! I saw Nyar seducing her, and I saw you cursing him. But what happened to her? You left her alone!”
I had to…she was never going to be a water witch, the silly creature. All I could do was punish the man who ruined her.
Suddenly, from the other side of the grotto, where the water usually flowed out, the current slammed in instead. Waters rushed in and up, forming into the shape of a girl. She was riding on the rising waters like a buoy, her feet still rather liquid.
“Never?” she asked.
Chapter Thirteen
Keely? The waters immediately receded somewhat.
“Mother.”
Nyar set me down.
“Did you get my letter?” I asked, with renewed hope—but also some hesitation.
“Yes,” Keely said. “I was able to get in, thanks to the handkerchief. When my mother first disappeared, I tried to come for her then, to beg her to come home—but the doors to this place were locked tight. I tried to speak to the water, but I didn’t have much skill then—or maybe she just didn’t want to listen. I went home to a lonely house. I didn’t even drink Nyar’s tea—I thought I would like the company of a child—but I wasn’t pregnant. Which was certainly for the better, in hindsight.
“I didn’t understand how my mother could be so upset as to abandon me. I blamed myself, at first. I thought I needed to learn magic to impress her. So all this time, I have been studying. I did all the things she told me, the lessons I used to ignore. In the process, as I grew stronger, I realized that it hadn’t been my fault. I have grown confident in my own merits. Mother, I started to understand you better—at least, as I had known you. You were strict—too strict, I think—but you wanted what was best for me. Now, I don’t know what you’ve become.”
“Did you send me the dream?” I asked.
“Yes,” Keely said. “I’ve never been able to get inside the caverns, but as my own magic has grown, I’ve been able to speak to the waters. My mother can’t control every drop. I knew that you had come to the grotto and resisted the lure of the goblin king’s faery form— I heard that a goblin had been swept down the river in an attempt to save you. I had hope that you might be the one. I searched the shore and found your friend the knife.”
“Selnay still lives?” Garor asked.
“Yes.” Keely smiled. “Selnay and Huldie—your handkerchief—are making their way here now. They’re a bit behind because they couldn’t ride the rivers as I did, but of course I did not dare waste any time. I knew you must be so close to breaking the curse. I sent you that dream in the hopes that you would understand what you needed to do. It was the only way to get close to you.”
Keely… The river’s voice, for the first time, seemed uncertain.
“Mother, please—return to your true form. Come home with me.”
I’m not sure I know how.
“I don’t believe it. You’re more powerful than I’ll ever be. If I can change forms, you certainly can.”
They will not forgive me.
“I would be willing forgive you,” Nyar said. “We live in the moment more than the past. All of my people are alive and well, as it turns out. It’s easy enough to forget ten years of misery when I’ve had a week of happiness and the prospect of more. I’m ready to be a thoughtful ruler now. Certainly I have no taste for killing you, and I’m not sure you ever really had a taste for killing me. You could have done that a long time ago. Let’s forget this nonsense and go home to our families.”
The river drew back even more, until it was running so slow that it could barely have supported a leaf race. Keely no longer rode the waves, but let her feet fully form and drift to the bottom. Her dress seemed like it was stitched from water, flowing and blue. She was still quite beautiful, with white-blonde hair, skin like a blushing rose, and delicate features. I tried not to be jealous. Nyar didn’t seem to be scrutinizing her half as much as I was.
“Please, Mother,” Keely said. “I have kept up our little house. It’s still waiting for you to come home.”
I’m not sure I know how to be a person anymore.
“I’ll help you,” Keely said. “I just want you to come back. I have magic to learn from you. I’ve gotten as far as I can on my own.”
The river slowly bubbled up, forming a swirl, almost like a cyclone, that rose up as tall as a woman, and then it formed into the water witch. She looked a little older than she had in the vision, more fragile, her face lined and drawn.
Keely rushed to her side and caught her hands. “Mother! Mother—“
“I’m so sorry, my daughter. I meant to defend your honor, but…I was really judging you unfairly. I was angry because you disappointed me, but now I’m the one who should beg you for forgiveness.”
“It’s all right,” Keely said. “Let’s just get you home.” She helped her mother to the bank. “And we’re going to walk,” she added. “It’ll do you good to get your legs back.”
She turned to Nyar. “I wish you a happy marriage and a prosperous kingdom,” she said. She gave me an impish look, briefly, and added, “But you really are ugly.”
I was glad to hear it. I didn’t need any faery maidens sniffing around.
He smirked. “And I know better than to ever deal with faeries.”
The goblins watched them go. I’m not sure they were as forgiving as Nyar, but they held their tongues. As soon as they had left the grotto, Nyar swept me into his arms again, and the goblins cheered my name as he carried me across the river. We were both soaked almost to our waists now. One of the goblins was already holding a pair of shears and cut the ropes around my feet.
“Your future queen!” Nyar declared. “At least—“ He looked at me for my reaction. “I assume.”
I laughed. “You did do that backwards, didn’t you? But yes. Of course.”
I put my arms around him for the most glorious kiss. The room broke into even more raucous cheering. I wasn’t used to so much attention but I couldn’t stop beaming. The goblins cleared the way for us to exit the room.
“We must have a feast,” Nyar said. “But let’s keep it simple. Get the fires burning and we’ll roast potatoes and—“
“We have enough cured hams to feed everyone, sir,” said a tall, skinny young goblin woman with her hair tied b
ack with a white kerchief. “But we must go to the market immediately. We haven’t been keeping stores to feed the whole castle.”
“Don’t worry about it too much today, Prim.”
The hallways were so crowded now that we were getting jammed in the corridors. The goblins were practically falling over themselves to get the candles lit, fix the damage Mr. Vedant had done, and get the feast under way. It was wonderful to see the caverns coming to life.
“Selnay and Huldie are here!” someone shouted ahead.
“Let them through!” Nyar said.
Two young women were nudged to the forefront.
“Selnay!” Garor threw his arms around one of them.
Selnay was dressed in rather boyish garb, a plain tunic that fell mid-thigh and cut off trousers with leather boots. She looked as goblin-y as a goblin maiden could be, with a few twigs in her messy hair, and a vicious smile very much like Nyar’s. But she was beaming ear to ear, and threw her arms around me like we knew each other well.
“You!” she cried. “Thank the gods you didn’t cross that river.”
“You saved my life!” I said in breathless response. “I’m so glad I get to thank you for it properly.”
Huldie was a little rounded looking for a goblin, and clearly more shy. She wore a blue wool dress and an apron, and curtseyed to me.
Selnay elbowed her. “Don’t be bashful. I never thought this one could be so brave.”
“It was easier to be brave when I was a handkerchief and I didn’t have to talk,” Huldie said.
I gave her a hug. “We would have drowned if you hadn’t managed to get to Keely,” I said.
“You will both be rewarded, once we’ve sorted everything out,” Nyar said, giving them both a graceful bow—or as graceful as one could be, in the crowded room.
As everyone was bustling around, Nyar pulled me into my bedroom—or was it our bedroom now?—and shut the door behind us.
The moment the latch clicked, he kissed me again. His teeth grazed my lips. His tongue thrust into my mouth and I eagerly met it. His hands moved to my shoulders, thumbs hooking under the edge of my bodice, and he shoved it off me, baring my breasts. He took one last long deep taste of my mouth before he dropped to kiss and then suck at my nipples.
I groaned as I felt a gush of wetness between my legs.
“Are you still cursed?” I gasped.
“It is hard to tell the difference, where you’re concerned.” He pushed me against the door and looked down at me, his eyes glittering. My breasts were still bare, wet from his mouth, hard and sharp as the tips of arrows. His erection dug into my stomach.
“Now,” he said, “I can finally savor you slowly. So very, very slowly.”
“Not too slowly…”
“Oh, my dearest girl, I will make you weep with wanting.”
Someone knocked on the door.
“Sorry to trouble you, my king, but we don’t have a single potato. We only have yams and turnips and carrots. And parsnips. But they don’t look very good. So I might advise the yams, mainly, and then perhaps—”
“Yams are fine,” Nyar called.
“I know you asked me to keep it simple, but I do think, along with the yams and the hams—oh dear, that rhymes—we might have a vegetable stew.”
“Fine.”
“And what about dessert? What do you think of rhubarb?”
“Prim, you do whatever you think is best. You don’t have to ask me.”
“All right.” She added, “You told me to keep it simple so I didn’t want to make it complicated without asking you first.”
“If you truly want to make it complicated, then go right ahead.”
She finally moved away, and I laughed.
“Maybe there was something to be said for the days when they couldn’t talk,” he growled.
His hand dropped to my breast again. He tugged on my nipples and I groaned once more, the sound barely audible over the hustle and bustle on the other side of the door. Then he rolled my nipples between his fingers. My head slumped against the door, and I leaned into his touch, thrusting my breasts forward. The sensation was shooting straight down between my legs. My clit throbbed.
Someone else pounded on the door, vibrating through my skull. “Sir? Could I get you down in wine cellar for a moment? Get your opinions? Should we open the vintage cabernet or save that for the wedding?”
Nyar stood up straight with his brows drawn into quite a glower. “I’ll be there in a moment.”
Resigned, I hoisted my bodice back up. “It looks like you might be weeping with wanting yourself.”
“Hmph.”
Chapter Fourteen
Before long, we were all gathering out under the stars. The numbers of goblins seemed to have multiplied. The goblins who had joined us in the grotto were mostly the palace guards and warriors, but there was of course, a large palace staff, scholars, smiths, carpenters, and every other sort of worker a town would have. I leaned that many of the workers and the farmers normally lived in smaller caves posted outside the goblin king’s holdings. Most of them had all ventured to the palace when the curse occurred, so they could stick together and protect each other, but Nyar assured me that the palace would not always be so crowded.
There was much to repair, lost animals to replace, gardens to plant. Everyone was overjoyed to be alive and whole, but it was not without sorrow. None of the goblins had aged except Nyar, but they said they had been able to speak to each other—just not to Nyar or any living people. Babies and small children had grown up in their strange forms, had learned to speak and work in the palace. Now they were thrust back into their old bodies, leading to the very disturbing sight of infants who could speak and knew how to make a pastry but weren’t sure how to walk on two legs.
“We will have to venture to the most powerful wizards in the land and try to find help for them, to age them as they should be,” Nyar said. “And now we have a lost generation. But it will certainly keep us busy.”
“Goblins really are very forgiving, for all your bad reputation,” I told him.
“We do live in the moment more than humans,” he said. “That’s probably why we have a bad reputation. We aren’t as likely to consider the ramifications of our actions. Although I think I’ve changed…”
“Living in the moment…considering consequences…it’s probably best to have a little of both.”
While the hams roasted on spits, the yams nestled in the ashes slowly roasting, and Prim commandeered children to stir the soup, the musicians played songs. The goblins danced and sang, bare feet in the grass, and I was happy to join them, clapping my hands, the air cool on my flushed face as the fires danced and sparked. Even Nyar had shed his boots and rolled up his sleeves.
Selnay grabbed my hand to dance at one point. “My lady,” she said. “I wonder if you’d let me protect you.”
“Protect me?”
“The queen will need a bodyguard or two. My father is Nyar’s bodyguard already. I’m good with weapons and you’ll want a few female guards who can sleep in your room with you if you ever have reason to be afraid. And Huldie, well, she’d rather I ask because she’s always shy with new people, but she would like to apply to be one of your ladies in waiting.”
“Goodness, I wasn’t even thinking about choosing staff,” I said. “I didn’t want to be presumptuous before I’ve even gotten married. But—I would love that.”
“I’ll teach you how to be a right good goblin maiden.” Selnay hopped from foot to foot.
“I have no doubt.”
“You could still call me Knife, if you want. I’ve never been much of a Selnay.”
“I will call you anything you like.” I suppressed a smile.
Just as I was getting too exhausted to dance one more step, the food was ready, and we feasted like barbarians, plates on our laps as we sat on benches, juices dripping. The goblins hadn’t tasted food in ten years and they cleaned out every pot and ate every tiny scrap of meat off the ham
shanks before sucking out the marrow.
The wine, too, was enjoyed in large quantities. I drank more than usual and before long was warm and sleepy on Nyar’s lap. The goblins sat around the dying embers, telling stories of their glory days. I wasn’t sure I’d remember them, but I was also sure I’d hear them again.
Before I knew it, I must have fallen asleep, and Nyar was carrying me to bed. I curled up against his chest, pressing my ear against him to hear his heartbeat.
He kicked open the door. “Can’t expect a man to learn how to wait forever, in just one day, can you?” he said.
“No,” I said. “I suppose that was pretty cruel. But I’m very tired.”
“It’s the wine. But you’re going to wake right up.”
He tossed me on the bed, and I bounced, then fell back and stretched out my arms and legs, content as a kitten. Home at last.
He climbed into bed with me, prowling toward me. His clothes were already inviting me to take them off. As he had gotten warmer dancing himself, he had shed his jacket, unbuttoned the top few buttons of his shirt, and cuffed the legs of his pants to keep them from getting grass-stained, although that plan had certainly failed.
“My future queen,” he said. “Where was I?”
He tore my bodice away from my breasts again, and cupped them with his hands, then ran his tongue up my neck to my ear. His fangs nibbled lightly on my earlobe, and his warm hands rubbed my breasts, pushing them up, relishing their fullness. I pushed my pelvis toward him, wanting to feel how hard he was, wanting him inside me already. But I knew he was going to torture me for a while first.
“Nyar…” My voice came out whispery. But he was right. Already, I wasn’t feeling nearly as tired.
His fingertips returned to my nipples, pinching and stirring all my sensations before his claws began to lightly trace the tight ripples in my flesh there. His claws seemed so sharp at a distance, or when they moved quickly. But they felt more blunt now, when he was being so slow and careful.
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